By the time he reached home, the evening sun had mellowed into a soft amber glow across the sea. The mansion's façade reflected the fading light, looking deceptively peaceful.
Lucas stepped out of the SUV, ignoring the guards who rushed to open the gates. His eyes swept over the entrance instinctively. Nothing unusual. But that didn't reassure him.
As he walked inside, the silence pressed around him. The house staff were moving quietly, busier than usual. A couple of them bowed stiffly when he passed — too stiffly, as if on edge.
The heightened tension didn't escape him.
He continued toward his private wing, but paused abruptly when he heard soft footsteps from the opposite corridor.
Amara.
She emerged slowly, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. She wasn't dressed fancy — just a simple pastel lounge set — but her presence seemed to shift the air around her. She froze when she saw him, surprise flickering across her face.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Lucas's gaze swept over her — her posture, her expression, the faint shadow beneath her eyes. His eyes paused on her wrist where the fading bruise was barely visible.
She noticed where he was looking and instinctively lowered her hand.
He broke the silence first. "You're awake."
Her brows lifted slightly. "I've been awake for hours."
He nodded once, expression unreadable. "Good."
A beat passed.
She didn't ask where he had been. She didn't ask about his day. She didn't even make eye contact for more than a second.
That familiar awkwardness from the night before hung between them again.
Lucas stepped aside, making space for her to pass. She walked by quietly, keeping more distance than needed. Something about that — the avoidance — pulled at him unexpectedly.
His eyes followed her until she turned the corner and disappeared.
He exhaled slowly and continued to his study.
In the Study
He pushed open the door and stepped inside. His assistant was already waiting, standing stiffly beside the desk with a tablet in hand.
"You have something for me?" Lucas asked without sitting down.
"Yes, sir. The updates you requested regarding the household."
Lucas gestured for him to continue.
"Everything inside the residence remains normal," the assistant said carefully. "No irregular activity. All systems show proper functioning. Guard rotations are consistent. No external intrusions."
Lucas stared at him quietly.
The assistant swallowed.
"But… there is one thing," he added hesitantly.
Lucas's gaze sharpened. "Speak."
"The internal CCTV logs show a brief blackout yesterday night in the east hallway. Only thirty seconds, but… it appears deliberate."
Lucas's expression didn't change, but the temperature in the room did.
"Do we know who triggered it?"
"We are tracing it, sir."
"Trace faster," Lucas said, voice low. "And double the security inside the mansion. No one enters or leaves without my approval."
"Yes, sir."
The assistant bowed and left quickly.
Lucas stood motionless for a long moment.
A blackout. In the same wing where Amara's room was located.
His jaw clenched.
Someone had stepped inside his house boundaries.
And that… he would not tolerate.
Adrian Arrives
A soft knock sounded. Lucas didn't answer, but Adrian stepped inside anyway — only he had that freedom.
"You look like you're about to kill someone," Adrian commented lightly.
Lucas didn't deny it.
Adrian's eyes narrowed slightly as he took in the tension in the room. "Did something happen after I left?"
Lucas didn't respond.
Adrian tilted his head. "Is it about the leak?"
Lucas remained silent.
"Or…" Adrian paused, studying Lucas closely, "is it about the house?"
Lucas finally turned his head, slowly.
The stare he gave Adrian was sharp enough to cut through steel. Deadly calm. A warning.
Adrian exhaled." Right. Not my business."
Lucas turned away, but Adrian continued in a quieter voice.
"But if something's wrong here… if someone got into the mansion… you need to tell me what to do."
Lucas didn't look back.
"You'll know when I need you," he said flatly.
It wasn't a dismissal. It was a statement of fact.
Adrian nodded once and left.
Alone Again
The room felt heavier after everyone left. Lucas loosened his tie, walked toward the window, and looked out at the restless sea.
He had built an empire outside these walls. But something — or someone — had infiltrated the one place he considered truly controlled.
He didn't know why his mind flickered back to Amara for a brief moment.
He didn't know why the idea of her being unsafe bothered him more than it should.
He didn't like this feeling.
Unpredictable. Disruptive. Human.
Lucas Dragovich Caden didn't allow emotions to interfere with decisions.
But tonight… emotions were interfering.
