"Because that's all you are, Lila. A toy. A joke. Something to play with and throw away when we're done."

Her throat tightened, and before she could stop it, warmth spilled down her cheeks... not the kind she could fake.

"Mike, please... " Her voice cracked, all performance gone, leaving only raw desperation. "I..."

"Save it." Mike cut her off with a gesture. "I don't want to hear another word from your lying mouth."

He turned toward the door, then paused, looking back over his shoulder.

"You want to know what I really think? What Alex and I talked about while you were so busy playing your little games?"

Lila couldn't answer. Couldn't breathe.

"We laughed," Mike said simply. "We actually fucking laughed. At how obvious you were. How predictable. How pathetically desperate you became."

His eyes swept over her naked form with casual disgust.

He turned on his heel... sharp, decisive, final... and walked out of the door.

Each footstep echoed through the apartment like a death knell.

Lila remained frozen on her knees, hand still pressed to her burning cheek, the sheet tangled around her waist, leaving her half-naked and utterly exposed.

"Mike..." Her voice came out strangled. "Mike, wait..."

He didn't pause. Didn't slow. Didn't even acknowledge she'd spoken.

The doorframe swallowed him whole.

Then he was gone.

The sound of his footsteps faded down the hallway... each one hammering another nail into her chest until the silence that followed was absolute.

Suffocating.

Gone.

The word echoed through her mind, hollow and devastating.

He's really… gone.

For a long moment, Lila couldn't move.

Couldn't breathe.

Couldn't process anything except the crushing weight of what had just happened.

Then it hit her. All at once.

The careful plan she'd spent weeks constructing... the calculated touches, the manufactured vulnerability, the perfectly timed tears... every single piece of it...

A joke.

That's what Mike had called it.

How?

The question tore through her mind with desperate, frantic force.

How did they know?

She replayed every interaction, every moment, searching for the crack where she'd failed. Where she'd slipped. Where her performance had faltered enough for them to see through it.

But there was nothing.

She'd been perfect.

Every word rehearsed. Every tear summoned at precisely the right moment. Every touch, every glance, every breathless confession... all of it executed flawlessly according to Sophia's plan.

So how...

The scenes played in her mind like a horror reel: her clinging to his arm at the café, playing the sweet, adoring girlfriend.

Texting him with carefully crafted concern. Biting her lip and looking up at him through her lashes.

Every gesture she'd thought was reeling him in... he'd seen it for exactly what it was.

God.

The humiliation burned hotter than the slap.

She'd been so proud of each little manipulation. So satisfied watching him respond exactly as planned.

But he hadn't been responding.

He'd been acting. Playing along. Letting her think she was winning while he and Alex laughed at how obvious she was.

Every sweet word she'd whispered. Every time she'd pressed against him, feigning innocence. Every tear she'd manufactured...

They'd all been jokes to him.

I was so sure...

Her breathing came faster, shallower, panic clawing up her throat.

I was so fucking sure I had them both wrapped around my finger. That I was in control. That I was...

The overconfidence tasted like ash now.

Sophia's voice echoed in her memory, sharp with warning: "Don't underestimate them. Don't get cocky. One mistake and you're done."

And Lila had done exactly that.

She'd been blinded by her own skills... by every successful mission before this one, by the absolute certainty that she was better than her targets.

I never even considered they might be playing too.

The thought made her stomach twist.

She'd executed Sophia's plan flawlessly without once questioning whether the plan itself had already been compromised.

Whether the trap she was setting was actually a trap for her.

Fuck.

The word was barely a whisper, but it carried the weight of complete and utter devastation.

Her gaze snapped up to the corner of the room. The smoke detector.

Behind that lens, Sophia was watching. Had seen everything... the false accusation, the slap, Mike's brutal revelation.

She saw me fail.

Terror flooded through her, cold and absolute. Sophia didn't tolerate failure. The apartment, her tuition, her entire life... all of it could vanish with one phone call. The girls who'd disappointed Sophia before... they simply disappeared. Cut off. Discarded.

She's going to destroy me.

