Chapter 76 Pure
Damien’s thumb brushed against the safety of the gun.
Click.
The sound was small, almost insignificant, but in the vast, hollow space of the safe house it rang out like a death bell.
Raymond heard it.
His entire body reacted before his mind could.
A broken sound tore from his throat as his breath hitched violently. His shoulders jerked back against the ropes, muscles straining so hard the cords dug into his wrists.
The metal chair screeched across the concrete floor as he thrashed, the echo sharp and ugly.
“N-no—no, Damien—please—please—”
His voice cracked, dissolving into desperate gasps. His chest rose and fell in frantic bursts, lungs pulling in air like he was drowning. Sweat broke out across his forehead instantly, cold and slick, soaking into his hairline.
Raymond’s eyes were wide now—too wide—white showing all around the dark pupils. They flicked from Damien’s face to the gun pressed against his skin, then to Dominic, then back again, searching for mercy where none had ever lived.
His body began to shake.
Not just trembling—convulsing.
His knees knocked together uncontrollably. His teeth chattered so hard it sounded like bones colliding. A thin, humiliating whimper slipped out of him before he could stop it.
“P-please… please, Damien… I didn’t mean it like that… I swear—”
His voice broke completely.
“I was drunk—I was angry—you know me—I didn’t think—”
He sobbed now. Full, ugly sobs. The kind that tore out of his chest without dignity. Tears streaked down his bruised face, cutting pale lines through the grime and blood.
“I don’t want to die,” he cried. “I don’t want to die like this—”
Damien didn’t move.
He stared at Raymond with his head tilted slightly to the side, as if studying an insect pinned to a board. The gun remained pressed firmly to Raymond’s forehead, steady and unshaking.
“This would be swift,” Damien said quietly. “That is all I can grant you. My last mercy.”
Raymond’s entire body recoiled at the word mercy.
“Please,” he whispered hoarsely. “We were best friends… remember? The house in Brooklyn… the nights we stayed up talking about nothing… remember when you saved me from those men in Queens? Remember when—”
Damien chuckled.
The sound was wrong. Hollow. Haunted.
“A best friend?” he repeated. “Best friends do not touch their wives. They do not step into their homes and poison them with lies. They do not look at what belongs to another man and think they are entitled to it.”
Raymond shook harder.
His shoulders collapsed inward like his bones had turned to dust.
“I didn’t touch her,” he cried. “I swear—I didn’t—”
“You kissed her, you grabbed my wife and kissed her,” Damien said flatly.
Silence followed as Raymond swallowed hard, his throat bobbed violently.
“That was more than enough.”
Damien’s finger tightened on the trigger.
Raymond screamed.
“No!”
The word ripped out of him in pure animal terror. His whole body surged forward against the ropes, veins standing out in his neck as he fought uselessly against his restraints. The chair tipped back for a second before slamming down again.
“If Jasmine finds out—” Raymond sobbed, desperate, grasping for any weapon left to him. “She will never forgive you! She will see you for what you are! A monster! A gang leader! She will know who you really are—”
Still, Damien did not flinch, but something inside him did. His phone vibrated in his pocket.
The sound cut through the moment like a blade.
The air froze.
Raymond’s sobs stuttered into silence. Dominic leaned forward slightly in his chair. Gustavo stiffened where he stood.
Damien didn’t move for a second. Then, slowly, he reached into his pocket with his free hand and pulled out his phone. The screen lit up.
Jasmine.
Her name glowed softly against the darkness.
His heart clenched. He looked down at the wallpaper.
Her face stared back at him—sweet, unaware, innocent. Her lips curved into a sleepy smile. The same smile she wore when she ran into his arms at night. The same smile she wore when she whispered his name into his chest.
His grip on the gun loosened.
In his mind, he saw her.
Saw her standing at the door when he returned. Saw her eyes light up when she spotted him. Saw her running toward him, arms open, laughter spilling from her lips.
Damien.
He imagined pulling her against him.
Holding her
Burying his face in her hair.
And then—
He saw the blood.
His hands.
Covered in Raymond’s blood.
Warm. Sticky. Permanent.
Those same hands wrapping around her waist.
Those same fingers brushing her cheek.
His stomach twisted violently.
She does not deserve this darkness. He had already allowed it to touch her once before. Had already failed to shield her from the truth of what he was.
Never again.
He had to be worthy of her.
He had to be clean for her.
Pure.
The gun lowered.
Slowly. Deliberately.
Dominic’s brows furrowed. “Damien?”
Damien closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath, his chest expanding with effort. When he opened them again, something inside him had shifted.
The malice that had filled his gaze moments ago had retreated, leaving behind a cold, aching resolve.
He slid the gun back into his waistband. Raymond collapsed forward in the chair, sobbing violently, his trousers darkened with fear. His entire body sagged like a marionette with its strings cut.
“I… I thought you were going to kill me,” Raymond whispered brokenly.
Damien didn’t look at him.
He turned and walked toward Dominic.
Dominic stared at him as if seeing him for the first time
“You hesitate,” Dominic said. “That is new.”
Damien stopped in front of him.
“Do you have police under your payroll?” Damien asked quietly.
Dominic blinked. “What?”
“Answer me.”
“Yes,” Dominic said slowly. “Several.”
“Can you place him,” Damien continued, “in one of your remote prisons? Somewhere forgotten. Somewhere he will rot and never come near my wife again.”
Dominic rose from his chair.
“You spare him?”
Damien’s jaw tightened.
“I cannot kill him and return to her the same man.”
Silence fell between them.
Dominic studied his cousin, stroking his beard thoughtfully.
“You have grown weak,” he said at last. Maybe he had, but he would be anything for his tesoro