The meeting continued much in the same fashion. Damien shooting me looks when he thought nobody was looking, but still he sparred in my defense. Nathan sneered and snarled in return.
Both playing their parts.
When the meeting wrapped, people stood, gathered their things, exchanged polite farewells. I felt Damien move toward me before he spoke.
“Ms.Sinclair,” he said, voice like glass under pressure. “A word?”
“I’m sorry, Mr.Holt,” I said briskly, not looking at him. “But my schedule is full today. Perhaps another time.”
He froze.
Completely.
Then his shoulder lifted almost imperceptibly. “Of course,” he whispered.
Cold satisfaction curled through me.
It shouldn’t have.
But it did.
“Perfect,” I said, stepping past him—
And walked out with Nathan Bell of all people trailing beside me.
In the elevator, my phone buzzed.
Damien: I don’t understand what I did wrong.
My hands trembled—not with hesitation, not with fear, but with the weight of everything that had broken loose inside me overnight.
Me: Then let’s discuss it later tonight. My place. 6:00 p.m.
A pause. Then—
Damien: Okay.
Tonight, I’d demand the truth—and I wasn’t sure either of us would recover from it.
Chapter 29
***
Damien
What the fuck.
It had been the only coherent thought circling my mind since yesterday afternoon. I’d planned a night for her—something simple. Something hers. Her favorite Indian place.
The puzzle she’d dragged over Monday night. An evening where we could just exist, together.
But when I got there, she wasn’t home.
No warning.
No explanation.
Just—gone.
