When Love Spilled Free

When Love Spilled Free
POV: Isla

Selene lunged at me before I could react, her fingers gripping my hair and yanking it so hard my skull rattled. My back slammed against the wall as I gasped in pain, trying to claw out of her tight hold but she was vicious.

Before I could even recover from the shock, her hand whipped across my face. The slap thundered across the room as my cheek exploded with pain from the force.

Shame stung harder than the slap—shame that Damian saw me like this. Selene raised her hand again, ready to strike—

“That’s enough!!”

Damian’s voice cut through the air like steel. His hand stretched out instantly, catching her wrist before she could slap me again. He squeezed it so hard until Selene winced in pain, her body shaking under his brutal grip.

“Why the hell did you do that?” His tone was lethal, low, the kind that made men beg for their lives.

Selene yanked her hand free, spitting venomous words at me. “This fucking bitch! She’s the reason you got hurt, Damian. She’s the reason you almost bled to death, and now she’s here….” 

Her cruel eyes pierced through me, “…. Trying to play the role of the perfect little wife. But she doesn’t belong in this room. I do.”

Damian’s jaw tightened. “Nothing that happened is Isla’s fault. She’s not going anywhere because I’m the one who told her to stay.”

Selene froze, a flicker of shock across her face but then quickly replaced by disbelief. “You’re defending her? Her? What is this—why the hell are you suddenly protecting her?”

“That’s none of your fucking business!” Damian snapped, his voice merciless and final.“If anyone’s leaving this room, it should be you. Not her.”

Her face twisted into even more disbelief before parting her lips to speak.  “I’m not leaving this room, Damian. If you want me gone, you’ll have to drag me out yourself.”

Something more than rage surged through me. “You want me gone?” I hissed.

Before Selene could blink, I lunged at her with full force. My hand gripped her hair and dragged her head back. I slammed it against the wall with a force that shook the frame. She winced in pain, but I didn’t stop.

I drove my fist into her face without hesitation, her blood splattering vividly against the floor between us. She staggered back, clutching her mouth as her eyes were wide with shock.

“You will never treat me like trash again!” I barked, stepping closer to her as my voice trembled with rage. “I am Damian’s wife. And you…”

My words cut like a blade, “…you’re nothing but a bitter, spiteful ex desperate for scraps.”

A bitter laughter tore out of Selene’s blood-soaked mouth. She wiped her mouth, a cruel smirk tugging at the corner. “Wife?” she spat. “Don’t flatter yourself. Everyone knows this marriage is fake.”

“And once the contract is over, you’ll be gone from his life forever, Isla. And I’ll take my rightful place with Damian.”

Her words should’ve hurt me. Instead, it awoke something that I couldn’t name. I lifted my chin to look her in the eye.“Even when the contract ends, I’m not leaving…”

“Because I love him.”

The room went silent. Damian’s head turned towards me in an instant, his eyes wide open with a shock that painted across his face. He looked as if I’d ripped the ground underneath him.

Yet I couldn’t stop talking even though I wanted to. Everything I’d tried to bury was flooding out at once, my chest aching with the weight of it all.

“I love you, Damian Cross.”

I stepped closer to him, my hands shaking as I reached up to his face, clutching it as though it was the only thing keeping me from falling.

“I hate myself falling in love with you,” I whispered, breathless, desperate. But I….I can’t stop. I can’t stop loving you.”

Before doubt could overwhelm me or shame, I crushed my mouth to his in a kiss that wasn’t gentle. It was the fury and confusion of every sleepless night I’d spent wondering who he really was.

When I craved his touch so badly, only the thought of it made me wet. My mouth crashed against his like it was the last thing I would ever do. And heavens help me, I didn’t care that Selene was watching this.

His breath hitched against me—then he kissed me back as his mouth took mine like it was what he desperately needed to heal. And then his hand gripped my waist, dragging me closer to him to leave no space between us.

When I finally pulled back, Selene was staring at us, blood trickling from her mouth with her eyes blazing with something darker than rage.

“You think this saves you?!!”

Selene’s scream echoed through the room, loud enough to make the walls shake. Veins strained at her neck like an unhinged animal before she parted her lips to continue.

“He’ll wake up one day and see you for exactly what you are!” she barked, her voice breaking. “A fraud and a leech. You’re nothing but a whore!”

Her rage exploded as she lunged at me again, fingers curled like claws ready to tear me into shreds. I staggered back, but Damian was faster and in one swift motion, he stepped in front of me.

His arm slammed across my chest to shove me behind him, while his other hand caught Selene’s hand. The sound of his grip snapping around her wrist cracked like a whip.

Selene gasped in pain, thrashing and clawing at Damien’s body to move. But it was an immovable wall that shielded me completely.

“Touch her again, Selene…” his voice came out like a growl, dangerous as it vibrated through the air. He leaned closer, his piercing eyes cutting into her with pure rage.“…..and it’ll be the last thing you ever do.”

I was left trembling, pressed into Damian’s chest while the echo of her words—and his defense burned through me. Damian’s hand gripped mine tightly, his jaw clenched in silent fury.

Selene smirked through her blood. “We’ll see who survives this little game.” She hissed. And then she turned, walking out the door with her threat hanging like smoke.