Chapter 32: The Night She Couldn't Say No

I stared at the message until the words blurred. 'New tests this morning. Come alone tonight.' My thumb hovered over the screen, heart hammering so hard it felt like it was trying to punch through my ribs. The penthouse was quiet except for the low hum of the fridge and Mia’s soft breathing from down the hall. I locked the phone and set it face-down on the counter like it might bite me.

'What else could she possibly have to tell me? We already know Victoria set up the night in Vegas. We already know Marcus turned on them. What is left?'

Damian stepped out of the bedroom, hair still damp from the shower we’d shared earlier. He took one look at my face and crossed the room in three strides.

“What is it?” he asked, voice low.

I handed him the phone without a word. He read it once, jaw tightening.

“I’m driving you,” he said immediately.

“She said alone.”

“I’ll wait in the car. As close as you need me.” He set the phone down and pulled me against him, one hand sliding up my back under the silk robe. “You don’t have to walk into that room by yourself.”

I pressed my face into his chest, breathing in the clean scent of his skin. “I’m scared, Damian. What if the new tests say it’s worse? What if she’s been hiding how bad it really is this whole time?”

His arms tightened around me. For a long moment he just held me, palm stroking slow circles between my shoulder blades. Then he tilted my chin up and kissed me. Not the usual hungry rush. This kiss was slower, deeper, like he was pouring every unspoken promise into it. His tongue brushed mine once, twice, teasing instead of demanding. I melted into him, fingers curling into his shirt.

He walked me backward until my back met the cool glass of the floor-to-ceiling window. The city lights glittered far below us. His hands stayed gentle, sliding the robe off my shoulders until it pooled at my feet. I stood naked in front of him, the glass cold against my skin, his eyes dark and steady on mine.

“Look at me,” he murmured.

I did. He dropped to his knees right there, hands on my hips, and pressed an open-mouthed kiss to the inside of my thigh. Then higher. Then higher still. When his tongue finally dragged over my pussy it was slow and deliberate, like he had all night to taste me. No rush. No fingers yet. Just his mouth, hot and wet, licking long stripes up my slit until my knees started to shake.

“Damian…” My voice cracked.

He hummed against me, the vibration making my hips jerk. “Let me take care of you,” he whispered, then sucked my clit between his lips, gentle but insistent. One hand slid up my thigh, two fingers easing inside me only when I was already dripping down his chin. He curled them slowly, stroking that spot inside me while his tongue worked my clit in lazy circles.

I came with a soft, broken cry, thighs trembling around his head, one hand braced on the glass behind me. He kept licking me through it, drawing it out until I was whimpering.

When he stood, he didn’t thrust into me right away. Instead he turned me to face the window, my palms flat on the glass, and pressed his chest to my back. His cock slid between my thighs, hot and heavy, rubbing along my pussy without entering me yet.

“Watch the city,” he said against my ear. “While I fuck you like this.”

He pushed inside me in one long, slow glide. I moaned, forehead dropping against the cool glass. He fucked me like that.....standing, my body trapped between him and the window...; deep, measured strokes that made my breath fog the glass. One hand cupped my breast, thumb rolling my nipple. The other slipped between my legs, fingers circling my clit in time with his thrusts.

“Feel how wet you are for me?” he growled softly. “Even when your heart is breaking, your body still opens for me like this.”

I came again with a shuddering gasp, clenching around him so hard he groaned my name and spilled deep inside me, hips pressed tight to my ass.

We stayed like that for a long minute, his arms wrapped around me, both of us breathing hard against the glass.

Later, after we cleaned up and dressed, Mia was already drawing at the table when we came out. She looked up with that bright smile that always made my chest ache.

“Mommy, can we read a story before bed?”

I forced a smile and pulled her onto my lap. “Of course, baby.”

While I read to her, Damian sat beside us, one arm around my shoulders. For those few minutes the world felt almost normal. But the message on my phone kept burning in my pocket like a live coal.

After Mia was asleep, Damian drove me to the hospital. The car was quiet. His hand stayed on my thigh the whole way.

When we pulled up to the entrance he turned to me. “I’ll be right here. Text me the second you need me.”

I leaned over and kissed him, slow and deep. “Thank you.”

I walked into the hospital alone, heart hammering. The elevator ride to my mother’s floor felt endless. When I stepped into her room she was sitting up, looking smaller than yesterday but still determined.

“You came,” she said softly.

I sat on the edge of the bed and took her hand. “Of course I did. What did the new tests say?”

She squeezed my fingers. “The cancer has spread faster than they thought. But that’s not why I asked you to come alone tonight.” Her eyes held mine, steady and serious. “There’s something about that night in Vegas I never told you. Something even Marcus Vale doesn’t know.”

My pulse spiked. “What is it?”

She took a shaky breath. “Victoria didn’t just arrange the meeting. She paid the hotel security to delete the original footage. But I kept a copy. A hidden copy. And it shows something that changes everything about who Damian really is to you… and to Mia.”

She reached under her pillow and pulled out a small USB drive.

“Take this. Watch it tonight, before you come back tomorrow. But Elena… promise me you’ll watch it alone first.”

I stared at the tiny drive in my palm, the weight of it suddenly feeling enormous.

My mother’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Because once you see what’s on here, nothing between you and Damian will ever be the same.”

I slipped the drive into my pocket, heart pounding so hard I could feel it in my throat.

What the hell had my mother been hiding all these years?