Chapter Eleven

The tablet cracked.

Not loudly.

Just one sharp sound beneath Damien’s grip.

A thin fracture spread across the screen while silence swallowed the office whole.

Amara stared at him.

His expression remained terrifyingly calm.

Which was somehow worse than shouting.

Elias noticed it too.

“Damien.”

“Find who posted it.”

The order came cold and immediate.

“We’re already tracing the account,” Elias replied carefully.

Damien’s eyes never left the screen.

The comment still glowed there like poison.

She should ask what happened to the last girl Damien Blackwood tried to protect.

Amara swallowed hard.

“The last girl?”

Silence.

Nobody answered.

A heavy feeling settled inside her chest.

“No,” she said quietly. “Absolutely not. We are not doing that thing where everyone suddenly becomes mysterious.”

Damien finally looked up.

His eyes were darker now. Sharper.

Dangerous in a way that made the entire room feel smaller.

“There was someone before you.”

Amara’s stomach tightened immediately.

“Who?”

“A witness.”

The word landed badly.

Clinical. Detached.

Not a person. A witness.

“What happened to her?”

Damien’s jaw flexed once.

“She died.”

The room tilted slightly beneath Amara’s feet.

“What?”

“It was ruled an overdose,” Elias said quietly. “But we never believed that.”

Cold spread through her body instantly.

The article. The warning calls. Her apartment being searched.

This wasn’t intimidation anymore.

Someone was threatening her openly.

Amara stepped backward slowly.

“I can’t do this.”

The sentence came out weaker this time.

Not angry.

Afraid.

Real fear finally settled fully into her chest.

“She died, Damien.”

His expression tightened instantly at the sound of his name.

“She was never under my protection.”

“That’s not helping!”

Her voice cracked sharply through the office.

Silence followed immediately afterward.

Amara pressed trembling fingers against her lips.

God.

She was unraveling.

Everything was happening too fast.

Damien watched her carefully.

Then: “Look at me.”

She didn’t want to.

But somehow she did anyway.

His gaze locked onto hers steadily.

“You are not going to die.”

The certainty in his voice should have comforted her.

Instead it terrified her.

Because Damien Blackwood sounded like a man making a promise to himself.

Not to her.

Amara laughed shakily.

“You really think you can control everything.”

“No.” His voice lowered. “Only the things I’m willing to destroy people over.”

The room went still.

Elias glanced away slightly like even he felt the intensity of that sentence.

And somehow…

Amara knew Damien meant every word.

A dangerous silence stretched between them.

Then Elias’ phone buzzed.

He checked the screen immediately.

His expression changed.

“Damien.”

“What?”

“The press found Miss Bennett’s university records.”

Amara froze.

“No.”

Elias continued carefully.

“Student forums are already spreading rumors.”

Her chest tightened painfully.

Everything personal. Everything private.

Being ripped apart publicly in hours.

Amara grabbed the tablet from Damien’s hand desperately and scrolled through the article comments.

Her breathing became uneven instantly.

Gold digger.

Another girl chasing billionaire money.

She looks cheap compared to his ex-fiancée.

Poor thing doesn’t realize he ruins women.

Humiliation burned hot beneath her skin.

These people didn’t know her.

Didn’t know Noah. Her jobs. Her life.

But suddenly strangers were dissecting her existence online for entertainment.

A tear slipped down before she could stop it.

Damien noticed immediately.

Something dangerous flashed through his face.

“Enough,” he said coldly.

He took the tablet from her hands and tossed it onto the desk.

The cracked screen shattered further on impact.

Amara turned away quickly, wiping at her face angrily.

“I’m fine.”

“You’re crying.”

“I said I’m fine.”

The softness in Damien’s voice disappeared completely.

“Elias. Shut the article down.”

“It’s already spreading.”

“Then buy the entire publication.”

Amara blinked.

“…You can do that?”

Damien looked genuinely confused for half a second.

“Yes.”

Billionaires were ridiculous.

Elias hid what might have been amusement before leaving the office again to make calls.

Amara exhaled shakily.

“I hate this.”

Damien stepped closer slowly.

“You’ll adapt.”

“That’s easy for you to say.”

“No,” he said quietly. “It isn’t.”

Something about his tone made her look up again.

For the first time since meeting him…

Damien looked angry at himself.

Not the reporters. Not the threats.

Himself.

“This is my fault,” he said softly.

The honesty caught her off guard.

Amara stared at him silently.

“You warned me,” she admitted quietly. “I just didn’t understand how bad it was.”

Damien’s gaze held hers.

“And now?”

She laughed once. Small. Broken.

“Now I think I accidentally signed a contract with the world’s most emotionally damaged billionaire.”

To her shock…

Damien almost smiled again.

Tiny. Brief. Gone instantly.

But it changed his entire face for one dangerous second.

God.

That was unfair.

Amara looked away immediately before her brain betrayed her further.

Bad enough she was scared of him.

Developing attraction too would qualify as psychological warfare.

Before either of them could speak again, the penthouse elevator opened downstairs.

Fast footsteps echoed upward.

Then Sienna’s voice exploded through the penthouse.

“AMARA BENNETT IF YOU DON’T EXPLAIN WHY YOUR FACE IS ALL OVER THE INTERNET RIGHT NOW I SWEAR—”

She stopped mid-sentence the second she entered the office.

Silence.

Her eyes slowly moved between:

Amara

Damien

the shattered tablet

the investigation wall

Damien standing way too close to Amara

Sienna blinked once.

Then: “…What in the N*****x crime documentary is happening here?” 🖤