The words sank in slowly, finding cracks I hadn't known were there.
Terrified. Something broke that man a long time ago. The first. Probably the last.
I thought of Damien's father—the man he never spoke about except in fragments sharp enough to cut.
I lifted my head, meeting Vivian's warm gaze.
"I have more questions."
Chapter twenty-two
Damien
I shouldn't have let her go.
The thought kept time in my skull as I watched Emma disappear to the snack room with Vivian, their arms linked like old friends instead of near-strangers still learning each other's names.
What the hell had I been thinking?
Vivian was Vivian—charming and reckless with her tongue. The woman had no filter—never had—and now she was alone with Emma, probably regaling her with every embarrassing detail of our time together.
"Relax." Todd's words cut through my spiral. "Viv's not going to eat her."
I forced my attention back to him, lowering into the armchair across from his. The leather creaked beneath me, familiar and grounding. "I'm relaxed."
"You're chewing through your molars." He stretched back, ankle crossing over his knee with the ease of a man who'd long ago stopped caring what anyone thought of him. "I can hear it from here."
I unclenched my jaw. Deliberately.
The corner of Todd's mouth lifted.
The lounge hummed around us—soft music, softer conversation, the occasional laugh drifting from the pink corner. I'd spent years inthis room. Knew every shadow, every corner, every unspoken rule that governed the space. But tonight it felt different. Foreign. Like I was seeing it through Emma's eyes instead of my own.
"So." Todd leaned forward, forearms bracing against his thighs. "That's her, huh? The one who finally got you."
"Got me?"
"Don't play dumb. It doesn't suit you." His gaze was knowing. Annoyingly so. "I've known you for what—twelve years? Thirteen? In all that time, I've never seen you look at anyone the way you look at her."
I didn't answer, movement catching my eye—red hair and dark curls emerging from the curtain. My spine straightened, attention tracking Emma as Vivian steered her toward a pair of chairs near the pink corner.
She was scanning the room. Looking for me.
Our gazes locked.
Relief washed over me.
She chose the chair facing outward. The one that kept me in her line of sight.
Good girl.
My mouth curved—small, private—before I turned back to Todd.
He was watching me with a look that bordered on insufferable.
"What?"
"Nothing." He held up his hands, the picture of innocence. "Just enjoying the show."
