Chapter 6 :Smoke and Mirrors
1141 Words
FORBIDDEN DESIRES
Chapter 6: Smoke and Mirrors
Ellen’s POV
The darkness pressed in like a living thing.
My breath caught, shallow and fast. Somewhere in the shadows, something shifted footsteps, the soft scrape of a boot, then silence. The warehouse felt too big, too empty. And yet… watched.
I reached for my phone’s flashlight, fingers trembling. It slipped from my hand and clattered across the concrete floor.
“Damien?” I whispered.
No answer.
Only the echo of my voice bouncing off steel beams and broken glass.
Then light. A harsh flicker snapped on overhead. Not mine.
A single bulb swayed above, casting a cone of pale light across the center of the room.
Damien was gone.
Only his jacket remained, draped over a rusted chair. Still warm.
A gust of air shifted behind me. I spun, heart hammering, ready to run until Rio stepped from the shadows like a phantom, gun pointing down .
“Where is he?” I demanded, my voice sharper than I meant.
“Gone,” Rio said tightly. “Taken. Or he’s trying to draw someone out.”
“Taken?” My chest tightened. “By who?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he handed me a phone.
Not mine. Damien’s.
Unlocked.
The screen glowed with an open thread encrypted messages, half-deleted logs… and my name.
Over and over.
My knees went weak.
Photos. Voice clips. Surveillance transcripts. Even a picture of me the first day I walked into Blackwood Tower… smiling. Naive.
“He’s been watching me,” I said hollowly.
Rio didn’t flinch. “Since day one.”
I scrolled faster, heat rising in my chest. Every room. Every late night. Every time I thought I was slipping past his defenses… he had already broken through mine.
“Why?” I choked. “Why would he pretend?”
“Because Damien doesn’t pretend,” Rio cut in, tone clipped. “Not about the things that matter.”
A silence settled between us one that made my skin itch.
“I need to find him,” I whispered, gripping the phone. “Before it’s too late.”
Rio hesitated. “You should know something else before you do.”
Before he could explain, the warehouse door slammed shut.
From the outside.
The bulb above us sputtered and popped, plunging the room into inky blackness once again.
A hum rose the slow mechanical whir of a projector.
A white sheet dropped from the ceiling like a ghost, and a grainy video flickered on screen.
My heart stopped.
My father.
Younger. Alive. Standing across from Damien in a boardroom I didn’t recognize. They were arguing my father’s voice tight with anger, Damien’s face unreadable.
“You made your move, Sinclair,” Damien said, cold. “But don’t think this ends with you walking away clean.”
Another jump cut.
“You knew what Ava was capable of. You let her in.”
My father’s voice trembled. “I had no choice.”
And then closer. Damien facing the camera directly, like he was speaking to me.
The screen blinked out.
The silence that followed felt suffocating.
Rio stared at me. “Your father and Damien… they weren’t enemies. They were partners. Trying to stop her.”
I staggered back, dizzy. My whole world, my mission it all twisted beneath me like a house of cards collapsing in slow motion.
Everything I thought I knew was a lie.
And Damien… he wasn’t the villain.
He was the only one who saw the storm coming.
A sudden buzz in my pocket snapped me back. A message lit up my screen.
UNKNOWN: He’s bleeding. Clock’s ticking, sweetheart.
My blood turned to ice.
I met Rio’s eyes. “We find him. Now.”
“We’ll need help.”
I nodded. “Call Hayley. I need someone I can trust.”
But inside, I was already thinking about something else.
I didn’t care who I had to cross.
I was going to find Damien Blackwood.
Even if it meant setting the whole damn city on fire.
Two Hours Later
Location: Abandoned Rooftop Safehouse
The storm broke overhead just as we reached the rooftop. Rain lashed the concrete, and the wind howled like something wild. I shoved open the rusted door and stepped inside, boots sloshing with water.
“Damien!” I called.
Rio walked behind me
No answer.
Then a cough. Weak. Wet.
I turned the corner and found him slumped against the far wall, blood soaking through his white shirt. One arm clutched his side, but his eyes met mine.
Bleary. Fierce.
“You came,” he rasped.
I dropped to my knees beside him. “You’re hurt.”
He managed a half-smile. “You should see the other guy.”
“Damien,” I breathed, pressing my hands to the wound. “You lied to me.”
“I did,” he whispered. “But only to protect you.”
His hand brushed mine weak, trembling. But warm.
“Why didn’t you tell me about my father?”
“Because he asked me not to.”
A pause. Rain pounding on the roof above us.
“He knew Ava would come for you,” Damien continued, voice rough. “He made me promise to keep you away. But I couldn’t stay away.”
Neither could I.
I stared into his eyes, and suddenly, all the anger, the betrayal, the questions melted into one crushing truth:
I didn’t want revenge anymore.
I wanted him.
Slowly, I leaned in. Damien’s breath caught as my fingers grazed his jaw, damp with rain and blood and heat.
“I hate that I feel this,” I murmured. “But I do.”
He cupped the back of my neck, pulling me down until our foreheads touched.
“I’ve been dying every day I couldn’t touch you,” he said. “I didn’t care about the illness. I only cared about losing you.”
The kiss was slow. Ache and fire and confession. His lips tasted like desperation and something I’d been denying for far too long.
For a moment, the world stopped.
No lies. No games.
Just him. And me.
When we pulled apart, breathless, Damien smiled faintly.
“You’re in deep now, Sinclair.”
“So are you,” I whispered.
Suddenly
I felt a gun to the back of my head
It was Rio
He guided me up slowly
I turned to face him
“You!”
“Hand over the ledger”
“Now “
“Or else you both die “
I handed over the ledger sluggishly
He moved behind slowly towards the door
“Till we meet again “
He said
Then I heard his footsteps disappear in the distance
And somewhere far below, in the city Ava thought she controlled
I knew the real war had just begun.
- Writer
