Chapter 22

Lily turned her head slightly, almost against her will, and her eyes met David’s. For a fraction of a second, the world seemed to narrow down to just that locked stare. His expression was unreadable too composed, too still—but the subtle tightening around his eyes betrayed something more dangerous. And then, without warning, Lily broke the connection. Her chin dipped, and she turned her head away, as if the sight of him was nothing more than a passing blur in a room full of strangers. It was deliberate. David’s hand clenched at his side, fingers curling into a tight fist. His jaw locked, the muscles twitching once before stilling. The air between them seemed to thicken, charged with an unspoken challenge. How dare she? The Lily he knew would never have looked at him that way. She would have at least acknowledged him, whether in anger or in sarcasm, but never with this… absence. It was as if she had erased him entirely from her world. And that cut deeper than any sharp retort could. Mar