I barely slept again.
Not because I was restless.
But because I couldn't stop hearing his voice.
Don't trust anyone here but me.
The problem was, I wasn't sure I even trusted him.
By the time I arrived at Vale International the next morning, something felt different. Sharper. The stares from people on the floor I used to call home had changed. Less indifferent. More speculative.
Word had gotten out.
I wasn't part of their world anymore.
I was part of his.
And that made me dangerous.
"New position?" Amira asked from her desk, her voice light but her eyes too cold to match it. Her sleek bob framed her sharp cheekbones. Her nails were always perfectly manicured, and her tailored navy suit was the kind only someone who knew how to play this game would wear.
"Just helping with a special project," I said.
"For Damien," she clarified. Her tone dropped ever so slightly. "He doesn't usually let people in that close."
I didn't respond.
She leaned forward. "Be careful. Everyone wants to be in his orbit. But you don't realise what it costs until you're already paying."
Before I could reply, my phone buzzed.
Conference Room 17B. Now.
No name. Just the text.
But I didn't need one.
I slipped away from the floor without answering Amira and followed the long, silent hallway that led to the private meeting rooms.
When I opened the door, Damien wasn't alone.
A man stood across from him.
Tall. Broad-shouldered. Dark suit. Charcoal eyes.
He looked like he belonged in a boardroom and a boxing ring.
His features were too symmetrical to be forgettable. Strong jaw. Sculpted mouth. A slight scar cutting through his left brow. And unlike Damien, who radiated control, this man radiated danger.
He looked at me as I entered, and for a moment, something passed in his expression.
Recognition?
Damien's voice broke the tension. "Selene. Meet Julian Kade. Our internal counsel on Hemlock."
Julian's lips curved into a slow, measured smile.
"Pleasure," he said. "You're the one he trusts."
The way he said it wasn't kind.
It was curious.
I nodded cautiously. "Nice to meet you."
Damien's eyes never left Julian.
"We were just going over the legal exposure on Evercrest," he said, motioning to the file between them. "Julian's worried about a leak from inside."
"Don't worry," Julian said, eyes still on me. "I'm always paranoid."
"Good," Damien replied. "Paranoia keeps us alive."
There was something unspoken in the room. A history between the two men that felt tense and unfinished.
Julian finally turned to leave.
As he passed me, he leaned in just slightly and said, "Watch your back."
And then he was gone.
I turned to Damien. "Is he always like that?"
"Only with people he's trying to scare."
"So… me?"
"Or maybe he just wants to see if you scare easily."
I narrowed my eyes. "Do I?"
He looked at me for a long moment.
"No," he said quietly. "You don't."
The rest of the day moved in a blur of encrypted emails, redacted files, and layers of information I had to piece together like a puzzle with half the pieces burned.
It wasn't until late afternoon that I found it.
A name I hadn't expected.
Elaine Carter.
I blinked.
That wasn't just anyone.
That was my mother.
At least, her maiden name.
Before she changed it. Before she disappeared.
The line item was buried deep in the financial history of Evercrest. A grant. A scholarship. From over twenty years ago.
My chest tightened.
This wasn't just business.
This was personal.
And Damien knew.
I stood from my chair and walked straight to his office, every nerve in my body lit with adrenaline.
I didn't knock.
He looked up from his desk, expression unreadable.
"Tell me what you know about Elaine Carter," I said.
He didn't pretend not to understand.
He stood slowly and walked around the desk, standing a few feet from me.
"I didn't know until this morning," he said. "I found the file. I knew it would change everything."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I didn't know if you'd still want to be here."
I shook my head. "You don't get to decide that."
"I do if I'm trying to protect you."
I took a step back. "No. You're not protecting me. You're managing me."
He didn't argue.
He just said, "Your mother was involved with the founders of Evercrest. She was part of something that was supposed to help people. Until it wasn't. Until it turned into what it is now."
My voice dropped. "She died thinking no one knew."
He looked at me.
"She died running from people who still haven't been caught."
Silence stretched between us.
I wanted to scream. To run. To demand answers he couldn't give.
Instead, I sat.
And for the first time since this started, I let myself fall apart.
Damien sat across from me.
He didn't reach for me.
He just waited.
When I finally spoke, my voice was quiet.
"What do you want from me now?"
He looked at me and said, "Everything."
And I didn't know if he meant my loyalty.
Or my heart.
But I was already giving him both.
And I knew that was the most dangerous thing of all.
Damien didn't say another word.
Not when I stood from his office chair.
Not when I walked to the window, looking out over the city, my heart heavy with a truth I wasn't prepared to carry.
Elaine Carter. My mother.
Part of the very foundation I was now working to unravel.
How long had he known?
How long had this been less about strategy and more about me?
"Why me?" I asked finally, my voice nearly a whisper.
He stood slowly. I could hear the faint creak of leather from his chair as he crossed the room toward me.
"You were the only one smart enough to connect the dots," he said. "The only one stubborn enough not to be scared off. And maybe… the only one I couldn't lie to."
I turned to face him.
For the first time, Damien Vale looked vulnerable.
Not in the physical sense.
But in the way his eyes softened. In the way he didn't hide behind power or control.
He was offering me the truth. A version of it, anyway.
But just as I opened my mouth to respond, his phone rang.
He didn't move to answer it.
The ringing stopped.
A second later, a sharp knock echoed through the room.
Then the door opened.
It wasn't Julian.
It wasn't anyone I recognised.
It was a woman.
Beautiful. Striking. Unapologetically poised in heels and a white silk blouse tucked into a fitted grey pencil skirt. Her hair was jet black, twisted into a sleek chignon. Her red lips didn't smile.
Neither did her eyes.
Damien's jaw tensed.
"Lena," he said, tone instantly colder.
Her gaze flicked to me. Then back to him.
"I thought you'd at least have the decency to warn me," she said, voice clipped. "Before bringing your assistant into a project that still bears my name."
I stiffened. Assistant?
But I didn't interrupt.
Because something darker was swirling in her words.
"You're not supposed to be here," Damien said.
Lena's eyes narrowed. "And you weren't supposed to bury Evercrest's funding documents under a shell account either. But we all make mistakes."
The air in the room turned ice cold.
"What do you want?" he asked.
"I came to see the girl," she said, turning her full attention to me now. "The one you've been protecting like a little secret. The one your lawyers keep erasing from the paperwork."
Damien stepped forward. "You're overstepping."
Lena smiled, slowly and poisonously.
"Am I? Because if you think she's not in danger, you're lying to yourself."
I finally found my voice. "Who are you?"
She tilted her head slightly. "Someone who once stood exactly where you are now. In love with the man who ruins everything he touches."
I felt the words hit me before I even had time to process them.
In love?
"Don't listen to her," Damien said, stepping closer to me.
But it was too late.
Lena reached into her bag, pulled out a small black folder, and tossed it on his desk.
It slid to a stop just inches from my hand.
I looked down.
Inside was a photo.
Of my mother.
Standing beside Damien.
Smiling.
Like they knew each other.
Like they weren't strangers at all.
My stomach dropped.
"What is this?" I whispered.
Lena didn't blink. "History. The kind he's been rewriting for years."
Damien's voice was firm. "Don't do this."
But Lena was already walking away.
She paused at the door. "You should ask him what happened the night your mother vanished."
Then she left.
The room was dead silent.
I turned to Damien.
He looked calm. But his eyes were dark. Haunted.
I picked up the photo. My mother's face stared back at me.
And I knew this was no longer about a job.