MasukDamien POVThe waiting was torture.I sat beside Evelyn’s bed in the ICU, my hand never leaving hers. The surgery had been successful — Dr. Mensah had drained the blood, repaired the damaged artery, and stopped the hemorrhage. The baby was stable for now, its tiny heartbeat strong on the monitor. But Evelyn had been placed in a medically induced coma for 48 hours to give her brain time to heal and reduce swelling.Forty-eight hours felt like a lifetime.I hadn’t left her side once. Not to eat. Not to sleep. Not even to shower. Sophia and Julian had taken Aveillie home with them, promising to keep her safe and happy. Every few hours, Sophia sent me photos and videos — Aveillie drawing pictures for “Mummy and the new baby,” Aveillie asking when she could see us again. Those messages were the only thing keeping me sane.I leaned forward, pressing my forehead against Evelyn’s hand. Her skin was warm, but she was so still. The machin
Damien POV The ambulance sirens blared through the night as we raced toward the hospital. I sat in the back, holding Evelyn’s limp hand tightly in mine, my other hand pressed against the gash on her head. Blood continued to seep between my fingers, warm and terrifying. I had never felt fear like this before — not when I was shot, not when Aveillie was taken, not even when I thought I had lost Evelyn forever five years ago. “Evie, stay with me,” I whispered, my voice hoarse and trembling. “Please, baby. Don’t leave me. Not like this. I just got you back. We just became a family again. You can’t do this to me… to us.” The paramedics worked around us, checking her vitals and adjusting the IV. One of them kept talking to me, asking questions, but I barely registered the words. All I could focus on was Evelyn’s pale face and the shallow rise and fall of her chest. “Mr. Blackthorne, her blood pressure is dropping,” one parame
Evelyn POVI sat on the living room couch, wrapped in a soft blanket Damien had tucked around me before he left. The television played some children's cartoon in the background for Aveillie, who had finally fallen asleep upstairs after refusing to go to bed without hearing "Daddy's voice" one more time. Sophia sat beside me, her hand gently rubbing my back in slow, comforting circles. She had come over the moment Damien left, refusing to let me wait alone."You need to breathe, Evelyn," Sophia said softly, her voice steady but full of concern. "Damien knows what he's doing. He's smart. He's careful. He won't do anything reckless."I nodded, but my hands wouldn't stop trembling. I kept them pressed against my stomach, as if I could protect the tiny life growing inside me through sheer willpower. "I know. I trust him. But Leo… he's always been one step ahead. Even when I thought he was my friend, he was planning this. How do we fight someone like that?
Damien POVLeo leaned over the document with a triumphant grin, the pen hovering just above the signature line. The lounge around us felt suffocatingly quiet, the soft jazz in the background doing nothing to mask the pounding of my heart. Every second stretched into eternity. I kept my face calm, almost defeated, but inside I was a storm of rage, fear, and cold calculation.He finally signed with a flourish, sliding the papers back toward me across the polished wooden table. His eyes sparkled with victory."There," Leo said, leaning back in his chair like a king on his throne. "It's done. Evelyn is mine now. The company is mine. Your pathetic little family is finished. How does it feel, Damien? To finally lose everything?"I looked down at the signed documents for a long moment, letting the silence stretch. Then I spoke, my voice steady and calm."It must have been hard getting those regulatory compliance documents forged so per
Damien POV“What if I have to say yes?” Evelyn whispered brokenly against my chest, her voice cracking with raw despair. “What if I have to marry him… to save our baby?”The words sliced through me like shards of glass. I held her tighter, my arms wrapped around her trembling body as if I could physically shield her from the nightmare Leo had created. Her tears soaked through my shirt, hot and endless. I felt every single one of them like a fresh wound to my soul.“No,” I said fiercely, my voice low but absolute. “Over my dead body, Evelyn. You will not marry him. You will not sacrifice yourself like that. I will find a way. I swear on my life — on Aveillie’s life, on our unborn child’s life — I will find a way to save you and our baby without giving that monster a single thing he wants.”She looked up at me, her eyes red and swollen from crying. “But the doctors said less than 48 hours, Damien. Our baby… I can feel myself getting weaker
Evelyn POVThe hospital room felt colder than usual.I sat on the edge of the bed, my hand resting protectively over my stomach. The monitor beside me beeped steadily, tracking my rising INR levels. Damien stood by the window, staring out into the night, his shoulders tense. He hadn’t slept properly in days. None of us had.My phone rang.The number was unknown, but something in my gut told me exactly who it was. I answered, putting it on speaker so Damien could hear.“Evelyn,” Leo’s voice came through — calm, almost gentle, like the old friend I used to trust. “How are you feeling today?”I gripped the phone tighter. “What do you want, Leo?”He chuckled softly. “Straight to the point. I’ve always admired that about you. You have 48 hours, Evelyn. Divorce Damien. Sign over full ownership of the company to me. And agree to marry me. Do that, and I’ll personally deliver the antidote to your hospital room.”
Evelyn povI dressed up for work and took one of Damien’s cars, the one with mirror tint. I was meeting Sophia at a café near the estate.She was already waiting when I walked in. We hugged tight.“Look at you,” she teased. “Rolling up in Damien’s car like a mafia wife. Should I start calling you M
Damien’s POVI woke up with a deep smile still resting on my face, my arms wrapped around the soft warmth beside me. For a few seconds I stayed like that, half lost in sleep, enjoying the quiet comfort of the morning. The early sunlight was slipping through the curtains, the soft glow spreading acr
Evelyn’s POVHis mouth crashed back onto mine.This kiss was hungrier than the last. Tongues tangled immediately, no preamble, no teasing. Just raw need. I tasted myself on his lips from where he had licked and sucked at my skin earlier, and the thought made heat flood my core all over again.He ki
(Damien’s POV)“Finally, you’ve lost it. I’m serious this time — I need to book you into a psychiatric ward, because I cannot keep calling myself friends with a lunatic.There’s no other explanation for this level of strategic suicide.”Charles’ voice came at me before the door had even closed. He