And that meant the situation had escalated far beyond business.
********************************************
The mansion seemed quieter after sunset — too quiet.
Dinner was prepared, placed neatly on the table, and the staff disappeared almost instantly, as if instructed to leave them alone. The air inside the dining room felt heavy, as though the walls themselves were holding their breath.
Lucas walked in first, each step controlled and deliberate. He didn't look at her immediately. Amara was already seated, posture straight, hands folded in her lap, eyes lowered. She heard him approach — she always did — but she didn't lift her gaze.
That alone set something inside him on edge.
He sat down opposite her.
The silence stretched like a taut wire between them.
Neither spoke.
The clink of cutlery against plates echoed too clearly, sounding louder than it should have. Amara took small bites, careful not to make noise. She didn't look at him once, didn't fidget, didn't speak — she simply existed in this quiet, distant space that kept him out.
Lucas noticed everything.
Every inhale she tried to make quietly.Every flinch when he shifted in his chair.Every attempt she made not to meet his eyes.
This wasn't the girl who argued back.This wasn't the girl who challenged him or questioned him.This wasn't the girl who snapped at him impulsively during their first meeting.
And he hated this version of her.
Not because she was silent.
But because he knew he caused it.
He set his fork down with too much force, the sound making her jump slightly. She hid it well, but he still saw it — the subtle tightening of her shoulders, the way her hand froze mid-air.
His jaw flexed.
"Amara."
Her name left his mouth deeper than intended, rougher.
She looked up at him for the shortest second. Just one second.
But in that moment, he saw everything she was trying to hide — the lingering fear, the caution, the restraint. She dropped her gaze instantly, murmuring a soft,
"Yes?"
Her voice was steady, but her fingers trembled.
Lucas leaned back slowly, studying her. She wasn't avoiding him out of defiance. She was avoiding him out of self-preservation. Out of fear.
And that hit something inside him he didn't want to name.
He waited for her to look up again.She didn't.
He tried again, voice lower.
"Did you eat enough?"
"Mm," she nodded without looking at him, "yes."
Not a full sentence.Not even proper eye contact.
He felt his temper twitch in irritation, not at her, but at this distance she was putting between them — a distance he unconsciously created.
The silence returned again.
Except now it was suffocating.
Lucas's eyes stayed on her for far too long, trying to read her, trying to understand what was going on in her head, trying to figure out why her avoidance annoyed him more than her defiance ever did.
Finally reaching his limit, he asked,
"Why won't you look at me?"
Amara's fingers tightened around her fork.She inhaled softly, then exhaled, before answering in a voice barely above a whisper:
"I don't want to upset you again."
That hit him in a way nothing else had.
His expression froze.
She wasn't being dramatic.She wasn't trying to manipulate him.She simply said it like a fact.
That she could upset him just by looking at him.
Lucas leaned forward slightly, elbows on the table, voice lower — almost a growl.
"You think I would get angry just because you look at me?"
She didn't answer.
Her silence was the answer.
His chest tightened.
He didn't like this version of her either — the version who anticipated his anger, who chose silence over expression, who held her breath around him.
He wanted her to argue again.To glare again.To talk back again.
Anything except this quiet, submissive acceptance.
He looked away briefly, jaw clenched, trying to control the frustration burning inside him. When he finally spoke, his voice was harsher than intended.
"Stop doing that."
Amara stiffened. "Doing what?"
He didn't raise his voice.He didn't move.
But the weight of his stare was heavy enough on its own.
"Stop acting like you're scared to breathe in front of me."
She swallowed, but didn't reply.
Her silence hit harder than words.
Lucas stood abruptly, chair scraping the floor. Amara flinched again. He saw it. The way she tensed. The way her shoulders curled inward instinctively.
And that — that moment — felt like a punch to his chest.
He lowered his tone deliberately this time.
"Just… stop avoiding me."
Amara finally looked up — slowly, hesitantly, cautiously.
Their eyes met.
A long, silent, heavy stare.
Her gaze wasn't angry.It wasn't defiant.It wasn't challenging.
It was fragile.
And for the first time, he didn't know how to react.
He held her gaze for a second more than he should have, then turned on his heel and walked out without another word — leaving the tension hanging between them, thick and unresolved.