The Dark Bargain

y's

amien had misled me. Every glance, every deliberate phrase, was only a mask covering the truth he had buried under his polished appeal. I had assumed our arrangem

eavy door behind me and inhaled deeply, attempting to calm the turmoil inside. Thick with all the unspoken accu

ilence did n

with a look that combined annoyance

my voice shrill, tinged with the hurt and re

trayed. "Lily, it's not as stra

plain. Just business, right? That is all I am to you

's not a game." You have no i

heart thumping. "Stop hiding everything f

wariness I had not observed before.

y

y feelings. Then, at last, he breathed, his shoulders lowering ever s

a competitor here. He makes a threat. One that has been evolving over the years

ry briefly repla

s in a partnership. Rather, he turned against us after using that link to crawl his way into our company and understa

hetic, to think he was speaking the whole truth this time. Still fresh, though, the wounds of h

and crossed my arms. "What par

an he would have wanted to acknowledge. "I... chose." decisions that safeguarded my family but harmed ot

saw the man under the armor-the man molded by years

uieter now. "I need honesty if you want me to b

ily, I have done things I am not happy about. Things that

lready questioning everything." T

might open out and destroy the barriers he had erected around himsel

things," he replied, his voice tig

drew, fury raging once more. Trust you?

i

bject to your false promises and half-

ang out, clutching my wrist, his touch bot

free to refuse to let him rule me anymore. "Maybe it's tim

g moment I considered he could indeed lose control. Instead,

ur desired outcome. Lily, though, keeps in mind that stepping away does not equa

ept over me, reminding me I was caught in something much beyond

e it's time I stop letting y

and exited the library without another word. But I couldn't get rid of t

ile pacing the floor. All of the rage, the treachery, the residual attraction simmering und

toward the window; my he

ceptible against the blackness, bu

had disappeared, leaving only a terrible silence in front of m

my fingers shaking as I pushed it to my ear

il

said, my voice hardly audible.

on his end-the quiet intensity of his voice shiv

reply, and I was left standing t

d open, and Damien strode in, his acute eye evalu

out the window. "I know someone was

ectiveness in his eyes-a glimpse of the guy who would stop at nothing to guard me. But the m

n one of Hard grave's people," he said. He has

mean for me? My voice

not to travel anywhere alone going forward. I

entence. Whatever this was, whatever game Hargrave was engag

Damien approached, a reminder of the perilous attrac

so slightly. "I may have committed mist

shed and was replaced with a sliver of hope. Then, though, his phone buzz

losing as he read the message. It'

es that