The Offer
948 Words
Aria sat in the passenger seat, her hands knotted in her lap. The city blurred past the windows, but she barely saw it. Her mind kept circling the same impossible sequence of events. Hours ago she’d been worrying about rent after losing her job. Now she’d survived a kidnapping attempt, watched Damien take a bullet for her, and learned that strangers had been searching for her long before she knew they existed.
None of it fit together.
She glanced at him. Damien drove with the same steady focus he brought to everything. The blood on his sleeve had dried, but he showed no sign of pain.
“You should see a doctor,” she said quietly.
He spared her a glance. “It’s stopped bleeding.”
“That doesn’t mean it’s fine.”
“I’ve handled worse.”
“You say that like getting shot is routine.”
A faint smile touched his mouth. “It’s not.”
She watched him, realizing how little she actually knew. The press called him a cold, ruthless billionaire who’d built Blackwood International into an empire. The man beside her had defended her in a ballroom, pulled her out of a kidnapping, and was now making sure she wasn’t alone.
It didn’t match.
“Can I ask you something?” she said.
“You already are.”
She smiled in spite of herself. “Why did you look into my dismissal?”
He was quiet for a second. “Because the timing didn’t make sense.”
“So you had someone check?”
“I did.”
Aria looked out the window, trying to make sense of it. “Most CEOs don’t investigate former employees after hours.”
“No,” he said. “Most don’t.”
The honesty in his voice disarmed her.
She took a breath. “Do you always help strangers?”
He considered it. “No.”
“Then why me?”
His grip tightened on the wheel.
Because you’re mine.
The thought rose uninvited. He couldn’t say it. She was already overloaded. Telling her that a bond she didn’t understand had locked their lives together would only push her further away.
So he told her the truth he could give. “Because I couldn’t walk away.”
It was simple. But Aria could tell there was more he wasn’t saying. She’d spent years reading people in meetings. Damien was holding something back.
Before she could press, the car slowed in front of an elegant building on the river.
She frowned. “This isn’t a hospital.”
“No.”
“It’s a restaurant.”
“I know.”
She stared at him. “You haven’t eaten since morning.”
He had remembered.
The thought hit her harder than she expected.
Inside, the room was warm and quiet. Piano music drifted through the dining room. The manager greeted Damien by name and led them to a private room with a view of the water.
A waiter appeared with menus.
Aria glanced at the prices and nearly set the menu down. One dish cost more than her weekly groceries.
Damien noticed. “Order what you want.”
“I can’t afford this.”
“You’re not paying.”
“I can’t let you.”
“Why not?”
“You’ve already done too much.”
“I invited you,” he said simply.
“That doesn’t mean you should pay.”
A quiet laugh escaped him. “You argue with everything.”
“Only when I’m right.”
He actually smiled. Brief. Real.
Aria blinked. “I’ve seen your interviews.”
“And?”
“They say you never smile.”
“They exaggerate.”
“I don’t think they do.”
The waiter returned for their order. When he left, Damien’s expression shifted.
“We need to talk.”
Aria’s smile faded. “About tonight?”
“Yes.”
She straightened. “What did the police say?”
“They’re investigating.”
“But you don’t think they’ll find them.”
“No.”
The certainty unsettled her.
“Those men didn’t want money,” she said. “They didn’t steal anything.”
“They came for you.”
“But why?”
“I don’t know yet.”
She looked down. “I’ve never been in danger before. I don’t owe anyone. I don’t have enemies.”
Damien stayed quiet a moment, then asked, “Tell me about your parents.”
The question threw her. “My parents?”
“Yes.”
“They died in a car accident when I was fifteen.”
“Any siblings?”
“No. My grandmother raised me.”
“What do you know about your family before them?”
“Not much.” She frowned. “My grandmother never talked about them.”
“Why not?”
“She said the past only brought pain.”
The words hung between them.
Damien had the same feeling again: whatever answers they needed were buried in Aria’s past.
His phone vibrated.
*Lucas.*
He answered at once. “What is it?”
Lucas skipped greetings. “I’ve ID’d one of the men.”
Damien’s eyes narrowed. “Who?”
“Not a kidnapper. A former mercenary.”
“What else?”
“The person who paid him.”
Damien waited.
“The account is tied to…” Lucas paused. “…Blackwood International.”
Damien went still.
Across the table, Aria felt the shift in him immediately. “What happened?”
He lowered the phone slowly, his mind moving fast.
If Lucas was right, someone inside Blackwood had ordered her kidnapping.
Which meant the threat wasn’t outside his company.
It was already inside it.
- Writer
