Chapter 28

Alison

I remained in a frozen state, still trying to come up with something to say. No single idea has popped up in my head and the man with the gun was shooting me a glare. My heart pounded violently as I stared at him.

“I wouldn’t ask you again!” The man spoke up finally breaking the silence. “Who the hell are you?”

I opened my mouth to answer, but nothing came out.

My silence only seemed to infuriate him more.

“Speak, or I’ll blow your brains out!” he yelled, stepping closer. His gun didn’t waver, his dark eyes narrowing at me as if daring me to say the wrong thing.

‘Come on, Alison!’ I begged myself. ‘Think of something!”

‘Anything!’

“I-I’m a friend of Rodrigo,” I blurted out as that thought crawled into my mind.

“mentirosa,” he spat, his lips curling in disgust. “Tell the truth!”

I was about to speak again, though I didn’t know what I’d say when a familiar voice caught my attention. I turned backward and my face landed on Damien.

Now, he shows up!

“She doesn’t answer to you,” Damien’s voice rang out.

I turned my head and saw him standing in the doorway, his expression unreadable. Relief washed over me, though it was quickly replaced by fear as I noticed the gun in his hand. Before I could process what was happening, Damien raised his weapon and fired.

The man in front of me fell, and I watched in horror as his lifeless body hit the ground. Another body followed—the second man who had been standing in the shadows, whose presence I didn’t notice until now.

The horrific look on my face grew, and I realized no matter how many times I watched Damien kill someone I could never shake off the weird feeling that reverberated through my body.

“Run,” Damien barked, snapping me out of my daze. “Someone’s coming!”

I didn’t need to be told twice. My legs moved before my brain could catch up, and I sprinted toward Damien’s car. He was right behind me, his hand gripping my arm as he urged me to move faster.

When we reached the car, I scrambled into the passenger seat. Damien slid behind the wheel, glancing backward before he started the engine.

I wondered what he was looking at until I noticed the man running in our direction.

Damien fired another shot, and without hesitation, he sped into the night.

As he drove, the silence between us was suffocating, and I didn’t have the energy to break it.

I should have been angry—furious, even—that he’d left me alone in that house. But I wasn’t. I was too used to Damien’s habit of disappearing and reappearing as he pleased.

“Did you find it?” he finally asked, his eyes fixed on the road.

“Yes,” I said, pulling out my phone. I opened the image of the contract I’d taken and handed it to him.

Damien glanced at the screen, a faint smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.

He stopped the car, grabbing my phone from my hands. I watched as his smirk grew.

“Smart,” he murmured, more to himself than to me. “Edwardo knew Rodrigo was stepping into his territory and blackmailed him to comply. Clever bastard.”

He continued to talk to himself, murmuring words that seemed pretty important, but I wasn’t really listening.

My mind was still stuck on the events at Rodrigo’s mansion—the sound of the gunshots, the sight of the bodies falling to the ground.

When we finally pulled up at the house, I got out without a word. Damien didn’t stop me. I headed straight to my room, my body aching with exhaustion.

We returned to the highlands the following day and ever since our arrival Damien barely spoke to me, and I found myself oddly grateful for his silence.

I didn’t want to hear his voice, didn’t want to see his face. The way he’d treated me during the mission—the way he always treated me—only fueled the hatred I’d been trying to bury for so long.

I focused on Aiden. I haven’t heard from him in days. I couldn’t stop myself from checking my phone every few minutes, waiting for a message or a call from him. But there was nothing.

The days passed and Aiden’s silence persisted, and this only caused the knot in my chest to grow tighter.

Eventually, I decided I needed a break from my suffocating thoughts.

I left my room and wandered through the house, trying to clear my head. As I passed one of the rooms, I heard it—a sound that made me stop in my tracks.

Moans.

Curiosity—or perhaps something darker—drove me to lean closer to the door. The moans grew louder, accompanied by Damien’s voice.

“I missed you,” he murmured.

Then I heard him growl. “Fuck! You taste so good!”

A strange feeling twisted in my stomach. I hated myself for even thinking it, but I wished it were me in that room with him. I hated him, but some twisted part of me still wanted him.

Before I could walk away, the door swung open. Damien stepped out, his eyes meeting mine instantly. He paused, staring deeply at me before walking past me without a word.

I stood there, frozen, until another figure emerged from the room. Gemma.

Why did she get released?

The sound of Gemma’s footsteps drew me out of my thoughts.

I stared at her, watching as her lips curved into a sly smile.

“Well, well, if it isn’t the old flame,” she said in a bitter tone.

I didn’t respond. I turned to leave, but she followed me, grabbing my arm.

“Not so fast!” she sneered. “Don’t you want to know how well Damien fucks?”

I yanked my arm free, glaring at her. “I don’t, because I don’t care about you or Damien.”

My words were filled with lies and as I stared at Gemma. I realized she wasn’t buying them either.

She leaned forward, flashing me a smile. “I know it hurts you, Alison!”

I felt like wiping the smile off her pretty face, but I stopped myself. Gemma didn’t deserve my reaction. So I picked up my steps, not sparing her another glance.