The thought made Lila's hands shake violently.

Her gaze stayed locked on the smoke detector, unable to look away, as if Sophia might materialize through the lens at any moment to deliver judgment.

I'm done. Completely done. She's going to...

Movement.

Behind her.

A shadow stretched across the edge of the bed silent but deliberate.

Her breath caught. Her pulse raced.

Alex.

The terror shifted, morphing into something else... something desperate and raw and impossible to name.

He's still here.

The thought was a lifeline thrown to a drowning woman.

He hasn't left yet.

Lila's head turned slowly, her body moving on instinct even as her mind struggled to catch up.

Alex stood by the bed, pulling on his clothes with methodical precision.

His jeans first. The soft rasp of the zipper unbearably loud in the oppressive silence.

Then his shirt... buttons sliding through holes with practiced ease.

Each movement was deliberate. Unhurried.

Like he had all the time in the world.

Like she wasn't kneeling half-naked with her world collapsing around her.

He didn't look at her.

Didn't acknowledge her presence at all.

Just dressed himself with the same casual indifference he might show after any ordinary hookup.

Lila watched him, something twisting painfully in her chest.

He's leaving.

The realization hit with devastating force.

Then Alex reached for his jacket, and his gaze finally shifted to her.

Their eyes met.

And what Lila saw in his expression made her breath catch.

Not anger. Not guilt. Not even satisfaction at having bested her.

Just... nothing.

Complete and utter indifference.

Like she was already forgotten.

"You were a good fuck, Lila."

The words dropped into the silence like stones.

His tone was casual. Almost friendly. Brutally, devastatingly teasing.

"I really enjoyed it. A lot."

And that... more than anything... was what finally broke her.

He shrugged on his shirt, buttons sliding through holes with practiced ease.

"Gotta give you credit... you definitely know how to put on a show."

The words hit harder than the slap had.

A good fuck.That's all she was to him.

Not someone he wanted. Not someone he cared about. Not even someone he respected.

Just... a good fuck.

A whore.

Something to use and discard when he was done.

The realization crashed over her with the weight of a building collapsing.This is all I was to him. All I'll ever be.

Every moment they'd shared... every kiss, every touch, every whispered word... meant nothing.

Less than nothing.It was all just... entertainment.

Her chest tightened, something sharp and suffocating lodging itself beneath her ribs.

And then she saw him reach for his jacket.

He's leaving.

The thought slammed into her with physical force.

He's going to walk out that door and I'll never... No.

The word exploded through her mind, desperate and fierce.

No no no no NO... The mission. Sophia. The plan.

Fuck it all.

She didn't care anymore. Didn't care about Sophia's wrath or the consequences or anything except the man standing in front of her preparing to walk away forever.

I have to keep him.

The need consumed her, burning through the shock and humiliation and pain.

Somehow. Anyhow. At any cost.

She couldn't lose him. Not like this. Not when he was the only thing that had felt real in months.

Not when every moment with him had made her feel alive in a way nothing else ever had.

Her mind raced, scrambling for purchase, for a plan, for anything that might make him stay.

I can fix this. I can explain. I can make him understand... But even as the thoughts formed, another voice whispered beneath them... cold, mocking, cruel:

He never wanted you. He was using you just like you tried to use him. And now he's done.

No. NO.

She wouldn't accept that. Couldn't accept that.

Alex's hand closed around the doorknob. And something inside Lila shattered completely.

She moved.

Not gracefully. Not with any calculation.

Pure desperation.

Her legs... weak, shaking... somehow carried her up from the floor. The sheet fell away completely, forgotten.

She lunged forward as his hand touched the doorknob.

"No..."

The word tore from her throat as she dropped down, arms wrapping around his leg with desperate strength.

"Alex, please..." Her voice cracked, tears streaming down her face. "Please don't go..."

Her grip tightened until her knuckles went white, fingers digging into denim.

***

Author's Note:

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and felt every twist, turn, and pulse of the story.

Your support means the world... comments, messages, and feedback are always welcome.

Stay tuned for the next chapter; things are only going to get more intense!

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