Chapter Seven: Client Request Special Treat

Kai turned to the back of the paper, pen in hand, he squatted on the ground to write.

“You can wait all you want but I already made myself clear. Leave me alone.”

When he was done, he slid the paper under the door for Damien. He heard Damien’s hand brushing the floor so he knew Damien had picked the paper and had read it. He heard Damien hissed, then his phone rang. There were inaudible conversations and after that the call ended. He heard Damien walk away and was relieved immediately.

Kai opened the door just after seven.

He had barely slept last night. Damien’s note still sat on his nightstand like a threat that refused to leave. The hallway was empty, but the weight of the previous night clung to him as he walked downstairs.

The dining room fell quiet the second he stepped inside.

Damien was already seated, black shirt sleeves rolled up, his coffee untouched. His eyes locked onto Kai the moment he appeared and stayed there, dark and unblinking, like a predator tracking something it had already claimed.

Kai took his seat without looking at him.

“Morning,” Magnus said, lowering his tablet. “You two look like you went a few rounds last night.”

Elena gave a tight smile. “Everything all right?”

“Fine,” Kai answered flatly, reaching for the coffee pot.

Damien’s voice slid across the table, smooth and sharp. “Did you sleep at all, stepbrother? Or did you spend the whole night staring at the door?”

Kai’s grip tightened on the mug. “I slept.” Damien knew how to use words to get to his nerves and right now it worked.

“Liar.”

Elena cleared her throat a little too loudly. “Anyway… good news. We finally found a decorator for the engagement party. She’s the best in the city. She’ll handle the garden, the lights, everything. It’ll be beautiful.”

Magnus nodded. “Expensive, but worth it. I expect both of you to be there and behave.”

Kai forced a small smile. “Sounds great.”

Damien’s lips curved, though his eyes never left Kai. “Can’t wait.”

The rest of breakfast dragged under the weight of unspoken things. Every time Kai reached for something, he felt Damien’s gaze following the movement. Every time their eyes met, the air thickened round them.

Kai stood up first.

“I have things to prepare for,” he said, pushing his chair back. “Excuse me.”

He made it three steps into the hallway before a hand closed around his wrist and yanked him sideways into an empty sitting room. The door clicked shut behind them.

Damien didn’t let go.

“You walked out of that room like nothing happened,” Damien said, voice low. “Like I didn’t sit outside your door all night.”

Kai tried to pull free. “Let go.”

Damien’s thumb pressed against the inside of Kai’s wrist, right over his pulse. The touch was firm, and deliberate. Heat shot up Kai’s arm so fast his breath stuttered.

Damien noticed.

His eyes darkened. “There it is again.”

“There what is?” Kai snapped, but his voice came out thinner than he wanted.

“That reaction.” Damien stepped closer, still holding his wrist. “Your pulse just jumped. Same way it did when you pinned me the other night. Same way it does every time I get too close.”

Kai’s heart slammed against his ribs. He could feel the exact point where Damien’s skin met his, like the contact had burned itself into him.

“You’re imagining things,” he said.

“Am I?” Damien’s grip tightened just enough to keep him there. “Then why aren’t you pulling away harder?”

They stood frozen, the silence thick and dangerous. Kai could smell Damien’s cologne, could feel the heat rolling off him. Something unnamed twisted low in his stomach, some kind of heat he refused to name.

Damien’s phone rang.

The sharp sound cut through the moment like a blade. Damien’s jaw clenched. He held Kai’s stare for another second before releasing his wrist and answering the call.

“What?” he barked into the phone.

Kai didn’t wait. He slipped out of the room and took the stairs two at a time, pulse still racing.

Back in his bedroom, he locked the door and leaned against it, staring at his wrist. The skin where Damien had touched him still tingled. He rubbed it slowly, almost absently, as if he could erase the feeling.

Something was shifting and he could feel it. Something he wasn’t ready to face.

He stripped off his clothes and stepped into the shower, turning the water as cold as it would go. The icy spray hit his skin like needles; there that was what he really needed. It was shocking the heat out of his body, but it couldn’t wash away the memory of Damien’s thumb pressing against his pulse.

By the time he stepped out, his mind was clearer, colder.

He dried off and started dressing. His phone buzzed on the bed.

It was Lena.

"Client wants the special choking treat tonight. He was very specific. Don’t be late."

Kai stared at the message, fuming with anger and frustration.

“Fucking Damien” He cursed under his breath.

He wanted to suppress the anger in him, the one Kai had caused. He wanted to take back whatever control he thought he had lost the night before. The “special choking treat” was something clients demands to get more punishment and let out their rage. Kai only did for clients who paid triple, something intense, dangerous,and intimate.

Kai’s fingers tightened around the phone. He typed one word.

Done.

Then he threw the phone onto the bed and stared at his reflection in the mirror. The man looking back at him already looked like someone preparing for war. Tonight he would give Damien exactly what he asked for. And he would make sure the billionaire never forgot who was really in control.