CHAPTER 8 — The Darkness Beneath
318 Words
Ava learned quickly that Damien Vale had enemies.
She noticed the changes.
The extra security.
The unfamiliar cars outside the school.
The way some people looked at him with fear instead of respect.
She also noticed something else.
He protected the students.
He remembered their names.
He knew which child was struggling before anyone else did.
It didn’t make sense.
A dangerous man should have looked dangerous.
But Damien’s darkness came with contradictions.
And Ava hated contradictions.
One evening, she found him alone in his office.
The lights were low.
A folder sat open on his desk.
She wasn’t trying to look.
But she saw her name.
Ava Hart.
Her heart stopped.
“What is that?”
Damien looked up.
For the first time, he looked caught.
Not guilty.
Caught.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“That’s not an answer.”
He closed the folder.
“Ava.”
“No.”
She stepped forward.
“You don’t get to know everything about me while hiding everything about yourself.”
His expression hardened.
A warning.
The old Ava would have stepped back.
The new Ava didn’t.
“What did you find?”
Silence.
Then:
“Your past.”
Her stomach dropped.
“That’s not your business.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
His jaw tightened.
“Because someone from your past has been looking for you.”
The anger disappeared.
Replaced by something colder.
Fear.
Not for himself.
For her.
Ava noticed.
And she hated that it affected her.
“You’re scared.”
His eyes met hers.
“No.”
A pause.
“I’m angry.”
“Why?”
His answer came quietly.
“Because someone hurt you and thought they could get away with it.”
Ava had spent years burying those memories.
And now this man—this stranger—was standing in front of her like her pain was a personal insult.
- Writer
