Chapter 121
Damon's POV
The messages came through while I was trapped in the living room, surrounded by my mother and three of her society friends who'd shown up to "discuss floral arrangements."
I stared at my phone screen, Scarlett's words burning into my brain, while some woman I barely knew debated rose varieties.
"Damon?" My mother's voice was sharp. "Are you listening?"
"Yeah." I shoved the phone in my pocket. "Roses are fine. Whatever you think."
The women exchanged glances. One of them smiled knowingly. "Pre-wedding nerves. Perfectly normal."
If only. I needed to get out of here. Now.
I made some excuse and escaped to my room, locking the door behind me. Scarlett's messages waited like accusations:
Answer me, Damon.
You're going to marry her, aren't you? Really marry her.
I can't believe I was stupid enough to trust you.
The engagement party was tomorrow. The entire city would be watching. Every Alpha family my grandfather had carefully cultivated relationships with over decades. If I backed out now—
My phone rang. Scarlett.
I answered. "I'm working on it."
"Working on it?" Her laugh was brittle. "That's all you've got? You're working on it?"
"The timing's not right." I kept my voice low. "There are things I can't control—"
"You mean things you won't control." She was crying now, I could hear it. "You're too scared to stand up to them. To your grandfather, your father, all of them. You'd rather marry someone you don't love than fight for what you actually want."
The words hit like a physical blow. "That's not fair."
"Isn't it?" Her voice dropped to something raw and wounded. "I fell in love with someone brave, Damon. Someone who didn't give a shit what anyone thought. But that's not who you are, is it? You're just another coward doing what Daddy tells him."
"Scarlett—"
"Save it." The line went dead.
I sat there in the dark, her words echoing. Someone brave. I used to think I was. Used to think I could have everything on my own terms: the family approval, the wild nights with Scarlett.
Now I just felt like a puppet with too many strings.
I stared at the custom deep blue suit laid out on my nightstand, the Vance family crest embroidered on the cuffs. A sudden wave of suffocation and rage surged through me.
This engagement —I had no say in it.
---
Midnight
I couldn't sleep.
Scarlett's messages kept coming, alternating between fury and desperation:
We could leave. Tonight. Just get in your car and drive. Go somewhere they can't find us.
I miss you. I can't sleep knowing you're planning a life with someone else.
Don't you remember what you said to me? That I'm the only one who makes you feel alive?
And then, the one that gutted me:
You know what I loved about you? You weren't afraid of anything. You were the Alpha everyone else wanted to be. But now you're letting them lead you around like a fucking show dog.
I sat up, jaw clenched. She was right. I was being led around. Every decision had been made for me. I hadn't chosen any of it.
But neither had Elena.
The thought slipped in uninvited. I shoved it away.
I typed slowly:
After the engagement. We'll go to Starport. I'll make it up to you, I promise.
The moment I hit send, guilt twisted in my gut.
But I can't back out now. The justifications came automatically. Too many people are counting on this. The business merger, the territory agreements, Grandfather's health. It's bigger than just me.
Scarlett messaged back:
You promise? You're not just saying that to shut me up?
I promise. Once this is over, we'll go. Just you and me.
I stared at the words, feeling how hollow they sounded even to myself.
They made this so public, I thought, gripping my phone. Is it so I can't back out?
Once I'm engaged to Elena and the whole city knows, backing out later would have massive consequences for me and the family.
If I end up with Scarlett later, everyone will bring up this grand engagement.
"Damon Vance had such an elaborate engagement party, then broke it off right after. What a bastard."
"That poor Elena, played by the Vance family."
I don't want to be that person... I closed my eyes. But I can't give up Scarlett either...
---
8 AM - Engagement Day
I pulled up to Cross Manor's main entrance where Elena's father waited nervously. He practically lunged at my car, all forced smiles.
"She's upstairs! I'll get her right now!"
He hurried upstairs. I stayed in the living room.
This is fine. This is just a performance. Get through today, then Starport with Scarlett, then we figure out the rest.
The door opened.
Elena appeared at the top of the steps.
I forgot how to breathe.
She wore a pale pink dress that seemed to float around her, the waist cinched tight, the skirt billowing like clouds. Her hair was swept up in some complicated style, a few strands falling to frame her face. The morning light caught on pink diamond earrings—my mother's gift—and turned her skin to pearl.
She looked like something out of a fairy tale. Untouchable. Perfect.
Nothing like the girl I know.
Elena in her oversized sweaters and messy ponytail. Elena who'd spent twenty years being... Elena.
This version was a stranger.
She descended the steps carefully, her expression carefully blank, and I realized with a jolt: I'd seen her in formal wear before, but never like this.
Too stunning. The thought hit me. Nothing like the girl I thought I knew.
Three full seconds of mental shutdown. My brain refused to process what my eyes were seeing—Elena, yet not Elena.
The dress flowed with her steps as if alive, refracting light with each movement. The waist was cinched tight, outlining curves I'd never noticed before. Or maybe I'd never bothered to look. The skirt spread outward in soft waves, while that necklace caught the morning sun streaming through the windows, casting fractured light across her collarbones.
When did her collarbones become like that?