Chapter 49

The hotel door slammed behind him, the echo trailing down the corridor like thunder after lightning. Damian’s chest rose and fell as if he had just walked out of a battlefield, not a suite. His fists were clenched so tightly that his nails cut into his palm, but the sting only fueled the blaze inside him. He strode down the hallway, his shoes hammering the polished floor, each step carrying the weight of fury too large to contain.

The city air hit him like a slap when he burst outside. It was heavy with exhaust fumes, chatter, and the blare of car horns. The world moved on as if nothing had shifted, as if his life had not just been torn open. No one stopped to stare. No one bent to acknowledge him. That indifference infuriated him more than anything Ava or Lydia had said. He was Damian Cole, a man whose name bent markets and silenced rivals, yet here he was, another restless figure swallowed by the night.

He stopped on the curb, his voice tearing free. “Do you think you can break me?”