Her Billionaire, His Lover

CHAPTER 2: DON’T BE HERE

The room fell into a hush.

Executives glanced up, confused. The suited man from earlier arched a brow, amused. Lila’s face turned a shade paler, her lips parted in disbelief.

She was moving, but she felt she was not moving too fast as the guards hurried after her.

She met him halfway, stopping just before the glass door.

Her voice was low, controlled. “You shouldn’t be here, Tony.”

Tony gave a bitter smile. “That’s funny. I was about to say the same to you. These people don’t look happy.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I work here.”

“And so was I. I was just your bartender, remember?” he said, forcing a smile. “Just passing drinks and dodging insults.”

Lila’s shoulders tensed. “This isn’t the place.”

Before Tony could answer, the guards caught up to them.

The same men who had pinned him at the bar. He clenched his fist as if this time he was ready for war.

They surged forward without hesitation.

Tony stumbled back as they closed in, hands reaching for his arms again. One grabbed his shoulder.

But he punched the other so hard that he went down straight to the floor.

“Back off!” Lila’s voice cracked through the room like a whip.

The guards stopped mid-motion, unsure.

“I said step back,” she repeated, firmer now, and they obeyed. They were slowly retreating, but their eyes were still locked on Tony.

The room was silent again.

Everyone was watching now. They could hear them as the door was wide open

Tony looked at Lila. “So… this is what you meant by a horror movie.”

There was a silent murmur in the conference room as he said that.

She didn’t laugh. “Tony, please. I’ll try and explain later, not here.”

“When?” he asked, his voice softer now but laced with something fragile. “Because it looks like you’ve got a whole world here I’m not part of.”

Lila sighed, brushing her fingers through her hair. “Give me two hours. Maybe three. The meeting wasn’t supposed to drag this long. Wait for me. Please.”

Tony hesitated. Everything in him screamed to walk out and leave it behind.

But something in her eyes begged him to stay, something that was equal parts apology and desperation, made him pause.

He nodded once. “I’ll be at the bar.”

Lila took a small step forward, as if she wanted to say more. But then she stopped herself.

Tony turned, walked out of the conference room, and Lila walked back to the door, clicked it, and shut it behind him.

This time, no one stopped him.

But the silence in the room behind him was heavier than any door.

As he stepped back into the bar, the atmosphere had shifted.

Everyone was staring at him.

The guests. The staff. Even Jesse at the far end paused mid-pour, serving one of his customers.

Tony returned to his seat at the bar, exhaling hard. He reached for the glass he’d left behind, still half full, and he drained it in one gulp.

From the side, Jesse appeared, towel slung over one shoulder, a look of disbelief painted across his face.

“Dude,” he said, his voice tight, “what the hell was that?”

Tony didn’t look up. “It’s nothing.”

“All that and you say it’s nothing?”

Tony glanced at him. “It was about a girl.”

Jesse stared. “A girl?”

“Yeah,” Tony said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Lila. The one from earlier. She—she gave me a card. We talked. Then this guy came with guards, took the card, and pushed me around. Turns out she works here. The meeting in this very hotel, she’s part of it.”

Jesse blinked. “So let me get this straight. You just met her, I mean, like today, and you followed her into a high-level conference like some lovesick i***t?”

Tony didn’t answer.

“You’ve lost it,” Jesse continued, his voice rising. “I told you to chill. Take a break. Get a job behind the bar and rebuild, not walk into someone else’s life like a damn fool!”

“I’m not walking into her life. I just—” Tony started, but Jesse cut him off.

“You don’t know this girl. You know nothing about her. For all you know, she’s married, or dangerous, or tied to something that’s going to get you killed!”

“She’s not,” Tony said sharply, almost too quickly.

Jesse slammed his palm against the counter, drawing more stares. “You’re betting everything on a girl you just met, man. You know who deserves that kind of blind loyalty? Your mother. Not some stranger in heels and a tight dress.”

At the mention of his mother, something dark flickered across Tony’s face.

His whole posture changed, his eyes hardened, and his shoulders tensed like coiled rope.

“Don’t,” he said quietly.

Jesse paused. “What?”

“I said, don’t bring up my mother.”

“I’m just saying—”

“I said don’t,” Tony snapped, rising from the stool. His voice was low but charged, like the calm just before a lightning strike.

The bar fell silent again.

Tony grabbed his coat off the chair, turned, and walked out, pushing the doors open with force.

Jesse called after him once, then stopped.

Tony didn’t look back.

