Chapter 5: “The Man Behind the Glass“

Tayla’s POV

The detention center didn’t feel real.

It felt like something built to erase people.

To swallow them whole.

To make them disappear slowly while the world outside continued as if nothing mattered.

And maybe that was what terrified me most.

Because Damian Russo was not a man who disappeared.

He was a man who controlled rooms the moment he entered them.

A man who held power without even trying.

And yet…

They had taken him.

Now I was standing in front of a thick glass wall, staring at a version of him that no longer belonged to my world.

A version I didn’t recognize.

The chair on my side felt too small.

The air felt too heavy.

And my hands wouldn’t stop shaking as I picked up the phone.

A second later, the door on the opposite side opened.

And Damian walked in.

My breath left my body instantly.

He was still Damian…

but not the Damian I knew.

His suit was gone.

His wrists were marked.

His jaw was tighter than I had ever seen it.

But it was his eyes that destroyed me.

Because the moment they met mine…

they softened.

Like I was the only thing in the world he still trusted not to break him.

“Tayla…”

His voice came through the receiver low and rough.

I pressed the phone harder against my ear.

“Don’t,” I whispered immediately.

His brow furrowed.

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t say my name like that.”

Like you’re trying to memorize it.

Like you’re leaving it behind.

Damian exhaled slowly.

And for a moment…

he just looked at me.

Not like a prisoner.

Not like a man behind glass.

But like a husband who had lost his home.

“I didn’t want you to come here,” he said quietly.

I laughed bitterly through tears.

“You really thought I wouldn’t?”

His jaw tightened.

“No. I knew you would.”

Silence stretched between us.

Heavy.

Breathing.

Alive.

Too alive.

Because even through glass…

even through pain…

even through everything breaking apart…

I could still feel him.

The way his presence filled every corner of the room.

The way my body still reacted to him without permission.

“I don’t understand,” I whispered.

Damian’s gaze dropped.

For the first time.

And that alone terrified me more than anything else.

Because Damian never looked down.

Not in business.

Not in life.

Not even in failure.

But now…

he couldn’t meet my eyes.

“Damian,” I said softer, “look at me.”

Slowly, he did.

And I regretted it instantly.

Because the moment our eyes locked again…

something shifted.

Something dangerous.

Something intimate.

Like the glass between us didn’t exist for the part of us that still remembered.

“I’m still here,” he said quietly.

My throat tightened.

“That’s not what I’m asking.”

His hand lifted.

And rested against the glass.

Slowly.

Deliberately.

I hesitated…

then placed mine where his was.

Same spot.

Same pressure.

Separated only by inches of cold, unbreakable barrier.

But it didn’t feel like glass.

It felt like distance.

Like punishment.

Like time stealing everything from us.

“I keep replaying that night,” I whispered.

Damian’s breath hit the glass.

Fogging it slightly.

“What night?”

“The last night before you left.”

His jaw clenched.

“Tayla…”

“Don’t interrupt me.”

My voice cracked.

“I remember the way you touched me,” I continued, trembling now. “Like you were trying to make me feel safe… like you knew something I didn’t.”

His eyes darkened slightly.

Not with anger.

With pain.

“You were safe,” he said.

I shook my head.

“No.”

A pause.

Then quieter—

“I don’t feel safe anymore.”

That broke him.

I saw it instantly.

The smallest fracture in his expression.

Like something inside him cracked open.

“Tayla, listen to me,” his voice dropped lower now. “Whatever happens… you need to stay away from Luca.”

My heart stopped.

Even now.

Even here.

His brother was still between us.

Always between us.

“Why do you keep saying that?” I whispered.

Damian’s hand pressed harder against the glass.

Like he wanted to break through it.

Like he hated that he couldn’t.

“Because he’s not what you think he is.”

I shook my head.

“That’s not an answer.”

“It’s the only one I can give you right now.”

My breathing turned uneven.

“I came here for you,” I said.

His eyes softened again.

“I know.”

A pause.

Long.

Heavy.

Intimate in a way that scared me.

Then he added softly:

“And I’m sorry you had to see me like this.”

My chest tightened painfully.

“You think I care about where you are?” I whispered. “I care that you’re not with me.”

His breath hitched.

That reaction—

that tiny loss of control—

undid me completely.

Because Damian never lost control.

Not ever.

“I miss you,” I said quietly.

The words hung between us.

Unfiltered.

Raw.

Damian closed his eyes for a second.

Like it hurt to hear it.

When he opened them again…

they were darker.

Deeper.

More broken.

“I shouldn’t say this,” he whispered.

My pulse quickened instantly.

“What?”

His hand slid slightly against the glass.

Mine followed instinctively.

As if our bodies remembered each other more than our minds could control.

“I miss you too.”

Something snapped inside me.

Pain.

Relief.

Longing.

All at once.

“I don’t understand what’s happening to us,” I whispered.

Damian leaned closer.

So close that if the glass wasn’t there…

he would have been right in front of me.

“You will,” he said softly.

That wasn’t comforting.

It was a warning.

The door behind him opened.

A guard stepped in.

“Time’s up.”

No.

Not again.

Not already.

I stood instantly.

“Damian—”

He stood too.

“Don’t leave like this,” I said, voice breaking.

His eyes stayed locked on mine.

Even as the guard approached.

Even as reality tried to pull him away.

“I never wanted to leave you,” he said.

My breath shattered.

“Then don’t.”

A pause.

The longest pause of my life.

Then—

“I can’t.”

And that was worse than any confession.

Because it meant something was controlling him.

Something I couldn’t see.

Something I didn’t understand.

The guard grabbed his arm.

“Damian!”

He didn’t resist.

But he didn’t look away either.

His eyes stayed on mine until the very last second.

Until the door closed.

Until he disappeared.

And I was left alone.

With nothing but glass.

And silence.

And the feeling that something inside my marriage had already died.

Outside the building…

a black car waited.

Luca stood beside it.

Watching.

Smiling faintly.

As if everything was unfolding exactly the way he expected.