HIS BROKEN SAINT

CHAPTER 15:POSSESSION Month 6, halfway

The door clicked open.

Elias didn’t jump. Didn’t freeze. Didn’t duck his head.

Three months ago he would’ve flinched. Six months ago he would’ve bolted.

Today he just looked up from the couch where he was reading. Same book Dad used to read him.

Damien paused in the doorway. Suit jacket in his hand. Tie loosened. Eyes scanning Elias like he always did when he came home.

No flinch.

Elias held his gaze. Then set the book down and stood.

“Late,” he said. Quiet. But not scared.

Damien’s whole body shifted. Like someone knocked the air out of him. “You didn’t flinch,” he said. Voice low.

Elias shrugged. “Should I?”

Damien crossed the room in 3 steps. Stopped right in front of him. Close. Hands at his sides. Not touching. Testing.

Elias didn’t move back. Didn’t look away.

Damien exhaled. Sounded like relief. Like 6 months of holding his breath.

He reached up. Slow. Gave Elias time to move.

Elias didn’t.

Damien’s thumb brushed Elias’s jaw. Then his cheekbone. Then he leaned in and pressed his mouth to Elias’s temple. Not a kiss. A mark.

Warm. Lingering. Possessive without hurting.

When he pulled back, his forehead rested against Elias’s. “Rule 8,” he whispered. “What’s mine stays mine. You stopped flinching. That means you believe it now.”

Elias closed his eyes. “I believe it,” he admitted. Voice barely there. “You’re mine too.”

Damien went still. Then his arm came around Elias’s back. Full. No hesitation. Pulled him in until there was no space between them.

“You’re halfway there,” Damien said against his hair. “Halfway to trusting me. Halfway to home.”

Elias wrapped his arms around Damien’s waist. Buried his face in his shirt. Breathed him in. Diesel and cologne and something that was just Damien.

“I don’t flinch anymore,” he mumbled into the fabric. “Because you never hurt me. Even when I thought you would.”

Damien’s hand moved to the back of his neck. Fingers in his hair. Holding him like he was precious. Like he was fragile and strong all at once.

“Never will,” Damien promised. Mouth at his ear. “Not with pain. Only with this.”

He pulled back just enough to look at Elias. Then he took Elias’s hand and pressed it flat over his own chest. Right over his heart.

“Feel that?” Damien asked. “It only beats steady when you’re here. That’s my promise. That’s my mark on you. No bruises. No scars. Just me. Choosing you. Every day.”

Elias’s fingers curled into Damien’s shirt. He could feel it. Steady. Real.

Six months. From debt to this. From flinching to leaning in.

Damien kissed his forehead. Then his nose. Then just rested there, breathing the same air.

Outside, the city kept moving. Inside, Elias finally stopped waiting for the door to mean danger.

It meant home was back.

_He stops flinching. Damien marks him with a promise. Halfway there._