Chapter 167 Pieces

Chapter 167 Pieces
DAMON

I stared at the empty space on my bed where Zara used to curl up whenever she came over, the coldness of the sheets a brutal reminder that I was the one who had pushed her out the door.
Weeks had bled into an absolute blur of sleepless nights and untouched meals. Every single time I closed my eyes, the look of complete heartbreak on her face before I walked out of that restaurant burned behind my eyelids, making it impossible to breathe. I missed her so much it felt like a physical sickness, a heavy ache in my chest that no amount of whiskey could numb. But the world didn't stop spinning just because I was drowning.

At the office, my downward spiral was on full display. Iris looked genuinely happy every time she glided past my desk, her calculating eyes taking in my wrinkled shirts, while Elias barely hid his triumphant smirk during our shared strategy briefs. Even my mother, Natasha, simply stared at my exhausted face with a cold expression of pure disapproval, offering zero comfort.

Thomas Thorne, of course, was completely unyielding. He didn't care that his younger son was hollowed out, he only cared about the family metrics.

"Your third-quarter data alignment is twelve hours behind schedule, Damon," my father barked, his assistant dropping a heavy fresh stack of ledgers onto my desk without a single shred of hesitation. He stood over my chair, his commanding presence radiating total authority. "I don't care about your personal drama. Your brother is leading his segment of the port project flawlessly while you sit here looking like a ghost. If you cannot handle this workload, I will permanently strip your clearance by morning."

"I'll have it corrected by five, sir," I rasped, my throat tasting like copper as I forced my jaw to clench, burying the wild, desperate fury deep inside my chest.
He didn't offer a single word of parental support, not like i expected him too though. He simply turned on his heel and marched back into his private suite with his assistant, leaving me to suffocate beneath a mountain of data I absolutely despised.

By nine o'clock that evening, the silence of my penthouse apartment felt like a concrete cage. I sat on the edge of the leather sofa in the dark, the pale blue glare of the streetlamps filtering through the glass windows as my fingers mindlessly scrolled through the old pictures stored on my phone. Crystalline images of Zara laughing by the fireplace, her eyes illuminating the small cabin up north during our short weekend escape, completely wrecked my remaining armor. I was staring at her smile, a heavy tear burning down the side of my face, when the sharp chime of the doorbell cut through the quiet.

I didn't move to open it. A second later, the deadbolt clicked, and Tony walked straight into the living room, his massive frame filling the entryway as he dropped his stuffs onto the bench.

"You're not answering your phone, Damon," Tony rumbled, his deep voice carrying a strict, unyielding concern as he walked over to the kitchen island, his eyes scanning the empty takeout boxes and the half empty bottle on the counter. He walked straight over to the sofa, his shadow looming over my hunched posture. "Look at yourself. You look completely hollowed out, man."

"I have work to finish, Tony," I muttered, refusing to look up from the screen as my fingers tightly anchored around the edge of the phone. "My father is pushing the compliance briefs before Monday morning."

Tony didn't buy the script for a single second. He stepped forward, his large hand violently reaching down to snatch the phone right out of my grip, tossing it face down onto the coffee table.

"Stop playing the reluctant martyr with me!" Tony shouted, his voice booming off the high ceilings like a physical strike, completely shattering the quiet of the penthouse. He stood dead in front of me, forcing me to look at his furious, unblinking face. "You didn't lose her because of Kai, Damon. You lost her because you stopped fighting for yourself!"

The words hit me harder than any legal threat or public humiliation my father had ever dropped on my head. A hot, dangerous wave of fury flooded my veins, my heart hammering a ragged, wild rhythm against my ribs as I shot off the cushions, looming right back over him.

"You don't know a damn thing about what happened, Tony!" I growled, my voice cracking under the weight of the suppression. "Kai is sitting three feet away from her every single day! He was handing her coffee, he was sharing midnight blackouts with her, and she was turning her phone off while I sat in my vehicle for hours waiting for a date she completely forgot me! She chose the work, Tony! She chose him!"

"She didn't choose him, you idiot!" Tony roared back, stepping right into my space without a single shred of fear. "She was drowning trying to build a career after the whole wreckage she went through at Blackthorn, and instead of standing by her side as a sanctuary, you turned into a paranoid warden! You pushed her away, Damon! You locked yourself behind these suits and these corporate walls, and now you're here doing what? Looking at her pictures while being sad? Waiting for your father to finish choking the life out of your soul?"

I froze, the explosive volume in my chest instantly draining away, leaving me feeling thoroughly empty, my breathing ragged and wild in the sudden quiet of the room. The absolute truth of his words sliced right through my armor, exposing the bleeding, terrified boy beneath the tailored suit. I had stopped fighting for myself the second I let Thomas destroy my athletic contract. I had accepted the cage, allowed the jealousy to dictate my tongue, and violently broken the only real thing I had ever possessed because I was too afraid to admit how trapped and frustrated i truly was.

"I can't walk out, Tony," I whispered desperately, my voice dropping to a low, raw register as I sat back down on the edge of the sofa, burying my face in my hands. "You don't understand the leverage. If I leave that desk... if I cross my father again... he will use the federal grand jury files to frame her parents. He will drop a financial raid on her family's house before noon. I am staying in this hell to keep her safe."

Tony let out a long, heavy breath, the anger instantly vanishing from his broad features as he walked over and placed a heavy, supportive hand firmly against my shoulder. He squeezed tightly, his tone dropping to a soft, persistent murmur. "You can't protect her by destroying the man she actually fell in love with, Damon. Look at your clothes. Look at your face. The golden boy of Blackthorn then, is the guy who kept her safe from the Chancellor. You need to remember who you actually are before there's nothing left of your kingdom to save."

He didn't say anything else. He dropped my phone back onto the cushion beside my hand, turned on his heel, and walked quietly out of the penthouse, the heavy mahogany door clicking shut behind him with a definitive, echoing thud.

I sat alone in the absolute silence for what felt like hours, the words remember who you actually are vibrating relentlessly through the dark space of my skull.

I stood up slowly, the tailored suit jacket feeling like a set of lead weights as I walked down the narrow corridor toward the back storage closet of the master bedroom. My fingers were shaking, my pulse racing a frantic sequence as I reached for the key hidden beneath the archive boxes. I unlocked the heavy metal trunk at the bottom of the shelf, the hinges groaning loudly in the quiet room as I pulled the door open.
Inside the old locker space, resting beneath the shadow of the corporate frameworks, was the one thing I had tried so hard to bury.

I reached out, my trembling fingers brushing against the heavy mesh fabric of my old lacrosse jersey, the bold numbers and the university crest staring back at me through the dim moonlight, a single piece of my true identity waiting in the dark.