Chapter 66

IMANI’s PoV

“Are you okay?” Damien asked.

The corridor was dim, with gold wall sconces casting soft hues of light across the marble.

It should’ve felt quiet, safe, calmer than the ballroom. Instead, it felt… thinner. Like the air itself was stretched, waiting to snap.

My contact continued speaking in my ear, oblivious.

“Either someone with direct clearance into your phone or someone with high-level extraction tools. I’m narrowing it down.”

But I wasn’t listening anymore.

Because Damien was here, standing right in front of me.

Watching me.

Those blue eyes holding mine with the kind of intensity that made my heartbeat stumble in its own rhythm.

“Hello?” my contact said sharply, “Imani? Are you still there?”

“Yes,” I answered, not looking away from Damien, “I’ll call you back.”

I didn’t wait for a response.

I hung up and silence fell instantly, thick and heavy.

Damien took a few slow steps forward, until the soft scent of cedarwood wrapped faintly around me.

My fingers tightened around my phone. “How long have you been standing out here?”

“How long,” he murmured, “have you been standing out here alone?” He asked, ignoring my question.

“Why does it matter?” My voice was steady. Well, mostly.

His expression hardened even more that his usual, “Because someone walked out of the ballroom after you. I watched him. He changed his mind when he saw me follow.”

A chill crawled under my skin.

I didn’t ask who–it didn’t matter.

The way he said it… it wasn’t possessive. It wasn’t even worried.

It was observant.

“Why were you watching me leave?” I asked carefully.

He didn’t answer. His eyes flicked to the phone still clutched in my hand, then back to my face.

“Who were you talking to?”

“A business associate,” I said.

“You look unsettled,” he replied quietly.

And I hated that he noticed.

I hated even more that he cared enough to say something.

I took a step back, instinctively creating space. That was a mistake.

His eyes dropped briefly, catching the movement, reading into it.

“Shouldn’t you be inside?” I asked, “With the guests? The Hamiltons? Your… family friends?”

His eyes lifted, sharp and unsettlingly focused, “Shouldn’t you?”

“I had a call.”

“Not anymore,” he said, gaze flicking to my phone.

I swallowed hard.

I couldn’t go back inside with him, not until I figured out if he was the one that sent the threat.

“I needed air,” I said. “I was getting choked.”

“Because of Cody?” he asked.

My breath caught.

“What about him?” I replied, feigning ignorance.

Damien looked at me like he saw the truth anyway. Like he could peel it straight off my skin.

“You looked affected.”

My throat tightened.

I opened my mouth to answer, but the ballroom doors swung open.

Warm light and distant laughter spilled into the corridor. And then the silhouette stepped through.

Cody.

His hazel eyes swept the hallway like he’d been searching for something, someone. And when they landed on me, something in them sharpened, darkened. His chest rose and fell too quickly, breath uneven, as if he’d been moving fast.

His gaze flicked from me. Then to Damien. To the narrow space between us.

His jaw locked.

Damien didn’t move.

He didn’t flinch.

He simply turned to face Cody, perfectly calm, hands tucked back into his pockets like he had all the time in the world.

Cody stepped out into the hall, letting the door swing shut behind him. The silence that followed was suffocating.

“What are you doing out here?” Cody asked Damien, voice edged with danger.

Damien didn’t blink, “Keeping her company.”

“I’m sure she’ll be fine on her own,” Cody said, stepping closer to me. “Let’s go back.”

“I said,” Damien repeated, “I’m keeping her company.”

Cody turned slowly, incredulously.

“…What?”

“You heard me.”

Cody’s laugh was a low, dark, humorless sound. “You know who she is, right? She’s the bitch that stole my building and—”

“Don’t call her that,” Damien cut in.

“I’ll call her whatever the fuck I—”

“No, you won’t.”

My voice sliced straight between them as I stepped forward, positioning myself between Damien and Cody.

Cody’s eyes snapped to mine.

I didn’t look away.

“Stop being a sore loser and accept it. You lost, Mr. Simmons.”

His expression twisted into shock, fury, and something else flickering underneath.

“You fu—”

“Cody,” Damien said sharply, “go back inside.”

Cody’s mouth tightened, “I just find it interesting,” he said, staring Damien down, “that you suddenly have a lot to say tonight.”

“And I,” Damien replied, his tone smooth as always, “find it interesting who you choose to kiss."

Cody’s jaw clenched. “That is none of your business.”

Damien turned his head and looked at me.

Only me.

“Is it hers?”

My heartbeat stuttered.

Cody’s eyes whipped toward me instantly, they were sharp and demanding.

“Why would it bother her?” he snapped, except the edge wasn’t aimed at Damien anymore.

It was aimed at me.

My pulse pounded in my ears.

I forced my face into a calm expression, “It doesn’t,” I said, but it was a lie.

Because it did, in fact, affect me... but not in the way that they thought.

They were the picture perfect couple, living like they had no problems in the word. Living like they didn't kill someone.

so why should they be happy??

why should they have a happy ending??

“I need to get back,” I said firmly, and left their heated midst.

But the weight of two different stares dragged across my skin.

Damien’s was steady, assessing, almost protective.

Cody’s was burning, unsettled… desperate in a way he didn’t want me to see.

I reached the ballroom doors.

My hand touched the handle.

But I paused—just half a second.

Just enough to do something stupid.

I looked back.

Damien stood where I’d left him, perfectly still, like marble carved into a man.

Watchful and Dangerous in his calm.

Cody had already turned to face him again, his shoulders rigid, fists clenched and his chest heaving like he was fighting an urge to throw the first punch.

They were like two storms accross each other. And it was because of me.

My stomach twisted.

Not with fear nor with guilt.

There was this unsettling feeling I had within me, but I buried it instantly as a thought came to mind.

They were supposed to be best friends right?

A wicked smirk grew on my face as I walked back into the ballroom.

What better way to bring down a castle than from the inside?