chapter 8
1057 Words
“No!”
The word tore from Lana’s throat before she even realised she’d spoken. She shook her head hard, eyes wide in disbelief. No, she didn't hear right; he was joking.
No. She couldn’t live here. Not with him. Not with a monster.
Her life would be over if she stayed. She’d have to see Damon’s face every single day, feel his presence haunting her every step. Her life had already been hard enough, he was the last person she needed to make it worse.
Damon stood, pushing his chair back. His movements were calm, careless, as though her refusal meant nothing. He was ready to leave the dining room. He didn’t want to see her any longer. The look on her face made him want to scoff, and at the same time, there was a pang. A pang of guilt.
John, however, lingered by the table. Concern lined his features as he glanced at Lana, tears already clouding her vision. He wanted to reassure her, to promise he’d make her time here bearable. But he knew better. Any word of comfort would only enrage Damon further. So he stood still, silent, helpless. He wanted to intervene and tell Damon to change his mind, but he was just a butler and changing Damon’s mind would require more than words.
Damon’s voice cut through the tense air, flat and emotionless. “You don’t have a choice. And neither do I.”
He turned to leave, but Lana jolted to her feet, her chair scraping back.
Her palm slammed against the table, the sharp sound cracking through the silence. Everyone froze.
Her breath shuddered as she turned her glare on him. If stares could kill, Damon would have dropped dead on the spot. For a split second, surprise flickered across his face but then it vanished, replaced by his usual hard mask.
He glared back at her, hoping to see her shrink away, cower like before. But Lana didn’t. She was trembling inside, but her anger burned hotter.
She shoved her chair back with her leg, took another shaky breath, and marched toward him.
Damon stood rooted to the spot, his icy eyes locked on her. The fire in hers made him swallow once, and almost step back. Almost. But he forced the reaction down, slipping his hands into his pockets to look unaffected as she came to stand right in front of him.
“No. I won’t.”
Her voice was firm, ringing across the wide dining room. Her body betrayed her, her hands trembling at her sides, but she refused to let her fear show. Not this time.
“I won’t stay here,” she repeated, her gaze unwavering.
Silence pressed down on the room. Damon’s face was stone, but the displeasure in his eyes was clear.
The tension in the room was like a sharp knife, which made John swallow as he watched. he saw how taken aback Damon was, before he acted unaffected again.
“You can stay here willingly,” he said coldly, “or forcefully. I’m sure you don’t want to make things harder for yourself.”
Lana gave a harsh, disbelieving laugh. She shook her head, her fingers dragging through her hair until she tugged on it in frustration.
“Harder? You kidnapped me, Mr Carson. You tried to kill me. And now you’re forcing me to stay here?” Her raised voice echoed through the hall, sharp enough to make John flinch. He nearly stepped forward, but Damon lifted his hand slightly, stopping him without looking away from Lana.
“I don’t care who you are, and I don’t want to f***ing know!” Her voice cracked with anger, raw and wild. “All I want is to leave. I told you already, I don’t know what my father did before he died! Why should I pay for his crimes? Why should I suffer for something I had no part in? I’m the victim here!”
Her chest heaved with every word, fury threatening to spill into tears.
Damon’s jaw tightened. His reply was quiet, but each syllable hit like steel. “Who else would pay for his crimes, if not you?”
Her nails dug into her palms as her anger flared. Didn’t he hear her? Or did he just not care?
“I don’t know!” Her voice broke. “But not me. It’s not me. I wasn’t even there! And I've been paying for everything he caused for so long. I don’t want to anymore...”
Her words faltered. Memories pressed down like a weight, every moment of her life spent paying for sins she hadn’t committed. Years of suffocating guilt, shame, and punishment she had never deserved.
She had spent so long believing she had to bear it. That she couldn’t escape it. That no matter what she did, she would never be free. Every time she reached for happiness, it slipped through her fingers, crushed beneath the world’s relentless cruelty.
But this, this was worse.
Now she was trapped, locked in with a man who didn’t care if she broke, didn’t care if he destroyed her completely. A monster.
Lana’s throat tightened. She blinked hard, forcing back the tears threatening to spill. She turned away from him so he wouldn’t see the weakness in her eyes.
“Can’t you just let me go?” she whispered. The words trembled with defeat, though she hated herself for it.
Damon’s hand curled into a fist at his side. Guilt pricked at him again, sharp and merciless. For a second, it almost broke through.
But then he remembered. He remembered the pain, the betrayal, the shadows that had shaped him. And he shoved the guilt back into the darkness where it belonged.
“No.”
The word was low, final.
If he let her go, it would all be over. He’d have nothing left to hold onto, no resentment, no reason to keep breathing. He couldn’t let that happen.
He took one step closer. Lana stayed rigid, refusing to turn toward him, afraid her tears would betray her strength.
For a long, heavy moment, he just stared at her.
Then, without another word, Damon turned and walked away. His footsteps faded, leaving Lana standing there, broken and dejected, her body shaking as silence filled the room once again.
- Writer
