A Night of Reckoning

My father's frantic, handwritten words were etched in my consciousness as my hands shook and I clutched the letter.

• "Lyra, I had no other option. You must comprehend. I took the necessary action.

No. I wouldn't comprehend.

I had stood up for him. In the back of my mind, I had thought that my father still loved me despite everything. Because he wasn't a total coward. However, I was mistaken. Once more.

What little dignity I still had, he had tossed aside.

With my heart beating loudly in my ears, I bounded through Damian's estate's halls. The fact that my bare feet generated gentle echoes on the marble floors and the late hour didn't matter to me. All I wanted was to find him.

And asking for the truth.

Without knocking, I pushed open the door to his study.

With his wide shoulders stiff, Damian stood by the hearth, holding a glass. His face was covered in shadows from the flickering light, making his features much harder to discern.

However, I didn't feel like being unreadable.

"You knew, didn’t you?" I didn't care if my voice sounded harsher than I had intended. "You knew my father was planning to betray me again."

Damian turned to me slowly. He didn't show any astonishment or flinch. His silence was a sufficient response.

My throat constricted. "Say something."

He sipped his drink while closely observing me. "What do you want me to say, Lyra?"

"That you didn’t let me be a fool again!" At my sides, my hands balled into fists. "That you didn’t just stand back and let him prove, once again, that I was nothing but a burden to him."

Damian put down his glass and sighed. "I didn’t stop him because I wanted you to see the truth for yourself."

His composure simply made me madder. "The reality? Do you mean the fact that my father doesn't care about me at all? That if it meant rescuing himself, he would repeatedly sell me?" There was nothing funny about it, but I gave a trembling laugh. "David, congratulations. I finally understand.

His countenance wavered for a moment, but I couldn't quite identify it.

When he continued, "You were always going to get hurt," his voice was low. "No matter what I did."

I sneered. "You can say that with ease. Do you feel nothing at all?

As soon as I said the words, I felt regret.

His whole body froze as a muscle in his jaw ticked.

He said, "Don’t," in a dangerously low voice.

"Don’t what?" My rage grew stronger as I took a step closer. "Be honest? That you're not shaken by anything? That you watch me crumble as you stand there, emotionless?"

"Enough, Lyra." His gaze grew gloomy.

"No." I gave a headshake. "I'm curious as to why. Why do you pretend that nothing affects you? As if nothing were important? Now my chest was rising and falling too fast, and my breath was irregular. "What happened to you that made you this way?"

His jaw tightened, and I briefly feared that he might cut me off once more. However, then—

He shifted.

So quickly that I hardly had time to respond. A moment later, he was standing directly in front of me, towering over me and exuding heat.

"You want to know why, Lyra?" He spoke in a harsh, nearly cracked voice. "Because you become weak when you care." It leaves you exposed. He touched my cheek with his fingertips, almost hesitantly. "And I don’t do weak."

I ought to have retreated. I ought to have pushed him away and told him how much I detested him for causing me to feel this way. However, I didn't.

Because, in all honesty, I didn't despise him.

I detested my desire for him.

I said in a whisper, "That's a lie." "You are concerned. You simply don't want to acknowledge it.

Before he completely clasped my face and traced my jaw with his thumb, his eyes sparked with something unreadable. My heart pounded madly.

"This is dangerous, Lyra." His lips were inches from my now, and his voice was scarcely more than a whisper.

I took a swallow. "Then stop."

He didn't.

He kissed me instead.

It wasn't hesitant, slow, or gentle. It was intense, as though neither of us could prevail in the conflict. I melted against him as his hands went into my hair and drew me in, my fingers gripping his shirt.

I ought to have put an end to it. However, I was unable to.

Because attraction wasn't the only factor here.

This covered all of the things we wouldn't say.

Every battle. All the unsaid truths. Every second we had spent acting as though there was nothing we couldn't do together.

He took advantage of my gasp against his lips and intensified the kiss until I was completely engrossed in him. His hold was tight and demanding as if he were attempting to prove something we didn't both understand.

And I permitted him

I allowed myself to forget everything else for a single, careless, ideal moment.

However, the reality was harsh.

The moment was broken by a forceful knock at the door.

With strained breath and a racing mind, I jerked away. With his chest rising and falling and his eyes fixed on mine as if he wasn't ready to let go, Damian remained near.

There was another knock.

With a sharp exhale, Damian combed his hair and turned to face the door. "What?"

Liam entered, his expression solemn. "We have a problem."

Damian tensed. "What kind of problem?"

Before he replied, Liam's eyes briefly shifted to mine. "It’s about John Ashford."

Painfully, my gut twisted.

"What now?" Damian's voice was unintelligible and harsh.

After a moment of hesitation, Liam said, "He didn’t run alone."

Damian's gaze grew strained. "Meaning?"

Liam let out a breath. "He had help."

I had a chilling feeling of dread that I couldn't explain.

"Who helped him?" In a disturbingly calm voice, Damian asked.

Liam's face grew serious. "Victoria Wolfe."

The room whirled.

The mother of Damian.

My breath caught, and my hands at my sides clenched into fists.

"What the hell is she up to now?" Damian's whole body tensed as he mumbled.

I hardly heard him.

Because I knew in my heart.

Victoria always had a rationale for whatever she did.

And if she had aided in my dad's escape...

It signaled the arrival of something much worse.

I wasn't prepared for it.

What's the worst?

I didn't know whether Damian would shield me from it. Or whether he would allow me to burn.