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### **1. The Ice Cracks**
Damian wasn't home the next morning.
Amara stood at the balcony, staring down at the mansion's empty driveway, the steam from her untouched tea swirling like ghosts. She hated how silence now reminded her of *him*—how absence screamed louder than presence.
She reached for her phone, but stopped herself.
Let him come to her. Let him explain… everything.
Still, the thoughts wouldn't leave.
> *You were chosen. Not loved.*
> *You were a solution. Not a person.*
She swallowed hard and walked away from the window, but the mansion was too quiet. Too cold.
And her heart, despite all her logic, was starting to feel like it had been lit on fire… then abandoned in the snow.
---
### **2. A Slap at the Summit**
Damian was at a legal summit in Abuja—expected to deliver a keynote that would broadcast across national TV. The stage was glittering with Nigeria's most powerful lawyers and corporate figures. Cameras flashed. Drinks sparkled.
But something was wrong.
Halfway through his speech, his teleprompter glitched.
Then the screen behind him flickered.
A photo appeared.
Not of him. Not of the summit.
Of *Amara*. Standing outside a government building… handing over what looked like classified documents to a man in a black suit.
The crowd gasped.
Someone screamed:
> "Your wife is a mole?!"
Pandemonium erupted.
Damian froze.
The image disappeared as quickly as it came, but the damage was done. Whispers hissed through the crowd like wildfire.
He left the podium without a word.
Not even his mother could stop him.
---
### **3. Blood on the Glass**
Amara opened the door to find Damian standing in the foyer, rain-soaked and fuming.
He looked like a god struck by betrayal.
> "What the hell did you do?"
She blinked. "What are you talking about?"
He threw a tablet at her feet. The image was still on the screen.
> "That man you were with—he's my father's enemy. He's the one trying to destroy the company. You gave him something."
> "I gave him nothing!"
> "Then explain this!"
> "That's a *doctored* video! You think I'd betray you like that?"
> "I don't know what to think anymore."
Silence.
Her voice broke.
> "I thought we were starting to trust each other."
His jaw clenched.
> "I don't trust *anyone*, Amara. Not even myself."
> "Then I pity you."
She turned to leave, but he slammed his hand against the wall beside her, stopping her in place.
> "Tell me the truth."
> "You want truth?"
She stepped forward—close enough to feel his heartbeat through the storm.
> "Here's the truth: I'm tired of proving I'm not the enemy. I'm tired of being your shield and your shadow. I'm tired of pretending this doesn't hurt."
He looked like she'd slapped him.
> "I didn't mean to—"
> "No. You didn't mean to fall for me either. But you did."
And with that, she walked away.
Leaving him drowning in the silence he built.
---
### **4. The Break**
That night, Amara packed a small bag.
Not to leave permanently—but to breathe.
Before she zipped it, a hand stopped her.
Damian.
> "You're leaving."
> "I'm surviving."
> "I didn't ask you to survive. I asked you to stay."
> "You asked me to *act*, Damian. Not to feel."
He exhaled. Long. Shaky.
Then did something she'd never seen him do.
He sat on the floor. Just sat there. Vulnerable. Unmasked.
> "I don't know how to do this," he whispered. "I don't know how to… not ruin people."
She stared at him.
> "Then maybe it's time you learned."
She left the bag behind.
---
### **5. The Call**
The next morning, Damian received a call from his PI.
> "Sir… we've traced the fake footage. It wasn't Amara."
> "Who was it?"
> "Your mother's private security system was breached. And there's more—Amara's mother… may have testified against Dominic Stone years ago. Secretly. Before she disappeared."
> "Why would my father hide that?"
> "Because he might not have been the man you thought."
The call ended.
And Damian, for the first time in his life, felt the sharp sting of *shame*.
Not because he was lied to.
But because he believed a lie *over her*.
---
### **6. The Flame Returns**
He found her in the guest wing's library.
Reading. As if her heart hadn't just been stepped on.
> "Amara."
She didn't look up.
> "I was wrong."
Still no response.
> "About the video. About you."
She closed the book.
> "I know."
He sat beside her.
> "I've spent my life building walls, and I thought they'd keep me safe."
> "They kept everyone else out too."
> "But you walked through anyway."
He touched her hand.
She didn't pull away.
> "You scare me," he said.
> "Why?"
> "Because you're not here for my money or my name. You're here… and I don't know why. But I want you to stay."
She looked at him, really looked.
And said the one thing he wasn't ready for:
> "Then *earn* me."
---