Collateral Damage Novels & Stories

“You used to be harder to track.” Damien’s voice was cold as ice. “If you want to settle a score, leave her out of it.” The man chuckled darkly. “Oh, this isn’t about her. She’s just… collateral.” Elena’s blood ran cold. The man lunged, the crowbar swinging in a wide arc. Damien reacted instantly, grabbing a metal rod from the ground and blocking the attack. The clash of metal echoed in the quiet street. “Go to the car!” Damien barked over his shoulder.

I thought about it honestly. "Like something that started in grief and damage is becoming something that protects people," I said. "The specific knowledge Mae has. The way it was acquired. The damage it produced." I paused. "It is not redeemed. Redemption is the wrong word. But it is being used in the direction it should have been used all along." I paused. "That matters. Even if I do not have a clean word for why it matters." "It matters because people are safer," Colt said. "Yes," I said. "That is the clean word."

The headline spread like wildfire: **VALE BOARD KNEW OF LANE’S FATHER—AND DID NOTHING** Attached were excerpts. Cold. Clinical. Devastating. > *‘Collateral damage is regrettable but unavoidable.’* > *‘The consultant’s family exposure is acceptable.’* > *‘Ensure silence.’* Aria’s father wasn’t an accident. He was a calculation. Damian’s chest tightened painfully. “That meeting,” he said hoarsely. “I wasn’t there.” Elena nodded. “I know.”

I ask. “Of the moment where we stop reacting,” she says, standing. “And start deciding who survives this.” She heads for the door. “Lydia,” I call. She turns. “If this ends badly,” I say, “I need you to know—I never meant to make you collateral.” Her expression softens, just for a second. “Intent doesn’t undo impact, Damian.” Then she’s gone. I stand alone again, city lights flickering like nervous thoughts beyond the glass.

I replied, taking the seat opposite him. A smile ghosted across his face. “Straight to the point. I admire that.” “I doubt that,” I said. “You prefer people who hesitate.” “Only when hesitation benefits me,” he corrected. “You, however, are more interesting undecided.” “I’m not undecided.” “No,” he agreed. “You’re untested.” There it was. “What do you want, Julian?” I asked. He folded his hands on the table. “To prevent collateral damage.” “I’m not collateral,” I said.

"I'm sorry about what happened to you. But killing innocent people won't bring them back." "Innocent?" I laughed. "There are no innocent Lorenzos." "What about the children?" Diana asked. "What about the wiveswho married into the family without knowing what they were getting into? What about the people who work for us who are just trying to feed their families?" I felt something twist in my stomach, but I pushed it away. "Collateral damage." "Collateral damage," Diana repeated slowly. "Is that what I am to you? Is that what my unborn children will be?"

With a giggle I realised the reason the shelves had collapsed so easily upon us was because this certainly wasn’t the first time they had been roughly used judging by the claw marks. /He will definitely be redecorating when we tell him/ Nina joked. My wolf was the most content and happy I’d ever known. When Cillian marked me it wasn’t like the other times I’d unravelled under his touch. Yes my body was out of control but just beneath the surface of that frenzied passion there was more. A deeper urge linking my heart to his.

"I don't concern myself with whether collateral damage deserves what happens to it, Jace. I concern myself with outcomes." "Collateral damage." I repeated the words, horror crawling up my spine at how easily he'd said them, how completely he'd stripped Ariana down to nothing but an obstacle in his calculations. "She's a person. Not a chess piece you get to sacrifice whenever it's convenient for your plans."

A cage I was locked in, one that kept me from exploring the outside world, one that kept me with people that I hated so much. But at the same time I was thankful for this cage because it has kept me on a leash, kept me from exhibiting the dark thoughts in my head. So, even though I hated it so much, I was still a little bit grateful for it. A blue pen to my head, and my thoughts were out the window. These bullies again... The bullies were Malik and his friends; Colin and Caleb. "Hey, Dahlia-the-poop. You got anything interesting for us today"? Colin cracked, and the whole hallway busted into an ear-painful laughter.

“This has more comments than the original collision video did.” “That seems like an exaggeration.” “It’s genuinely not. People are losing their minds. Someone made a whole timeline graphic tracking your entire, and I quote, enemies to something else arc.” She turned her phone around to show me an actual infographic, complete with screenshots dating back to the original collision, our various public arguments, the prank war, all of it charted out like some kind of relationship documentary campus had apparently been compiling without my knowledge the entire time. “This is deeply unsettling.” “This is deeply iconic, actually, and you should be honored.” She grinned, delighted by the whole spect