REVENGE IN HIS BED

Shattered

Scarlett woke slowly too slowly as if her body feared the truth morning light would reveal.

The sheets were soft, the bed too big, and the scent was wrong. Not hers. Not home. Her muscles ached in places she had never felt before.

Last night wasn’t a nightmare.

It was real.

Her heart crashed against her ribs as she pushed herself up. The room was elegant, masculine — dark wood and expensive furniture. She pulled the sheets higher, clutching them like armor.

Then she saw him.

Damon Blackwood stood near the window, shirt undone at the top, cuffs rolled to his forearms, his expression unreadably cold as he watched the world outside.

He didn’t look like a man who had touched her last night.

He looked like a man who could forget her existence in the next breath.

Scarlett swallowed hard. “sir?”

His head turned slightly his gaze sharp and assessing.

“You’re awake,” he said. No warmth. No hint of the man whose hands had explored every inch of her hours ago.

Scarlett’s throat tightened.

“I… I don’t usually… do things like this.”

Damon’s brow lifted the slightest degree. “You asked for it.”

Her cheeks heated with humiliation. “I know. I just...”

He stepped closer, eyes narrowing not cruel, but clinical.

“You regret it.”

Scarlett’s lips parted… but the word caught.

Did she?

Yes.

No.

Everything hurt too much to answer.

Damon waited only three seconds before turning away, picking up his watch from the nightstand.

“You wanted to forget a man,” he said flatly. “Not a very strategic method.”

Scarlett’s fingers clenched the sheets, defensive. “I didn’t plan any of this.”

“Obviously,” he replied.

Silence stretched, heavy, suffocating.

Damon finally looked at her again.

“What do you want, Scarlett?”

She blinked. “What?”

“From me.” His gaze remained detached. “You lost your virginity. People like you usually expect compensation.”

The word hit like a slap.

Scarlett’s breath stuttered.

“I don’t want… anything like that.”

I'm not a prostitute....I just...

He waited. Still cold. Still analyzing.

She inhaled shakily. “But… I do want my job back.”

A pause.

As if he weighed her soul without emotion.

“Fine,” Damon said. “Monday morning. You’ll report directly to me.”

Her relief came like air she hadn’t realized she was dying without.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“This isn’t gratitude,” he corrected. “It’s employment.”

She nodded, humiliated by how much she cared about his opinion.

When she tried to stand, her legs trembled violently and a wince tore from her throat the pain between her thighs sharp and raw. Damon watched, expression unreadable… though something flickered restraint? Satisfaction? She couldn’t tell.

She showered quickly, avoiding her reflection. When she returned, dressed in the clothes from last night, Damon was already immaculate — tie straight, jaw set, power radiating off him like heat.

“I’ll take you home,” he said.

No softness. Just efficiency.

She followed.

---

★ ★ ★

The drive was silent — every second stretching her nerves thinner.

Damon pulled up outside her apartment.

He didn’t offer a goodbye.

Just, “Don’t be late.”

She opened the door and stepped out legs still shaky, heart bruised and terrified.

and in a flash

The car had fully driven away.

she retired to her apartment and when the memories of the previous day crept in she started crying

BAM BAM BAM

Someone pounded on her apartment door.

Her entire body froze.

it was Daniel, she shivered as she opened the door

Daniel shoved his way inside the moment Scarlett cracked the door open. His eyes flicked over her face puffy from crying but he didn’t look concerned. Just annoyed.

“Scarlett, can you not be dramatic for one second?” he sighed. “I said I’m sorry.”

She crossed her arms tightly. “Sorry isn’t enough. You cheated.”

He scoffed like she was the one who’d hurt him. “I messed up, okay? But what did you expect? You kept freezing up every time I tried to touch you!”

Scarlett stared at him in disbelief. “I told you I wasn’t ready yet!”

“And that’s the problem!” he snapped. “You think a relationship can work without s*x?”

Her throat tightened. “If you actually cared about me, you would’ve waited.”

Daniel leaned in, voice dripping with spite. “You’re unbelievable. You never think about what I need. You don’t feel remorseful at all, do you?”

Scarlett blinked, stunned. He was the one who cheated and now he was attacking her for it?

“I don’t think you came here to apologize,” she whispered, anger burning through her pain. “You just want to make yourself feel better.”

He opened his mouth then froze.

His gaze dropped… to her neck.

Scarlett instinctively reached up — too late. Damon’s mark, dark and undeniable, peeked out from beneath her collar.

Daniel stared then he laughed.

Long, loud, cruel laughter that echoed through her tiny apartment like a slap.

“Oh wow,” he snickered, wiping a fake tear from his eye. “Little Miss Innocent finally spread her legs. And not for me.”

Her stomach twisted violently.

He stepped even closer, voice a poisonous whisper.

“So the virgin act is over now. Guess you’re not that special anymore.”

Scarlett felt her breath leave her body.

“Did you really think I was with you for your personality?” he mocked, lips curling. “You were a challenge. The perfect bet.”

Her heart stopped.

“A bet?” she choked out.

“Yeah.” His grin widened wickedly. “Back in college, every guy wanted to be the one to break you in. I just won the right to try first.”

Scarlett’s vision blurred — her soul crumbling under the weight of betrayal.

“But look at you now,” he continued, circling her like a predator. “No job. No degree worth anything. And the only thing you had going for you your pretty little virginity gone. Defiled by some random guy in one night?”

Her knees trembled.

Daniel tilted his head mockingly, voice full of fake sympathy.

“You know…” he mused aloud, “I could still help you. Recommend a job that fits your new lifestyle.”

He leaned in, eyes dead.

“You’d make a great p********e. You’re already halfway there.”

Scarlett’s slap cracked through the air instant, fueled by heartbreak and fury.

Daniel retaliated by dragging her hands down and pushing her away causing her to hit her shoulders on the fridge standing few inches away from her

Daniel’s head snapped to the side.

Silence. Thick and suffocating.

Her voice shook as she pointed at the door.

“Get. Out.”

He stared at her then smirked, rubbing his jaw.

“Good luck, Scarlett.”

His gaze flicked to the hickey again, bitter triumph in his smirk.

“You’re going to need it.”

The door slammed behind him, leaving her alone in a silence louder than his cruelty.

She collapsed, sobbing mourning not just the night…

But the girl she was yesterday.

She cried not quietly but the kind of sobs that tore something open inside.

The last piece of the girl she used to be…

died on that floor.

And what remained was raw, furious potential.