The Wife He Never Meant to Love (Lila and Damon) novel Chapter 60

Chapter 60

Chapter 60

Lila didn’t return to the bedroom.

Instead, she walked toward the presidential suite’s private bar.

The city glittered outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, distant and cold. The suite was silent

She opened the cabinet.

Found whiskey.

Poured a glass.

Sat down.

And drank slowly.

The burn steadied her.

Her phone buzzed. Ina.

Lila placed it on speaker and leaned back in the bar chair.

“So?” Ina asked immediately. “What happened?”

“He stayed,” Lila said simply.

“With her?” Ina’s voice sharpened.

“Yes.”

A beat of silence.

–

“What a bad dog,” Ina snapped. “Licking someone else’s wounds while leaving his owner alone.”

Despite herself, Lila exhaled faintly through her nose.

“He didn’t exactly leave me unguarded,” she said dryly. “He posted bodyguards outside my door.”

Ina scoffed. “That’s not protection. That’s possession.”

Lila swirled the whiskey in her glass.

After a moment, she asked quietly, “By the way… how do you make a man leave you?”

Ina didn’t hesitate.

“Easy. Ask him for a ridiculous amount of money.”

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Chapter 60

“That won’t work,” Lila replied calmly.

“Why not?”

“He’d just transfer it.”

Ina paused.

“Okay… then go out with other men. Publicly.”

Lila took another sip.

“Every time I get involved with another man,” she said evenly, “he nearly beats them to death.”

There was a long silence.

“You’re exaggerating,” Ina said, though uncertainty crept into her voice.

“No,” Lila replied. “I saw it once. Foster’s son. Daven. He passed out.”

Another pause.

“You’re serious?”

“Yes.”

Ina inhaled slowly. “That’s not normal jealousy.”

“I know.”

Silence stretched between them.

“Then maybe,” Ina said carefully, “do the opposite.”

“What opposite?”

“Be the crazy jealous wife. Emotional. Unpredictable. Loud. Embarrass him.”

Lila went still.

Crazy jealous wife.

For a brief second, memory surfaced.

Maddy’s voice.

Smooth.

Calculated.

Damon doesn’t like women who can’t control their emotions.

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Chapter 60

Lila stared at the reflection of the city lights in her glass.

Controlled.

Composed.

Rational.

That was who she had been since the beginning.

Maybe that was why Damon always remained one step ahead.

Maybe control was his territory.

A slow thought formed.

If he disliked emotional instability…

What would happen if she became exactly that?

Ina’s voice broke the silence. “You’re not actually considering it, are you?”

Lila set the glass down gently.

“For a moment,” she admitted, “I thought it was beneath me.”

“And now?”

A faint smirk curved her lips.

“Now I think it might be effective.”

Ina groaned. “Don’t start a war.”

“I won’t,” Lila replied softly.

“I’ll just change the battlefield.”

She ended the call.

Finished the rest of her whiskey.

Outside the suite, Damon’s bodyguards stood firm at their posts.

Inside, Lila leaned back in her chair, eyes calm, mind calculating.

If Damon valued control-

She would become chaos.

And this time-

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12:33 Mon, May 4 M…

Chapter 60

She would not be the one reacting.

She would be the one moving first.

At the hospital, the steady beep of monitors filled the room.

Finally, Maddy’s breathing evened. Her eyelids fluttered closed, and she drifted into sleep.

Damon didn’t sit. He lingered for a moment, then turned toward the door.

“Keep monitoring her,” he instructed the nurse. “Call me immediately if anything changes.”

The nurse nodded and stepped aside.

Damon’s eyes flicked to his phone, which buzzed with a notification.

It was from one of his men-assigned to watch Lila.

“Sir, your wife is drunk,” the message read.

Damon glanced up from the screen casually. “Go check on her.”

“Yes, sir…” the man replied, hesitation evident in his tone.

Damon raised a brow. “Why the pause?”

There was a long beat before another message arrived, this time a photo.

He unlocked it.

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Lila sat on the couch. The low light of the suite highlighted her sharp, deliberate features. She held a glass of whiskey loosely in her hand. Her thin nightgown draped lightly over her frame, revealing the slender line of her neck, the curve of her shoulders, the hint of collarbone. Legs crossed, posture casual-but purposeful.

Damon’s brows knitted.

Now he understood the man’s hesitation.

He remembered everything she had told him about whiskey. How she could barely tolerate the taste. How even a small sip was enough to make her dizzy.

And yet here she was-intentionally, deliberately drinking.

His fingers tightened around the phone.

The car keys were next.

He left the hospital, mind racing.

The engine roared as he floored the gas.

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Chapter 60

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Every turn of the wheel replayed in his head: her smirk, her relaxed pose, the calculated way she had exposed her vulnerability while maintaining control.

Why would Lila act this way?

Damon remembered clearly: she had never drunk whiskey.

Never.

Every instinct in him screamed: this was deliberate.

A message. A challenge.

And he was going to find out exactly what she meant by it.

Damon reached the man in the suit and froze for a moment at the sight of Lila leaning far too close. His eyes narrowed. “Watch her,” he ordered, his voice low and deadly.

The man struggled, trying to pull away, but Lila pressed her full weight against him. She whispered softly, sweetly, and his face went slack, utterly helpless. No one dared touch her when she moved like that.

The moment he saw Damon, all defiance drained from him. Damon didn’t hesitate. He scooped Lila into his arms, carrying her to the bedroom and laying her gently on the bed. Then he turned back to the man.

The man knew exactly what was coming. Damon’s fist connected with his jaw before he even had a chance to react. Snatching the phone from his stunned fingers, Damon deleted every photo of Lila. He hated it—hated it-when any other man looked at her or kept a memory of her for themselves.

Lila watched the man stagger away. A faint, amused smile played on her lips. “Poor thing,” she murmured. “He didn’t do anything… and yet he got punished.”

Damon’s gaze snapped to her, dark and intense. “Did you enjoy rubbing yourself against him… watching him. get beat?”

“What? Am I not allowed to leave my scent on them?” Lila replied, tilting her head, her voice teasing. “Just like Maddy rubs her scent on you?”

Damon’s jaw tightened, but the corner of his lips twitched. Dangerous, possessive, but utterly enthralled.

Damon set his jacket aside and lifted Lila into his arms, holding her close. The warmth of her body pressed against him, familiar and irresistible. He brushed a gentle kiss across her forehead, letting his lips linger near hers, so close that the heat between them seemed to hum in the quiet room.

Lila shifted slightly, a nervous laugh escaping her lips. “Damon… what are you doing?”

His eyes darkened, soft yet commanding. “You leave your mark on everyone else… why won’t you leave it for me?” he murmured, brushing his hand over hers. “I’m the one who should feel it.”

Her voice trembled softly. “Damon…. please… it’s my first day today…” A flicker of worry crossed her eyes- she’d forgotten her pills-and he caught it instantly.

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Chapter 60

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He pressed another tender kiss to her forehead, brushing away her worry with the gentlest of touches. “I’ve got you,” he whispered, his voice low, possessive, yet gentle. “Always.”

He finally set her down just enough to step into a cold shower, letting the water run over him, but leaving the memory of him close enough to linger. Lila curled beneath the blankets, sinking into their warmth. Her mind drifted, imagining the strength of his arms, the weight of his presence, the quiet certainty that he would always protect her.

Even in sleep. Damon’s claim over her lingered, unspoken but undeniable. She felt it in the way the sheets shifted, in the way her heartbeat settled, in the quiet that filled the room around her. Safe. Wanted. His.

12:41 Mon, May 4 M….