"Yes," Quinn muttered, swallowing hard. "Kai Blake. Sienna’s stepbrother. The sa man who’s been seen hanging around Miss Lilith. He—uh—he’s... trying to snatch both your business and... and your girlfriend."
There was silence.
An eerie, suffocating silence.
Quinn instantly realized what he had just blurted. He froze. His eyes widened in fear as Alexander slowly turned to look at him with a face so unreadable it made the room feel ten degrees colder.
"I an—Miss Lilith isn’t really—uh—I didn’t an it that way—just rumors, not confird!" Quinn stumbled, waving his hands in front of him nervously. "Boss, I swear—there were just a few dia photos and so fan gossip—I didn’t an to imply anything—"
Alexander didn’t speak for a mont. His red eyes stared into Quinn’s soul, cold and sharp. The silence dragged on.
"You think I would let soone take her?" Alexander asked finally, voice low, dark, and steady.
"N-No sir, of course not," Quinn said quickly, beads of sweat now rolling down his face. "Of course not! I just thought—you’d want to know what’s being whispered in the dia... and—and Miss Lilith hasn’t responded to those rumors either, so—"
Alexander put laptop aside and stood up slowly from the bed, walking past Quinn toward the window. He looked out, his expression unreadable, the city below alive and indifferent.
"Quinn."
"Yes, sir?"
"You will forward every deal that Blake Group has touched in the past two months. I want details. Dates. People involved. And get everything about this... Kai."
***
Lilith gently pulled the letter out from behind the album pages. It was folded neatly, hidden so carefully it seed like it was never ant to be found—at least not easily.
The handwriting was the sa as before. Her mother’s.
She opened it slowly, the paper slightly aged, edges curled with ti.
Her eyes scanned the words, and the more she read, the colder her hands beca.
[ I’m not sure what’s wrong with ... I don’t feel like myself these days. There’s this emptiness inside —as if sothing is missing. I keep forgetting things, I feel confused, like I’m not even in my own mind anymore.
Lennox says it’s because I’m sick. He took to the hospital a few tis, and I don’t rember what happened after. I try to ask, but he just smiles and says I’m overthinking. I don’t know...]
Lilith’s breath caught in her throat.
She stared at the na Lennox for a long ti.
Lennox?
Was that... her father?
Her fingers slowly curled around the edge of the letter. A strange coldness blood in her chest. Sothing was terribly wrong.
Why did her mother hide this letter inside a photo album? Why not give it with the other one?
Because she wasn’t sure whom to trust anymore?
If Lennox was her father, why did the letter sound so fearful of him?
He took to hospital... I don’t rember what happened after.
What did that an?
Drugged? Manipulated?
Lilith’s mind spun with theories, darker and darker.
And worst of all... this letter didn’t sound like soone who was writing with peace. It sounded like soone trying to leave a final whisper. Soone who knew she was falling into sothing she couldn’t escape.
Her mother knew sothing was wrong.
Lilith closed the letter carefully, her brows furrowed.
Sothing darker had happened to her mother.
Lilith didn’t move for a while. She just sat there, the second letter still resting on her lap. Her eyes weren’t on the words anymore—her mind was chasing shadows, tying pieces of truth together.
After a deep breath, she stood up slowly. Her footsteps were quieter now, her movents more cautious.
Sothing inside her whispered there might be more...
This apartnt wasn’t just a place her mother left behind.
It was a place that still held secrets.
She walked back into the main bedroom again, this ti scanning everything more carefully. Her fingers trailed along the edge of the vanity, opening small drawers, pushing aside old scarves and dust-covered combs. Nothing.
She crouched beside the cabinet, pulling open the lower drawers one by one, checking behind books, photo fras, and even old birthday cards tucked away.
Then... her fingers brushed against a cold glass.
Lilith reached in and pulled out a small brown bottle.
There was no box. The label on the bottle was slightly worn, but still readable.
She narrowed her eyes.
It wasn’t perfu. Not vitamins either.
Just a plain bottle of prescribed dicine with faded print. Lilith stepped into the light and raised it closer to her face.
Then she took out her phone, quickly snapping a photo of the label.
She searched the na.
And when the results loaded, her stomach turned.
"Used to calm severe anxiety, reduce ntal distress, and stabilize nervous breakdown symptoms."
It was dication to numb soone’s emotions.
Lilith’s fingers tightened around the bottle.
"Why would she need this?" she whispered.
Had her mother really been that unwell? Or was soone trying to make her that way?
Her jaw clenched as she stared at the bottle in her hand. This wasn’t normal.
If this was prescribed to her mother, it ant one thing—soone wanted her sedated. Quiet. Emotionally numb.
The soft glow from the window filtered into the room, but it didn’t feel peaceful anymore. It felt cold.
Lilith stood up and took a slow breath. She carefully placed the bottle into her bag.
There were too many questions now.
And one man’s na was at the center of them all.
Lennox.
After searching every drawer, shelf, and hidden corner in both bedrooms, Lilith finally stepped back into the quiet living room. She looked around once more, but the stillness told her everything. That was it. There was nothing else.
She sighed softly and sat on the edge of the sofa, the leather creaking beneath her. Her fingers brushed over her skirt as she leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees, her eyes scanning the space one final ti.
But it was clear.
The apartnt had given her all it could.
The letter inside the album. The calming dicine.
Lilith leaned back slowly, her lips pressing together.
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