Chapter 20: SCENT OF ASHES

***DAMIAN***

I sat in my car, the windows half open to let the smell of ash and charred wood in unhindered. Late afternoon, the sun had already disappeared behind the gray clouds, making the sky look like a gloomy painting. My gaze rested on the club that had once pulsated with life but was now only a shadow of its former self. Plumes of smoke rose from the wreckage, as if to remind the heavens what had happened here – as if the heavens cared.

The ruins were a mess of charred beams, broken glass, and the faint glow of embers that still refused to go out completely. The once dazzling neon lights of the club name hung crookedly, sparkling uselessly in the dying light of day. It was a scene from a nightmare, and yet I felt a foreboding sense of satisfaction vibrating deep in my chest.

A dark laugh escaped my lips as I watched the idiots stumbling through the ruins like frightened chickens. Their frantic movements had something laughable, almost tragicomic, about them. Men in black jackets, who looked like they had more muscle than brain, swung their arms wildly while shouting instructions that were lost in the general panic. A woman with smeared makeup and ashes in her hair stood sobbing at the edge, while a guy with a bandage around his forehead tried to calm her down. Their voices reached me, muffled by the distant crackling and hissing of the fire, but none of it reached my heart. It was just background noise – a miserable concert of human despair.

My grip on the wheel tightened as I imagined Jax arriving here. He was proud, arrogant, a man who believed he had everything under control. But I had lured him here, into this hell that I had created, just to see him lose control. I wanted to see his facade crumble, to watch the horror reflected in his eyes when he realized that all his efforts were in vain. The darkness inside me grew, a familiar shadow that devoured my thoughts and filled me with an eerie calm.

I leaned back and let my gaze sweep over the scene. A tattered club poster fluttered in the wind, as if desperately trying to recall better times. I saw the debris, the burnt furniture and the remains of a counter that stuck out of the wreckage like a black tooth. The stench of burnt plastic and alcohol was everywhere – a bitter mixture that made my mouth dry.

“Soon, Jax,” I murmured, my voice little more than a low growl swallowed by the silent cabin of my car. ”Take your time. I’ll wait.” My words were not meant for the outside world, but for myself. They tasted of retribution, of a plan that would eat like a poison into the souls of all those who thought they could get away with it.

Another group of henchmen appeared, their boots crunching on the crumbling remains of the building. They looked around, frantic, like predators seeking their prey, but in truth they were nothing but prey themselves. I was the shadow in the background, the puppeteer, just waiting for the strings to tighten.

Thoughts of Jax quickened my pulse, but not with fear – with pure, unadulterated anticipation. The pain he would feel was long overdue. He had tested my patience, dragged my name through the mud. But this? This was just the beginning.

The darkness within me was not a burden; it was a tool, sharpened and ready to strike with precision. I couldn’t wait to see the look in his eyes when he realized he couldn’t win against me. The smoke in the sky was my greeting to him, a monument to my presence—and to my willingness to burn everything down to destroy him.

I rolled down the window and took a deep breath. The taste of ash was sharp, almost metallic, yet soothing. It was the taste of victory.

A car turned the corner slowly, its headlights piercing the dusk like the eyes of a predator fixated on its prey. But this was no ordinary car. No, I recognized it immediately – the shiny body that sparkled even in the dim light of the smoke-filled afternoon. His car.

He was here.

A grin stole onto my face, broad and full of anticipation. My heart beat faster, not out of nervousness, but out of pure, greedy excitement. Jax stopped right in front of the club, the sound of the engine dying as he turned the car off abruptly. He remained seated inside for a moment, his profile just visible behind the darkened windshield. But then the door opened and he stepped out.

And oh, how delicious his face looked! As if someone had stolen the air from his lungs. His eyes flicked across the ruins of the club and his mouth twisted into a rigid line. It was a mixture of anger and bewilderment, like a man who had just realized that he had walked into a trap that he had set for someone else. His skin was pale – no, ashen. Like the ash itself that was floating in the air.

A soft, dark laugh rose in my throat. “Ashen,” I murmured, almost with relish. What a play on words. How fitting. Oh, Jax. Did you really think you could get around me so easily? Did you think you could take her from me without me fighting back?

I shook my head slowly, an expression of pure amusement on my features. “Wrong guess,” I whispered. My words seemed to weave with the smoke around me, soft but with a weight that could not be ignored. It was time he understood what it meant to challenge me.

Jax’s gaze wandered restlessly across the scene, his face betraying that he was already looking for answers. But answers were not to be found here – not for him. Only ashes, ruins and the echo of his own defeat. I watched him, like a puppeteer who enjoys watching his marionette dance. The tension in his shoulders, the way his fingers were unconsciously clenched into fists – everything spoke of his inner panic, his insecurity.

But for me? For me, it was all a game. And I was the one who made the rules.

Celine. My heart raced as her name blazed like a fire inside me. All of this, the wreckage, the chaos, the show – it was for her. For us. Jax thought he could claim her as if she were a prize he could just take with him. But he didn’t understand anything. She was mine. She had always belonged to me. And it was time for me to take her back.

