Lili & Raf
This time will be different.
She breathes in. Tells herself it’s fine. Just a conversation, not a confrontation. But her stomach knots anyway.
The last time she came here, to this stretch of downtown LA, she lost control. Screamed. Shoved Raf to the pavement. Lili hadn’t meant to push her. She only wanted Raf to see it. The pain. The betrayal. But she can still picture it—Raf stumbling back, hitting the ground. And now here she is again. Back where it all went down.
They’d been out on his balcony, finishing a Bordeaux, when Gareth said it: “Find Raf. Make it right.”
Lili waved him off, not in the mood to hear it, much less take the high road. “Still doesn’t change the fact that she dated my husband.”
“You need someone to blame?” Gareth held her gaze, daring her to deny it. “Blame Alexander. Blame Casey. But hasn’t Raf been through enough?”
Typical, self-righteous Gareth. Always hunting for the moral high ground like it gave him license to look down on everyone else.
Still, he had a point, she tells herself, walking the cold, industrial hallway, just as she sees it: Raf’s logo on the door. Lili knocks once. Then opens it without waiting.
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Across the room, Raf looks up from her desk, gaze sharpening as if preparing for impact.
“Can I help you?”
“Hi, Raf. I hoped we could talk. I’m not here to fight.”
“Not like the last two times?”
Lili steps through the threshold, inching closer into the room. Her voice finds its footing, more conviction than she thought she had left. “I was wrong. About everything. I know now what Alexander did. Casey’s part in it. You were played… just like me.”
“We were more than played,” Raf says, no forgiveness in her eyes. “Crimes were committed. I wasn’t just manipulated. I was targeted. Stalked. Humiliated. It’s been one endless assault.”
“I know.” Lili nods, grateful for even a sliver of space to speak. “And I’m so sorry.”
“Thanks for saying that.” Raf exhales, the tension in her voice easing just a bit. “I’m sorry too. For both of us.”
Lili’s eyes sweep the studio—sunlight slanting through tall warehouse windows, catching on iron shelves and exposed brick. Dust drifts through the air, settling on the worn antique rug. Messy, but beautiful. Effortlessly elegant. Just like Raf. And yet this woman’s entire life had been torched. Burned to ash by Alexander’s obsession.
“Have you thought about reporting him? Alexander. To the board?”
“No,” Raf says, too fast.
“Why not?”
“Because that’s what he wants, Lili. He wants a fight. But… I’ve got my kids. The divorce. My life… already a mess. All I want is peace.”
Lili watches her, a flicker of resolve crossing her face. “But someone needs to.”
“I know. I just… can’t be that person right now.”
“Then I will,” Lili says, lifting her chin, eyes steady as she meets Raf’s. “I’ll make sure he can’t do this again. Not to us. Not to anyone.”