Broken Promises

Chapter 15: Broken Promises

The car hadn’t even pulled away from the curb when Alex stepped directly into its path.

“Stop!” he shouted, voice raw. “Isla, please!”

Damien’s driver slammed on the brakes. My heart lurched. Damien’s hand tightened on my thigh, his grip bordering on painful.

“Don’t,” Damien warned quietly, his voice low and dangerous. “He’s not worth it.”

But I couldn’t just drive away. Not like this. Not when Alex looked so completely destroyed.

“I need to do this,” I whispered.

Damien’s jaw clenched, but he gave a single sharp nod to the driver. The door unlocked. I stepped out before I could lose my nerve, the afternoon sun feeling too bright on my skin.

Alex looked worse up close. His eyes were bloodshot, cheeks hollow. The confident, charming man I had spent three years loving was gone. In his place stood someone broken.

“Isla…” His voice cracked as he reached for me. I stepped back instinctively. “Don’t go with him. Please. I’m begging you.”

People were starting to stare. A few phones came out. Great. Another public spectacle.

“Alex, you need to leave,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. “This isn’t healthy.”

He dropped to his knees right there on the sidewalk.

My stomach twisted.

“I know I fucked up,” he sobbed. Tears streamed down his face — real, ugly tears. “At the pool… I panicked. Bianca was screaming and I just… I chose wrong. I’ve chosen wrong so many times. But I love you, Isla. I’ve always loved you. You were the only one who stayed. The only one who believed in me when my dad treated me like a disappointment.”

His hands reached for the hem of my dress. I stepped back again.

“Please,” he begged, voice breaking. “I’ll change. I’ll go to therapy. I’ll cut Bianca off completely. I’ll never look at another woman again. Just come home. We can fix this. We can get married like we talked about. Have kids. Build the life you always wanted.”

Old memories crashed over me like a wave.

Late nights where Alex would hold me and talk about our future. The way he used to kiss my forehead when I was stressed about work. The comfort of being with someone who knew my favorite takeout order and how I liked my coffee.

For a moment — a dangerous, painful moment — I remembered why I had stayed for three years.

Alex saw the hesitation in my eyes and crawled forward on his knees, grabbing my hand.

“I know he’s richer. I know he’s more powerful. But he doesn’t love you like I do. He’ll use you and throw you away. He does it to everyone. You’re just another conquest to him, Isla. But to me… you’re everything.”

Tears burned in my eyes.

Part of me — the old Isla — wanted to pull him up. To comfort him. To believe that people could change.

But then I felt it.

The weight of Damien’s gaze from inside the car. The memory of his hands on my body. The way he had made me scream “Daddy” while buried deep inside me. The way he looked at me like I was the center of his universe.

I gently pulled my hand away from Alex’s grasp.

“Get up,” I said softly. “You’re embarrassing yourself.”

He stayed on his knees, looking up at me with desperate hope.

“I love you,” he whispered. “Don’t do this. Don’t choose him over us.”

I looked down at the man I had once planned a future with and felt nothing but sadness.

“Alex… I didn’t choose him over you,” I said quietly. “You chose Bianca over me the moment you let me drown. You chose her every time you ignored me for months. You chose comfort and familiarity over actually seeing me.”

I took a step back.

“I deserve better. I deserve to be someone’s first choice. And for the first time… I am.”

Alex’s face crumpled. “Isla—”

“Goodbye, Alex.”

I turned and walked back to the car without looking back. My legs felt like jelly, but I kept moving. The driver opened the door for me. I slid inside.

Damien was watching me with an unreadable expression. The moment the door closed, he pulled me onto his lap, crushing me against his chest. His arms were like iron bands around me.

“You did well,” he murmured into my hair, voice rough with pride and something darker. “But if he ever touches you again, I won’t be this calm.”

I buried my face in his neck, breathing in his scent. The adrenaline from the confrontation left me shaking.

“I almost felt sorry for him,” I admitted in a small voice.

Damien’s hand slid up my thigh, slipping under my dress. “That’s because you have a good heart, little one. But he doesn’t deserve your pity. Not anymore.”

His fingers found the edge of my panties and pushed them aside, stroking me slowly. I gasped, still sensitive from earlier.

“Daddy…” I whimpered.

“Right here,” he growled softly. “In this car. While we drive away from him. I want you to come thinking about who you belong to now.”

He pushed two fingers inside me without warning. I moaned, gripping his shoulders as the car began moving. He fucked me with his fingers steadily, thumb circling my clit, whispering filthy praise against my ear.

“That’s it… soak my fingers while you leave him behind. Good girl. My good girl.”

I came hard and fast, biting down on his shoulder to muffle my cry as waves of pleasure crashed through me.

Damien didn’t stop until I was limp and trembling in his arms. Only then did he withdraw his fingers and bring them to my lips. I sucked them clean obediently, tasting myself and the evidence of my surrender.

He kissed me deeply afterward, slow and claiming.

But when I glanced out the tinted window as we passed the intersection, I saw it.

Alex was still on his knees on the sidewalk, watching our car drive away with pure devastation on his face.

And in the rearview mirror, I caught Damien’s reflection — his eyes dark with possessive satisfaction.

He had seen everything.

---

Back at the penthouse, the tension between us was electric.

Damien barely waited until the elevator doors closed before he was on me. He lifted me against the wall, my legs wrapping around his waist as he kissed me like a man possessed.

“You walked away from him,” he growled between kisses. “You chose me. In front of everyone.”

His hands were everywhere — squeezing my ass, gripping my throat, sliding under my dress again.

“Yes, Daddy,” I moaned. “I chose you.”

He carried me straight to the bedroom and threw me on the bed. Clothes came off in a frenzy. When he finally thrust into me, it was hard and deep, almost punishing.

“Mine,” he snarled with every powerful stroke. “Say it louder.”

“I’m yours! Daddy, I’m yours!”

He fucked me like he was erasing every memory of Alex from my body. Rough. Possessive. Primal. I came twice before he finally let himself go, filling me with a guttural groan.

Afterward, as we lay tangled in the sheets, Damien held me close, his hand possessively resting on my stomach.

But even in the afterglow, I couldn’t shake the image of Alex on his knees.

Or the dangerous look in Damien’s eyes when he watched me walk away.

I had made my choice.

But something told me Alex wasn’t going to accept it quietly.

And Damien’s jealousy was only just beginning to surface.