Chapter 78

Chapter 78
The Devil’s Trap.

The sound of the city outside buzzed faintly through the tinted windows of the Damian Cross estate’s penthouse, but inside, time paused. 
I stood still, my body trembling, and my fists clenched by my side. The contract lay open on the glass coffee table, a mockery of my intentions. 
Every carefully calculated move I had made was beginning to collapse under the weight of Damian’s obsession and my growing, terrifying feelings. 
He was seated in front of me, his black shirt unbuttoned just enough to show the angry red scar over his heart. His stormy eyes drank me in, laced with that familiar mix of dominance and desire. But tonight, there was something else. Something more dangerous. 
“You knew,” I whispered, my voice cracking. “You knew who I was from the very beginning, didn’t you?”
Damian didn’t flinch. His eyes held mine. 
“Yes,” he said. 
The single word shattered whatever thread of illusion remained. I stepped back, my hand flying to my mouth.
My world spiraled. 
“You knew I was Claire Reyes. You knew my father was murdered. You knew…” my voice choked off. “You knew I came back for revenge.”
He stood now, moving toward me slowly, like a predator circling its prey. But I was afraid of him. Not the way I have been. What terrified me now was the truth I’d denied for weeks. My hatred was no longer pure. Neither was my love. 
“I knew everything,” Damian said softly. “Even before you walked into that hotel suite pretending to be a weak little secretary looking for a contract marriage.”
My chest heaved. “Then why? Why keep me here? Why marry me? Why…why make me fall for you?”
He cupped my face, thumb brushing the tear that escaped before I could stop it. His touch was gentle, but the tension in his body coiled like a string ready to snap. 
“Because I wanted you,” he said. “Because I needed you close. I thought…if I kept you in my world, I could control the storm you brought with you.”
My heart thudded painfully. “You mean control me.”
Damian didn’t deny it. 
“Yes. I am not a man who gives up power easily, Claire. You should know that by now.”
I pulled away from his touch, anger flaring beneath my skin. “You used me.”
“I saved you,” he growled, voice sharp now. “When I found you half-dead outside the club in Paris, strung out and suicidal, I could’ve walked away. But I didn’t. I saw the fire in you. And I knew…I knew if I could keep you, maybe the devil in me could finally be tamed.”
I stared at him. “Is this what I am? Your salvation?”
“No,” he said, taking another step closer. “You’re my punishment. You’re my reckoning, Claire. And I’ll burn the work down before I let you go.”
A chill ran down my spine. 
The obsession in his voice was no longer hidden, it was proudly displayed, like a badge of honor. 
“But you lied,” I said. “You took away my right to choose.”
“And you tried to kill me,” he reminded me coldly. “Or did you forget the poison you slipped into my cup at the villa?”
My breath hitched. “You never drank it.”
“Because I knew you would try. I know you, Claire. You are vengeance wrapped in silk. And I love every piece of you, even the ones that want to destroy me.”
There was silence. Heavy. Raw. 
The tension between us cracked like lightning. 
Then, I said quietly. “So, what now? You’re going to keep me in the tower locked up like your little queen?”
Damian’s jaw ticked. “No,” he said. “I’m going to give you exactly what you came for.”
I blinked. “What?”
“I’m going to give you your revenge.”
I took a step back, “I don’t believe you.”
He walked to a drawer by the bar and pulled out a folder. He handed it to me. “Open it.”
I hesitated and then opened it. 
Inside were photographs. Documents. Dates. Names. 
And at the top, Victor Sokolov. The man I believed was behind my father’s assassination. 
My hands trembled as I flipped through the pages. The information was detailed, precise. Surveillance. Photos. Bank transfers. A map of movement. Phone logs. 
“This is…” I whispered. “This is everything I’ve been searching for.”
Damian nodded. 
“I’ve been collecting it for two years,” he said. “Waiting for the right time to destroy him.”
My gaze snapped to his. “You want to kill Sokolov?”
“I want you to kill him,” Damian said. “With me.”
My breath stopped. 
He walked closer, placing a hand over mine on the folder. “He took your father. He tried to take my empire. He’s the rot in both our pasts. And now, we end him together.”
Emotion surged in my chest. “Why now?”
“Because I’m tired of shadows,” Damian said. “And I’m tired of pretending I don’t want all of you. Every last broken piece. I’m not a good man, Claire. But I’ll be your devil if it means I can finally have peace.”
I looked down at the folder, and then back at him. 
This was it. My entire life has been building to this moment. The revenge I’d bled for. The man I’d sworn to destroy, now asking me to destroy someone else with him. My enemy. Our enemy.
My fingers tightened on the folder. 
“You’re serious?” I asked. 
“I’ve never been more.”
A war raged inside me. 
I could walk away. Take the intel. Kill Sokolov myself. Go back to the plan. 
But the truth was Damian had become part of the plan. He is no longer just a pawn or an obstacle. He is something else now. Something darker. Something addictive. 
And I’m not ready to let him go. 
I looked him in the eye.
“Then we do this my way,” I said. “We burn his house. We destroy his name. We tear his legacy apart until nothing remains but dust.”
Damian smiled. A dark, proud, and wicked smile. 
“My queen,” he murmured. 
I took his hand.
And just like that, the alliance was born. Not out of love. Not out of trust. But out of shared rage. Shared blood. Shared pain. 
The devil has made his offer. 
And the girl with vengeance in her veins has finally accepted.