Chapter 9: Face to Face
815 Words
Aria pressed her back against the door, breathing hard.
She could hear everything through the thin wood.
“Damien.”
Her blood ran cold at the sound of that voice. Cold, precise, and devoid of anything resembling a father’s warmth. Richard Voss.
Damien’s voice was ice in return.
“I told you not to come here.”
“I own this building,” Richard replied smoothly. “I can come and go as I please. Unlike you, apparently. Getting married in secret. To a nobody.”
Aria’s jaw clenched.
“Watch your mouth,” Damien said slowly. “About my wife.”
A beat of silence. Then Richard laughed. A dry, humorless sound.
“Wife. How quaint. You really think a piece of paper will stop me, boy?”
“I think it’ll stop the merger,” Damien said. “And once the merger fails, you lose control of Voss Corp. Permanently.”
Richard scoffed.
“You’re bluffing. The board won’t let you rush it through. Not without my vote.”
“They will if I tell them why you’re threatening my wife’s mother,” Damien said flatly.
Aria’s heart stopped.
Damien had told him.
Another silence. This one is heavier.
“You wouldn’t dare,” Richard said, voice dangerously quiet now.
“Try me,” Damien replied.
Footsteps. Heavy, deliberate.
“You’ve always been weak, Damien. Letting emotions cloud your judgment. That girl was a mistake three years ago. She’s a mistake now.”
Aria flinched.
“Don’t you dare talk about her like that,” Damien snapped. His voice was no longer calm. It was furious. Protective. “She’s smarter, braver, and better than you’ll ever be.”
Richard chuckled.
“Is that why she’s hiding behind your door right now? Afraid to face me?”
Aria’s eyes widened.
Damien didn’t deny it.
“She’s safer there. Away from you.”
“I’m her father-in-law,” Richard said. “I deserve some respect.”
“You forfeited that the moment you sent that message,” Damien said. “You threaten her mother again, and I’ll make sure you die in prison, not in your penthouse suite.”
The threat hung in the air, thick and lethal.
Aria could hear Richard’s sharp inhale.
“You’re threatening me?”
“I’m warning you,” Damien corrected. “Leave the city. Leave the country. Leave my wife and her family alone. Or I will end you.”
Aria’s hand trembled on the doorknob. She wanted to step out. To see his face when he said it. To know if he meant it.
“Bold words,” Richard said finally. “But you’ll regret this, Damien. When the board turns on you. When the media destroys her reputation. When you realize she’ll leave you again.”
“She already left once,” Damien said quietly. “I won’t let her go a second time.”
Another pause. Then the sound of a cane tapping against marble. Richard’s footsteps moving toward the door.
Aria stepped back, heart hammering.
The door opened a crack.
Richard stood there, eyes cold as ice, looking straight at her.
“So this is the girl,” he said, studying her like she was an insect under glass. “Pathetic.”
Aria lifted her chin.
“Leave my mother alone.”
Richard smiled. It didn’t reach his eyes.
“Make me.”
He turned and walked away, cane clicking against the floor, security falling into step behind him.
The door clicked shut.
Aria exhaled shakily, her knees nearly giving out.
Damien was there in an instant, catching her before she fell.
“Don’t listen to him,” he said, voice low against her hair. “None of it’s true.”
Aria nodded, but her hands were still shaking.
“He knows where she is. Damien, he knows.”
Damien pulled back, cupping her face in his hands.
“He won’t touch her. I swear it. I’ll move her tonight. Private facility. 24/7 security. He’ll never get near her again.”
Aria looked up at him, eyes wet.
“What if he comes after you?”
Damien’s lips were quivering, faint and humorless.
“Let him try.”
He brushed his thumb over her cheek, wiping away a tear she hadn’t realized had fallen.
“Go back to bed, Aria. I’ll handle this.”
Aria hesitated, then nodded.
As she turned to leave, Richard’s last words echoed in her head.
When you realize she’ll leave you again.
She paused in the doorway and looked back at Damien.
“Damien… did you ever think I left because I wanted to?”
Damien’s expression hardened.
“No. And I never will.”
Aria closed the door behind her, leaving him standing alone in the hallway.
Downstairs, Richard’s car pulled away from the building.
And in the back seat, he made one call.
“Do it. Tonight.”
- Writer
