Chapter 5: The Devil's Bargain

Chapter 5: The Devil's Bargain

POV: Lucian Thorne (First-Person)

The silence stretched between us like a wire pulled too tight.

Damien stood in the doorway, his gray eyes steady, his expression unreadable. He had just admitted that he knew my father was at the gala. He knew my father had watched me get drugged. He knew, and he had said nothing.

"For how long?" I asked. My voice was way too calm and I was surprised by it.

"Since the night of the gala," Damien said. "I saw him there. I saw him talking to the man in the mask. I tried to get to you first, but I was too late. By the time I found you in the hallway, the drug had already taken hold."

"You saw my father," I said slowly, "and you didn't tell me."

"I didn't have proof. Not then. I had a photograph and a suspicion. If I had accused Harrison Thorne of drugging his own son without evidence, he would have destroyed me. And you would have hated me for lying."

"So you waited," I said. "You stalked me for three months. You watched me slowly turn into an Omega. You let me believe I was sick. You let me believe my body was betraying me."

"I was trying to protect you."

"Protect me?" I laughed, and the sound was ugly. "You were protecting your investment. You wanted the baby. You wanted me vulnerable. You wanted me to have nowhere to go but you."

Damien's jaw tightened. "That's not true."

"Isn't it?" I stepped toward him. "You have a fiancée. You have a contract. You have a company that rivals my father's. And now you have me—pregnant, homeless, and completely dependent on you. Tell me, Damien. What's your angle?"

Damien didn't flinch. He met my gaze and held it.

"My angle," he said quietly, "is that I have been in love with you since the moment I saw you at a charity dinner three years ago. You were standing on a stage, giving a speech about ethical business practices. You were brilliant. You were fierce. You were everything I wanted to be."

I blinked. That was not what I had expected.

"You hated me," I said. "At every meeting. Every negotiation. You opposed every deal I proposed."

"Because I couldn't stand being in the same room as you without touching you," Damien said. "I couldn't stand watching you look at me like I was nothing. So I became your rival. It was the only way I could be close to you without losing my mind."

I stared at him. My heart was pounding. My thoughts were a storm.

"You're lying," I whispered.

"I don't lie," he said. "Not to you. Not anymore."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black box. He opened it. Inside was a ring. A simple silver band with a single black diamond.

"This was my mother's," he said. "She was an Omega. My father forced her into a bond. He used her. He broke her. She died when I was twelve years old. I swore I would never be like him. I swore I would never force an Omega into anything."

He closed the box and set it on the table.

"I don't want to force you into anything, Lucian. I want you to choose me. But I understand if you can't. I understand if you hate me. Just know that everything I have done—every secret, every lie, every manipulation—was to keep you safe from the people who want to destroy you."

I looked at the ring. Then at him. My chest was tight. My eyes were burning.

"You should have told me," I said. "From the beginning. You should have trusted me."

"I know," he said. "And I'm sorry."

The word hung in the air. Sorry. Such a small word for such a massive betrayal.

I turned away and walked to the window. The city was bright and cold below me. I had no home. No company. No family. I had nothing but the clothes on my back and the child in my womb.

And the Alpha standing behind me.

"I need time," I said. "I need to think."

"I'll give you all the time you need," Damien said. "But there's something else you should know."

I closed my eyes. "Of course there is."

"Your father is planning to announce your removal from the family publicly. Tomorrow night. At a charity gala. He's going to present Tristan as his sole heir and declare you... unfit."

I turned around. "He can't do that."

"He can. And he will. Unless we stop him."

"We?"

"I have evidence," Damien said. "The photograph. The lab results. The payments to the chemist. If we present it at the gala, in front of everyone, your father's reputation will be destroyed. Tristan will be arrested. Vanessa will be exposed. You will have your revenge."

I stared at him. The offer was right there. Everything I wanted. Everything I needed.

"And what do you want in return?" I asked.

Damien picked up the black box. He held it out to me.

"Wear this," he said. "Just for the gala. Let the world see that you are mine. Let your father see that he cannot touch you. After that, you can walk away. You can take the evidence and destroy him on your own. You can hate me forever. But for one night, let me stand beside you."

I looked at the ring. My mother's ring had been simple. A gold band. My father had taken it from me when I turned eighteen. He said it was a reminder of weakness.

This ring was different. Dark. Dangerous. But also... beautiful.

"If I do this," I said slowly, "you will give me everything. The evidence. The photographs. The lab results."

"Everything," Damien said. "I swear it."

I reached out and took the box. The ring was cold in my palm.

"One night," I said. "Then we're even."

Damien nodded. "One night."

I slipped the ring onto my finger. It fit perfectly. Of course it did.

The moment the metal touched my skin, my phone buzzed. I picked it up. A text from an unknown number.

I know who did this to you. I know what they're planning. Meet me alone. Tonight. The old Thorne warehouse. Midnight. Come alone or you'll never know the truth.

I stared at the screen. My blood ran cold.

"What is it?" Damien asked.

I looked at him. His gray eyes were sharp. Suspicious.

"Nothing," I said. "Just spam."

I turned off the phone and slipped it into my pocket.