Chapter 29 The rooftop
CHAPTER 29: The rooftop
Vera
He was going to tell Silas my secret.
I grabbed his sleeves, my breath coming in shallow, jagged gasps. Through a thick veil of tears, I looked at him, my voice a broken whisper.
“Please, Damien... I’m begging you. Don’t do this. It's going to ruin…everything.”
The secret he held over me was a cold, jagged thing…a dark truth I had sworn to keep buried until my last breath.
And if it ever got out, it was going to be the end of me. Then, who would take care of Lily?
What happens to my baby?
Once, Damien had been my salvation and protector. Now, he was using the very thing he saved me from to blackmail me…to ruin my life.
He shook my grip off, and I staggered back a little.
“You lost the right to make demands, or appeals,” he murmured. “You betrayed me first. Did you think I was going to let you off easily… to live like a queen,” he spat, bitterly.
I flinched.
“You owe me, amore. And I'm here to collect.”
The sudden, jarring trill of my phone shattered the silence.
I looked down, and the illuminated screen had one name on it,
Silas.
The feeling of being caught in a trap descended on me.
Damien saw the name on my screen and smirked.
“Ah. Your husband is calling.”
I was about to switch off the phone, after deciding to ignore the call, but Damien stepped forward.
“Pick it up,” he hissed, shoving his hands in his pockets.
“What?”
“Pick it up and tell your husband exactly where you are.”
I shook my head, once. Twice. “You know I can't do that.”
Silas was going to come up and find him here.
Then, Damien might really tell him everything. And I would give anything to stop Silas from learning about what I was hiding.
“No, please, if he sees you—"
“Take the call, or I’ll answer it for you," he threatened.
I knew it was fruitless trying to plead with him.
With a sob catching in my chest, I answered.
“H-hello?”
"Vera? Where are you?" Silas’s voice was a low, resonant rumble. It carried the weight of authority and a certain coldness. Still, it lacked the malicious and evil timbre that Damien possessed. “Someone said you stepped out some minutes ago.”
I bit on my lips to hold back the sobs that were threatening to break out.
A glance in Damien's direction, and he was watching me with a mocking smirk… disdain, anger and something else I couldn't understand glinting in his eyes.
Was it jealousy?
“I... I just needed some air,” I lied. “So I went up to the roof. The ballroom was too crowded.”
A brief pause.
“Stay where you are,” he commanded. “I’m coming to get you.”
Before I could protest, the line went dead.
He was coming up here.
Damien was here.
I didn’t want them to see each other.
I turned to Damien, my hands clutching the silk of my skirts.
“You have to leave. Please, leave before he gets here.”
A slow, predatory smile spread across his face.
“I see you've really grown some wings. But you don’t tell me what to do, cosa mia.”
I really hated when he called me that. It was his way of stripping me of my humanity and my rights as a person.
“Please, go—”
He tilted his head, a lazy smile dancing in his lips.
“Why should I? I think I’d quite like to stay. I’d like to see the look on Silas Rutherford’s face when I introduce myself and tell him a few stories about his new trophy wife."
“No!” I choked out. “I’ll do whatever you want…give you anything, just go. Please!”
I was willing to do and say anything to get him off that rooftop.
He paused, the greed in his eyes finally outweighing his malice.
He invaded my space once more. To my everlasting credit, I managed to stay still.
Experience had taught me that he hated it and always went on a rampage whenever I shied away from his touch.
My skin crawled as he leaned down, his hand sliding over my shoulder in a slow, possessive caress.
“Have I told you how much I missed you?” he husked in my ears.
My fingers curled tightly at my sides, digging painfully into my palm.
He sniffed every inch of my skin from my neck up to my face, then planted a quick, burning kiss at the corner of my lips…a mark of ownership that made me feel physically ill.
Unable to keep still, I recoiled in horror and disgust.
“I'm a married woman now, Damien,” I stammered. “Don't t—touch me again,” I said, wiping the corner of my mouth where his lips touched.
He smirked…but it didn't reach his eyes.
"I’ll be in touch, cosa mia," he whispered, before disappearing into the night.
I was still scrubbing the feel of his lips off my skin when I heard Silas’s voice.
“Vera.”
My hand fell away from the corner of my mouth.
He reached me in a few long strides.
He stopped, a few feet away, his gaze dropping to my face. His eyes slightly narrowed, no doubt noting the strain and distress I had tried to hide.
He looked around the empty rooftop, his jaw set in a hard line.
“Did something happen?”
I tried to appear normal.
“No. I'm just tired…and the party was too much for me.
He took a step further, eyes fixed on me.
“Why didn’t you text me?" he asked, his voice low but carrying a sharp edge of authority and something else. “I was—I couldn’t find you.”
Was he worried?
I was surely overthinking things. There's no way he'd be worried about me.
“I... I’m sorry,” I whispered, my voice fragile. “I just felt overwhelmed. I needed to breathe.”
He stepped closer, his dark eyes narrowing as they searched mine.
“Were you up here with anyone? Was anyone else here?”
I blinked.
“No,” I lied. “I didn't see anyone. It was just me.”
Something unreadable briefly flashed in his eyes…a flicker of something.
I felt my heart skip a beat.
By now, I reckoned that lying to Silas was like playing with fire. Not withstanding, the thought of Damien exposing my secret was a far greater terror.
Silas watched me for a long moment.
I trembled, and wrapped my arms around myself. Whether it was the weather, or the effects of the evening I had had, I couldn't say.
Without a word, he stripped off his heavy coat and draped it over my shoulders.
“It's freezing,” he noted, his voice dropping into a lower register. “We’re leaving. Now.”
I looked up at him, and in that moment, I saw the best means to cleanse myself from Damien’s touch, to wipe away the memory…the lingering disgust of his touch.
The sudden, overwhelming safety of Silas’s presence crashed into me at once. I threw caution to the wind, and did the one thing I had been fantasising about since the wedding day.
Before he could turn toward the door, I pressed up on my toes, my hands clutching his lapels as I crashed my lips against his.