CHAPTER 5: The deal with the devil

Damian's penthouse felt different tonight. Warmer. Or maybe I was just colder on the inside.

He handed me a glass of wine—red, expensive, the kind Julian used to drink while ignoring me at dinner—and sat across from me on the leather couch. The city glittered below us. Somewhere out there, Julian was planning his next move.

"You want to tell me what really happened?" Damian asked.

I took a long sip. "I walked into his trap. He offered me a deal. I recorded it. He sent thugs. I blackmailed him. The end."

"That's the short version."

"You want the long version?" I set down the glass. "He paid my mother's medical bills. Two million dollars. He's holding it over my head. And he offered to make me a billionaire if I betray you and marry him again."

Damian didn't flinch. "And what did you say?"

"I said no."

"Before or after you recorded him?"

"During."

A slow smile spread across his face. "God, you're terrifying."

"I learned from the best."

We sat in silence for a moment. Then Damian leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "I need to tell you something. And you're not going to like it."

"I never like anything you say."

"Julian wasn't lying about one thing." He paused. "I am dangerous. I have done things—things that would put me in prison for life if anyone found out. I didn't become a billionaire by being nice, Elara. I became one by being ruthless."

"I know."

"Do you?" His eyes locked onto mine. "I've had people killed. Not by my own hand, but by my orders. Men who crossed me. Men who tried to blackmail me. Men who looked at me the wrong way."

I didn't look away. "And should I be scared?"

"Yes." His voice dropped. "But not of me. Of what Julian will do when he realizes you're not going to break. He's not going to stop, Elara. He's going to come after everyone you love. Your mother. Me. Anyone you've ever spoken to."

"He already tried that."

"And he failed. So now he'll try harder." Damian stood up and walked to the window. "I have a proposal. A real one. Not business. Not revenge."

My heart skipped. "What kind of proposal?"

He turned. "Marry me."

I laughed. Then I realized he wasn't laughing. "You're serious."

"Deadly serious." He walked toward me. "Not for love. Not for romance. For protection. If you're my wife, Julian can't touch you. My lawyers are better than his. My security is tighter. And if he tries anything, he's not just attacking you—he's attacking the Kael family. And no one is stupid enough to do that."

"That's insane."

"That's survival." He knelt in front of me, taking my hands. "I'm not asking you to love me. I'm asking you to trust me. There's a difference."

I looked at his hands around mine. Warm. Calloused. Real.

"What do you get out of this?" I asked.

Damian smiled. It didn't reach his eyes. "I get to watch Julian Thorne burn. And I get to do it with the most dangerous woman I've ever met by my side."

I thought about my mother, sleeping in her hospital bed. I thought about Julian's thugs in the penthouse. I thought about the recorder hidden in my bra,the evidence backed up on three servers.

Then I thought about the empty years in Julian's penthouse. The loneliness. The silence.

I looked at Damian. "One condition."

"Name it."

"No secrets. If this is going to work, you tell me everything. The bodies you've buried. The deals you've made. Everything."

He was quiet for a long time. Then he nodded. "Deal."

"Then yes." I squeezed his hands. "I'll marry you."

He pulled me to my feet. For a second, I thought he might kiss me. But he just held my hands and said, "We tell the press tomorrow. Get your best dress ready."

"I have a better idea," I said. "We tell Julian first. Privately. Just the three of us."

Damian's eyes glittered. "You want to twist the knife."

"I want to watch him bleed."