Nathan was here.
Not lurking in the shadows. Not sending cryptic messages. He was in the building.
I swallowed and felt my throat bulge before I did what Damian wanted I locked the door.
However, I didn't feel safe from it.
I pressed against it, my breath trembling as I tried to hear. Only my heart thumped in the quiet of the penthouse.
Seconds turned into minutes.
And then
A noise.
A faint click.
My stomach dropped.
I slowly turned to the door, my heart thudding into my ribs.
Another click.
The handle moved.
I sucked in a breath. No. No, no, no.
He was trying to get in.
I backed away, fumbling around for anything literally anything to defend myself with. But the guest room had nothing in it besides the bed and a nightstand.
The handle rattled again.
My body froze.
Then silence.
I held my breath, waiting. Listening.
And then I heard it.
A footstep.
But not from the hallway.
From the balcony.
My blood turned to ice.
I spun around, and my eyes traced the floor-to-ceiling windows.
And my stomach lurched.
Because what is the matter is on the other side of the glass
Was him.
Nathan.
Smiling.
I gasped, stumbling backward. He lifted his hand and knocked his knuckles once, twice, three times on the glass.
Calm. Casual.
Like this was a game.
Just like he was so patient, so free, so aloof.
Panic choked me.
My fingers shook across my phone, but before I could call Damian —
Nathan moved.
Fast.
In one smooth motion, he pulled something from his pocket, a keycard.
And then suddenly the balcony door opened
Oh, God.
I turned and ran.
But I had barely taken two steps when a gruff hand clamped onto my wrist.
I screamed frantically, wriggling in his grasp. "Let go of me!"
His fingers tightened.
"Elena," he murmured. His voice was soft. Too soft.
I pulled as hard as I could, but he was too strong.
"Shh," he hummed, pressing me in closer. "You know I don't like when you fight me."
I sucked in a sharp breath. His hold burned my flesh, but what terrified me more were his eyes.
Cold. Dead.
Unhinged.
My stomach twisted. "Nathan, please—"
His fingers glided up my arm and over my shoulder.
"Shhh, my little darling," he said. "I just want to talk."
I shoved at him, but he hardly moved.
And then
A booming, deadly voice resounded into the air.
"Take your hands off her."
Nathan froze.
My head turned to the door in the moment Damian walked in.
His face looked like murder."
Nathan squeezed for a moment long enough to convey a message and let me go.
I fell back, scrambling, feeling my heart speed up, and then I noticed simultaneously that the brittle woman was not alone.
Anger emanated through every inch of Damian's body.
"Nathan." His voice was cold. Deadly.
Nathan smiled. Mocking. Unbothered.
"Damian," he mused. "What a surprise."
Damian moved carefully and dangerously ahead should.
Nathan held up his hands in false surrender. "Relax. I was just saying hello."
Damian didn't blink. "You've got five seconds until you're out of my eyesight until I break every bone in your body."
Nathan laughed.
And then he stepped closer.
"You know," he continued, turning to me. "You can't just put her away for the rest of her life."
Damian's fists clenched.
Four seconds.
Nathan grinned. She my forever, and no matter how much you hate that, she mine forever.
Three seconds.
"Because deep down," he said, letting his head lean in, "she knows she's mine.
Two seconds.
Nathan turned back to me, his smile honing.
"One day, my heart, my dear," he said softly, "you will come back to me, darling.
One second.
And then, Damian moved.
A blur of motion.
There was Nathan, smug and collected one moment
The next?
Damian had him by the throat.
Nathan spluttered, throwing up his hands and scrabbling for Damian's hold. But Damian didn't let go.
He leaned in, his voice sharp as glass.
"If you lay a hand on her again," he said, "I will kill you."
Nathan's face darkened.
But he didn't fight back.
Damian held him there for another punishing second enough time to make the point then threw him onto the ground.
Nathan coughed and cast him a glare.
But for the first time, I saw the twinkle fade from his eyes.
Something new.
Something dangerous.
Amusement.
He wiped blood from his mouth and grinned.
"See you soon, sweetheart."
And then, he was gone.
As soon as he left the room, I collapsed onto the bed, shaking all over.
Damian stared at me, hooded, breath coming hard, fists still clenched.
"Elena"
I flinched.
Just a little. Just enough.
His face hardened.
But he didn't speak; he just exhaled loudly and ran a hand through his hair.
They could hear nothing for a moment except my gasping."
Then at last he turned toward the door.
"I'll be right outside there," he said softly.
And then
He was gone too.
Leaving me alone.
With the terrible knowledge that this wasn't the end.
Not even close.
I couldn't sleep.
Not with the shadow of his presence still hanging over them.
Nathan had been here.
He had touched me.
Smile at me.
Then told I'd return to him, as though I were a misplaced remnant somehow destined to find my way back to him.
I shuddered.
A pale light pushed through the window from a city that seemed, outside, to be asleep. The guest room was opulent, but cramped. Nathan's fingers were still hot around my wrist, his voice a coil around my mind like a snake with venom.
My heart pounded. I needed to breathe.
I rolled my feet over the side of the bed, and stepped onto the stone cold floor. I crept slowly to the door, only allowing a second to yield the handle.
It wasn't locked.
He was the first thing I saw when I walked into the hallway.
Damian.
Leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. His face, which looked like it had been carved from stone, turned toward mine, but it was his eyes those dark, unreadable eyes that locked me in place.
He had been waiting.
For me.
Something bright and knowing flickered briefly in his eyes.
"You're meant to be at rest," he said, low and rumbling.
I swallowed deep, wrapping myself up tightly. "I can't."
Damian narrowed his eyes at me, jaw tightened. I knew there was something he was not telling me. A storm beneath the surface.
He silently dismounted from the wall and took my wrist.
I flinched.
It was just so small, so hardly detectable. But he noticed.
His entire body went rigid.
He exhaled slowly and instead of reaching to touch me, curved his fingers into a fist.
"Come with me," he murmured.
I hesitated.
But there was something wrong his voice something raw even, something unyielding that made me want to comply.
He led me through the penthouse, past the living room and onto the balcony. But it felt good against my overheated flesh. The city glimmered far below us, sprawling, it felt, on and on in every direction.
Damian rested his arms on the railing and stared into the skyline.
I waited for him to speak.
But he didn't.
Minutes passed, weighted with silence.
Then, finally
"Do you know what I wanted to do to him?" His voice was quiet. Deadly.
I didn't answer.
Because I did know.
I had seen it.
The violence in his body barely restrained. How his hands had wrapped around Nathan's throat like he was going to murder him any moment now.
I shivered.
"You were expecting someone else?" Damian faced me then, a dark, dangerous gaze. "He's coming back for you."
My throat tightened.
"I know," I whispered.
His expression hardened. "I won't let him take you."
I shivered a little bit at the words.
I should have been relieved. Grateful.
But the way he said it, the complete certainty in his voice, made my breath catch.
Because it was more than a pledge.
It was a vow.
"Damian..." I hesitated. "Why do you care so much?"
His jaw clenched.
For a second I thought he wouldn't get back to me.
But then, he did.
"For you're mine to protect."
My stomach flipped.
Not because of his words.
But because of how he said them, how he looked at me while he said them.
Like they weren't simply a declaration.
But a warning.
I should have been afraid.
Maybe I was.
"But instead of pulling back I stepped in.
And this time, when Damian was reaching for me
I didn't flinch.