Chapter Five

Damian. 

I used to think humiliation was something that only happened to women in satin dresses and high heels. That it belonged in ballrooms and tabloids.

I didn’t realize a man like me could taste it, too.

I sat on the edge of the bed, the early morning light turning the expensive sheets into a tangle of shadows. The wad of cash weighed heavy in his palm, like a taunt. The note crumpled in my other hand, the words still visible through the creases.

Thank you for your services.

Services.

I closed my eyes, jaw flexing. I had built an empire, one acquisition, one hostile takeover at a time. I was the youngest billionaire CEO in New York, a man people whispered about in boardrooms and bars with equal fascination and fear. Every woman wanted a piece of me. 

And she had reduced me to a paid escort with a single stroke of her pen.

A muscle jumped in my cheek.

“Arrogant little witch,” I muttered under my breath.

But even as I said it, I felt something else under the rage. A grim sort of admiration. She’d been shaking in my arms, tears drying on her cheeks, and still she had managed to wound me deeper than any rival ever had.

I looked around the suite, my gaze snagging on the faint outline her body had left in the sheets. I thought about her laugh, raw and broken and the way she had kissed me like she was starving.

My hands curled into fists.

I wouldn’t let her disappear. Not like this.

I reached for my phone and dialed a number i rarely used.

“Brenner.”

The line crackled, then a brisk voice came through. “Sir?”

“I want Eleanor Whitestone found,” I bit out. “She left sometime after four a.m.”

A pause. “And when I find her?”

“Call me immediately. Do not approach her. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

I hung up and sat there a moment longer, breathing hard. A dozen meetings waited for me across the city. Stock prices, negotiations, men who’d kill for a chance to shake my hand.

But I didn’t care.

I needed to see her again. To look her in the eye and make her understand that she hadn’t won. That whatever game she thought she was playing, she hadn’t come close to besting me. 

I showered and dressed in record time, my movements clipped and precise. When I stepped into the elevator, the concierge flinched at the ferocity in his expression.

As the car whisked me down to the street, I replayed every second of the night before, her laugh, her tears, the way she’d arched against me like she’d been waiting her entire life to come apart in my arms.

And then the note. The money.

My mouth twisted.

I will find her. I always did.

*****

By the time Brenner called, the sun was high over the city. I was pacing in my office, ignoring the vibrating phone I had left in the corner. I snatched it up on the first ring.

“Where?”

“East River,” Brenner said. “Pier thirty five. She is alone.”

I didn’t wait to hear more. I ended the call, stalked past my assistant, and took the private elevator to the garage. My driver didn’t ask questions, one look at my face was enough.

The black SUV cut through traffic, sirens wailing in the distance as the city went about its indifferent business. But none of it touched me. My thoughts were narrowed to a single point.

Eleanor.

When we reached the pier, I was out of the car before it stopped moving.

The river glittered in the harsh daylight, choppy waves slapping against rusted pilings. A lone figure stood at the edge barefoot, her hair tangled around her shoulders, the hem of her trousers damp.

Eleanor.

For one terrifying moment, i saw her step closer to the drop. And my heart stopped.

I hadn’t realized until that instant how badly I needed her not to disappear. Not because she’d insulted me, not because she’d wounded my pride, but because she was the first person in years who’d looked at me and seen something other than money and power.

U took a slow step forward.

“Eleanor.”

She didn’t turn. The wind lifted her hair, tugging it across her cheek. Her shoulders were trembling.

“Go away.” Her voice was raw, shredded.

I moved closer. “No.”

“Leave me alone.”

“No.”

I was beside her now. The river lapped just beyond her toes. I saw the tears sliding down her cheeks, the way her lips trembled.

Her gaze fixed on the water. “I ruined everything. My life...my family...”

I reached for her hand, but she yanked it back, glaring at me with wild eyes. “Don’t touch me.”

“You don’t want to do this.”

“You don’t know what I want.” Her laugh was a jagged thing. “You don’t know me at all.”

I met her gaze, steady and unflinching. “Then tell me.”

She swallowed, her chin quivering. “I wanted to matter,” she whispered. “Just once.”

“You do.”

She shook her head, a sob escaping her lips. “No. I’m nothing. I’m just a..”

“You’re not nothing.”

Her eyes squeezed shut. “I left you money.”

My jaw tensed. “I noticed.”

Her breath hitched. “It was stupid. I just, I needed to feel like I was the one in control for once.”

I exhaled slowly, fighting the urge to drag her into my arms and never let go. “You want to jump?” i asked softly. “You think that will end it?”

Her lips parted, but no words came.

I stepped closer, close enough that our bodies nearly touched. “If you’re going to do this, you’ll have to jump over me first.”

She looked up, startled. “What?”

My voice dropped to a low growl. “I won’t move. You’ll have to knock me into the river with you. Because I’m not letting you go.”

Her eyes filled again, spilling over in silent waves. For a moment, she looked so breakable i thought my chest might cave in.

Then her knees buckled. I caught her before she hit the ground, wrapping my arms around her shaking body.

She didn’t fight me. She just pressed her face to my chest and sobbed.

I held her tight, anchoring her to the earth.

The river rolled on beside us, indifferent. But I wasn’t.

And as I pressed my mouth to her temple, I knew one thing with absolute l certainty, whatever this was between us , it was far from over.