The Prince Of Remembering You

CHAPTER FIVE– The Man Who Should Never Have Found Me

Elise and Emilia's Point of View

I didn't want to hear that voice again, and it sounded like poison in the hallway.

It sounds like Damian Locke is humming, and it's as smooth as a velvet-wrapped blade. “Long time.”

It sounds like someone is hitting me in the lungs.

Before my mind can react, my body does. I trip and fall behind the half-open door to the meeting room. My view is fuzzy. My throat gets tight. Everything in me screams "Run, Run, Run!" because Damian's voice sounds like every fear I thought I had put to rest.

I put my hand on the wall. It's cold. Strong. Real. Something to hold onto as the past crashes over me.

No. Not the past. The time. He’s here, and he found me.

I crouch low, knees bowing as the shivers spread through my legs. I force myself to breathe through the rising fear, but it’s like breathing through cracked glass. Damian Locke. The man who destroyed everything. The man who gave me over like a bargaining chip. The man who whispered lies so gently I believed them until it was nearly too late.

My pulse spikes so strongly I hear it ringing in my brain. I peek through the small hole between the door and the frame.

Julian stands there, stiff and aware. Tense in a way he rarely lets anyone see. His eyes are cold, colder than I’ve ever seen them. Damian smiles, beautiful and dangerous.

“I heard about the new assistant,” he says lightly. Too lightly. “Thought I’d come check on you.”

Julian’s jaw ticks. “You don’t check on people, Damian. You check on problems.”

A flash of amusement crosses Damian’s face. “You sound distrustful. I’m hurt.” He isn’t. He’s entertained. He always liked the game more than the outcomes.

I swallow hard. I shouldn’t listen. I shouldn’t stay here. But I can’t move, not when the room feels like it’s shrinking around me. Damian shifts slightly, giving me a partial view of his wrist.

My heart stops.

The watch. Black metal. Thin metal clock. The crack on the right side where it hit the ground that night.

The same watch he wore the night I almost died. The same watch he wore when he gave me to the men who wanted me gone.

Everything inside me tightens until I can barely breathe. He’s bold enough to walk into the building wearing it.

Bold enough to approach Julian directly. Bold enough to stand here like he doesn’t expect consequences.

There’s only one reason a man like Damian would be this fearless: He thinks Julian won’t remember anything. Or worse, He thinks I won’t survive long enough to uncover him.

A faint ringing fills my ears. Julian takes a step closer to Damian, shoulders straight. “Why are you here?”

“Concern,” Damian says easily. “You’ve been… struggling. Ever since the accident.” Julian stiffens. I see the flicker of pain cross his eyes before he hides it. Damian watches him like a hawk studying a fresh wound. “And besides,” Damian adds, “I heard you hired someone new.”

Elise.

He means Elise. But he doesn’t say my first name. He doesn’t have to… Because he already knows my real one, my lungs stop.

Julian’s voice cuts through the hallway, sharp and controlled. “My assistant isn’t any of your business.”

Damian tilts his head. “Everything that touches your life is my business.”

Julian’s eyes darken. “Not anymore.”

Something electric charges the air between them. Not friendship. Something broken and dangerous.

I can’t stay here.

I can’t let Damian see me frozen, shaking, hiding like the girl he broke. I force my legs to move, one step, then another, toward the lift at the far end of the hallway. Each step feels like I’m walking through quicksand.

But as I slip past the meeting room and inch into the hallway, I notice how close their voices are.

Damian drops his tone, but I still catch the edge. “You look… unsettled, Julian.” A pause. “Did something happen recently?”

Julian doesn’t answer. Damian laughs. “I can always tell when you’re lying.” I don’t hear Julian’s answer because my heartbeat drowns out every other sound. The lift is only ten steps away. If I can reach it before either of them turns, a shadow falls across the floor.

I freeze.

Someone is behind me. A hand closes around my wrist. My breath slams out of my chest. No. No. Please no.

I turn slowly, dread hollowing me from the inside out. Damian’s face fills my vision—lean, beautiful, cold. His smile stretches, a hunter recognizing prey.

He tugs me a little closer, drinking in my fear like wine.

“Hello, Emilia.” The name cuts through me. He doesn’t say Elise. He doesn’t pretend. He knows exactly who I am. “Emilia Hartwell,” he says, voice silk hiding blades. “I knew you weren’t dead.”

My stomach plunges. Ice fills my blood. He leans in, breath warm against my ear, as if the years between us never happened, as if he didn’t arrange the worst moment of my life.

“You should have stayed gone.” I choke on air. His eyes flick to Julian—still speaking, unaware.

This bastard planned this.

I planned it.

His fingers tighten cruelly around my wrist. “Run again,” he whispers. “I dare you.” I yank my arm, but his grip doesn’t move.

“Let go,” I hissed.

“Or what?” His smile widens. “You’ll tell him? Sweetheart, he doesn’t remember anything. And he never will.”

My chest turns wildly.

Julian. He’s the reason Damian isn’t afraid. He thinks Julian’s memory loss will protect him. And maybe it would, If Julian hadn’t already started remembering.

“You’re shaking,” Damian says, brushing his thumb across my pulse point. “Just like before.”

A flash of the past tears through me: Dark hallway.

Damian’s smile. A door shut behind me. My voice is breaking. Hands grabbing me. Glass smashing.

Julian shouting my name, Then darkness. My legs nearly buckle.

He leans closer. “Don’t make the same mistake twice, Emilia.”

I gather what little strength I have left and force words through my raw throat. “The mistake was trusting you.”

For the first time, his smile falters.

Good.

The elevator behind me dings.

Damian’s eyes gleam—not with fear, but excitement. He thinks he’s already won. And maybe he has… for now.

But something inside me shifts—something fierce, tired of running, tired of hiding. I straighten, even as my heart races wildly. “Touch me again,” I say, “and I swear—” He grabs my chin, pulling my face up to his. “You’ll what?”

He expects fear. But I’m too far past fear for that. I spit the words out like a blade: “I’ll end you.”

A shadow crosses his face.

Julian’s voice snaps from down the hall. “Elise?”

Damian releases me quickly, face shifting back to smooth, charming innocence. But his eyes, His eyes promise hell.

He steps back, letting the lift doors slide open. Before he goes inside, he gives me one last smile. “Welcome back, Emilia. Try not to die this time.” The doors close. My entire body falls against the wall.

Julian’s footsteps rumble toward me. But all I can hear is Damian’s ending words ringing through my skull: I knew you weren’t dead.