INICIAR SESIÓNChapter 27The morning sunlight that had previously bathed the mansion’s backyard was now obscured by a mass of gray clouds that suddenly drifted across the city sky. Inside his private office on the third floor, Damien stood facing a large curved monitor. In front of him, his head of security bowed deeply, staring at the oak floor as cold sweat trickled down his temples.Damien’s fingers tapped rhythmically against the desk—a dangerous gesture signaling that his patience had reached its absolute limit.“Repeat that one more time,” Damien’s voice was low, cold, and thunderous as it filled the enclosed room without mercy. “What did you just say?”The guard swallowed with difficulty, his throat constricted by overwhelming fear. “F-forgive me, Sir... The CCTV footage from the forest’s alternative route... the original file suddenly suffered severe corruption right at the crucial hours when you were found.”Damien narrowed his eyes. His jaw tightened until the muscles in his cheeks twitch
Chapter 26The sound of hurried breathing at the other end of Damien’s mobile phone connection could be heard, competing with the howling wind from the surveillance camera footage being replayed at the security headquarters. Before his personal guard could finish reading out the vehicle’s license plate or describing the figure inside the footage, a faint sigh suddenly caught everyone’s attention.Thud.Bella Saphira clutched her head with both hands, squeezing her eyes shut before her body went limp and collapsed onto the marble floor of the living room, her knees hitting the cold surface.“Bella!” Lady Elena cried hysterically. The middle-aged woman immediately ignored her son’s phone conversation, rushing toward her niece and cradling Bella’s limp body in her arms. “Oh my God, Bella! Darling, wake up! What happened to you?”Damien furrowed his brows deeply. He lowered his phone from his ear without even hearing the rest of his guard’s sentence on the other end. His gray eyes stared
Chapter 25“Enough!”The furious shout thundered through the room, cutting Damien off before the words could even leave his lips. Grand Madam Elena stepped forward, blocking the space between her son and Bella. The middle-aged woman’s eyes burned with rage that had reached its peak, leaving no room for even the slightest negotiation.“How far do you intend to humiliate this family, Damien?” Elena hissed sharply, her breath coming heavily. “Bella risked her life. That early morning, when you were lying half-dead in the middle of the forest after being brutally attacked and wounded by assassins, who was by your side? Who took care of you when you were groaning in pain from the poison and severe dehydration?”Damien did not flinch. He stared back at his mother with the same cold gaze, although fragments of hazy memories from that dark early morning flashed rapidly through his mind.That morning, Damien’s world had felt dark and scorching. The poison from the enemy’s blade burned through
Chapter 24The clock on the car’s dashboard showed exactly two in the morning when Damien’s jet-black sedan entered the main gate of the Leonardo family residence. The mansion’s pillar lights cast a dim yellow glow, bathing the vast, silent courtyard in long, suspicious-looking shadows.Inside the cabin, not a single word was spoken. The air felt heavy with remnants of tension that had not yet completely evaporated. Ameena lowered her head deeply, pulling her thin coat tighter around herself to conceal her slightly disheveled clothes and her slender neck, which still bore faint reddish marks from the struggle at the villa several hours earlier. She opened the car door carefully, then stepped out without daring to glance even once toward the man behind the wheel.Damien turned off the engine. He adjusted the gauze wrapped around his left arm, his jaw tightening, then followed Ameena’s unsteady steps into the mansion through the side entrance. Without needing to say it aloud, the two of
Chapter 23The atmosphere inside the luxurious sports car speeding through the silence of the night felt thick and suffocating. There was no longer the sound of ragged breathing or the friction of heated clothes like there had been moments ago at the secret retreat villa. All that remained was the soft hum of the engine and the absolute silence creeping between the driver’s seat and the front passenger seat.Ameena sat stiffly, clasping her hands together on her lap. Her gaze remained blank as she stared straight ahead through the windshield of the car, which had been punctured by a bullet earlier. Her mind was completely chaotic, filled with a tumult of guilt, fear, and profound disbelief.How could this happen...? Ameena kept cursing her fate inwardly as she bit her still-swollen lower lip.She had never imagined that, in a life already so broken and filled with suffering as a lowly servant, she would now have to bear an even dirtier and more dangerous new status—to become the secre
Chapter 22Ameena remained frozen on the bed, her chest rising and falling rapidly from the remnants of the storm of passion that had just subsided. Her mind suddenly went blank, unable to properly process the words she had just heard. Become his mistress? The status sounded so degrading to her ears, a filthy label she had never imagined would be attached to her—a mother who was struggling to secure her child's recovery.Seeing the silence and hesitation clearly displayed on Ameena's face, Damien's lips tightened. The mixture of irritation and dominance coursing through his veins made his patience wear thin. Without giving the woman time to formulate a refusal, Damien lowered his head again and mercilessly claimed Ameena's still-swollen lips. The kiss was filled with demands, silencing every word that was about to leave Ameena's mouth until the woman could only let out a helpless sound in his embrace.Damien slowly broke their kiss, leaving behind a trace of moisture and their breaths







