Chapter 7 LILY

I woke up to unfamiliar sheets and a ceiling I didn't recognize.

For one disoriented second, I didn't breathe. My body felt heavy, drained, but my mind jumped awake all at once, pulling memories back in a rush.

The knocking, the bathroom, Zane's voice, the stranger, his hands steadying me, the kiss, the sex.

I bolted upright so fast the room spun. A faint ache pulsed behind my eyes, but the drug's fog had nearly lifted.

The bed beside me was empty.

The apartment was quiet.

I stood on shaky legs, gathering the stranger's discarded shirt from the floor and slipping into it. It hung low on my thighs, swallowing me whole, but I didn't have time to care.

I had to go.

I had to get home before Zane twisted everything, before he convinced himself he had reason to hurt me further.

I didn't know what waited for me, but I knew something had broken between us the moment he'd drugged me. No amount of pretending would glue that back together.

I found the stranger's door unlocked. The hallway outside was clear, stripped of last night's chaos. My breath hitched.

I stepped out into the morning air, cold enough to sting my skin through the thin fabric. Somehow, I made my way back to the street, flagged a taxi with trembling fingers, and kept my gaze fixed outside the window the whole drive back.

My heart pounded harder the closer we got to the house.

Zane's house. Ours. Mine?

I didn't know anymore.

The driveway was full. Sophie's car was parked where mine used to be. Zane's was crookedly pulled up like he'd rushed inside.

Something twisted violently in my stomach.

I paid the driver quickly and stumbled up the steps, pushing the door open without knocking.

The scene inside punched the air out of me.

Sophie sat on the couch wearing Zane's T-shirt, one of his favorites, one he'd forbid me to borrow because "I didn't fill it out right." Her hair was in a lazy bun, eyes bright, skin glowing like she had slept in peace.

Zane stood behind her, massaging her shoulders.

She leaned back into him with a smile I'd never seen her give me.

His hands paused only when he saw me.

"Oh," Sophie drawled, her grin widening. "Look who finally decided to come home."

My legs nearly gave out.

"S-Sophie?" My voice sounded scraped and small. "What are you wearing?"

"My shirt," Zane answered coolly, not even blinking. "She was cold."

Cold. But I slept alone in a stranger's shirt after running for my life.

I swallowed hard. "Where were you last night?"

Sophie's laugh snapped through the room, sharp as glass. "Shouldn't we be asking you that, Cuz? You disappeared."

Zane stepped around the couch and crossed his arms, looking me over with a calculating stare that made my skin crawl. "Where were you, Lily?"

"You know what happened," I whispered. "You drugged me. You took me to that room with your friends-"

"Oh, stop," Sophie cut in, rolling her eyes so dramatically it bordered on grotesque. "Always playing the victim. It's exhausting."

"I'm not-" My throat closed. "I'm telling you what you did."

"What we did," Zane corrected, stepping closer. "And from where I'm standing, it looks like you ran off with someone."

My stomach lurched. "I didn't..."

"Then where were you all night?" Sophie shot back. "Where were you when your husband was searching for you everywhere?"

"Searching?" I choked. "Is THAT what you call it?"

Zane shrugged. "You know how uncontrollable my friends get. I tried to calm them down."

"You OFFERED me to them," I snapped, voice cracking.

His expression didn't shift. Not even a flicker. "You sound hysterical."

My chest tightened. "I heard you."

"You heard wrong," he said smoothly.

"No," I whispered. "No, I didn't."

Sophie smirked. "Can we get to the point? I have a nail appointment in about an hour."

"The point?" I repeated, breath catching.

Zane sighed, as though I was the inconvenience.

"We're getting a divorce, Lily."

My ears rang. "What?"

"A divorce," he repeated coldly. "You're not the woman I thought you were. You humiliated me last night."

"YOU DRUGGED ME!" I screamed.

He waved a dismissive hand. "You're unstable. And dangerous to my reputation."

My vision blurred, tears burning hot.

"You can't be serious," I whispered. "We got married yesterday."

"And it was the biggest mistake of my life," he said without hesitation.

My heart tore cleanly in two.

Sophie stood, stretched like she'd just woken from a pleasant dream, and walked to the dining table. She picked up a stack of papers and flicked through them casually.

"Oh, Zane," she said lightly, "don't forget to tell her about the inheritance."

My blood chilled.

"What inheritance?"

Zane exchanged a glance with her, a knowing, smug, cruel little glance.

The kind you give someone you've been planning something with for a very long time.

"You didn't read the documents after your parents died, did you?" he asked.

I froze. "What documents?"

Sophie cleared her throat dramatically. "The ones that state your dear parents left everything to you-conditionally."

"Conditionally?" My voice shook violently.

"Yes," she purred. "You had to be married before twenty-five to access it."

My breath caught.

"And look at that," Zane said, picking up the divorce papers. "You married me just in time."

My knees buckled. "No... no, no, please-"

Sophie stepped closer, smiling like she was presenting a gift.

"Since we're your only living family and you're clearly... unwell... the lawyers agreed you're not in a state to handle the estate responsibly."

Zane slid the papers onto the coffee table.

"So it's been transferred to us."

My heart stopped.

"What?" I whispered.

"All of it," Sophie said, delighted. "The properties. The investments. The trust. Everything your parents left behind."

"That's not... That's not legal," I breathed.

Zane shrugged. "It is now. You forfeited your right when you abandoned your wedding reception and ran off with another man."

"I... I didn't!" My throat closed.

"It doesn't matter," Sophie chirped, tapping the papers. "All you need to do is sign these. The divorce. The release."

"And then," Zane added coldly, "you don't come back."

I stared at the two people I had trusted, my husband and my only family, and felt something inside me crack so violently I thought I heard it.

"I have nowhere else to go," I whispered.

"Not our problem," Sophie said with a bright smile.

Zane crossed his arms. "Sign the papers, Lily."

"And leave," Sophie added. "For good."

The room spun. My voice shook as I whispered, "Why are you doing this?"

Sophie tilted her head sweetly. "Because, Cuz... you were born lucky. And you never deserved it."

Zane tossed a pen at my feet.

"Sign," he repeated.

I stared at the papers, the end of everything, and felt my legs give way as I sank to the couch.

My hands trembled. My vision blurred.

But I didn't sign.

Instead, in a voice that didn't even sound like mine, I whispered.

"What if I say no?"

They both laughed with the confidence of people who believed they had already won.

"We're not asking," Zane said.

"We're telling you," Sophie added.

"You. Are. Leaving."