Chapter 8
552words
As I drive into the parking garage, the metal gate slams shut behind me.
Black Cadillacs emerge from the shadows, boxing me in.
My heart hammers against my ribs.
My car door is yanked open. Damien himself pulls me out of the driver's seat.
He shoves me against the cold metal of my car. His hands trap me, his body a cage.
He's wearing a dark suit. His face is pale.
His eyes were hollow, but a terrifying madness burned deep inside them.
"Get in the car," he tells me.
"I won't."
"Isabella." His voice is quiet, but laced with threat. "Get in the car."
I see his men outside. Their hands are inside their jackets.
I have no choice.
I start the car. I drive where he tells me, toward the outskirts of the city.
The silence in the car is suffocating.
I can feel his eyes on me. Burning holes into my skin.
"Have you fucked him?" he snarls, the question hitting me like a physical blow.
I don't answer. I slam on the brakes.
"Answer me!" He punches the dashboard. The sound cracks through the silence.
"Not yet," I say, meeting his crazed eyes. "But I can't wait."
The words hit him like a bullet.
All the color drains from his face.
"Why?" he whispers. "Why him?"
"Because he wouldn't put a ring on another woman's finger in front of me."
Damien closes his eyes. Takes a deep breath.
When he opens them again, they're bloodshot. No tears.
"Isabella." His voice is broken glass. "I was wrong."
"I didn't realize until you were gone," he continues. "Without you, the world is grayscale. Food is ash in my mouth. The whiskey doesn't burn. Even the goddamn sun is cold."
He reaches for my face, but his hand stops mid-air.
"Do you know what I do every night?" he asks. "I sit in my office. I look at your pictures over and over again. The pictures of you smiling with him."
"Damien…"
"You never smiled like that for me." His hand starts to tremble. "For three years, you were always at a distance. Elegant, perfect… but never truly mine."
He grabs my hand. His grip is tight enough to break bones.
"But not anymore." A fanatic light burns in his eyes. "Now I know what it's like to lose. I know this pain."
"So what?" I try to pull my hand away, but he holds on tight.
"So I'm not letting you go again," he says, his voice firm and dangerous. "Come back to me, Isabella. Or I will burn his entire world to the ground until I'm the only thing left standing in yours."
Fear snakes up my spine.
This isn't love. It's obsession, and madness.
"Damien, let me go."
"No." He shakes his head. His face is a mask of pure desperation. "I can't stand the thought of you belonging to someone else. Of him touching you. Of him kissing you."
His other hand comes up to my face.
His thumb brushes away a tear I didn't know had fallen.
"Come back to me, Isabella," he begs, his voice raw and broken. "This time, I'll give you a real queen's throne."
He pauses. A crazy determination flashes in his eyes.
"Marry me."
