365 Nights, Two Stepbrothers, One Me.

Lila Sinclair's POV

I stood in front of the gates of the Blackwood mansion with my suitcase beside me, looking like a rejected airport passenger who had taken a wrong turn into rich people's territory.

The gates were tall black iron, twisted into fancy patterns that probably cost more than my entire university education.

Then there was the mansion itself.

Good Lord.

The place rose in the distance like something built for kings, billionaires, or people who had never worried about transport fare a day in their lives.

It was beautiful. It was intimidating. It was the kind of house where you'd be scared to sneeze too loudly.

For a second, I just stood there, fingers curling around the strap of my bag, wondering how the hell my life had flipped this fast.

Just last week, I was in a tiny one-room apartment, celebrating the fact that I had finally graduated college with the certificate my mother had killed herself working for me to have. And now, she was gone.

No...not gone. Imprisoned.

A life sentence. Murder and theft. Words so heavy they didn't even sound like her. But the government didn't care about explanations. They didn't care that my mother, my best friend, had only done what she did to make sure I had the kind of life she never could. They only cared about punishment.

So here I was, standing in front of the mansion of her ex-lover. Mr. Blackwood. A man I'd never met in my life, but who somehow agreed to take me in, adopt me, and drag me across borders into a world I never asked for.

I was still drowning in those thoughts when the sleek black car rolled up the driveway and stopped in front of me. The door opened and Mr. Blackwood himself stepped out, tall and sharp in his gray suit, his salt and pepper hair slicked back like he'd just walked out of a magazine. He didn't look like someone my mom would've once loved. He looked... untouchable.

"Lila," he said warmly, his deep voice pulling me out of my daze. He walked over and rested a hand lightly on my shoulder. "Look at who's grown big," he teased and gave out a calm smile. "You'll be fine here. I promise."

Fine. The word stung. I couldn't even remember the last time I had been fine.

I nodded anyway, forcing a polite smile. "Thank you, sir, my mum said a lot about you and I appreciate your kind heart."

"Sir? feel totally free to call me Dad please, I would kill to have a girl child." he laughed as I joined in.

The servants came forward, lifting my bags with a kind of speed and grace that almost made me feel invisible. As we started walking up the driveway, I blurted out the question that had been buzzing in my head all day.

"Um... earlier with the lawyer," I asked softly. "What exactly did he mean about my adoption being