Chapter 64 Chapter Sixty-four

Chapter 64 Chapter Sixty-four

CHAPTER 64

Leonard never saw him coming.
The restaurant was one of the few places he considered safe. Private, expensive and guarded.

He had just finished a late dinner meeting and was walking toward the parking garage beneath the building when he heard footsteps behind him. Steady. Unhurried.

Then he turned. And immediately, his stomach dropped.
Damian Cross stood twenty feet away. Alone.
Rain dripped from his black coat. His expression was unreadable. That was somehow worse than anger.

"Damian."

No response.

Leonard frowned slightly. "What are you doing here?"

Still nothing.

The silence stretched. Then Damian started walking. One step. Then another.
Leonard immediately knew something was wrong. Very wrong.

"Look, if this is about the gala—"

The punch landed before he could finish. A brutal right hook slammed into his jaw. Leonard crashed against a parked car.
Pain exploded through his face.
Before he could recover, Damian grabbed him by the collar and smashed him into the vehicle again.

The metal dented. The alarm began screaming.

"What the hell—"

Another punch. Blood sprayed across the pavement. Leonard staggered. Damian hit him again. And again. And again.
Weeks of pressure. Weeks of fear. Weeks of watching Aria suffer. Everything erupted at once.

"You attacked her."

Leonard spat blood onto the ground.

"I didn't—"

The next hit nearly knocked him unconscious. Damian wasn't listening. He didn't want explanations, he wasn't here for it.
All he could see was Aria falling. Aria crying in pain. Aria being rushed into an ambulance. Aria clutching her stomach in terror. And Leonard's men attacking the convoy. That was enough.

Leonard swung back. The punch barely connected.
Damian grabbed his arm and drove a knee into his ribs. A crack echoed through the garage. Leonard screamed. Several ribs were broken. Definitely several ribs.

He collapsed onto one knee. Damian immediately pulled him back up. Only to hit him again. The garage echoed with the violence.
Leonard's vision blurred, slowly. Blood poured from his mouth. His cheek was already swelling.

"Damian!"

No response, the silence was followed by another hit. A vicious one.
Leonard stumbled backward into a concrete pillar. His legs nearly gave out. For the first time in years, genuine fear entered his chest, because Damian wasn't stopping.
There was no control here, he was truly angry.

"You put your hands on my family."

The words were ice.

Leonard had never heard that tone before. And judging by the look in his eyes, that made this personal in a way Leonard had never imagined.

"You're insane."

The insult was a mistake. A huge mistake. Damian crossed the distance instantly. The next punch broke Leonard's nose.
Blood exploded across the floor and Leonard dropped hard.

His ears rang. For a moment, he couldn't hear anything. Couldn't see properly.

Footsteps approached. Damian crouched beside him. Leonard looked up. What he saw made his stomach tighten.
Because Damian looked calm now, completely calm. Like beating him half to death had actually settled something inside him.

"She almost lost the baby."

Leonard froze. Now he understood. This wasn't about the attack. Not entirely. This was about fear. The kind of fear that left scars. The kind that turned rational men into monsters.

Damian stood again while Leonard struggled to rise. Bad idea. The kick caught him directly in the ribs. The pain was blinding. He crashed back onto the concrete. A groan escaped him. Nearby, several of Damian's security men finally appeared. They had clearly been waiting. Watching.
Making sure nobody interfered.

One of them stepped forward cautiously.

"Sir."

Damian didn't look away from Leonard.

"Not yet."

The guard immediately stepped back.

Leonard laughed weakly despite the pain.

"You've lost your mind."

Damian's gaze remained fixed on him. "No."
Another step.

"You touched what belonged to me."

The words sent a chill through the garage.
Even the guards exchanged glances.
Because there was something dangerous in Damian now.
Something darker than before. Leonard slowly pushed himself upright using the pillar. His face was covered in blood. One eye was already swelling shut and his suit was ruined.
Every breath hurts. And Damian looked perfectly willing to continue.
For a second, Leonard genuinely thought he might die here.
Then Damian took a slow breath.

The fury that had been driving him finally began to settle. Not disappear.

The damage had already been done. Leonard looked like he'd survived a car accident. His nose was broken. Several ribs likely fractured. His face was nearly unrecognizable. Damian stared at him for a long moment.

Then spoke.

"If you or whoever you work for decides to be near me or Aria that she gets hurt again..." His voice became quiet. Far quieter than before "...next time I won't stop."

The threat hung in the air. Damian turned and walked away. Just like that with his security team following behind. No one looked back, offered help or even spoke. They simply left.
Leonard remained on the cold concrete floor, bleeding and barely conscious. Listening to Damian's footsteps disappear into the darkness.
And for the first time since this war began, he realized something terrifying.
The man he'd just faced wasn't the Damian Cross everyone knew.

That man was gone.

The moment Aria and the baby had been threatened, something inside him had changed.
And Leonard wasn't sure it could ever be changed back.