All Chapters of RUTHLESS HEARTS COLLIDE : Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

By the third day, Arielle stopped counting hours.The honeymoon had blurred into something fluid and unfamiliar, no longer marked by schedules and strategies, no longer defined by pretend. Though they know they were being watched discreetly, some of the staff polite but observant, the occasional people they caught lingering around a second too long, but Arielle had begun to forget why they were here in the first place.And that scared her.Morning came softly, filtered through white curtains that swayed with the sea breeze. Arielle woke to the sound of waves and the faint clink of cutlery somewhere outside. She rolled onto her side, expecting to find Damian asleep across the bed, distant and controlled like he always was.Instead, the bed was empty.She sat up, heart stuttering for no logical reason, and padded toward the balcony.Damian stood there barefoot, sleeves rolled, hair tousled in a way that felt too intimate to witness. A small table had been set, coffee, fresh fruit, pas

The penthouse didn’t feel like a home. It felt like a vault. Arielle understood the difference the moment the doors sealed behind them with a soft, pneumatic hiss. The sound wasn’t loud. It didn’t need to be. It carried finality, the kind that said nothing gets in without permission. Emma clutched Arielle’s hand as they stepped inside, her gaze darting everywhere at once. The space was enormous. Floor-to-ceiling glass wrapped around the living area, revealing a stretch of forested hills and distant water, far removed from the city’s pulse. The furniture was sparse but deliberate, clean lines and muted tones, designed for efficiency rather than comfort. “This is where we’re staying?” Arielle asked quietly. “For now,” Damian replied. He was already moving, speaking into his phone, issuing instructions in low, precise tones. “Perimeter sensors activated… I want rotational guards, no predictable patterns… yes, internal as well.” Arielle swallowed. Emma squeezed her fin

Another night settled over the penthouse in slow layers, like a held breath finally released. The city beyond the glass walls glimmered with distant movement, traffic lights pulsing, buildings glowing softly against the dark. From this height, the world looked harmless, Manageable and Reduced to patterns and light. Inside, Damian’s room was dim, the overhead lights left off in favor of a single lamp near the sitting area. Shadows softened the sharp lines of the space, muting the edges of power and control that usually defined it. Arielle hesitated just outside the doorway. She hadn’t planned on coming here. She told herself it was the wine, the exhaustion, the strange emotional whiplash of the past few days that had loosened her steps and brought her here instead of retreating to her room like she should have. Damian looked up from where he stood near the window, jacket already discarded, shirt sleeves rolled to his forearms. He’d loosened his collar, the rigid lines of the day

The contract sat on the table between them like a third presence, a tangible thing breathing quiet accusations. Cream paper, black ink, signatures that had once felt like armor now looked thin, fragile, almost ridiculous under the harsh light of the penthouse living room. Arielle stood on one side of the table, arms folded tightly across her chest, her heartbeat loud in her ears, like a drumbeat counting down to something inevitable. Damian stood opposite her, still in his jacket, still composed, still pretending that distance was discipline and not fear, not the slow unraveling of something neither of them dared name. His eyes met hers, a flicker of… something… there and gone, leaving only the sterile gleam of control. The silence stretched, thick as the carpet, heavy as the air. “I can’t do this anymore,” she said. Her voice didn’t shake. That surprised her. Damian lifted his gaze slowly. “Do what?” This, this was the problem. The careful deflection. The way he reduced every

The news didn’t break gently. It detonated. It's been three sweet days, Arielle woke to the sound of Damian’s phone vibrating on the bedside table, once, twice, then endlessly, like something refusing to be ignored. The early light of morning hadn’t fully crept into the room yet, but the tension arrived before the sun did. Damian reached for the phone before it could wake Emma down the hall. His body was already rigid, alert, instincts sharpened. One glance at the screen and something dark passed through his eyes. Arielle knew that look now. “What is it?” she asked quietly, sitting up, the sheet slipping to her waist. Damian didn’t answer right away. He stood, walked to the window, and pulled the curtain aside just enough to let gray light spill across the floor, He scrolled, Once, Twice, Then he exhaled through his nose, a slow, controlled breath that meant anger carefully leashed. “There's a released the photos,” he said finally. Her chest tightened. “Released…what? how?” “