Mag-log inElena's POVMorning came quietly - too quietly for what had happened.I woke up in Damian's bed, the sheets warm and tangled around my legs, the taste of last night still clinging to my lips. Skin flushed. Muscles sore. Heart full - and annoyingly attached.I stretched, letting memories flood through me.The heat of Damian's breath against my throat.The rough marble of the kitchen counter beneath my spine.The way he'd whispered my name - low, fractured, like it cost him something.Elena.Like I was a secret. A sin. A sin he was never letting go of.Except-When I turned, I found him already awake.Sitting at the edge of the bed. Fully dressed. Back to me.And he wasn't smiling."Damian?" I said, voice soft from sleep - and maybe a little hope.He didn't answer right away.But when he did...It wasn't what I expected."I feel like last night happened," he said slowly, hands clasped in front of him, jaw tight. "But I can't prove it did."I blinked."What?"He turned to me then - and t
Elena's POVI didn't bother knocking. I didn't care.My heart was hammering so hard against my ribs I thought it might split. The closer I got to his door, the more the heat in my chest grew - a toxic mix of jealousy, betrayal, anger, and something worse:Longing.I walked straight in. No greeting. No hesitation.Damian was in his living room, shirt halfway unbuttoned, sleeves rolled up, as though he belonged to some magazine spread. He looked up, startled - but something else flickered in his eyes.Something like recognition.I walked toward him. Every step steady, even though my insides were shaking.He opened his mouth. "Elena-"I didn't let him finish. I reached up, grabbed his collar, and crashed my mouth against his, hard, immediate, and utterly devoid of gentleness. It was a demand, a confession, and an accusation all rolled into one desperate, consuming action. I used the pressure of my body against his, pouring every ounce of the week's fury, confusion, and longing into the
Damian's POVThe office smelled of leather, polished wood, and ambition - but the scent didn't mask the tension. Not for me. Not today.Rachael had been gone for barely twenty-four hours, yet the quiet was deafening. Her desk was pristine, sterile almost, like she had never been there. Every pen, every notebook, every little paperweight that had a story was gone. And with it, the warmth, the spark, the chaos she brought to my life.I slammed my briefcase down on the desk, ignoring the clack that echoed in the near-empty office. This wasn't a petty annoyance. This was war. Elena had dared to take her from me - dared to think she could control the tides of desire I had for Rachael.I leaned back, rubbing my face with both hands. Calm, Damian. Strategic, Damian. But the ache in my chest betrayed me.I opened my laptop and pulled up her schedule. HR had promised it was "temporary," but I didn't trust them. Not when Elena's fingerpri
Damian's POVThe office smelled faintly of coffee and fear - though not my fear. Someone else's.Rachael's desk had been moved. That much I noticed the instant I stepped in. The chair was empty. Her things... gone. A note, crisply folded, sat where her planner used to be: "Temporarily transferred for project management - HR."I didn't even need to read between the lines. I knew exactly who had orchestrated this. Elena.I slammed my briefcase onto my desk, the sound sharp enough to make the few early birds in the office flinch. My pulse thudded in my ears - not from stress, not entirely - from fury.She thought she could take Rachael from me. Thought she could remove the one person who made me feel again without me noticing.I sank into my chair, gripping the edge, jaw tight. My mind was a warzone. Every scenario, every conversation I could have, ran like a loop. I could see her smug smile already. "Let's see how he ha
Damian's POVSleep didn't come easily.Elena's words from dinner still echoed in my head - "Maybe you shouldn't have let me think I still mattered."That sentence had weight. It sat in my chest like a stone.I'd tried to distract myself with work, with the endless stream of emails and numbers that usually drowned out noise. But nothing drowned Rachael out.Her laughter. Her voice. The way she said good morning like it actually meant something.And the way she looked at me last night before I walked her to her door - like she was ready to say something and didn't.By the time I got to the office, she was already there, sorting through files like nothing had happened. But there was a warmth in her eyes - a quiet, knowing kind of calm."Morning," I said softly, leaning against her desk."Morning, sir," she replied, that playful tone tugging at the corners of her lips.I gave a small
I was in trouble.By the time we got to work, the shift between us was impossible to hide. Her eyes found mine in the elevator; a quiet smile passed between us - small enough to look innocent, but deep enough to say we remember.We tried to act normal. Professional. But the air in my office was too still, too full of echoes from the night before.At one point, she came to hand me a report, and her fingers brushed mine. It was a simple touch - but it lingered, both of us pretending not to notice."Thanks," I said, a little too softly.She met my gaze, lips curving. "Anytime, sir."Sir. She said it with that teasing tone, the one that made my pulse skip.I leaned back, pretending to read. "You should be careful calling me that.""Why?""Because you sound like you're flirting.""Maybe I am."I looked up then, really looked, and there it was - that spark again. The on
The wind that night smelled like rain and smoke and something softer-something that felt almost like healing.We'd spent the evening on the porch, talking about everything and nothing, wrapped in the kind of silence that only exists between people who've already seen each other break. Damian had ma
Eight weeks.That's how long it took for silence to start pretending it was peace.The house sat on the edge of nowhere—half-wild grass, a cracked fence, and an ocean that looked too calm to have ever known violence. The city was still rebuilding. Syndicate Tower was under construction again, glass
The hospital changed after dark.By day, it buzzed with movement - nurses rushing, monitors beeping, reporters pressing against the glass doors. But at night, it went still. Too still. The kind of silence that hums just beneath your skin, like something waiting to wake.I couldn't sleep. Every time
Elena's POVWhen I woke again, everything was white. Too bright. Too still. A hospital room.My wrist was wrapped in gauze, my throat dry enough to bleed.A man in a grey suit stood by the door-detective, probably. He looked tired, suspicious, and mildly sympathetic, which meant he didn't believe a