His mind was spinning, heart burning with a mix of shame, confusion, and a fury he didn’t quite understand. He was supposed to wait for Lila, but the heat in his chest blinded him.

He didn’t even realise he’d forgotten… until he was already outside.

And Lila was still in the meeting, expecting him to wait.

Meanwhile, in the conference, men in tailored suits and women in sharp skirts sat with their shoulders drawn tight, their eyes shifting cautiously between Lila Josh and Tyler Spencer.

“Why would you bring guards to a management meeting?” Lila asked.

Tyler, the very man who harassed Tony, was who Lila was referring to.

“They are for my protection and getting from what I see, too, they serve you too," he said so coldly, like he was warning everyone who cares to listen.

Tyler leaned back in his chair at the head of the table like a king refusing to surrender his throne. His fingers tapped slowly on a leather folder, the very one containing the documents Lila had requested.

Lila stood at the far end, composed but unyielding, every inch of her radiating precision and quiet power.

She broke the silence. “Tyler,” she said coolly, “what exactly did you do to Tony?”

He didn’t even blink. “Irrelevant. We’re not here to discuss some bartender you picked up in the lounge.”

Lila’s eyes narrowed. “He’s not… He’s—” she paused, then shifted, “someone you harassed. With guards. Inside this hotel.”

Tyler waved a dismissive hand. “Let’s move on, Lila. We’re here to talk about leadership. And as far as I’m concerned, you’re not ready.”

A small gasp sounded from someone at the table, but no one dared speak.

Lila c****d her head to the side. “Oh? That’s rich coming from the man who’s been losing investors on the Steel Project for six straight quarters.”

Tyler flushed slightly but held his voice steady. “That project is complex. You wouldn’t understand—”

“I wouldn’t understand?” Lila’s voice sharpened. She stepped forward and dropped a tablet onto the table in front of him, screen lit.

“I personally secured the deal with Lancast Holdings. I renegotiated the import levy with the Port Authority. I rewrote the cost-to-yield ratio after your bloated estimates nearly tanked the launch. And I had to fly in at 3 a.m. to calm down the Senator, who was threatening to pull regulatory support last week. You didn’t even know about that, did you?”

Tyler blinked, caught off guard.

“And let me remind you,” she continued, “that while you were cozying up to the press, I’ve been the one signing off on payroll, compliance, and client risk for the past two years.”

Gasps now turned to sidelong glances. Executives exchanged wary looks.

Lila’s voice dropped to a near-whisper, but it cut sharper than a knife.

“I’m not one of the morons you hired as guards. I’m a corporate strategist, and this empire has stayed afloat because I’ve been working behind the scenes while you flexed your ego in public.”

Tyler sat forward now, angry, trying to reclaim control. “Fine,” he said. “Let’s call for a vote, then. Let the board decide who leads.”

But before anyone could reach for the voting slips, Lila raised a hand.

“No one’s voting.”

The room froze again.

“That’s not how this works. Not when there’s a policy in place, your policy, Tyler. In the event of an executive transition due to absence or retirement, leadership defaults to me. No vote necessary.”

The others stared at her in disbelief.

She turned her head slightly, giving them all a small, reassuring nod, a silent message: You’re safe. I won’t let him come after you.

Tyler’s face twitched with fury. “I’ll speak to your father before I hand anything over.”

Lila didn’t flinch. “You won’t have the time. Because by the time you get home, I’ll have filed a revocation of your shares. You’ll lose your seat. And if you’d like to contest it, you can speak to legal, not my father.”

Tyler stood now, his chair screeching behind him.

“You’ve grown teeth, Lila.”

She smiled, calm and unfazed. “No. I’ve always had teeth. You just never noticed because I let you talk so much.”

For a moment, Tyler looked like he might charge forward, like the urge to throw something might overtake him.

But instead, he grabbed the folder of documents, snapped it open, and threw it across the table at her.

The pages were scattered like feathers.

“You want it?” he growled. Take it. And everything that comes with it.”

Lila slowly gathered the pages, straightened them, and slid them neatly into her leather briefcase.

When she looked up, her voice was calm, final.

“I already have.”

And with that, she sat back.

Tyler stormed out, his expensive shoes pounding against the polished marble floor of the De Royal Hotel’s lobby. His guards flanked him like shadows, their movements tight and rehearsed.

Behind him, Lila followed in a fast stride, her heels clicking furiously. She had barely zipped her briefcase when she noticed the storm brewing in Tyler’s eyes at the end of the boardroom, and she knew instantly where he was headed.

“The bar,” she whispered under her breath, already regretting not telling Tony to wait somewhere else.