All Chapters of Ruined By Mr. Cross: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

Selene’s PovThe drive back to the estate felt different than every drive that had come before it, quieter in a way that had nothing to do with silence and everything to do with the absence of dread. Damien drove instead of letting Marcus, his hand finding mine over the console the second we cleared the parking garage, and neither of us said much, content for once to just exist in the same space without a crisis demanding our attention.“You’re staring,” he said eventually, glancing at me sideways.“I’m allowed to stare. I almost lost you to a boardroom full of vultures this morning.” I studied the line of his jaw, still tight with the last of the morning’s adrenaline, and the small cut on his palm from the night before, already scabbing over from where he’d refused to let anyone bandage it properly. “Besides, I spent months pretending I wasn’t paying attention to you at all. I think I’m allowed a few uninterrupted minutes now.”“You didn’t lose me anywhere.” His thumb traced slow cir

Selene’s PovMorning came. Damien was already awake when I opened my eyes, propped up on one elbow, watching me with an expression I still hadn’t found a name for.“You’re staring now,” I said, my voice thick with sleep.“I’m allowed to stare. I seem to remember someone telling me that yesterday.”“That was different circumstances.”“Was it?” He brushed a strand of hair off my face, unhurried, like we had nowhere else to be. “I don’t remember you specifying a time limit on the rule.”I was still laughing when my phone buzzed against the nightstand, and something in the sound of it, sharp and insistent, pulled the warmth right out of the room. Damien’s hand found my back before I’d even reached for it, steady, grounding, like he already knew.“It’s Marcus,” I said, reading the screen. “He wants us downstairs. Now.”“That’s never good.”“No,” I agreed, already swinging my legs out of bed. “It never is.”We found Marcus in the study, standing over a laptop with his jaw set in a way I’d l

Damien’s PovGabriel showed up at the estate unannounced just after nine, looking like he hadn’t slept since the hearing. Selene let him in before I’d even made it to the front hall, and by the time I got there he was already pacing the length of the study, hands shoved deep in his pockets.“Gabriel,” I said. “What happened?”“My mother called me an hour ago,” he said. “She knows I’m the one who came to you. She’s known the whole time, apparently.”“We assumed she would eventually,” Selene said carefully. “Is that why you’re here?”“She’s not angry,” Gabriel said, and something about the way he said it made it sound worse than anger. “She’s scared. I’ve never heard my mother sound scared before. Not once. Not through any of this.”I exchanged a glance with Selene, the same question passing between us that had been sitting there since the meeting the day before.“Gabriel,” I said, “did she say why she’s scared?”“She kept saying I didn’t understand what I’d started. That there were peo

Damien’s PovNaomi came to the estate the next morning carrying a box she’d clearly kept sealed for years, the tape yellowed at the edges, her hands trembling slightly as she set it down on the dining table like it might still hurt her to touch it.“I didn’t go through all of it after Lucas died,” she said. “I couldn’t. I packed what I found and told myself I’d deal with it eventually, and eventually never came.”Selene sat beside her mother, one hand resting over Naomi’s, and I stayed standing, giving them the space the moment seemed to need before Naomi finally lifted the lid.Inside were folders, receipts, a few photographs I recognized instantly because I’d seen versions of them in my own father’s study growing up, business dinners neither of our fathers had ever been proud enough to display. Naomi sorted through them slowly, and I watched Selene’s face as she worked, the careful patience she offered her mother that I still wasn’t sure I deserved from anyone.“Here,” Naomi said ev

Damien’s PovWe were still at Marcus’s office when the call came in, his phone buzzing against the desk hard enough to rattle the coffee cups. He glanced at the screen, and something in his face changed before he even answered it.“That’s my contact at the registry,” he said, standing. “Give me a minute.”He stepped into the hallway, and Selene and I sat in the quiet his absence left behind, the letters still spread across the desk between us. She reached over and straightened the edge of one, an idle gesture, the kind of thing people did with their hands when their minds were somewhere else entirely.“You’re worried,” I said.“I’m always a little worried lately,” she said. “I just used to be better at hiding it.”“You don’t have to hide it from me.”She looked up at that, something soft crossing her face despite the tension still sitting in her shoulders. “I know,” she said. “I’m still getting used to that. Not having to.”Marcus came back in before I could answer, and whatever had b