CHAPTER FOUR
1450 Words
Daisy’s POV
I stared back at Damien, refusing to cower away. I might have just won a staring contest. And now, in this suffocating silence between us, he studied me like I was a threat.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” I snapped at him, suddenly annoyed, my two small arms folding under my breast.
Damien said nothing, his jaw taut.
“You think I leaked it?” I demanded, voice rising. “Seriously?” I asked, not believing my words.
“You’re the wildcard here,” he said coolly. “Everyone else knows their place. I don’t think you do.”
“Because I’m not part of your circus,” I shot back. “And for the record, I’d be a moron to sabotage the only protection I have.”
Eric stepped between us, glancing nervously at his father. “Okay. Everyone needs to calm down—”
“I am calm,” I cut in sharply, my eyes burning hot. “But I don’t appreciate being accused.”
“You don’t understand how dangerous this situation is, do you?” he said, stepping forward. “This isn’t gossip or whatever petty thing you do,” he said icely.
“I’m trying to figure out whether to protect you… Or cut you loose.” He added.
The room went dead quiet.
Eric flinched. “Dad—”
“No,” I said, squaring my shoulders, suddenly tired of everything. “Let him speak. Let the great Damien Moretti threaten the girl he forced into an engagement to protect his damn name.”
Damien’s gaze darkened. “Watch your mouth, girl.”
I stepped closer, eyes locked on his. I don’t know where I got my courage from. “Or what? You’ll have me disappear like everyone else who crosses you?”
I see his jaw clenched, and his nostrils flare in anger but I was too gone to care anymore.
‘I doubt you even care about Eric. You are just trying to protect your family name, even putting your son’s happiness along the line,’ I said.
Eric moved again to cut between us, his voice strained. “Both of you, stop! We’re being watched, remember? And fighting each other is exactly what they want.”
Damien finally turned his back on us, breathing very hard through his nose.
“I need names,” he muttered. “Who have you spoken to about the engagement? Anyone. Even small talk.”
“No one,” Eric said immediately. “Not since we signed it. Except…” He paused. His face fell.
“Gio,” Damien finished for him, voice blunt steel.
“I didn’t tell him anything concrete,” Eric said, panicking. “He just… knew something was off. He asked if it was real, and I said it was complicated.”
“That’s enough,” Damien said. “He’s not stupid. He will connect the dots.”
“And you think he leaked it?” I asked.
“I think someone did,” Damien replied, walking to the corner of the room where a monitor showed black-and-white security footage. He tapped it, bringing up views of the estate. “And we’re running out of time to find out who.”
A knock interrupted us.
One of Damien’s guards slipped in and whispered something in his ear. Damien’s expression turned grim.
He looked back at us.
“Gio’s missing.”
Eric’s face drained of colour, looking baffled. “No, he was just, he said he’d meet me at the bar after the party—” he said, stumbling on his words.
Panic licked at the edges of my nerves. “You think he outed us?”
“I think he’s working for someone,” Damien said flatly.
Eric stumbled back, dropping into a chair. “Jesus…”
Damien turned to me. “Get changed. You’re not safe here anymore.”
“What? Where am I supposed to go?”
“A private location. Off-grid,” he said. “Only I and one other man know it exists. You’ll stay there until I sort this out.”
“And Eric?” I asked, side-eying him.
“He stays,” Damien replied. “He’s a liability out there. And someone needs to hold the public image together.”
“You mean lie,” I muttered.
“You’re all liars now,” Damien said, already halfway out the door.
****
Twenty minutes later, I was in the back seat of Damien’s car, silence stretching between us.
I’d changed out of the silk gown and into a dark, casual dress, and Damien had someone pack, though I hadn’t asked him to.
I sat stiffly beside him, my eyes focused on the moving blur of forest outside. Now and then, I’d catch his reflection in the tinted glass, brooding, grumpy and unreadable.
“You know,” I said, breaking the silence, “if you’re going to kidnap me, the least you could do is offer coffee.”
“This isn’t a game, and we are not playing here”, he muttered.
“What can I say? You could have fooled me,” I replied. “Let me help you connect the dots. Drag me away from my engagement party, throw wild accusations, and now I’m in the woods with the guy who wanted to ‘cut me loose’ twenty minutes ago.”
Damien sighed, turning his head to look at me. “I didn’t mean that.”
“You did,” I said, matching his gaze. “You meant every word.”
His jaw flexed. “You’re reckless.”
“And you’re controlling.”
“You are growing too wild. You’ll need this energy in the mafia world, not for me.”
“Coming from someone who said I’m weak, talk is cheap”, I bit back, loving my newly found energy.
“I never said you were weak,” he said quietly.
“Then stop treating me like a liability.”
His eyes dropped to my lips. Just for a second. But I saw it.
And I hated how I felt it everywhere.
He looked away sharply, adjusting his cuffs. “We’re almost there.”
The safehouse wasn’t what I expected.
“Stay here,” Damien ordered as he parked the car. “No calls. No questions.”
“Am I allowed to breathe?” I asked sweetly.
He rolled his eyes at me and walked inside, and I followed, stubborn as ever.
It was hours later when a knock sounded on my guest room door.
I opened it to find Damien holding two glasses and a half-full bottle of whiskey.
“False alarm,” he said.
My brows lifted. “Gio?”
“Alive. Drunk. Passed out in some VIP suite. Apparently forgot to charge his phone.”
I laughed in disbelief. “All that panic for nothing?”
“That was quite a scare, but he is lucky I didn’t punch him in the face.”
“Give the guy a break. His boyfriend got engaged to a woman in front of the whole world. You don’t expect him not to be heartbroken,” I added in Gio’s defence.
He came inside my suite and poured me a drink. Earlier today, you said I’m controlling. I think I really am, because I don’t like chaos I didn’t create.”
We sat there in silence for a moment, the tension thick as smoke. I could feel the heat radiating from his body.
“You look good out of a tux,” I said before I could stop myself.
His eyes turned to me slowly, like molten glass. “You look good in a sweat pant.” He said, matching my energy.
I didn’t respond right away. I didn’t even have to.
The air between us had changed, and we both knew it.
“You’ve been watching me,” I said quietly.
“You’ve noticed.”
“Why?”
He didn’t blink. “Because I don’t trust you.”
“But that’s not the only reason,” I said, voice low.
His jaw ticked again. “No. It’s not.”
“You drive me crazy,” he murmured, his voice deep, rough. “You make me want to do things I shouldn’t.”
I swallowed hard. “Like what?”
He leaned closer, close enough that I could taste the whiskey on his breath.
“Like ruin everything I’ve built.”
My breath hitched. “Then don’t.”
His lips were inches from mine.
“Say the word,” he said.
“I hate you,” I whispered.
“I know.”
Then his mouth was on mine.
- Writer
