CHAPTER THREE: THE OFFICE STORM
The elevator dropped in tense silence, carrying both Aria and Damien downward—but the air between them felt like it was rising, swelling with all the words neither of them had spoken in three long years.
The silver walls reflected their figures back at them:
Damien, rigid and unreadable.
Aria, trembling but trying to stand tall.
Her fingers clenched around her phone—Eli's message echoing in her mind like a heartbeat.
Damien's voice broke the silence first.
"Why did you leave?"
The question was calm. Too calm. A calm that hid a thousand storms.
Aria closed her eyes for a brief second. "Please don't ask me this."
"I've asked myself every day."
His tone hardened.
"Every. Single. Day."
Aria's breath hitched. She stared at the glowing elevator numbers, wishing she could climb into them and escape.
"You wouldn't understand," she whispered.
"Then make me."
Damien stepped closer, his reflection closing in behind her.
"Because the Aria I knew wouldn't disappear without a word."
Her throat tightened painfully. "People change."
"No," he murmured. "Circumstances change people. Something happened."
Her fingers twitched.
Her heart thudded painfully.
He is too close. Too sharp. Too perceptive.
He tilted his head, eyes locked on her face.
"You look like someone who's afraid of her own shadow."
Aria's voice cracked.
"You don't get to analyze me anymore."
His jaw set like stone.
"I do, actually," he said. "You left without letting me say a single word. You took the right to explanations away from me. You ran from the truth before you even asked for it."
Aria's chest constricted. "You're wrong."
"Then tell me why."
His voice dropped, low and lethal.
"Tell me what tore you away from me."
She shook her head. "I can't."
"You can."
Damien stepped so close she could feel the warmth radiating from him.
"You just won't."
Her eyes burned with tears she refused to let fall.
The elevator chimed—Lobby—like a mercy she didn't deserve.
She lunged toward the doors the moment they opened, but Damien's hand shot past her, pressing against the metal frame. He blocked her exit without touching her—yet she felt the heat of him everywhere, like a second skin.
"Aria," he said, voice deepening, "don't walk away."
"I have to," she whispered. "My son—"
Her heart dropped.
Her tongue froze.
She hadn't meant to say that.
Damien's expression changed instantly.
It wasn't shock.
It wasn't anger.
It was something sharper.
"You have a son?" he asked quietly.
Her breath stuttered.
She didn't answer.
"Aria."
His voice was soft. Too soft.
"Look at me."
She didn't.
Her silence spoke louder than any confession.
Damien's eyes darkened, layers of emotion flickering through them—hurt, realization, suspicion, something terrifyingly close to pain.
"How old is he?" Damien asked, voice steady but strained.
Aria's chest caved inward. "This is not your business."
"It is," he said immediately. "Everything about you is my business."
Her heart beat so hard it hurt.
The hallway spun at the edges.
"Move," she whispered.
Damien didn't.
"Move," she repeated, firmer.
His jaw flexed—but he stepped back.
Aria rushed out of the elevator, breath shaking.
But Damien followed, his footsteps silent and controlled behind her.
"Is that why you left?" he demanded.
"Was it because of him?"
Aria nearly stumbled. She turned sharply, her voice trembling. "Stop. Please, Damien. Just stop."
But Damien didn't stop.
He stepped closer until her back hit one of the lobby's marble pillars.
"Is he the reason you ran?"
His voice cracked, barely audible.
"Is there a man? A family? A marriage?"
Aria blinked, shocked. "What?"
"Just tell me the damn truth!" Damien's composed tone finally broke. "You disappeared like I meant nothing to you. Tell me if someone replaced me—tell me if I was a fool mourning someone who never loved me—"
"There is no man!" Aria burst, tears slipping free despite her fight. "There was never anyone else!"
Damien froze.
The lobby noise faded—the guests, the staff, the elevators. For a moment, the world was just the two of them, caught between fury and heartbreak.
His voice dropped to a whisper.
"Then why did you leave me?"
Aria opened her mouth—
—but her phone buzzed again.
Eli's teacher.
Her heart lurched painfully.
"I have to go," she choked out. "Please move."
Damien's gaze flicked to the phone in her trembling hand.
Something hardened in his eyes.
"I'm not done," he said. "We will continue this."
"No," Aria breathed, stepping past him. "We won't."
She hurried across the lobby, gripping her bag, ignoring the way her vision blurred.
Every step away from him felt like a wound reopening.
She reached the revolving doors—
"Aria."
Damien's voice—sharp, commanding—echoed across the lobby.
Her heart clenched.
She didn't turn around.
If she did, she would break.
She pushed through the doors and stepped into the crisp city air, her knees finally giving way as she collapsed onto the sidewalk bench.
Her breaths came fast and uneven.
She had almost said too much.
Damien had almost discovered the truth.
Her hands trembled violently as she called the preschool.
"Miss Lawson? Eli is waiting. He keeps saying he wants you."
The teacher sounded gentle.
"We think he misses you a lot today."
Aria pressed a shaking hand to her heart.
"I'm coming," she whispered. "I'm on my way."
She hung up and forced herself to her feet.
She needed a taxi.
She needed to get to Eli.
She needed to breathe.
But her body wouldn't stop shaking.
Damien knows.
He knows something is wrong.
He's going to dig.
He always digs.
She turned toward the street—and froze.
A sleek black car slowly rolled to a stop at the curb.
The windows were tinted, the model expensive, and her stomach knew the truth before her eyes confirmed it.
The back window lowered.
Damien sat inside, one arm resting casually along the leather seat, his expression unreadable but his gaze burning with a silent vow.
"You're going somewhere," he said calmly.
"Get in. I'll take you."
Aria stepped back, pulse thrumming. "No. I don't need your help."
Damien's eyes locked onto hers. "You do."
"I don't."
"You're shaking," he said softly.
"You're upset. Your hands can barely hold your phone. Let me help you."
Her throat tightened. "I don't want your help."
"Too bad," Damien murmured.
"Because I'm not letting you walk away again."
His driver opened the door without a word.
Aria's heart pounded violently. "Damien, please—"
He looked at her with an expression she hadn't seen in years—a mix of determination and something heartbreakingly raw.
"Get in the car, Aria."
She swallowed hard.
If she refused… he would follow her.
If she accepted… she risked everything.
Including the secret she'd been hiding since the day she ran.
Her voice was barely audible.
"Damien… please don't do this."
"I'm already doing it," he replied softly.
"I lost you once. I won't lose you again."
Aria felt tears burn her eyes.
She knew then, with crushing certainty—
This storm was only beginning.
And Damien Cole was prepared to tear her entire world apart to find the truth.