Chapter 5

His First Choice

I couldn't breathe.

My eyes stayed locked on Damian.

He didn't deny it.

Not once.

Not even with a simple, "She's lying."

A strange ache settled in my chest.

Why did it hurt?

I had known this man for barely two hours.

He didn't owe me anything.

So why did it feel like I'd been rejected all over again?

His grandmother smiled as if she had achieved exactly what she wanted.

"What's wrong?" she asked sweetly. "Didn't he tell you?"

I looked at Damian.

"Tell me what?"

He finally spoke.

"My grandmother enjoys humiliating people."

"Oh, don't be dramatic." She walked toward me, her heels clicking softly against the marble floor. "I'm simply giving the poor girl the truth. She deserves that much."

"The truth?" I whispered.

She nodded.

"My grandson was supposed to marry someone else this afternoon."

My stomach twisted.

"This afternoon?"

"Yes."

She glanced at Damian with disappointment.

"Everything was arranged. The guests had arrived. The contract had been prepared. Then, at the last minute, he refused."

I frowned.

"Why?"

She laughed.

"You should ask him."

Silence.

The kind of silence that screamed louder than words.

I turned back to Damian.

"Is she telling the truth?"

"...Yes."

One word.

Just one.

But it landed like a stone in my chest.

"So..." I swallowed hard. "If that woman hadn't disappeared..."

"I wouldn't have met you."

His honesty stunned me.

He wasn't trying to comfort me.

He wasn't pretending fate had brought us together.

He simply told the truth.

For some reason...

I respected that.

Even if it hurt.

His grandmother noticed the change in my expression.

"You see?" she said. "You're nothing but a replacement."

Replacement.

The word echoed inside my head.

I'd been Ethan's second choice.

Now I was Damian's.

Was I destined to always be the woman someone settled for?

I stepped back.

"I can't do this."

Neither of them stopped me.

I turned toward the front door.

One step.

Two.

Three.

My hand reached for the handle.

"Angela."

Damian's voice was calm.

"If you walk out that door, I won't stop you."

I closed my eyes.

"Good."

"But before you leave..."

I didn't turn around.

"...answer one question."

Against my better judgment, I waited.

"When you woke up this morning..."

His voice softened.

"...did you ever imagine your life would end like this?"

Tears burned behind my eyes.

"No."

"Neither did I."

I looked over my shoulder.

For the first time since meeting him...

He looked tired.

Not physically.

Emotionally.

Like a man carrying something too heavy to put down.

"My fiancée disappeared three hours before our wedding," he said quietly.

"I searched for her myself."

"I searched every place she loved."

"I searched until I accepted she wasn't coming back."

I blinked.

"You..."

"You thought you were the only one left standing alone today."

The room fell silent.

"I know exactly how humiliation feels, Angela."

His grandmother scoffed.

"Damian, enough."

He ignored her.

"I'm not asking you to love me."

"I'm not asking you to trust me today."

"I'm asking you to survive today."

His words wrapped around the emptiness inside me.

Because surviving...

That was exactly what I was trying to do.

He walked toward me slowly, stopping an arm's length away.

"If you sign this contract, I will protect your name."

"I will make sure no one destroys your career."

"No one will touch your father."

"And when this agreement ends..."

"You're free to leave."

I searched his face for a lie.

I couldn't find one.

But that frightened me even more.

"Why?" I whispered.

"Why would you do all of this for someone you don't even know?"

His eyes held mine.

For several long seconds, he said nothing.

Then...

"Because I owe a debt."

"A debt?"

"Yes."

"What kind of debt?"

His jaw tightened.

"The kind that can never truly be repaid."

Before I could ask another question, the front door burst open.

A man rushed inside, breathing hard.

"Mr. Kingsley!"

Damian turned instantly.

"What happened?"

The man held out a tablet with shaking hands.

"Sir..."

"It's all over the news."

Damian took the tablet.

His expression darkened.

He handed it to me.

At the top of the screen was a photograph.

A clear, high-resolution photograph.

It showed me...

Standing beside Damian's Rolls-Royce.

But that wasn't what made my blood run cold.

The headline did.

BILLIONAIRE CEO STEALS ANOTHER MAN'S BRIDE. WEDDING SCANDAL TURNS INTO SECRET AFFAIR.

Beneath it was one sentence.

Sources claim Angela Cole never intended to marry her fiancé and had been involved with Damian Kingsley for months.

My hands began to shake.

"I've never even met you before today..."

Damian's voice became dangerously quiet.

"I know."

He looked at the article again.

Then at me.

Finally, he said the words that changed everything.

"They're not trying to ruin your reputation anymore."

I frowned.

"What do you mean?"

His eyes turned cold.

"They're trying to start a war."