The moment her fingers slipped into his, Damian understood something had already changed.
He did not allow it to show.
He never allowed it to show.
But when Ava came into his sight and then stepped into the hallway beside him, dressed in deep, quiet elegance that seemed to command the very air around her, something inside him tightened in a way he had not prepared for.
He had seen her beautiful before.
He had seen her angry, defiant, soft, exhausted, stubborn.
But tonight...
Tonight she was breathtaking.
Not because of the dress.
Not because of the careful work of hands that had shaped her hair and brushed light across her skin.
But because she looked composed despite the storm in her eyes.
He could see it.
The nerves.
The questions.
The way she was bracing herself for something she could not yet name.
And he hated that she had to.