I felt my breathing getting shallower, my thoughts narrowing until only one goal remained. Her. Her soft lips, her big eyes, the way she had looked at me, as if she had seen more in me than the darkness that surrounded me. I could take care of her just as well as he had. No, better. Jax was an amateur, an arrogant idiot who thought he could save her without understanding what she really needed.

I pressed myself deeper into the seat of my car and continued to watch him, like a hunter waiting for the perfect moment to strike. He had no idea that I was here, that I was watching him, that his every move was part of my plan. But soon he would know. Soon he would understand that everything he thought was under his control was just a mirage.

Celine. I’m coming. I’ll save you.

And then? Then we finally belong together.

My grin grew wider and darker as I imagined how this day would end. Not with Jax emerging as a hero, but with me pulling the strings and letting everything he had built collapse. It was time he learned what true despair was. And I would savor every second of it.

My grin grew wider, almost animalistic, as I continued to watch Jax. The idiot stumbled across the charred remains of the club, his figure framed by smoke and flickering light. His face was a mixture of bewilderment and helpless rage. Wonderful. So helpless, so powerless. Every muscle in my body tensed with pleasure as I watched him. Serves you right, you miserable bastard.

He deserved it. He deserved all of it – the loss, the humiliation, the searing realization that there was nothing he could do to stop me. Jax had thought of himself as untouchable, as king of this seedy little realm. But kings fall. And today, his fall was the beginning of a much bigger game.

I slowly wound up the window again, leaving the cold air and the acrid smell of ash behind me. The engine of my car came to life, a deep rumble that sounded like an echo of my own inner fire. My hands gripped the steering wheel, tight, almost painfully, as I focused on my goal. It was time.

Time to get my girl.

Celine. Just saying her name brought something up inside me, a feeling so intense it was almost painful. It wasn’t a simple yearning, a mere desire. No, it was more. It was the kind of obsession that obliterated everything else. The world shrunk, and there was only her – her face, her voice, her scent. Everything about her was a fire that blazed in me, unstoppable and consuming.

The thought of her made my pants tighten, the pressure building up inside me was almost unbearable. Hard. Throbbing. She was the only one who could release this pressure, the only one who could free me from this irrepressible energy that was building up inside me like a dark wave. It wasn’t just lust that drove me – it was possession, a deep, immovable knowledge that she was mine. And no one, not even Jax, had the right to come between us.

My foot slammed on the gas pedal, the car leaped forward, and the world outside the windows blurred into a kaleidoscope of colors and movements. I still had time – Jax would be busy scraping together the wreckage of his little empire for a while before he even realized that Celine was no longer there. And by the time that moment came, we would have long since disappeared. Far, far away from here.

But the calm of the moment did not last long. The idea that she was in this house, close to him, burned like acid in my thoughts. It wasn’t just haste that drove me. It was the thought that she was without me. That he might have tried to win her over, to seduce her with his lying tongue and his false promises. The mere thought made my hands close around the wheel until my knuckles turned white.

Celine. My girl. She didn’t know it yet, but she was mine. Only mine. I was the only one who understood her, who knew what she needed. Her fragile soul called out to me, screaming to be protected – by me. Jax was an obstacle, a pathetic attempt to stand between us. But he was nothing compared to what I would do for her.

The road ahead of me stretched endlessly into the darkness, but my goal was clear. Jax’s house was on the outskirts of town, a showy construction with large gates and too much glass. It was as exaggerated as he was, a monument to his own arrogance. I knew she was there. I had followed her movements, traced her steps. Jax had hidden her, kept her away from me, but I had always found a way to see her, to feel her.

Once, I had watched her standing at the window, lost in a moment of reflection. Her hair fell like a dark waterfall over her shoulders, and the melancholy in her eyes had almost brought me to my knees. She needed me. She was just as torn as I was, and that’s exactly why we were made for each other. Two souls that found each other in their darkness.

My thoughts swirled while the car inched closer to its destination with every passing second. The pressure in my chest intensified, an unstoppable throbbing that grew louder with every beat of my heart. I knew I couldn’t fail. Not now, not with her. She was all that mattered, all that had ever mattered.

I imagined how she would look at me when I finally released her from this gilded cage. How her eyes would light up with surprise and relief when she understood that I had come to save her. She would realize that I was the only one who truly loved her, who was willing to sacrifice everything to make her happy.

And Jax? Jax would be left behind, in the midst of the ruins of his little empire, unable to comprehend how everything had slipped out of his hands so quickly. It would break him, and I would savor every moment of it.

I reached the street to his house and slowed down. The high gates appeared in front of me, a dark silhouette against the night sky. I stopped a few meters in front of them, turned off the headlights and let the car come to a silent stop. My heart pounded in my chest, and a dark smile played on my lips.

“Celine,” I whispered into the silence, my breath fogging up the cold air inside the car. ”I’m coming.”

I opened the door and stepped out into the night, which was so still that I could hear the sound of my own breathing. The wind carried the scent of smoke and something metallic, a harbinger of what was to come. I pulled up the hood of my jacket, hiding my face in the shadows. The hunt was on.

This time, no one would take her from me. No one. She was mine, and I was willing to go to any length to get her back.