Maya exhaled shakily, letting the words settle in her bones. But the silence that followed was heavy, pressing in from all sides. Damien’s shoulders rose and fell, each breath jagged, as if the memories clawing at him refused to stay buried.
He exhaled again, a harsher, broken sound.
“Grief. Anger. Guilt.” His jaw tightened, voice dropping into a low growl. “For two years, those three consumed me. They dragged me into the darkest parts of myself.”
His eyes hardened, distant—haunted. “I made it my mission to hunt them all. Every last one. To make them feel what they did to her—tenfold, a hundredfold. I was uncontrollable. I would’ve killed anyone who stood in my way. It was as if I’d turned off my humanity. Nothing mattered. Not innocence. Not collateral damage. All I saw was blood. All
