Countdown To Ruin

Countdown To Ruin
POV: Isla

Oh….God. 

Why the hell did I just say that?

But it had already slipped from my mouth, shattering the silence hanging between us like a blade. 

Damian stood pinned at the spot where he was and for the first time since I’d known him, I could see the flicker of something across his face.

Something that wasn’t rage or control—it was something darker. Slowly, he turned his gaze to meet mine with those dark-grey eyes that weren't just furious—they were lethal.

“What,” he said, his voice low, dangerous, deliberate, “what did you just say?”

My throat closed, and even my lungs refused to work. I wanted to take the words back and bury them deep inside where they belonged. So that they would never crawl out and ruin me.

“I…..” My voice shook. I swallowed the lump forming in my throat, shaking my head “it was nothing. I didn’t mean…”

“Repeat what you just said to me, Isla.” His words snapped like a command. Stepping closer to me now, his body towering over me completely. “Say it again. Out loud.”

Fear surged through me like fire and this was when the stranger’s warning made more sense to me, ringing over and over in my skull: If Damian finds out you know the truth, he’ll kill you the same way he killed your father.

I tried to breathe, forcing my brain to think of anything to say so that he would forget I even spoke about this in the first place. Or maybe I should just run away instead.

But no matter where I went, Damian Cross would find me eventually. “I didn’t….it  was just….” My voice faltered, breaking apart like shards of glass.

“It was not intentional, Damian. I….I just said it out of anger. I’m sorry I didn’t mean it.”

His hand shot forward, gripping my chin and forcing my face upward to look into his eyes and not dare turn away. “You are hiding something from me,” he snarled. His grip tightened, pain blooming in my jaw. 

“Look at me. And tell me. What. You. Said.”

Tears threatened to fall out, but I refused to let them out. My entire body is shaking like a rabbit that has just been caught in the jaws of a wolf.”

“I…..I told you,” I stammered, the words leaning my lips in a desperate rush. “I didn’t mean it. It was just anger, I swear. Damian, please….”

“Don’t fucking lie to me!!”He barked, the words thundering across the room. His hand pressed my chin even harder and brutally, forcing my jaw wider until I thought it would break.

“You have ten seconds.” His breath was hot against my ear, nothing amusing about the tone of his voice. “Ten seconds to repeat exactly what you said. Or I’ll make you say it the hard way.”

My stomach dropped to the floor instantly, accompanied by my vision which was already fading away as my hands shook against his chest, weak and useless.

“Ten,” he began, his tone cold and dangerous.

“No……please, don’t…..”

“Nine.” His eyes burned, pinning me in place like tight chains.

“Damian, stop, it was nothing, I swear!” My voice broke, raw and pleading.

“Eight.”

A surge of terror clawed its way into my ribs, squeezing every inch of air from me. My knees want to give up underneath me, but his tight grip is still keeping me upright like prey.

“Seven.”

I couldn’t think. 

Fucking say something Isla. My mind screamed of different prayers I hadn’t whispered in years. God, help me. Please, God, help me.

“Six.” His voice was merciless, like a ticking clock of doom ready to strike without hesitation. Tears streaked down my cheeks, hot and uncontrollable.

I tried to shake my head, to be free of his cruel grip on me, but he held me fast.“Damian, please, I was angry! That’s all! I didn’t mean it!”

“Five.”

My chest is rising and falling heavily, so loud that it drowned everything else except his voice.

“Four.”

“No!” The word tore out of me, pleading and desperate. “Please, don’t make me….”

“Three.”

My lips trembled to say something, choking on the truth I couldn’t say. If I tell him that I know what he did to my father years ago, he’ll kill me. If I don’t, he’ll still—

“Two.”

All my tears and pleading meant nothing to him. His rage turned into an endless wave that was about to crash down hard on me.

And then—

BAM!

The door burst open with a violent force. 

“Boss!” 

Mark’s voice cut through the heated tension between Damian and me like a blade. “We’ve got a problem.”

Damian’s grip loosened a bit, and for a moment I thought he might snap my neck anyway. Just to finish what he started. 

Instead, he released me so suddenly I stumbled back, clutching my jaw to make sure it wouldn’t fall because of how tightly he held it.

“What is it?” Damian barked without looking away from me for a second. Mark’s face carried an urgent expression.  “The east warehouse house where the goods are shipped to is under attack….”

“The blood Raven gang has already breached the outer perimeter. If we don’t move now, they’ll take everything we’ve worked hard for.”

Damian’s jaw tightened. Fury and calculation collide behind his eyes. His gaze was still locked on mine, burning through any layer of restraint inside me until I felt stripped raw 

“This isn’t over.” His voice is low, and lethal. “When I come back, you will talk. Whether you like it or not.”

And then he was gone, storming out with Mark at his heels, the echo of his boots thundering down the hall until the door slammed shut.

I staggered back against the wall, trembling so hard I could barely breathe. My jaw ached where his fingers had bitten into my skin. The room was silent now, but my ears still rang with his voice.

Damian wouldn’t stop until he had my answer. And if I gave it… It would be the end of me.