Chapter 5

~CINDY’S POV~

“What?!”

Henry’s voice ripped through the heavy silence that had taken hold of the room, his eyes wide and wild like they might pop right out of their sockets.

He wasn’t the only one reeling.

Lydia, Vivian and Monica stood frozen, mouths gaping open, faces stiff with disbelief. Their jaws might as well have hit the damn floor.

But even they weren’t as stunned as I was.

I blinked.

This is Damian?

I hadn’t seen him since he left D.C. with his family, back when we were kids. I was only seventeen, and he was just a bratty-ass sixteen-year-old.

I’d only heard snippets about him from Alaric, and from what I gathered, Damian was never one for the spotlight.

No social media trails and no flashy public appearances.

Despite running one of the most talked-about companies in the country, few people even knew he was the CEO. He always stayed in the shadows, keeping a very low profile and letting his younger brother Elis handle the cameras and galas.

So when did he turn into this?

Yes, he’d always been good-looking.

But this? This was movie-star, model-level beauty.

Unforgivably hot.

I caught myself staring, my gaze locking with his. His storm-grey eyes dark with a hunger that sent a reckless thrill through me.

How could I have forgotten those sexy looking eyes? They were the only part of him I ever liked— everything else about him used to make my skin crawl.

“Why that look, baby,” he said, his voice dripping with teasing warmth.

“Ain’t you happy to see me?”

He smirked as he leaned in, fingers lifting to my temple, brushing a loose strand of hair aside like he’d done it a hundred times before.

The light touch jolted through me. My breath hitched. I swallowed, heart stumbling in my chest as my skin tingled where he’d touched me.

I blinked, stunned into silence for a moment. Then I caught myself and forced the fluster down.

Had he already slipped into the role? God, his acting skills are incredibly perfect.

I let a slow smile curve my lips — soft, sweet, seductive — the kind of smile Henry hadn’t seen in over a year.

My hand found Damian’s chest and I let it wander, fingers gliding over hard muscle beneath the crisp black cotton.

His body was sculpted, solid under my touch. Every inch of him, an invitation to misbehave.

My palm slid up to his neck, curling gently around it in a way that felt almost too intimate. Too convincing.

Henry was going to lose it, and that thought alone made my smile deepen.

“Of course, darling,” I said in a breathy, low voice.

“I just didn’t know you’d be dropping by like this. You took me by surprise.”

“Couldn’t help it. I was missing you too much,” Damian murmured, his voice raspy and low.

He flashed his beautiful set of white teeth in a dazzling smile, and before I could stop him, he leaned down and pressed his lips softly to mine.

The kiss was slow and soft, barely more than a brush, but it sent shockwaves through me.

My brain short-circuited.

He kissed me.

Heat climbed up my neck, blooming across my cheeks. I froze — not because I was shocked, but because I was completely undone.

Damian had always been a bold, cocky brat.

But this level of audacity? Where the hell had he ordered it from?

“What exactly the fuck is going on here?!”

Henry barked again, his fury wrapping hot around Damian and me, jolting our attention back to the room.

I cleared my throat, breaking eye contact and trying to put space between us, but Damian didn’t let me. His hand stayed tight and possessive around my waist, like he owned it now.

He leaned in, his voice low and sinful, brushing against my ear like a kiss.

“How can you back down,” he murmured, “when you’re already crawling under his skin?”

I could barely hear his words.

All I could focus on was the warm brush of his breath against my ear and the expensive scent of his cologne that fogged my brain like a cloud.

He pulled back slowly, his infuriatingly hot smirk still intact, then finished it off with a wink that made my stomach turn over.

I couldn’t help it. I smiled even wider.

Then I turned to face the Callahans, who were still frozen like someone had dropped a bomb in their living room.

“What does it look like to you?” I finally answered Henry, sweetly, with a prideful tilt of my head.

His face twisted in horror, rage creeping in behind the disbelief. He wasn’t used to me being this bold.

It unsettled him.

And oh, how I loved that.

He swallowed hard, fists trembling by his sides and eyes burning with rage.

“How dare you cheat on me, Cindy? How dare you!”