CHAPTER 15

Crossing the Line

Damian’s POV

I could still hear my dad's words long after he left.

“Don't give them anything to find.”

But I already did.

The night stand. The long stare across a ballroom. A touch beneath a dining table. The kiss in the dark that still lingered on my lips.

And now I was falling apart again. Because Eliot wasn't careful anyone. He looked at me like he didn't care about who saw. And no amount of polite smiles or sideways glances could hide him.

And now my father has hired a private investigator. That scares me more than anything else.

I found Eliot near the back of the event hall.

With one hand on the counter and fingers curled around a half-full bourbon glass, he pretended he didn't notice that I was watching him. His posture was too loose. Too collected. Like none of this was real.

Like he hadn't left me in a cold bed with a message that froze my blood. Like I wasn't standing on a wire that was so thin it could break at any moment.

“You need to be more careful,” I said, moving towards him. He didn’t turn. Didn’t flinch.

Instead, he put the glass to his lips and sipped slowly.

“Careful?” he repeated, his voice dry. “About what?”

“With you flirting with me. In public,” I answered.

That hurt him. For a split second, his shoulders tensed up, and then he turned to face me.

He arched his brow. “I wasn’t licking your neck in front of your father.”

“You didn’t have to,”I snapped.

He looked at me with a twitching corner of his mouth that wasn't from amusement but from something colder.

Angry.

“So we’re doing this again?” he asked.

I checked around, to make sure no one was near us. “This isn’t a game, Eliot.”

“No,” he agreed, setting the glass down with a soft clink. “It’s not. But you keep treating me like a risk to be very off.”

“That’s not true—”

“Isn’t it?” he cut in, stepping closer. “Because every time we get close, you pull away. Every time you kiss me, you act like you need to wipe it from your memory the next morning.”

"I'm trying to keep us safe," I said with my teeth clenched.

“No,” he snapped. “You’re trying to protect yourself. There’s a difference.”

All of a sudden, the atmosphere felt too warm. The knot in my tie got tighter, like a noose, around my throat. I wanted to run and stay at the same time.

"You have no idea what's at stake for me."

His eyes lit up. "Then explain it."

"I can't—"

“You can't,” he said, cutting me off. “Because you don’t trust me enough to let me carry any of this.”

"That's not true."

"Isn't it?" He challenged again and moved even closer. “Then tell me this: when we’re alone—when we’re kissing like the world doesn’t exist—does it feel like nothing to you?”

I took a deep breath.

"No."

“Then stop treating it like it doesn't.”

The way he looked at me... I had never seen so much pain in a single stare.

Not anger or bitterness.

The kind of look you get when you try to love someone who is always looking for a way out.

“I don’t know how to do this,” I admitted, voice breaking the silence. “This thing—us—it wasn’t supposed to happen. Not like this.”

He let out a sharp breath and ran his hand through his hair.

“Do you think it’s easy for me either?” he asked. “Do you think I like hiding? Wondering which version of you I’ll get each day?”

“I’m not trying to—”

He held up a hand.

“I don’t want to be a secret,” he said, his voice softer now. “Not because I need the world to know about us. But because I need you to choose me.”

His words hung heavy between us. And I had no way to fight back against them. Because what he said was true.

He turned around and began to walk away. But something inside me cracked.

I reached out to grab him.

"Eliot."

He paused. But didn't turn, so I grabbed his wrist.

His skin was warm beneath my hand.

“I can’t lose you,” I whispered.

He looked back over his shoulder.His face was guarded again. But his eyes were still soft.

“Then stop making me feel like I’m something you regret.”

I didn't think twice.

I just pulled him towards me, behind the room, through the thick velvet curtain, into a dark hallway lined with empty liquor carts and linen boxes. The air still had a smell of old wine and dust.

It wasn't busy. It was still like a forgotten place.

We stood there, chest to chest. Our breath caught as we stared into each other. I still have my hand on his.

And then I leaned in and kissed him.

The kiss was soft like a year of stress was finally let go

I got my fingers caught in his hair, and he kissed me like he'd been waiting too long. He pushed me gently against the wall, and I let him.

I needed to be grounded. Needed something to hold onto.

That kiss made me feel everything. His frustration. His longing. His ache to be seen, not hidden and above it all his love. Raw. Wild and real.

His hands slid to my waist as he kissed me down to my jaw.

I pressed my forehead to his, breath shaky after breaking the kiss.

“I’m scared,” I admitted.

“I am too,” he said. “But I’d rather be scared with you than safe without you.”

I put my hands over his back and under his jacket as our mouths locked into each other again.

The heat between us was steady. Fierce. Alive.

We didn't bother to talk anymore. We kissed like it was the only thing that's keeping us from falling apart.

My dad didn't even cross my mind. Or Lila. Not even the blackmailer

.

For once, I didn’t think about the consequences. I only focused on him. Only this.

Then—

I heard it. Sounds. Electric. Soft, and sharp like a click.

We quickly pulled apart, our breath caught in our throats. A bright light like a blade had caught through the hallway.

I blinked hard, trying to understand what just happened. The source was gone.The hallway was dark again. But someone had been there

Someone just captured us again.

Eliot’s voice came out low. “That was a camera.”

I nodded, but my stomach was turning. We moved to the end of the hall. It was empty.

No footsteps. No door creak. Just… empty.

Whoever the person was, they were already disappearing into the crowd. And I had no idea what they had taken.

Or how much time we had left before everything fell apart.