Chapter 4

Damon

I did not sleep that night.

I lay in bed with the ceiling staring back at me and her face burned behind my eyes. Laura. Laura Collinson. Rick's girl. The one with the dark eyes and the candy bar and the laugh that made my chest hurt.

I kept telling myself it was nothing.

A moment. A hallway. A girl who happened to be there.

But I do not lie to myself. I never have. It is a waste of time.

So I got up at 3am and poured a drink I did not want and sat in the dark like an idiot. The whiskey burned. I did not feel it.

I thought about the way she looked at me when Rick said my name. Like someone had pulled the floor out from under her. Like she was falling and did not know where she would land.

I thought about the way I looked at her. Like I was hungry. Like I had forgotten what hunger felt like.

I am forty two years old. I have been with women. Beautiful women. Women who knew what they wanted and were not afraid to take it. I have never felt like this. Not once. Not even close.

That should have scared me more than it did.

At 6am I called Leo.

"Sir. It is early."

"I need information."

He sighed. He is the only person who sighs at me and keeps his job. "On who."

"Laura Collinson. Rick's girlfriend."

A pause. "Sir, I do not think I should be digging into your son's personal life."

"I did not ask what you think. I asked for information."

Another pause. Longer this time. "I will see what I can find."

"Send it to my phone. Everything."

I hung up.

The sun was coming up. Grey light through the windows. The city was waking up. I did not care.

I showered. Dressed. Skipped breakfast. My stomach was not interested.

My phone buzzed at 8am.

Leo had sent a file. Attachments. A family photo.

I opened it.

And there she was. Laura. Standing between two people. A woman with kind eyes and a man with a familiar face.

Kael Collinson.

I stared at the screen.

Kael Collinson. I knew the name. Not because of bad blood. Because he ran in similar circles. Not as high up. Not an emperor. But respected. A good man from what I had heard. Solid. Quiet. He owned a few businesses. Nothing like my reach. But he was not struggling. Not even close.

His daughter was dating my son.

That felt strange. Rick never mentioned her last name. Maybe he did not think it mattered. Or maybe he knew I would recognize it.

I read the file. Everything Leo sent.

Age. Seventeen. Turning eighteen in three months. School. Good grades. Attendance was fine. No red flags. Just a normal girl from a normal family.

Her mother. Elena Collinson. Comes from old money. Not empire money. Comfortable money.

Her father. Kael Collinson. Runs a development company. Smaller than mine. But successful. Respected in his own lane.

They lived in a nice house on the east side. Not my neighborhood. But close enough.

Laura did not work. She did not need to. Her parents gave her a card and told her to be smart with it. From what Leo found, she was smart with it.

The file said she had been dating Rick for fourteen months.

Fourteen months. And I had never met her. Never heard her name. Rick never mentioned her. Not once.

That bothered me more than it should have.

I put the phone down.

Kael Collinson's daughter.

I remembered Kael. Quiet. Dignified. We met a few times at charity events. Exchanged nods. Never did business together. No reason to. He stayed in his lane. I stayed in mine.

Now his daughter was sitting on my son's couch. Eating my son's snacks. Looking at me like she wanted to crawl inside my chest.

I picked the phone back up.

There was a photo of Laura. Recent. She was at what looked like a family dinner. Dressed nicely. Hair down. She was laughing at something. Her head was tilted back. Her teeth showed. She looked happy.

I looked at it for too long.

Then I deleted the photo.

Then I went into the deleted folder and restored it.

That is how pathetic I am.

I spent the rest of the morning in my office. Pretending to work. Signing things I did not read. Answering calls I did not listen to.

My mind was not in the room. My mind was in a high school hallway. Watching a girl unwrap a candy bar. Watching her walk away.

At noon, Rick came over.

He walked in without knocking. He always does. I have told him a hundred times to knock. He does not listen.

"Hey."

"Hey."

He dropped onto the couch. Put his feet on the coffee table. I did not tell him to take them down. I was too tired to care.

