Lila’s POV
It was exactly midnight, and the entire mansion was completely wrapped in a heavy, suffocating silence. I was sitting cross-legged right in the center of my bed, the bright screen of the brand-new laptop Lucien had bought me illuminating the dark room with a cool, blue glow. My fingers were flying across the keyboard, the soft, rhythmic clicking of the keys the only sound cutting through the quiet air as I typed up a new history assignment for my morning class.
For the first time in what felt like actual weeks, I was feeling super productive. Having my student portal restored and my final essay saved gave me a burst of energy. I didn't want to waste a single second of the chance Lucien had given me to keep my grades up, so I had been grinding on my coursework since eight o'clo
