Aria They just left me like I was some broken product. That machine humming over my skin made me feel stripped, not naked violated. Like I was nothing more than a package they were checking for hidden poison. When the door shut behind Damien, I stayed still until I heard the echo fade down the hall. Then I breathed again. My skin still buzzed where the scanner had touched me, like it left ghosts under my flesh. The man said there was nothing. Damien didn’t believe him. I could tell by the way he stared, jaw tight, saying nothing for too long. He doesn’t believe anything I say either. He doesn’t even believe the way I breathe when he walks into a room. And maybe I can’t even blame him. I wouldn’t trust me either. The air in this room tastes different now. There’s food on the table, still warm, but I can’t eat. Not when I feel eyes crawling across my back even when the room is empty. I keep hearing whispers through the walls his men, reporting. I catch only pieces. “Keep h
Damien The specialist was already moving around her, his small scanner in hand, tracing the curves of her shoulders, the back of her neck, the lines along her arms. He didn’t look at me once, his attention fixed entirely on her, murmuring short instructions without lifting his gaze. “Hold still… turn slightly… lift your hair a little… good, stay there.” His voice was calm, professional, neutral, and yet every word grated on me like sandpaper. I watched the way she followed each command perfectly, smoothly, without hesitation, without the slightest flicker of panic or irritation in her expression. She didn’t flinch. She didn’t stutter. She didn’t even blink more than usual. She just stood there, letting the scanner glide over her skin, letting him move around her as though she was invisible. Her hair, damp from the shower she’d taken before the specialist arrived, clung to her neck and the edges of her shoulders. The droplets made her skin glisten faintly under the fluorescent lig
Damien The door slammed behind me, hard enough to shake the walls. Aria spun around from the dresser, half-dressed, towel wrapped around her, her hair still wet from the shower. She froze when she saw my face. I didn’t even try to hide it this time. The anger, the disgust, the confusion twisting through me all night it was right there for her to see. “Tell me the truth now,” I said, stepping closer. My voice came out rough, low. “Tell me the fucking truth.” Her eyes widened. “Damien… what are you talking about?” “Don’t play that game with me.” My hand came up, pointing at her, shaking. “You lying, dirty slut.” Her lips parted, her chest rose quick, but she didn’t say a word. I kept going, words pouring before I could stop them. “Who are you? What the hell are you doing here? I stepped closer, closer than I should, close enough that the heat of me pressed against her space, enough to make her shift slightly back. “Don’t lie to me. Don’t fucking lie to me anymore. Tell me
Damien’s POV Asides Aria’s troubles I had my business to return to. I was meeting Marco DeLange, a man I used to call an equal before his empire rotted from the inside out. Two years ago, Marco had been one of the top suppliers moving product through the coast. Then his network imploded men dead, shipments lost, money vanished. Everyone said it was his own fault, that greed and sloppiness killed his business. Now he sat across from me again, in the same private lounge we used to seal million-dollar deals, begging for a seat back at the table. He looked older. Not by years, but by ruin. His cufflinks didn’t match, his suit hung loose around his shoulders, and his watch wasn’t the kind he used to wear. I didn’t need anyone to tell me he was desperate it was written in the way his fingers tapped the glass, the way his smile twitched every time I didn’t answer fast enough. He needed this, that’s why he came to my launch event and cornered Christiano to arrange a meeting. He was
Damien’s POV The door slammed and my hand jerked out before I even thought about it, hitting the frame like I could shove it open with my own anger. I planted my shoulder against it, feeling the resistance, feeling her on the other side, silent but there, and the tension in my chest ratcheted higher, knotting every muscle in my body. “Aria, open the door,” I said, voice low but hard. Not raising it wouldn’t get her to move. I could almost hear the faint catch of her breathing through the wood, the slow careful way she must be holding herself, and it made my jaw tighten and my hands itch like I was about to tear the door down just to make her flinch. I pressed my palm against the surface, feeling the cool finish under my skin, solid and unyielding, just like her. My fingers curled slightly, nails pressing into the wood, and I had to fight the urge to hammer on it, to demand her obedience with force instead of words. But I didn’t. I kept myself still, tried to steady my pulse, ev
Aria’s POV The lipstick still stained the rim of my glass when Damien pulled me through the doors of that event. His event. Another empire launch, another “legitimate” company for his empire to wear as a mask. People in suits, women in gowns, the kind of people who called him “sir” and smiled too wide when he passed. But me? I didn’t care about any of it. I only cared about him. Tonight wasn’t about power or speeches or whatever company name glowed in gold letters behind him. Tonight was mine. I chose silk that clung like it was painted on me, cut low enough that his jaw ticked when I walked out of the room. My heels clicked slow on marble, my perfume leaving a trail of smoke and flowers, and every step I took I made sure he felt it. I sat at his table, legs crossed, my thigh brushing his just enough to remind him I was there. When he lifted his glass, I let my lips wrap around the rim of mine slow, dragged my tongue across the drop of champagne left behind, and watched