Young Master Lucien’s Bride

Chapter Seventeen

Lila’s POV

The next morning, the house was surprisingly quiet.

The usual suffocating tension that seemed to follow Lucien around from room to room was completely gone, mostly because he actually had to fly out to Chicago at dawn for some merger. He was going to be gone for at least two days, leaving me completely alone with Arthur and the rest of the mansion's staff.

For the first time since I arrived here, I felt like I could actually breathe without checking over my shoulder every five seconds. I decided to take full advantage of his absence by planning a movie night in the mansion's private theater room. I wasn't going to spend another day pacing my bedroom floor or throwing a tennis ball against the wall until my arm fell off.

I found Maya in the hallway and gave her a direct order, demanding that she bring me an ungodly amount of hot buttered popcorn, a giant bowl of sour candy, and a glass of ice-cold soda. To her credit, she didn't even blink this time. She just nodded quickly and scurried off to the kitchen, returning ten minutes later with a tray piled so high with junk food it looked like a concession stand.

The theater room was just as ridiculous as everything else Lucien owned. It had plush leather recliners, dark velvet walls, and a screen that took up the entire far wall. I threw myself into the center seat, wrapped myself in a heavy blanket, and put on a classic horror movie.

I was halfway through the movie, completely engrossed in the plot, when a jump scare made me yell out loud.

"Don't go in there, you i***t!" I screamed at the screen, tossing a piece of popcorn at the glass. "Why is the main character always dumb enough to go into the basement without a weapon? Turn around!"

"Madam?"

A strained voice broke through the sound of the movie's creepy soundtrack.

I jumped a mile into the air, my heart throwing itself against my ribs as I whirled around in the leather seat. Arthur was standing in the doorway of the dim theater room. The bright light from the screen hit his face, and my stomach instantly twisted into a tight knot. He was holding a ringing cell phone in his hand, and he looked nervous. His usual stiff, unbothered posture was completely gone, replaced by a pale, tense expression that made him look ten years older.

He clicked a button on the side of the phone, silencing the ringer, but he didn't put it away.

"What is it, Arthur?" I asked, throwing the blanket off my legs as a sudden wave of anxiety washed over me. "Is something wrong?"

"There is a call, Madam," Arthur said, his voice remarkably tight as he stepped into the room. "It is from a private medical facility. The emergency coordinator is on the line, asking urgently for Mr. Knight."

My stomach instantly drops into a bottomless pit. The air completely left my lungs, and for a second, the room started to spin. My mind instantly jumped to the worst-case scenario involving my mom's safety. I pictured flatlining monitors, rushing doctors, and a phone call telling me that the experimental treatments had failed, and she was gone.

"Is it my mom?" I choked out, rushing down the steps of the theater toward him. My hands were shaking so violently I could barely keep my footing. "Did something happen to her? Is she okay?"

"It is not about your mother’s health, madam," Arthur said quickly, trying to calm me down as he extended the ringing phone toward my hand. "She is stable. But it is an emergency coordinator from the security detail. There has been a major security breach near the facility."

I didn't even hesitate. I snatched the phone out of his hand, pressing the device hard against my ear.

"This is Lila Knight," I said, my voice trembling with adrenaline. "Lu…. No. My husband is on a plane to Chicago. Tell me exactly what is going on at the hospital right now."

"Mrs. Knight," a harried, professional voice answered on the other end. I could hear the faint sound of shouting and chaos in the background of the call. "We've been trying to reach Mr. Knight's line. We have a situation here. A group of aggressive paparazzi tried to bribe their way into the oncology ward less than twenty minutes ago."

My jaw clenched so hard my teeth ached. "What do you mean, bribe their way in?"

"They were disguised, madam," the coordinator explained, his tone tight with frustration. "They were pretending to be delivery drivers carrying medical supplies and flowers. They managed to clear the first perimeter check before our onsite team flagged their press badges. They were trying to get inside the private wing to take unauthorized photos of your mother to sell to the tabloids. The media coverage regarding your marriage has become completely volatile."

The rage that bubbled up inside me at those words was unlike anything I’ve ever felt in my entire life. It was a hot, blinding fury that completely burned away the last remnants of my fear.

These vultures. These monsters. It wasn't enough that they had chased me up the steps of the courthouse, or that they had screamed hideous insults at me outside the restaurant. Now, they were trying to hunt down a sick, fragile woman who was fighting for her life in a hospital bed, all for a stupid paycheck and a trashy headline. They wanted to turn my mother's cancer into a public spectacle.

"Where are they now?" I hissed, my fingers digging into the plastic casing of the phone until my knuckles turned white.

"Our security team has detained three of them in the main lobby, but a crowd is starting to form outside the gates," the coordinator replied. "We are handling the situation according to standard protocol, but we required Mr. Knight’s authorization to involve the legal team and elevate the perimeter restriction to lockdown."

"You have my authorization," I snapped, my voice ringing with a cold, fierce authority I didn't even know I possessed. "Lock the entire building down. Nobody goes in or out unless their name is on my personal list. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, Mrs. Knight. We will initiate a lockdown immediately."

I hung up the phone without another word, tossing the device back into Arthur's hands. My whole body was vibrating with a dangerous, restless energy. I remembered the promise I had made to my dad on the night before I left my childhood home. 'Don't let that man change who you are. Remember your true identity. You are fierce, just like your mother said.'

Well, I was going to show these people exactly how fierce I could be. I wasn't going to sit around in a plush leather chair eating candy while a bunch of low-life reporters terrified my family. I wasn't going to wait for Lucien to finish his meetings in Chicago or call his lawyers from an airplane. This was my mother, and this was my fight.

I turned to Arthur, my eyes flashing in the dim light of the theater room.

"Get the car ready, Arthur," I ordered, my tone leaving zero room for argument. "Right now."

Arthur blinked, looking completely scandalized by the suggestion. "Madam, with all due respect, Mr. Knight’s strict instructions were for you to remain inside the perimeter of this house at all times for your own safety. Going down there yourself—"

"I don't give a damn about Lucien's rules right now, Arthur!" I interrupted, stepping closer to him, my chest heaving with rage. "Those people are trying to corner my mother. I am going down there myself to handle it, and if you don't get the driver to start the car in the next thirty seconds, I will steal the keys and drive the damn thing myself. Do you understand me?"

Arthur stared at me for a long, heavy second, evaluating the fury in my expression. He must have realized that there was no way to stop me without physically tackling me to the ground, because his stiff shoulders finally dropped just a fraction.

"I will have the security detail prepare the armored SUV immediately, Mrs. Knight," Arthur said softly, bowing his head. "Please allow me to accompany you."

"Fine. Just hurry up," I muttered, marching past him out of the theater room. I didn't even bother to change out of my sweatpants or the oversized football jersey I was still wearing. I didn't care how I looked. I was going to a war zone, and the vultures outside were about to find out exactly what happened when they crossed the line.