The Fallout
476 Words
Chapter 10:
The penthouse felt colder without her.
Damien stood at the window for hours after Lena left, barely blinking as the city moved on without him. News anchors debated her past, guests speculated on the scandal, and Blackwell Holdings stock dipped two full points.
It should have been his focus.
But it wasn’t.
Because while the world questioned her worth, all he could think about was how she looked when she said, “It was a lie… until it wasn’t.”
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At the board meeting the next morning, Damien barely spoke. He let his CFO run the numbers, nodded at the PR team's strategy, signed what he had to.
When someone mentioned Lena—“Shall we move forward with canceling the engagement?”—he paused.
Then said, flatly, “No.”
The boardroom fell silent.
“Not yet.”
---
That afternoon, he found himself at Lena’s favorite bookstore. The tiny hole-in-the-wall one she’d dragged him into two weeks ago. She’d said it smelled like hope.
He walked the aisles, aimless.
He didn’t know what he was looking for—until he found it.
A copy of The Secret Garden. She’d told him once it was the first book she ever loved. How it taught her that damaged things could grow again if someone just cared enough.
He bought it. No reason. No plan. Just instinct.
---
Meanwhile, Lena sat in a small motel room in Brooklyn, far from the press, far from the headlines.
She’d left everything behind—except her sister, who was texting every hour.
“Are you okay?”
“Did you tell him the truth?”
“Come home.”
But Lena didn’t know where “home” was anymore.
She didn’t regret telling the truth. But she hated the emptiness that followed.
Hated that she'd fallen for a man who could dismiss her like a business risk.
---
Then there was a knock on the motel door.
She froze.
Heart racing, she opened it—just an inch.
And there he was.
Damien.
Holding a worn paperback.
“You left before I could say anything,” he said.
She didn’t answer. Just stared.
He handed her the book. “You told me once that broken things still have roots. That they can heal.”
She took it slowly, not trusting her voice.
“I’m still angry,” he said. “Still confused. But I never stopped believing you.”
A long pause.
“I don’t want this to end like a lie. Because whatever this is… it’s the first thing in a long time that’s felt real.”
Lena’s eyes shimmered. “So what do we do?”
He took a step closer.
“We stop pretending.”
Then he kissed her.
Not for the cameras.
Not for the press.
But for them.
to be continued...........
- Writer
