Twisted Paradise

Chapter 25

It went without saying, a sort of unacknowledged consensus, that a woman must never lose her head over a man. Even if, said man, seemed like the best thing on earth, wrapped in a radiant red ribbon just for her use.

Lily for one, was a firm follower of that principle of life. So when a certain man started wreaking havoc in her life, considering her pride as a woman, she quite refused to let it falter her. As such, sweeping every out-of-the-box encounter under the rug seemed like the most mature response. Because obviously problems disappeared once you kept ignoring them. If your ones haven't, then you didn't ignore them long enough.

Huh... she was such a wise problem-solver. Everyone needed someone like her in their life. Cue in an exaggerated eye roll.

In any case, always keeping a certain emotional distance, never taking them seriously became a part of her daily routine before she even knew it. Which is why, pretty as he was, she knew better than to think he meant it when he told her he would listen to her words on Santano's welfare.

Men loved making promises, flowery yet empty as they turned out to be, when they were riding the romantic high. It wasn't something she was particularly bitter about, nor something she judged them for, considering she wasn't the one for keeping promises either. But it did mean that she had an extra layer of protection, an added advantage in dealing with such matters.

Lily didn't know - had not the slightest idea, in fact - why she was so keen on believing this man. Hope was a dangerous thing. It slithered into your skin like a stealthy poison and by the time you realized it, it had already infected the crucial points of your body and now all you can do, the only thing you're capable of doing, is watch in horrified silence as your body ceased to be yours and readied itself for eternal rest.

Even as these thoughts played over and over in the back of her mind, at that moment she was helpless against the magnetism of his dark ruthless gaze. Those eyes drilled into hers, searching and scrutinizing.

"What is it?" his velvet voice rushed into her, turning her oddly breathless.

"You told me you're waiting for my input on Santano." Even she cringed at herself the moment those words left her lips, wondering which creative reason he would come up with to break it down to her, slowly and gently, that he wasn't in his right mind when he made such promises. Maybe he arrived at her house drunk that night? Now that was a fairly common excuse men liked to throw about, in her shrewd observations.

But, hey, no judgment there. She did the same on multiple occasions.

A careful look slid into his eyes, clashing in an odd manner with the callousness still present. "What would you like me to do? I assure you, it will be done."

There seemed to be a wrecking sensation in her chest that she couldn't pinpoint the source of right then at his answer. Unexpected, yet welcome.

"Cut him off. Alone and exposed, without any backing."

He nodded.

That easy acceptance set off a stream of doubt because she was one complicated nuisance. "What about your companies?" she fired. It was all she could do against the ruthless onslaught.

He tilted his head, tone carefully casual. "I'm not lacking in men, Lilithe."

"Why choose him in the first place? What did you see in him?"

His eyes grew sharper. "I simply liked him the least. As such, his death wouldn't have been a tragedy."

The days following by had Lily living on the brink of a tethering uncertainty. It wasn't until Blaise had her stand behind a painted partition, watching over his meeting as he publicly dismissed Santano, withdrawing his protection from that rat-infested bastard that something pushed her off that cliff and she went down, down, down, unsure what awaited her - a bramble of thorns or a nest of petals. Would she be left bleeding a lake of her own blood, or that of her enemies?