Chapter 14 Chapter 14
The room was heavy with silence. Damien’s words hung in the air like a threat, sharp and unyielding. I stood frozen, the weight of what he’d just said pressing down on me.
“He has people watching you,” Damien repeated, his voice low but resolute. “But I’m not giving him what he wants.”
I blinked, trying to process the declaration. “You’re refusing?” My voice cracked, disbelief laced in every word.
Damien’s eyes locked onto mine, cold and unwavering. “Yes,” he said simply, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“But—” My words faltered, replaced by the rising knot of fear in my chest. “If you don’t—Damien, he’ll—”
“I don’t care what he does,” Damien interrupted, his tone sharper now. “Victor doesn’t get to dictate terms to me. And he sure as hell doesn’t get to use you as leverage.”
I stared at him, my mind spinning. There was something in his voice, something almost… protective. It didn’t make sense. Damien wasn’t the kind of man to put anyone above his empire, his rules. Yet here he was, defying Victor, risking everything. For me.
“Why?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
His jaw tightened, and for a moment, I thought he wouldn’t answer. His gaze shifted, like he was looking for the right words—or maybe a way out. “Because,” he said finally, his voice quieter now, “I don’t negotiate with traitors. And I don’t let anyone threaten what’s mine.”
The words hit like a punch to the chest. What’s mine. Was that all I was to him? Something to control, to claim? Or was there something deeper beneath the surface, something neither of us dared to name?
The mansion felt colder that night, the corridors darker and emptier than usual. Damien had retreated to his study, locking himself away as he always did when the weight of his decisions became too much.
But I couldn’t stop thinking about Claudia. She was somewhere in this house, locked away, alone. Despite everything—the lies, the secrets—I couldn’t shake the image of her standing in that alley, shielding me with nothing but her own determination.
I waited until the house was quiet, the guards settled into their posts. Then I slipped out of my room, my footsteps soft against the hardwood floors. The east wing was dimly lit, the shadows stretching long and foreboding.
When I reached the door where they were holding Claudia, I hesitated. Two guards stood outside, their expressions blank but alert. I took a deep breath, steadying myself, and stepped forward.
“I need to see her,” I said, my voice firm despite the tremor in my hands.
The taller of the two guards frowned. “Mr. Damien’s orders—”
“I don’t care about his orders,” I interrupted, surprising even myself with the sharpness of my tone. “Let me in. Now.”
The guards exchanged a look, uncertain. Finally, the taller one sighed and unlocked the door. “Five minutes,” he said.
I stepped inside, my pulse quickening as the door clicked shut behind me.
Claudia sat on a small cot in the corner of the room, her wrists bound, her face pale but defiant. When she saw me, her eyes narrowed. “Lisa,” she said, her voice tinged with both surprise and suspicion. “What are you doing here?”
“I needed to see you,” I said, stepping closer. “Are you okay?”
She let out a bitter laugh, shaking her head. “Do I look okay?”
I flinched at the sharpness of her tone but pressed on. “I just… I needed to understand,” I said. “Why you did what you did. Why you lied to Damien.”
Claudia’s expression softened, the fire in her eyes dimming slightly. “You really don’t get it, do you?” she said quietly. “Damien isn’t the man you think he is. He’ll protect you until you’re no longer useful to him. And then he’ll destroy you, just like he’s destroyed everyone else.”
“You don’t know that,” I said, though the words felt hollow even as I spoke them.
“Don’t I?” Claudia countered, her gaze piercing. “You’ve seen what he’s capable of, Lisa. You’ve seen the way he controls everything, everyone. Do you really think you’ll be any different?”
Her words cut deeper than I wanted to admit. I wanted to believe Damien’s actions tonight meant something, that they came from a place of genuine care. But the seeds of doubt Claudia had planted were starting to take root.
“I can take care of myself,” I said, though the tremor in my voice betrayed me.
Claudia sighed, leaning back against the wall. “I hope you’re right,” she said. “But if you stay with him, you’re going to get hurt. And when that happens, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
I left the room feeling more conflicted than ever. The guards locked the door behind me, their eyes cold and indifferent as I made my way back to my room.
The house was quiet, the kind of silence that felt alive, like it was listening, waiting. My footsteps echoed softly in the corridor, the faint sound of the wind outside the only other noise.
When I reached my room, I closed the door behind me and leaned against it, exhaling shakily. My mind was a storm of thoughts, each one more chaotic than the last.
I walked to my bed, intending to collapse into it and let sleep take me away, if only for a little while. But as I pulled back the covers, something caught my eye.
A folded piece of paper, tucked neatly under the pillow.
My heart skipped a beat as I picked it up, my hands trembling. The paper was plain, unmarked, but when I unfolded it, the words scrawled across the page made my blood run cold.
“Tomorrow. 10 p.m. The study. Damien will not see it coming.”
I stared at the note, my mind racing. My hands tightened around the paper, my breath coming in short, shallow gasps.
Somebody was planning to kill Damien.
And I had no idea who I could trust.
The weight of the discovery pressed down on me, the walls of my room suddenly feeling too close, too suffocating. I glanced around, half-expecting someone to step out of the shadows, to reveal themselves as the author of the note.
But I was alone.
The clock on the wall ticked loudly, each second a reminder that time was running out. My mind raced with questions, each one more urgent than the last. Who had left the note? Was it someone inside the house? One of Damien’s men? Or was it Claudia?
The thought of Claudia made my stomach twist. Could she have written it? Was this her way of finishing what she’d started?
I didn’t have answers, but one thing was clear: I couldn’t let Damien die.
No matter what Claudia had said, no matter how much doubt she’d planted in my mind, I couldn’t just stand by and let it happen.
But how was I supposed to stop it?
The note trembled in my hand, the words burning into my mind.
Tomorrow. 10 p.m. The study.
I had less than a day to figure out what to do.
And if I made the wrong choice, it could cost us everything.