The Ex-Wife

Chapter 12: The Ex-Wife

The silence after Damien hung up on Elena felt heavier than it should have.

I was still lying on top of him, our bodies pressed together, his release slowly leaking down my thighs. My heart was racing for an entirely different reason now. The venom in that woman’s voice had cut through the afterglow like a knife.

Elena Voss.

Damien’s ex-wife. Alex’s mother. The woman who had once shared his life, his bed, and his last name.

I tried to roll off him, but Damien’s arms locked around my waist like steel bands, keeping me exactly where I was.

“Don’t,” he said quietly, reading my tension. “She doesn’t get to ruin this.”

“But she’s right, isn’t she?” I whispered against his chest. “The whole city is talking. I was with your son for three years. And now I’m… here. Like this.”

Damien’s hand slid up my back and tangled in my hair, tugging my head back so I had to look at him. His stormy gray eyes were intense, almost fierce.

“She’s bitter,” he said flatly. “Our marriage was dead long before it ended. She hated how much time I spent building this empire. Hated that I wouldn’t bend to her socialite games. And she especially hates that I finally found someone who makes me want more than power.”

His thumb brushed my lower lip. “Someone like you.”

The words should have comforted me. Instead, they only made the knot in my stomach tighter. Because no matter how much Damien wanted me, Elena was still Alex’s mother. She still had power in this city. And she clearly wasn’t done fighting.

Damien’s phone started ringing again.

Elena.

He glanced at the screen, jaw tightening. For a moment I thought he would ignore it, but he answered, putting it on speaker this time so I could hear everything. His other arm stayed wrapped possessively around me.

“What do you want, Elena?” His voice was cold enough to freeze fire.

“You disgusting pig,” she hissed. “Fucking your son’s leftovers? Have you no shame? The press is having a field day with this. Our family name is being dragged through the mud because you couldn’t keep your dick out of that little gold-digging slut.”

I flinched. Damien’s hand stroked my back soothingly, but his voice remained ice.

“Careful,” he warned. “You’re speaking about the woman I’m going to marry.”

My breath caught. *Marry?* We hadn’t even talked about that. But hearing him say it so casually, so possessively, sent a forbidden thrill through me.

Elena laughed — a sharp, ugly sound. “Marry her? You’re repeating the same mistake you made with me. You collect broken little girls, fix them, then discard them when they no longer amuse you. Does she know about the others? Does she know what happened with—”

Damien hung up.

He tossed the phone across the room where it clattered against the wall. Then he rolled us over so I was beneath him, his body caging mine.

“She’s wrong,” he said fiercely, eyes burning into mine. “You are nothing like the others. You’re mine, Isla. And I protect what’s mine.”

He kissed me then — hard, desperate, almost angry. Like he needed to erase Elena’s words from my mind with his mouth. I kissed him back just as fiercely, nails digging into his shoulders as he pushed my legs apart and slid inside me again.

This time there was no slow build.

He fucked me with raw need, deep and punishing, like he was trying to brand himself into my soul. I moaned and cried out, wrapping my legs around his waist, taking everything he gave me.

“Daddy,” I gasped as he hit that perfect spot over and over. “Harder… please, Daddy—”

He groaned, burying his face in my neck as he drove into me relentlessly. The sound of our bodies slapping together filled the room, mixed with my broken moans and his low growls.

We came together this time — violent, shattering, perfect.

Afterward, Damien didn’t pull out. He stayed buried inside me, holding me close as our breathing slowly returned to normal.

“Ignore her,” he murmured against my hair. “She’s poison. Always has been.”

I nodded, but the seed of doubt had been planted. Elena’s words kept echoing in my head. *Repeating old mistakes… little gold-digging slut… the others…*

Later that afternoon, while Damien was in his home office taking important calls, I wandered through the penthouse. I told myself I was just exploring, but deep down I was looking for answers. Proof that Elena was wrong about him.

I ended up in his massive walk-in closet. Rows of tailored suits, shelves of watches worth more than my entire life. On the far side was a small drawer built into the wall. It looked almost hidden.

I shouldn’t have opened it.

But I did.

Inside were old photographs.

My hands shook as I picked up the first one. It was Damien — much younger, maybe late twenties — smiling in a way I had never seen. Carefree. Happy. He had his arm around a stunning blonde woman who could only be a younger Elena. Between them stood a little boy with Damien’s eyes.

Alex.

They looked like the perfect family.

There were more photos underneath. Wedding pictures. Vacation photos. Elena pregnant with Alex. Damien holding his newborn son with something like wonder in his eyes.

Tears blurred my vision.

This was what Elena had lost. What I was now taking.

I was so lost in the photos that I didn’t hear Damien enter the room until his voice cut through the silence.

“Isla.”

I jumped, nearly dropping the pictures. He stood in the doorway, expression unreadable.

“I… I was just—” I stammered, guilt flooding me.

He crossed the room slowly and took the photos from my hands. For a long moment he stared down at them, thumb brushing over the image of his younger self.

“That was a long time ago,” he said finally. “Before I learned that some people only love what they can control.”

He put the photos back in the drawer and closed it.

Then he pulled me into his arms.

“I’m not that man anymore,” he whispered against my hair. “And you’re not her. You’re better. Stronger. Mine.”

I wanted to believe him. I really did.

But as I rested my head against his chest, listening to his steady heartbeat, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the past wasn’t done with us yet.

Elena wasn’t going to let me have him without a fight.

And something told me she knew secrets about Damien that could destroy everything we were building.