The next morning, Alina awoke to find Damian already gone from the bed. For a brief, icy moment, panic seized her — the memory of Celeste's cruel words rising like poison.
Before you get hurt.
But then she heard voices downstairs, low and heated. Damian. And someone else. Someone who sounded smug, sharp, female.
Alina slipped out of bed and padded down the hall, Damian's shirt brushing her thighs. The voices grew clearer as she approached the grand landing above the foyer.
She stopped cold when she saw them.
---
Damian stood by the door, his posture tense and coiled with barely leashed fury. Across from him, perfectly poised in a tailored white coat and crimson heels, was Celeste.
The woman's icy blue eyes flicked upward — right to where Alina hovered on the landing. A slow, victorious smile curved her lips.
"Ah. The pretty little pet decides to join us."
Damian's head snapped around. "Alina. Stay upstairs."
Her heart twisted. "No. I want to hear whatever it is you're both trying so hard to keep from me."
Celeste let out a delicate laugh. "She's spirited. I see why you're so taken. Pity. She's going to be your downfall."
---
Damian's hands curled into fists. "Get out."
But Celeste only smirked, running a gloved finger lazily along the polished banister. "I came to deliver a simple message. You know the investors from Monaco? They've grown… impatient. They want reassurances that your current distractions won't compromise their return."
"This has nothing to do with Alina," Damian growled.
"Oh, but it does." Celeste's eyes glittered, cold and triumphant. "Because if you're vulnerable, Damian — if you're tangled up in your little plaything here — then you're not paying attention. And mistakes get very expensive in your world. Often… fatally so."
---
Alina felt the blood drain from her face. She'd known Damian's business lived in gray shadows — whispers of ruthless deals, of competitors ruined. But hearing it framed like this, like a threat that could spill over onto her, made her knees weaken.
Damian seemed to sense it. In two strides he was at the base of the stairs, reaching up for her hand.
"Alina. Come down. Please."
For a moment, she hesitated. Then she descended, letting him draw her against his side. His arm wrapped tight around her waist, protective, almost possessive.
Celeste watched them with a faint, mocking tilt of her head. "So touching. Truly. Just remember, Damian — if she becomes a liability, the people you answer to won't hesitate to eliminate the problem."
Her meaning was unmistakable.
Alina's heart slammed painfully in her chest.
---
"That's enough." Damian's voice was low and lethal. "Get out before I decide to stop being civil."
Celeste arched a brow, but didn't argue. She merely gave Alina one last slow, measuring look — a look that promised she wasn't finished — then slipped out the door with a whisper of expensive perfume trailing behind her.
---
When the door shut, Damian's hand was trembling where it rested on her hip. He dropped it as though burned and stalked a few paces away, raking both hands through his hair.
"Damian—"
"I'm sorry you had to see that," he said roughly. "I've tried to keep all of this away from you. From us."
Her voice shook. "Because it's dangerous. Because these people might hurt me."
He didn't deny it. That silence was somehow worse than any lie.
---
Alina crossed the distance between them and laid her hand on his chest. His heart was racing, as wild and erratic as her own.
"Why didn't you tell me how serious it was?"
"Because I didn't want to scare you off. Because the second I admitted how deep it all runs, I'd have to accept that I could lose you."
"You still could," she whispered. Her throat closed painfully. "Not because I'm afraid. But because I won't watch you tear yourself apart trying to protect me alone."
Damian's eyes darkened, hands gripping her shoulders. "I can't promise you safety, Alina. Not in my world. But I can promise you this — anyone who tries to touch you will answer to me."
---
Then his mouth crashed down on hers, urgent and hungry, like he was trying to anchor himself to her body. She kissed him back just as fiercely, fingers threading into his hair. When he pulled her closer, lifting her off the floor, she gasped into his mouth.
He carried her back up the stairs and into the bedroom without breaking the kiss. There, he laid her out on the bed with a kind of desperate reverence.
---
Their clothes fell away in frantic motions. Damian's hands roamed her skin like he needed to reassure himself she was real and still his.
When he entered her, it wasn't slow or teasing — it was a hard, claiming thrust that made them both moan. His pace was demanding, every movement saying mine, mine, mine.
And God help her, she needed it. Needed him to mark her inside and out, to chase away the chill of Celeste's threats with the scorching certainty of his desire.
---
When they finally fell over the edge together, Damian collapsed on top of her, burying his face in her neck. His breath was ragged, warm against her skin.
"I won't let them take you," he rasped. "Not ever."
Alina cradled his head, tears burning her eyes. Because she believed him. Even if it destroyed them both, she believed he'd fight the whole dark world for her.
And for now, that was enough.