"Laura is coming over later. Thought I would warn you."

My heart stopped. Then it started again. Faster. The same way it did in the common room.

"Why would I need a warning."

Rick shrugged. "Because you are weird around people. You know. The staring thing."

"I do not have a staring thing."

"You literally stared at her for a full minute yesterday. I thought you were going to burn a hole through her face."

I said nothing.

"She asked about you," he said. "After you left. She wanted to know why you were so quiet."

"What did you tell her."

"I told her you are always like that. Cold. Distant. She said you did not seem cold. She said you seemed sad."

I felt something in my chest. A pull. A ache.

"She does not know me," I said.

"Yeah. That is what I told her."

Rick pulled out his phone. Started scrolling. He was done with the conversation. That is how he is. In and out. Never staying anywhere for long.

I looked at him. My son. Eighteen years old. Careless. Easy. He had no idea what was happening inside my head.

He had no idea that his father could not stop thinking about his girlfriend.

"What time is she coming," I asked.

"Six. We are ordering food. You can join if you want."

"I have work."

"You always have work."

"That is what it means to run an empire."

Rick rolled his eyes. "Fine. Suit yourself."

He stayed for another hour. Talked about school. About a party next weekend. About a game he wanted me to come watch.

I nodded. Grunted. Said "maybe."

After he left, I sat in the dark.

She was coming here. To my house. At six.

I could leave. I could go to the office. I could stay in my room. I could avoid her.

Or I could stay.

I looked at the clock. 1pm. Five hours.

I got up. Showered again. Changed three times. Ended up in a black sweater and dark jeans. Casual. Not trying too hard.

I was trying too hard.

I knew it.

I did not care.

At 5:30 I went downstairs. Poured a drink. Did not drink it. Just held it. Stared at the door.

At 5:45 the bell rang.

The housekeeper let her in.

I heard her voice before I saw her. Saying thank you. Saying the house was beautiful. Being polite. Being good.

Then she walked into the living room.

And I forgot how to breathe.

She was wearing a simple dress. Blue. Dark blue. Her hair was down. Her face was bare. No makeup. She did not need it.

She saw me standing by the window. Stopped.

"Hey."

"Hey."

That was all I could say. Hey.

Rick came up behind her. Put his hand on her lower back. A casual touch. Possessive.

"You stayed," Rick said. He sounded surprised.

"I changed my mind."

Laura looked at me. Her eyes were dark. Unreadable.

Rick walked past me toward the kitchen. "I am ordering pizza. You two can talk or whatever."

And then it was just us.

Her and me.

The room was quiet. The city was loud outside. Neither of us moved.

"You stayed," she said. The same words Rick used. But her voice was different. Softer.

"I changed my mind," I said. The same words. But they meant something else now.

She looked at her hands. Then back at me.

"I know who you are now," she said. "My dad told me. After I got home yesterday."

"What did he say."

"That you are the emperor. That you are not someone to mess with."

"And what did you think."

She tilted her head. That same gesture from the hallway. "I think you are someone who bought me a candy bar from a vending machine. That does not sound like an emperor."

I almost smiled. Almost.

"Your father," I said. "Kael. I know him."

"I know. He said you have met a few times."

"He is a good man."

Laura nodded. "He is. He is not like you though. He is not trying to own the whole world."

"Neither am I."

"No?"

"No. I just want to own the parts that matter."

She looked at me for a long second. Then she smiled. A real smile. Not uncertain. Not small. Real.

"And where do I fit into that. Am I a part that matters."

I should have said nothing. I should have laughed it off. Walked away. Gone to the kitchen.

Instead I said "I do not know yet."

She held my gaze.

Rick came back with the pizza. The moment broke. She turned away. Sat on the couch. Let Rick put his arm around her.

I stayed by the window.

Kael Collinson's daughter.

Standing in my living room.

Looking at me like she already knew everything I was trying to hide.

It could not be any worse.