The morning after the masquerade was stained in silver fog and silence. Elena sat alone in the Voss estate's solarium, the large windows misted with dew and uncertainty. Her thoughts were a tangle of images—Damien's haunted confession, Lucien's veiled threats, and the strange emotion coiling around her heart like ivy.
She traced the rim of her coffee cup absently, trying to ground herself. But peace was a luxury she couldn't afford—not when the truth she'd glimpsed in Damien's eyes refused to let go.
Footsteps approached. Heavy, deliberate. Damien.
He didn't speak as he entered. Just stood across from her in his black shirt, sleeves rolled to the elbows, hair damp from a recent shower. He looked like sin incarnate, but his eyes held something far more dangerous: remorse.
"I need to show you something," he said.
"Another secret?" she asked, voice cool.
"No. The truth."
He extended a hand. Elena hesitated, then took it. His grip was firm, grounding. As he led her out of the solarium, through winding halls and into a restricted wing of the estate, her nerves buzzed.
They reached a secured door. Damien pressed his palm to a hidden scanner. The door slid open with a hiss.
Inside was a surveillance room.
Screens lined the walls, showing angles of the estate, their downtown properties, even the orphanage Elena once volunteered at.
"What is this?" she whispered.
"Lucien's obsession," Damien said. "And mine… when I thought the only way to protect you was to watch from afar."
She turned to him. "You've been spying on me?"
"Yes. After I left you that night, I stayed close. I couldn't let go."
The weight of his confession settled between them like ash.
He moved to a drawer and pulled out a manila folder. "This is what Lucien's been hiding. His plans to dismantle everything. The company, the alliance, us."
Elena opened the folder. Inside were documents—bank transactions, hacked emails, pictures. And a name she hadn't heard in years.
"Ronan Vale," she said aloud. "He's alive?"
Damien nodded. "Lucien's been funding him. The man who tried to kill you in Italy… it wasn't random. It was Ronan."
Elena's knees buckled. Damien caught her.
"The explosion… the threats. All of it was orchestrated to push us apart and destroy the Voss name."
"But why?" she asked, trembling. "What did we ever do to him?"
Damien's jaw clenched. "I took you from him. Years ago, Ronan thought he owned you too."
Elena recoiled. "That's not possible."
"It was before I met you. He saw you once at a gala. Said you were 'meant to belong to someone powerful.' He offered to buy you. I refused."
Tears welled in her eyes. "And Lucien?"
"He agreed to the deal behind my back. When I found out, I ended it. But not before Lucien promised Ronan revenge."
The room spun. The betrayal, the danger—it all made a horrifying kind of sense now.
Damien pulled her close. "I swear I never wanted you caught in this. But I should've told you long ago."
She pushed him away gently. "I need air."
Elena walked out into the garden. The cold wind slapped her cheeks, but it couldn't numb the storm inside.
She thought she knew what pain was. But this… this was betrayal wrapped in velvet, trust shattered beneath diamond lies.
Minutes later, a voice behind her broke the silence.
"You should've let me handle him."
Lucien.
She turned slowly, eyes blazing. "You set Ronan on me."
His smile was slow and cruel. "I set fire to a broken system. You were collateral. But Damien? He's always been your blind spot."
"I know everything now," she said. "And I swear, Lucien… if you come near me again—"
"You'll what?" he sneered. "Kill me?"
Damien's voice sliced through the air. "No, I will."
He emerged from the shadows, gun in hand.
Lucien raised a brow. "You wouldn't."
"Try me."
Lucien backed away slowly, hands raised. "Careful, brother. We're not done."
As he disappeared, Damien lowered the gun, his hand shaking.
Elena stepped closer. "You really would've killed him?"
"For you? Yes."
She touched his arm. "We can't keep fighting fire with fire."
Damien looked into her eyes. "Then tell me how to fight for you, Elena. Because I'm lost without you."
She didn't answer with words. She just wrapped her arms around him.
For now, that was enough.
But in the shadows, a pair of eyes watched. Ronan Vale, alive and waiting.
The game wasn't over.
It had just begun.