Chapter 58 Escort
For a split second, her mind refused to understand what she was seeing.
Damien had Raymond pinned against the wall, one arm braced beside his head, the other locked around his neck. Raymond’s face was already flushed, his lips parted in a silent gasp. Damien’s eyes were wild—dark, furious, almost unrecognizable. It was as if something savage had broken loose inside him.
“Damien—!” Jasmine screamed.
The sound of her voice cut through the room like shattered glass. Raymond’s gaze flicked toward her instantly, and in that moment, everything changed. His expression twisted—not into anger, but into something fragile and desperate. He loosened his grip on Damien’s wrist and instead clutched at his own throat, stumbling slightly as if he were about to collapse.
“Jasmine…” Raymond rasped, his voice strained. “He’s going to kill me.”
Damien didn’t look at her. His grip tightened.
“What. Did. You. Say. To. Me?” Damien growled at Raymond, each word heavy with rage.
Jasmine rushed forward. “Stop! Damien, stop it!”
She grabbed his arm with both hands, trying to pry his fingers loose. They wouldn’t move. His muscles felt like iron beneath her grip.
“Damien, please!” she cried. “You’re hurting him!”
Raymond coughed loudly, making a show of it, his hands clawing weakly at Damien’s wrist. “Jas… I can’t breathe…”
Her heart slammed violently against her ribs.
“Damien, look at me!” she begged. “Please, look at me!”
But he wouldn’t. His eyes stayed locked on Raymond’s face, burning with something close to murder.
“What did you tell her?” Damien demanded. “What did you do to her?”
Raymond gave a shaky laugh that sounded more like a sob. “You already know.”
Jasmine felt her knees weaken. “Know what?”
Damien shoved Raymond harder into the wall. The impact made a dull thud.
“Tell her,” Damien snarled. “Since you’re so brave.”
Raymond coughed again, this time more theatrically, and Jasmine rushed closer.
“Damien, you’re killing him!” she screamed. “Please—whatever he did, we can talk about it!”
Her words finally seemed to pierce Damien’s rage.
Slowly—too slowly—he released Raymond.
Raymond slid down the wall and collapsed onto the floor, clutching his throat, coughing violently as if he had barely escaped death.
Richelle rushed in from the hallway, her eyes wide. “What is happening?!” she rushed over to help Raymond.
Jasmine dropped to her knees beside Raymond. “Ray, are you okay?”
Before she could touch him, Damien grabbed her.
His hand wrapped around her wrist and yanked her up so hard she stumbled into his chest.
“Don’t touch him,” Damien growled.
Jasmine gasped at the sudden force. His grip burned against her skin.
“Damien, you’re hurting me,” she whispered.
He didn’t let go. Instead, he dragged her away from Raymond and planted himself between them, as if shielding her from something poisonous.
“You don’t get to play the victim in my house,” Damien snapped at Raymond. “Get out.”
Raymond pushed himself upright slowly, using the wall for support. His eyes stayed on Jasmine the entire time.
“You’re throwing me out,” Raymond said hoarsely, “because I kissed her?”
Jasmine froze.
Richelle’s mouth fell open.
Damien’s jaw clenched. “You had the audacity to stand here in my house and tell me you kissed my wife!?" His voice made Jasmine flinch.
“She is not your wife!” Raymond shot back. “She’s trapped here by your contract.”
Jasmine shook her head. “Stop. Please stop.”
Raymond turned to her. “Don’t lie for him, Jasmine.”
Damien’s hand tightened painfully around her wrist.
“I said get out,” Damien roared, then he turned and his fist collided with Raymond's face. Jasmine and Richelle gasped. Raymond fell to the ground, blood trickling down his lip.
"Damien!" Jasmine shook.
Raymond laughed bitterly. “You act like you own her. Like you didn’t plan this from the beginning.”
Jasmine stared between them. “Plan what?”
Raymond’s eyes burned with something ugly and triumphant. “Ask him how many girls he’s done this to.”
Damien went still.
Raymond continued, his voice rising. “How many women he brought into his world the same way—slowly, gently—until they became escorts for his clubs.”
Jasmine felt like the air had been knocked from her lungs. “What…?” she whispered.
Raymond stepped forward despite Damien’s warning glare. “He wanted to do the same thing to you, Jasmine. Groom you. Shape you. Turn you into just another one of his girls.”
“No,” she said weakly. “That’s not true.”
Raymond pointed at Damien. “Tell her it isn’t.”
Damien said nothing.
Jasmine’s heart thudded painfully. “Damien… is it true?”
Silence.
The room felt suffocating.
Raymond’s voice softened, but it carried cruelty. “I was the only one who actually wanted you. Not as business. Not as possession. As mine.”
Damien’s face darkened completely.
“Stop talking,” he warned.
“You don’t care about her,” Raymond continued. “You just wanted to own her.”
Jasmine stared at Damien, tears blurring her vision. “Is this what you wanted me for?”
Damien’s jaw worked, but he said nothing. Then, abruptly, he turned and walked away.
The calm in his retreat was more frightening than his rage. Raymond wiped the blood from his lip with his sleeve and stepped toward Jasmine. “I’m sorry you had to hear it like this.”
He wrapped his arms around her.
She didn’t hug him back. Richelle rushed over. “Maybe we should leave.”
Raymond shot her a glare. “I’m not leaving her alone with him.”
Richelle grabbed Jasmine’s arm gently. “Are you okay?”
Jasmine nodded numbly.
"Is that really what the both of you were up to all this while?" Richelle asked, disgust and horror on her face.
"Let's not talk about that now" he dismissed then
Raymond took Jasmine's hand and led her upstairs.
Inside her room, he shut the door and stepped close.
“You don’t have to feel tied to him anymore,” Raymond said. “Now you know the truth.”
Jasmine pulled her hand away. “You told him about the kiss just to hurt him.”
Raymond blinked. “I was protecting you.”
Richelle screamed from downstairs.
The door burst open. Damien stood in the doorway. A gun in his hand. Pointed directly at Raymond’s head.
Jasmine screamed.
Her body went rigid with terror.