Chapter five

The night air was colder than usual, but it wasn’t the chill that kept me awake. It was the suffocating weight of my own choices. Sitting in my study, a glass of whiskey untouched on the table beside me, I stared at the envelope resting in front of me. It was thick, worn, and filled with evidence—a time bomb disguised as paper.

Aurora Sinclair’s father was a bastard, but he was a bastard who knew how to manipulate. He’d played his cards so perfectly that I was cornered with no way out.

Bryce Sinclair didn’t approach me with polite business offers or negotiations. No, he came armed with something far deadlier: a file detailing mydarkest secrets, my father’s past, and the fragile empire I had worked tirelessly to build. The file contained things that no one else should ever know. But Sinclair had his hands on it, and now, I had no choice but to play along with his twisted game.

He knew about my mother's death, how it was no accident. He knew about my real father, the one I’d never been allowed to acknowledge. Sinclair had dug deep, deeper than anyone else could have, and now he used that information as leverage. He wasn’t offering a partnership or a collaboration—he was forcing me into a marriage with his daughter.

Aurora.

The very thought of her made my jaw clench. She had no idea the mess her father had gotten her into. She thought this was just another business arrangement, a transaction between powerful families. But to me, it was a trap. A cage I couldn’t escape from.

I could already feel the chains tightening around my wrists. The marriage would happen, of course. That was the only way Sinclair would back off, the only way he would keep his mouth shut. The thought of binding myself to her, of becoming her husband, made my skin crawl. But I had no other choice.

The whispers of her father’s threats kept echoing in my mind. If I didn’t comply, Sinclair would tear me down. He would destroy my company, ruin my reputation, and I would lose everything—everything my father had built, everything I had worked for. I could almost hear his voice now, that smooth, insidious tone telling me how easy it would be to destroy me if I didn’t bend to his will.

I had to keep up the act. I had to pretend I didn’t care. I had to stay cold and distant, even though every fiber of my being wanted to lash out, to break free of this suffocating reality.

The door to my office creaked open, and I didn’t have to look up to know who it was.

“Daemon?” It was Victoria, my stepmother.

I didn’t answer right away. I just sat there, still staring at the file in front of me, pretending to be lost in thought. Victoria was too sharp not to notice the tension in the air. She stepped inside, closing the door behind her with an exaggerated softness.

“You’re still up?” she asked, her voice low, almost cautious.

I finally looked up at her, meeting her eyes with a calmness that was purely for show. “Couldn’t sleep.”

She raised an eyebrow, as if she didn’t believe me. “Is it the wedding?”

I didn’t answer immediately. I couldn’t bring myself to speak the truth. That this marriage was nothing more than a prison sentence, and I was being shackled by my father’s mistakes. My mind kept going back to Aurora—her defiance, her anger. She didn’t know how dangerous this game was. She didn’t know how dangerous her father was.

Victoria stepped closer, her heels clicking softly against the floor, and I could feel the subtle weight of her gaze on me. “You’re thinking about it too much. Sinclair won’t play this card forever.”

I scoffed. “You don’t know him like I do. Sinclair has no problem with playing dirty. And once I’m married to Aurora, he’ll have everything he needs to keep me in line.”

Victoria’s lips pressed together, her expression unreadable. “Then why do it? Why go through with it?”

The question hung in the air, but I had no answer for her. The answer was buried somewhere deep inside of me, tangled with the secrets I couldn’t afford to share. The answer was that I had no choice.

“We all have our roles to play, Victoria,” I said, my voice cold. “And mine is to keep this company intact.”

She nodded slowly, her eyes flickering with some unreadable emotion. “You’ve always been loyal to the family.”

I didn’t respond. Loyalty had always been a double-edged sword in this family. My father’s lies, my mother’s death, my secret lineage—they were all part of a tangled web that I could never fully escape from.

Victoria remained silent for a moment before speaking again. “Just don’t forget that Sinclair isn’t the only one you have to worry about. There are others who want to see you fall, Daemon.”

I stared at her, not sure if she was warning me or trying to manipulate me further. But one thing was clear: I couldn’t trust anyone—not even her.

The silence between us stretched, thick and uncomfortable. Finally, I stood, the decision already made. I couldn’t afford to waste time thinking about the consequences anymore. I had to play along with this charade, at least for now.

“I’ll go through with it,” I said, my voice low but firm. “But I’ll never forget what Sinclair did to me. And when the time comes, I’ll make him pay.”

Victoria watched me carefully, her gaze unwavering. “Just be careful, Daemon. The game is far from over.”

As I turned and walked out of the room, I felt the weight of her words settle over me. The game wasn’t over. In fact, it was only just beginning.

And I would make sure that when the final move was played, it would be me who walked away victorious.