The door finally opened, and the world paused.
He didn't walk in, he prowled.
A slow, deliberate stride that carried authority like a second skin.
Sharp black suit, crisp white shirt, no tie, Top buttons open. Exposing just enough to remind you he was dangerous. His eyes found her instantly Dark.
Cut from obsidian
And filled with a curiosity that chilled her to her bones
"So"
He stopped a few steps away
Arms relaxed but ready
"Is this a hostile takeover or a nervous breakdown?"
Nyra stood
Slowly,
Her bare feet made no sound against the floor, but her presence did. A storm wrapped in torn silk and teeth.
But she muttered, "I remember everything," she said.
Her voice wasn't loud but cracked—just once—but it was enough.
It didn't need to be loud or clear. Because truth never needed volume.
Just sharpness
He stilled, His eyes sharpened
But he didn't speak, but arched a brow and then said,
"Do tell"
He went to a cabinet in his office, opened took out a whiskey bottle, then poured himself a drink.
One hand steady on the crystal decanter, the other holding a glass like it was part of him.
"I remember my fiancé's hands on my back,Pushing.
His head tilted slightly
But no flicker of shock crossed his features.
"Off a cliff," she added
"I remember the gleam of Ava's laughter as I fell a silent laughter of success in her eyes."
Like I was the joke they both shared.
I remember falling
The cold, the scream that never left my throat."
For the first time, His fingers paused mid-pour.
Just enough for her to see that something under his skin twitched.
Not concern...... No
Interest.....
Calculated and cold
Silence (Damien heard everything what she was saying without asking anything, taking the sip of his whiskey like a person immersed in the story. But then he said.)
"And yet here you are," he said
"Still wearing the dress"
She stepped closer
Tearing at the lace until it hung jaggedly across her thighs,
The pearls snapped and scattered like the truth she was about to throw at his feet.
"I was supposed to die"
Her voice cracked only once
Then steadied
"But I didn't.
now I'm back, Right here, One day before I was supposed to die.
And they…They don't remember
As if it never fucking happened."
He said nothing, just stared
And she hated how calm he looked.
Like this wasn't madness
Like her fury didn't rattle the walls.
"I want you to help me destroy them," she said.
He finally moved. One slow step forward.
Then another until he stood right in front of her.
"Then you must be living a miracle," he murmured
"But what does that have to do with me??? and why should I believe in you?? Who knows what's going on in that little head of yours?"
She swallowed
Her throat burned, her pride bled, but she said it, anyway
"Please Call off this wedding. Help me ruin Nolan Hayes And I'll give you everything you need to finish him."
Damien chuckled
Low, Dark, Unimpressed
His smirk curled, "Everything..... You're offering intel or blood."
"I'm offering myself," she said. And the air shifted.
He walked to her
Slow enough to give her time to run.
But she didn't move.
"I offer myself," she said. His breath hitched.
A subtle shift One she wouldn't have caught if she weren't watching closely.
He circled her now.
Eyes raking over her body, not with lust but with calculation, like a man deciding if the knife handed to him was sharp enough to use, "You think offering yourself is enough to buy my war?" His voice grazed her neck.
He didn't touch her, but she felt it, the way his gaze dragged over her skin. Not like a lover, Like a man weighing a weapon.
"Everything, Nyra? "
He whispered her name like sin, like foreplay.
Her spine arched,Her mouth went dry
Soft, dangerous heat pooled between her thighs.
She hated it, but couldn't deny it.
She turned, stared him down.
"I'm not offering sex," she said.
"I'm offering me, all of me, the woman they tried to bury.
"You want revenge," he said.
Low, Dangerous "You don't walk in half-naked and demand war without knowing the cost"
She met his gaze. Didn't look away, "I've already paid the price once. Now it's their turn"
"I'll infiltrate them. Bleed for this if I have to, but I want you beside me when I burn them to the ground."
His eyes darkened." Do you know what it takes to destroy a man like Nolan? What it would take from you?"
"I'll give you my loyalty, my secrets, my time, my body.
Whatever it takes. But I want him broken."
"Even if it breaks you too?" he asked. His voice was soft now.
Too soft.
She took a step closer. Their bodies almost touched. Almost.....
"I'm already broken," she whispered, "just haven't shattered yet."
His hand brushed a strand of hair from her cheek.
She flinched, not because she was afraid but because it felt too real, too gentle. "And what if I want more than just your rage?" he asked.
His voice dropped to a whisper. "What if I want your silence? Your body, your darkness."
She didn't blink. Didn't breathe.
"Then take it," she whispered.
"Just help me make them suffer." A beat passed.
Then another, and then he stepped back.
"You've got two weeks," he said, "before they suspect anything, before they rewrite the fairy tale again.
We'll start now. But make no mistake, in this war." He leaned closer.
"It will ruin what's left of you."
Nyra smiled..
For the first time since she woke in silk sheets it wasn't soft, it was savage.
"Good," she said.
"I want to be ruined if that's what take to see them fall to the deepest pit of this earth."
Later That Night (Damien's Private Suite)
The city burned outside the window. But inside, there was only silence.
she sat in the guest suite he provided.
Still in the torn dress, refusing to change, refusing to pretend, the city lights stretched out beyond the glass walls.
So pretty, so cruel. Nyra stared at her reflection.
Her makeup smeared eyes were raw. Her lips red. From biting back screams.
She touched her own cheek. Still warm, still alive.
She wasn't supposed to be, but somehow she was here.
Alone Unbroken Reborn, she didn't cry.
She didn't scream.
She just whispered to herself in the mirror, "I remember." A vow, a warning, or a curse "I remember everything."
Nyra stood beneath the rainfall of the shower, hands flat against the tile, head bowed.
Water stung her skin, but not as much as her thoughts.
She could still see Nolan's face.
The way he'd looked at Ava, the way Ava had whispered to him as if Nyra was just a placeholder in their twisted fairy tale.
She gagged, collapsed to her knees, and let the water wash away what was left of her past.
When she stepped out.
Damien was waiting not inside but leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed, eyes unreadable.
He handed her a glass Whiskey Strong Burning.
She drank because fire tasted better than helplessness
"You're not what I expected," he said.
She met his eyes. "I'm not what anyone expects."
"I believe that." He stepped closer.
Lifted a strand of wet hair from her collarbone
And for a moment.
The air between them crackled.
Hot Unspoken Charged with a thousand things they hadn't yet said.
"I don't trust you yet," he said.
"Good......" she whispered. "Trust is for fools. Let's just use each other."
A flicker of something passed through him Approval, Amusement, Lust what it was she didn't care to know, at least for now.
But then he stepped back and left her alone with the ghosts.
Nyra stared out the window
Her reflection stared back.
Still alive, still burning
She touched her lips. Then the bruise on her heart.
"I remember," she said again like a constant reminder to her.