Chapter 11 Tempting Offers
Anna’s POV
My blood was still ice when I slowly turned around.
Lucas stood just inside the room, one shoulder resting casually against the doorframe, his hands tucked into his pockets like he hadn’t just walked in on a private call that could cost me my life.
For a second, neither of us spoke.
Then he smiled.
It wasn’t Xavier’s smile. There was no sharp edge to it, no threat lurking beneath.
Lucas’s smile was warm, almost apologetic, like he’d walked in on me changing instead of uncovering something dangerous.
“Who were you talking to?” he asked lightly.
The question landed softly, but it echoed loud in my chest.
I forced my shoulders to relax. Forced my breathing to steady.
If he had discovered my secret, this wouldn’t be the tone. He wouldn’t be asking.
“A friend,” I said, keeping my voice even. “She works at the police station.”
Lucas hummed, pushing himself off the doorframe as he stepped fully inside the room.
He didn’t close the door behind him. That, somehow, made it worse.
“A friend in the police?” he repeated thoughtfully. “Interesting.”
My fingers curled into the fabric of my dress. “Is that a problem?”
“No,” he said quickly. Too quickly. “Not at all.”
He walked closer, stopping a few steps away from me, close enough that I could smell his cologne, clean, subtle, comforting in a way that made me uneasy.
“But,” he added gently, “I’m curious.”
I lifted my chin, meeting his gaze.
“Why didn’t you call this friend while you were in prison?”
The question slid in smoothly, like a blade wrapped in silk.
My throat tightened.
For half a second, my mind went blank. Too many answers, none safe enough.
Then instinct kicked in.
“The warder wouldn’t let me,” I said. “I asked. More than once.”
Lucas’s eyes searched my face.
I didn’t rush to fill the silence. I didn’t overexplain. I let the lie breathe.
He studied me for a long moment, his expression unreadable now.
Finally, he nodded.
“That’s believable,” he said.
Relief hit me so hard I almost sagged.
He exhaled softly, as though the conversation had tired him, then glanced toward the window.
“Prison warders enjoy power,” he continued casually. “Especially over women who don’t have anyone to protect them.”
Something in his voice shifted at that last part.
I swallowed. “So… you understand why I made the call.”
Lucas turned back to me. “Yes,” he said. “I understand.”
The tension in my chest loosened just a little. Enough for me to breathe again.
“But,” he added, stepping closer, lowering his voice, “you should know something.”
I stiffened.
“No amount of police officers you call,” Lucas said calmly, “would be able to rescue you from Xavier’s mansion.”
The words weren’t cruel. They weren’t threatening.
They were simply… factual.
I stared at him, my heart thudding. Then I shook my head slowly. “I know.”
His brows lifted slightly, surprised.
“I know where I am,” I continued. “I know what kind of man he is.”
Lucas watched me closely now, as if trying to read between my words.
“I just…” I hesitated, choosing my next sentence carefully. “I needed to hear a voice that wasn’t his.”
Something softened in Lucas’s eyes.
For the first time since he entered the room, he sighed. “That,” he said quietly, “I understand very well.”
Silence settled between us, heavier now, but not hostile.
“So,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper, “you confirm that I need rescuing.”
Lucas didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, he reached out, not to touch me, but to pick up my phone from the bed.
He turned it over in his hand, studying it like it was a dangerous object.
“Rescuing,” he repeated slowly.
Then he set the phone back down and looked at me again.
“Anna,” he said, using my name in a way that made it feel intimate, “do you know why Xavier keeps people like me close?”
I shook my head.
“Because I see things he doesn’t,” Lucas said. “And I fix problems before they become threats.”
My pulse quickened. “And what am I?” I asked. “A problem?”
His lips curved into a small, sad smile. “You’re… complicated.”
He stepped closer again, close enough now that I had to tilt my head to look up at him.
“I told you at the prison,” he said softly. “My offer still stands.”
My heart skipped. “What offer?”
His eyes dropped briefly to my lips, then back to my eyes. “Protection,” he said.
“Patience. And a way out, when the time is right.”
“When?” I asked.
Lucas didn’t answer.
Instead, he lifted a hand and gently brushed a loose strand of hair away from my face.
The touch was light, almost hesitant, as if he were asking permission even as he did it.
“For now,” he murmured, “you stay exactly where you are.”
The words should have frightened me.
Instead, they made my chest ache.
He stepped back, breaking the moment, his mask sliding back into place.
“Get some rest,” Lucas said. “Tomorrow will be… busy.”
He turned toward the door, then paused.
“And Anna?” he added without looking back.
“Yes?”
Lucas looked at me for a moment, his expression unreadable. Then he said calmly, almost casually, “Xavier doesn’t care about you.”
The words landed heavier than I expected.
“To him, you’re just goods,” Lucas continued. “Something to be sold, traded, discarded. If you want to survive in this mansion… you’ll do exactly what I tell you.”
My throat tightened.
Survive.
That word echoed loudly in my head.
I swallowed and nodded. “Yes.”
The answer came easily,but inside, caution stirred.
A quiet, sharp instinct that had kept me alive all these years whispered that nothing in this world came free. Especially not help.
He studied my face, as if searching for something, fear, relief, weakness. I held his gaze, careful, measured.
The silence stretched.
Then I asked the question that had been burning in my chest.
“Why are you helping me?”
Lucas didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, he stepped closer. One step.
Then another.
My breath hitched as the space between us disappeared.
I could feel the heat of him now, solid and real, his presence pressing into mine.
My pulse hammered.
He lifted his hand slowly, deliberately, as if giving me time to pull away.
I didn’t.
His fingers brushed my chin, warm, gentle, tilting my face upward.
I stiffened.
This better not be what I think it is.