A Risky Game

Between us, there was stillness.

With his back to me and his phone firmly grasped in his palm, Damian stood close to the window. He seemed to be holding something back, and his whole body was stiff.

It felt colder than it ought to have.

As I watched him, I encircled myself with my arms. I detested this sensation—the doubt, the persistent feeling that something was eluding me.

Once more, his phone vibrated.

With a sigh, he turned off the call after taking a quick look at the screen.

"Will you respond to that?" The tension in the air made my calm voice sound sharp.

Damian let out a long sigh. "No."

I paused. Was your mother there?

His blue eyes met mine as he cocked his head slightly.

"Yes."

I felt uneasy about something in his face.

"What is it she desires?"

He made a small line with his lips. "Nothing positive."

He didn't say anything else.

He didn't say anything more, so I waited.

And I became even more uncomfortable as a result.

---

I discovered the reason the following morning.

I was trying to divert my attention by drinking coffee in the sunroom when I noticed it.

The headline.

DAMIAN WOLFE INVOLVED IN THE IMMINENT COLLAPSE OF ASHFORD INDUSTRIES?

I felt sick to my stomach.

No.

This cannot be taking place.

My fingers trembled as I clicked on the article. The words "hostile takeover," "financial ruin," and "Wolfe Enterprises acquiring assets at record speed" were all jumbled together.

My dad's business.

The name of Damian.

In a single sentence.

I thought I was having trouble breathing.

My chair scraped the floor as I pulled it back with such force. I didn't give a damn.

I had to locate Damian.

Right now.

---

In his office, I discovered him standing close to his desk with his phone placed to his ear. His posture was rigid and controlled, and his back was still to me.

I didn't wait for him to get off the phone.

"My family is being destroyed by you."

Damian looked around, his eyes unreadable. Without saying anything, he hung up the phone.

Then, "Good morning to you too, Lyra," he added in that unbelievably serene voice.

I hurled my phone onto his desk as I rushed at him. "Explain this."

He hardly glanced at the TV. "It's business."

"Business?" I raised my voice. "You're stealing from my father everything." His business. His heritage. His life.

Sighing, Damian rubbed his temple as if I were causing him a headache. "This is the situation your father put himself in."

"You don't have to crush him because of that."

He folded his arms and leaned against his desk. "I'm not in love with him. What was already mine, I'm taking.

I laughed resentfully. "Do you truly have no heart?"

His expression briefly changed, but it vanished in an instant.

"Lyra, this was never about getting even," he continued. Now he spoke very softly, almost cautiously. "Control is the key here."

I gave a headshake. "Do you control what?"

His gaze grew gloomy. "You."

That one word chilled me to the bone.

I stepped back. "What?"

Damian ran a hand through his dark hair and let out a deep exhale. "Your dad is careless. He bet everything he owned, even you. He forfeited his right to defend you the instant he signed that contract. You are now my to keep safe.

My heart pounded as I gazed at him. "So you're defending me with this? By destroying my dad?

"I'm keeping you safe from him," Damian remarked ominously.

I wanted to defend myself. I felt like screaming.

But I knew the truth in my heart.

My dad was careless. To save himself, he had thrown me into this marriage.

He was still my father, though.

I looked away while attempting to control my breathing. "This is not something I can do."

Damian spoke quietly but firmly. "What do you do?"

I took a deep breath. "Stay stuck between you two."

A long silence.

Damian then uttered something that caused my blood to freeze.

"Lyra, there's something you don't know."

I turned around again. "What?"

His face was unreadable. "Your father owed me more than just money. He had a lot of people to repay. Dangerous individuals.

My stomach turned over. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that someone else would have stepped in if I hadn't." He spoke in a low, lethal voice. Additionally, they wouldn't have requested payment. Something much worse would have been taken by them.

The room swayed.

"No," I muttered.

Damian fixed his eyes on mine. "You believe I'm unkind? Do you believe I punished you in any way? He lowered his voice to a perilous whisper. "I saved you, Lyra."

With shaking hands, I shook my head. "That isn't accurate."

"Isn't it?" His gaze grew gloomy. "Which of them would you prefer to be with?"

My throat shut.

I desired to deny it.

His lies were what I wanted to say.

He wasn't, though, based on the quiet, unflinching conviction in his gaze as he looked at me.

I took a deep breath. "What kept you from telling me?"

He tightened his jaw. "Because you would not have accepted my story."

In my ears, my pulse thundered.

This was excessive.

Too many falsehoods. There are too many secrets.

And suddenly my father's business was failing.

I needed air, I needed space, so I turned to the door.

But Damian had one final thing to say before I could go.

One last hit that broke any resistance I still had.

He remarked, "There's something else."

I went cold.

I gently turned back to him after that.

It was impossible to read Damian's face.

But everything I believed to be true was ruined by his next statement.

"You weren't just sold to me by your father."

I gasped.

Damian said in a low, lethal tone.

"He would have sold you to anyone."

I was struck with a chilly, terrifying understanding.

There were other monsters in this tale than Damian.

All of a sudden, I had lost my sense of who the true villain was.