Chapter Four
1269 Words
The Woman Upstairs
Silence.
Heavy.
Terrifying silence.
Rain crashed violently outside while Elena stood frozen in the middle of the hallway, her heartbeat pounding so hard it hurt.
Damien Vale stared at her from the end of the corridor.
Expressionless.
Deadly calm.
Behind her, the woman in white trembled against the wall.
“You shouldn’t have come here,” Damien said quietly.
His voice wasn’t loud.
That somehow made it worse.
Elena swallowed hard.
“Who is she?”
Damien’s jaw tightened instantly.
“I asked you a question.”
“And I told you not to come up here.”
The woman behind Elena suddenly spoke shakily.
“Please…”
Elena turned toward her immediately.
The bruises on the woman’s arms looked worse up close.
Purple.
Fresh.
Anger flared hot inside Elena’s chest.
“What happened to her?” she demanded.
Damien’s eyes darkened dangerously.
“You need to leave.”
“No.”
The word surprised even Elena.
But once it left her mouth, she couldn’t take it back.
“You lock a terrified woman upstairs and expect me to just ignore it?”
Lightning flashed across the hallway.
For one second, Damien looked genuinely furious.
Not loud fury.
Not explosive anger.
Something colder.
Controlled.
The kind that scared people more.
“Elena.”
Her name rolled off his tongue softly.
Warningly.
But she was too angry now to care.
“Did you do this to her?”
The second the question left her mouth, the air changed.
The woman behind her gasped quietly.
Damien went completely still.
Every instinct in Elena screamed at her to stop talking.
Instead, she held his gaze.
A dangerous move.
Because the look in Damien’s eyes now felt sharp enough to cut through skin.
Slowly, he walked toward her.
One step.
Then another.
Elena’s pulse sped up painfully.
Not fear.
Or maybe not only fear.
Damien stopped inches away from her.
Too close.
Always too close.
“You think I hurt women?” he asked quietly.
Elena swallowed.
“I don’t know what to think.”
For a moment, neither of them moved.
Then Damien looked past her toward the woman in the room.
“Vivian.”
The woman flinched immediately.
“You’re frightening her,” Damien said calmly.
Elena frowned.
“I’m frightening her?”
“You came into her room screaming questions.”
That made her pause.
Vivian slowly lowered her eyes.
Confusion twisted inside Elena’s stomach.
Something felt wrong here.
Very wrong.
Damien looked exhausted suddenly.
Like he was carrying something heavy no one else could see.
“She’s my sister.”
Elena froze.
“What?”
Vivian looked away silently.
Damien’s expression remained unreadable.
“She suffers from severe trauma,” he continued quietly. “She becomes violent during panic episodes.”
Elena’s anger cracked slightly.
“What kind of trauma?”
Damien’s eyes hardened again instantly.
“Not your business.”
Right.
Of course.
Still…
something about this situation didn’t fully make sense.
“If she’s your sister,” Elena said carefully, “why keep her locked up here?”
Vivian suddenly spoke softly from behind her.
“Because people hurt me.”
Elena turned toward her slowly.
Vivian looked fragile.
Terrified.
But not terrified of Damien.
Terrified of everything.
“I don’t like strangers,” Vivian whispered shakily. “Please don’t be angry.”
Guilt punched Elena directly in the chest.
Oh God.
She had completely misunderstood the situation.
Damien noticed the exact moment realization hit her face.
“You assume too quickly,” he said quietly.
Elena looked away immediately.
“I thought—”
“I know what you thought.”
Embarrassment burned through her instantly.
Wonderful.
She had basically accused a dangerous billionaire of kidnapping someone.
Smart move.
Damien stepped past her into the room.
And something about what happened next shocked Elena completely.
His entire demeanor changed.
Softened.
Not dramatically.
Just enough to notice.
“It’s alright,” he told Vivian calmly. “The power outage startled everyone.”
Vivian’s breathing slowly steadied.
Damien gently adjusted the blanket around her shoulders.
Gentle.
The word nearly broke Elena’s brain.
This man barely smiled.
Yet somehow he treated his sister with terrifying patience.
Vivian looked toward Elena again carefully.
“She’s pretty,” Vivian whispered suddenly.
Elena blinked.
Damien went completely still.
“Oh my God,” Elena muttered under her breath.
Vivian smiled faintly for the first time.
“You should see his face right now.”
Elena looked back at Damien automatically.
Mistake.
Huge mistake.
Because he was already staring at her.
Intensely.
The atmosphere shifted instantly.
Dangerously.
Elena looked away first.
Coward.
“I should go,” she mumbled.
“Yes,” Damien said immediately.
Her irritation returned.
“You don’t have to sound so excited about it.”
One corner of his mouth twitched slightly.
And there it was again.
That rare almost-smile that made her heart act stupid.
Vivian noticed.
And unfortunately—
she looked delighted.
“Oh,” Vivian whispered dramatically. “This is interesting.”
Damien sighed.
“Vivian.”
“No, seriously,” she continued softly, looking between them. “She argues with you. Nobody argues with you.”
Elena crossed her arms.
“Maybe people should.”
Damien’s eyes returned to hers slowly.
“They usually know better.”
The tension between them thickened instantly.
Vivian looked seconds away from laughing.
Which was honestly impressive considering the emotional chaos happening right now.
Thunder shook the mansion again.
The lights suddenly flickered back on.
Warm light flooded the hallway.
And for the first time, Elena properly saw Damien’s face clearly.
There was exhaustion hidden beneath his calm expression.
Dark circles under his eyes.
Tiny scars near his jaw.
He looked like someone who hadn’t rested in years.
The realization softened something inside her unexpectedly.
Dangerous.
Very dangerous.
Because sympathy was exactly how people got attached.
Damien noticed her staring again.
“What now?”
Elena hesitated.
Then quietly—
“You take care of her alone?”
Something flickered across his expression.
Gone almost immediately.
“Yes.”
The single word carried exhaustion she couldn’t explain.
Vivian leaned her head against the wall quietly.
“He barely sleeps,” she muttered.
“Vivian.”
“He doesn’t,” she insisted softly. “He stays awake whenever I have nightmares.”
Elena looked at Damien again.
Something in her chest tightened painfully.
Because suddenly—
the cold, terrifying billionaire standing before her didn’t look heartless at all.
He looked tired.
Lonely.
Broken in ways he hid carefully from the world.
And maybe that should’ve scared her more.
Because now she understood the real danger.
Not the mansion.
Not the locked third floor.
Not even Damien himself.
The real danger was that she was starting to see the man beneath the monster everyone feared.
And that was exactly how people fell in love.
Damien stepped closer suddenly, lowering his voice.
“You should go back to your room.”
Elena looked up at him.
His gaze dropped briefly to her lips before returning to her eyes.
The movement was tiny.
Almost unnoticeable.
But her heart caught it immediately.
So did Vivian.
“Oh, this is definitely happening,” Vivian whispered.
“Goodnight, Vivian,” Damien said flatly.
Vivian grinned.
Elena bit back an embarrassed smile.
Then Damien looked at her again.
And suddenly the hallway felt too small.
Too warm.
Too dangerous.
“Come on,” he murmured softly.
Elena frowned slightly.
“Where?”
His eyes held hers for one long second.
“I’ll walk you back before you find another locked room to investigate.”
- Writer
