Chapter 5
1104 Words
The air was thick.
Not with tension—something worse. Something sharper.
The kind of quiet that came right before a storm.
Damien’s men weren’t corporate security. I could see it in the way they held their weapons—calm, practiced, lethal.
Not hired muscle. Killers.
My pulse spiked, but I didn’t move. Panic was useless. Think.
I glanced at Rafael.
He didn’t flinch. Didn’t even blink. His hands remained casually in his pockets, but I saw the shift—the slight adjustment of his weight, the quiet, calculating readiness.
Predatory.
Dangerous.
A man who had been in worse situations and survived.
Damien knew it too. I could see it in the flicker of hesitation before he spoke.
“You think your name protects her?” he mused, tilting his head. “De Luca, you don’t scare me.”
Rafael’s lips curved, but there was no humor in it.
The air in the room changed.
Subtle. Lethal.
“You’re right,” Rafael murmured. “My name doesn’t protect her.”
He leaned forward, voice dipping into something quiet and razor-sharp.
“But my wife’s name does.”
The words hit like a gunshot.
For a second, no one moved.
Then—
Damien blinked. Frowned. “What the hell are you talking about?”
My throat tightened. Wife?
I almost turned to Rafael in shock but forced myself to stay still. To not react.
Because this was a power play. A dangerous one.
And Rafael was playing to win.
He exhaled, slow and almost bored, as if Damien’s confusion was an inconvenience.
“You thought we were engaged?” Rafael’s lips curled. “We got married last night.”
Silence.
Thick. Heavy.
Then—Damien laughed. Short. Disbelieving. “You expect me to believe that?”
Rafael flicked his wrist.
One of his men stepped forward, handing Damien a sleek black folder.
Damien snatched it. Flipped it open.
And his face twisted.
His grip on the folder tightened, knuckles going white as he scanned the document inside.
Marriage certificate.
Signed.
Legal.
A chill crawled down my spine. What the hell was Rafael doing?
I had agreed to a fake engagement, but this?
This wasn’t part of the plan.
I forced my breathing to stay even. Forced my hands to not shake.
Damien’s jaw clenched. His gaze snapped to mine, sharp and assessing. “Is this real?”
I hesitated. Too long.
Rafael didn’t.
He leaned back, completely unfazed. “Do you want to call the courthouse and check?”
Damien’s eyes darkened. He tossed the folder onto the desk.
“You’re a liar,” he said coldly.
Rafael shrugged. “Prove it.”
Damien’s gaze flicked to me. Demanding. Searching.
I had seconds.
If I faltered, if I so much as hesitated, he’d see right through it.
So I did the only thing I could.
I stepped closer to Rafael.
Felt the heat of his body.
Tilted my chin and let a slow, deliberate smile curve my lips.
“Why do you look so surprised, Damien?” I asked. “Did you really think I’d spend the rest of my life alone?”
His nostrils flared. “I think you’d rather slit your own throat than marry a man like him.”
Rafael chuckled. “And yet, here we are.”
Damien’s glare snapped back to him. “What’s your game?”
“No game,” Rafael said smoothly. “Just a legal transaction.”
Something flickered in Damien’s eyes. He wasn’t stupid. He knew Rafael wouldn’t have married me without reason.
And he was right.
I didn’t know the reason either.
I turned to Rafael, keeping my expression unreadable. “I should have been told.”
It wasn’t a question.
His gaze met mine. Calm. Unapologetic.
And for the first time, something shifted in the air between us.
A warning.
Rafael De Luca didn’t make empty threats.
And I had just as much to fear from my so-called husband as I did from my brother.
The Shift in Power
Damien exhaled harshly, raking a hand through his hair.
I watched him carefully.
He wasn’t lashing out. That wasn’t like him.
Which meant he was thinking.
Calculating.
His men were still armed. Outnumbering us.
But Rafael’s men had already infiltrated the building, waiting in the wings.
If Damien made a move, it wouldn’t be clean.
He knew it.
He hated it.
Finally, he spoke.
“You’re making a mistake.”
Rafael tilted his head. “Am I?”
Damien’s eyes narrowed. His gaze flicked to me. “He’s using you.”
I smiled. “That’s what marriage is, isn’t it?”
His jaw tensed. “You don’t know what you’ve done.”
I stepped forward, leaning in just enough for my words to be just for him.
“No, Damien,” I whispered. “You don’t.”
His lips parted—just slightly.
He hadn’t expected this.
Good.
I turned. “We’re done here.”
I felt Rafael move beside me. Felt his fingers brush against the small of my back—a barely-there touch, guiding, possessive.
And for the first time, I didn’t know if it was part of the act.
Or a warning.
Moreau Corporation – Parking Garage
The moment the elevator doors slid shut, I turned to him.
“What the hell was that?”
Rafael exhaled, loosening his tie like this was just another business deal. “Exactly what needed to happen.”
I stepped closer, eyes narrowing. “A marriage, Rafael?”
He didn’t blink. “It was necessary.”
I laughed. Sharp. Disbelieving. “That wasn’t the deal.”
His gaze finally met mine. “The deal changed.”
Silence.
Hot. Suffocating.
I should have been afraid.
Maybe I was.
But more than anything?
I was furious.
I shoved him—hard. “You don’t get to decide that for me.”
His grip caught my wrist before I could move away. Not tight. Not painful. But unyielding.
“I just did.”
My pulse slammed against my ribs.
I wasn’t weak. I had spent three years crawling out of hell, preparing for this fight.
But Rafael De Luca wasn’t my enemy.
Not yet.
And that made him infinitely more dangerous.
His fingers brushed against my wrist before he let go. “Don’t look at me like that, Alessa.”
“Like what?” I shot back.
“Like you don’t know exactly what I am.”
I did.
And that was the problem.
Because Rafael De Luca wasn’t just a man with power.
He was a man who wielded it effortlessly.
And now?
He held power over me.
- Writer
