Part 36 –
Sometimes the most dangerous rooms aren't boardrooms or courtrooms.
They're candlelit tables where power is served with dessert.
The Setting
The restaurant was hidden inside a private mansion in the hills an invitation-only dining club reserved for the world's most elusive elite. No paparazzi. No press. Just a single table set in a glass-walled room overlooking the glittering skyline.
Lucien Luthor waited there.
Impeccably dressed in a midnight-blue suit, his smile polished, sharp. His gaze predatory.
Lila entered, head high, steel in her spine. Her black satin dress clung to her like armor, her mother's vintage diamond pin at her collar a quiet reminder of what she fought for.
"You look like your mother," Lucien said, rising with a glass of wine in hand. "Though Eleanor never would've dared come here alone."
Lila didn't smile. "I'm not her."
"No," he said, settling back into his chair. "You're louder. Riskier. And far more dangerous."
The Offer
They dined on foie gras and smoked duck, but it was never about the food.
Lucien finally leaned forward, swirling his wine.
"You've made your point. You've hurt me, stirred the mob, shaken confidence. But what you don't understand is… I don't lose. I negotiate."
Lila arched a brow. "Negotiate? Is that what you call covering up theft, buying silence, and slandering my name?"
Lucien's eyes glinted. "You've bled me in public. But let's not pretend you haven't been bloodied too."
He slid a sleek black folder across the table.
Inside were photographs. Bank statements. Documents.
Of Ethan.
Years ago.
Before Wolfe. When he was still working for an investment firm one that had once briefly advised Luthor Enterprises.
"Your precious Ethan once helped me crush a biotech startup. He brokered it without knowing the depth of my involvement. But ignorance isn't innocence."
Lila's hands clenched. "He didn't know who you were."
"But the world won't care," Lucien replied softly. "If I release this to the press, it'll look like he's been your mole. That Wolfe's trust was never yours it was mine, through him."
Lila's voice was like ice. "What do you want?"
Lucien smiled. "A truce. You drop the crusade. Cease public comments. Withdraw the files from litigation. I fade from the spotlight quietly. And Ethan stays untouched."
He poured more wine.
"You win the war on paper. I keep my hands clean. Everyone walks away."
The Dilemma
Lila sat in silence for a long moment, every nerve on fire.
Lucien thought he could corner her. Thought her love for Ethan made her weak.
But he underestimated one thing.
She wasn't choosing between love and justice.
She was choosing how to fight.
When she rose, Lucien leaned back, smug. "So we have a deal?"
Lila reached across the table then slowly pulled the folder back into her bag.
"No," she said, voice steady. "You're going to release that file anyway, even if I agree."
Lucien blinked.
"Because you can't help but poison things. It's who you are. But here's what you don't know." She leaned in close, her eyes burning.
"Ethan told me about that deal two nights ago. I already knew."
Lucien's smile faltered.
"I also know he spent the last four years trying to make up for it helping the very startups you tried to bury. That's what love is, Lucien. It doesn't blind you. It makes you braver."
She turned.
"And the next time you want to use someone I love against me choose someone more fragile."
The Aftermath
Back at Wolfe Tower, Lila found Ethan waiting in her office, pacing.
The moment she walked in, he ran to her. "He threatened you, didn't he? What did he offer?"
Lila tossed the folder onto the desk. "Everything. And nothing."
She cupped his face, eyes softening.
"He tried to use your past to rewrite my future. But he didn't realize we're not afraid of the truth anymore."
Ethan pulled her into a tight embrace, burying his face in her neck.
"I should've told you sooner."
"You did," she whispered. "When it mattered."