CHAPTER SEVEN: WHEN DAMIEN SHOWS UP
Morning arrived too quickly.
Aria barely slept—every hour broken by fear, every minute replaying yesterday like a nightmare she couldn't wake from.
Damien's words clung to her like a second skin.
Tomorrow. Be ready to talk.
He's my son.
I won't let you walk away again.
By the time the sun pushed pale light through her curtains, Aria's head throbbed with exhaustion. She forced herself out of bed, moving quietly so she wouldn't wake Eli.
He was curled under his blankets, his small chest rising and falling peacefully.
Aria watched him for a moment, her heart twisting.
He deserved stability.
He deserved safety.
He deserved a life untouched by the cold, ruthless world Damien Cole lived in.
And Aria had built that life for him.
Brick by brick.
Lie by lie.
Sacrifice by sacrifice.
She could not let Damien tear it apart.
Not now.
Not when Eli was still so small.
Still so fragile.
Not when she remembered what she saw three years ago—
She cut off the memory before it dragged her under.
Not now.
She dressed Eli, packed his small backpack, and took him to preschool, watching him run—laughing—toward his classmates.
Her heart clenched again, seeing how carefree he was.
She prayed it would stay that way.
She stayed at the school gate until he disappeared inside.
She exhaled shakily.
Today… she would face Damien.
Because avoiding him wasn't possible anymore.
When she returned home, she double-locked the door, then locked the chain, then checked the windows for good measure.
It wouldn't stop Damien—not if he really wanted in—but she needed the illusion of safety.
Her phone buzzed.
Her pulse jumped violently.
She forced herself to look.
Damien:
I'm coming.
No time given.
No question.
Just certainty.
Her breath hitched.
She should have expected this.
Damien never waited.
Damien never hesitated.
Damien never asked.
He acted.
And now… he was acting on the knowledge that he had a son.
Aria paced the room, her stomach in knots.
What was she supposed to say?
How could she explain?
How could she tell him the truth—not the truth about Eli, but the truth about why she left?
There was no version of that conversation where Damien didn't explode.
Her hands trembled uncontrollably.
Minutes stretched like hours.
Then—
A knock.
Not gentle.
Not polite.
Firm.
Strong.
Familiar.
Aria's breath froze.
No neighbor knocked like that.
No delivery man.
Only one man in her entire life knocked like the world owed him answers.
Aria's knees wobbled.
He was here.
She approached the door slowly, her pulse pounding so loudly she could barely hear.
Another knock shook the doorframe.
"Aria."
Damien's voice.
Low. Controlled. Dangerous.
She swallowed hard and pressed her forehead to the cool wood.
"Damien… please—"
"Open the door."
"I can't."
"Aria."
The warning in his voice made her chest tighten.
"Do not do this again."
Tears gathered in her eyes.
"I'm not ready."
"You had all night."
"That's not enough."
His tone sharpened. "Then you should have told me three years ago."
She flinched as though struck.
Silence filled the space between them—painful, heavy.
Damien exhaled slowly, the sound muffled by the door.
"Aria," he said softly, "please… open the door."
Her heart twisted.
He wasn't yelling.
He wasn't threatening.
He sounded… tired.
And hurt.
Destroyed in a way she had never heard before.
Aria's hand hovered over the lock.
She could still send him away.
She could still protect Eli.
She could still run.
But Damien wouldn't stop.
Not this time.
Not with a child involved.
Her fingers shook as she turned the lock.
The door creaked open an inch.
Damien stood there—tall, sharp, immaculate in a dark suit—but his eyes…
His eyes were a storm.
He pushed the door open fully, stepping inside without waiting for permission.
Aria backed away instinctively.
Damien closed the door behind him slowly, deliberately, trapping them in the suffocating quiet of her tiny living room.
He stared at her.
Not with anger.
Not with fury.
With devastation.
"You should have told me," he said quietly.
Aria's lips parted. "I know."
"You let me believe you left because you didn't care."
His voice cracked.
"When all that time… you were carrying my child."
Her throat burned. "I didn't want to hurt you."
Damien laughed—soft, pained, disbelieving.
"You think this hurts me? Aria, it kills me."
She looked down. "I'm sorry."
"Sorry?" His voice sharpened. "Aria, I missed three years of my son's life."
She squeezed her eyes shut.
"You stole that from me."
Her legs almost gave out.
"I didn't steal anything," she whispered. "I was protecting him."
"From what?" Damien snapped. "From me?"
"No," she said quickly. "From your world."
"My world?" he echoed, stunned. "You think my world is more dangerous than a child growing up without a father?"
Aria flinched.
Damien stepped closer.
"Explain that to me, Aria. Explain how you looked at him—my son—and decided he didn't need me."
"Damien—"
"Explain why you chose for me. Why you played God with my life."
She pressed a hand to her chest, breathing unevenly.
"You don't understand. I couldn't raise him in your world of power and secrets and—"
"Secrets?"
Damien's eyes darkened.
"You want to talk about secrets, Aria?"
Her heart skittered painfully.
She turned away, but Damien stepped around her, blocking her escape.
"You left in the middle of the night," he said, voice low and shaking.
"No note. No explanation. No goodbye. Just gone."
Her breath trembled.
"You never even let me tell you the truth about that night."
Aria stiffened.
Not this.
Not the thing she had tried so desperately to forget.
"I saw enough," she whispered.
"No," Damien said firmly. "You saw what someone wanted you to see."
Her eyes darted up to his, startled.
"What… what do you mean?"
Damien stepped closer—so close she could feel the heat radiating from him.
"I told you that night was not what it looked like," he said, tone fierce.
"And I will say it again. The woman you saw in my penthouse—"
Aria dropped her gaze, pain slamming into her chest.
"Don't. Please."
"You think I don't know what you saw?" Damien asked softly.
"You think I don't know the exact moment you stopped trusting me?"
Her hands shook. "Damien—"
"No."
He tilted her chin up gently, forcing her to meet his eyes.
"You're going to hear this."
She swallowed hard, trapped in his gaze.
"You walked in," Damien said calmly, "saw a woman in my bed, heard her say I belonged to her, and you believed it."
Aria's breath hitched violently.
"So yes," Damien continued, "I know exactly what drove you away."
Her eyes glistened. "Because it was true."
"No."
His voice was sharp and solid.
"It was a trap."
Aria's heart slammed against her ribs.
"What?"
"That woman—" Damien said through clenched teeth, "was planted. Paid. She tried to blackmail me. My security was dealing with her when you walked in."
Aria stared at him, stunned.
Damien's jaw tightened.
"You didn't even stay long enough to hear me tell her to get out."
Her lips parted. "Damien… no."
"Yes," he said bitterly.
"And then you ran. You ran before I could reach you."
She shook her head, tears falling.
"I thought… I thought you betrayed me."
Damien exhaled shakily, stepping closer until their foreheads almost touched.
"Aria," he whispered, "I have never betrayed you. Not once."
A sob escaped her.
"You left," Damien said quietly.
"And it destroyed me."
She pressed a hand to her mouth to stop the cry threatening to spill.
"Aria," he said softly, "I need you to look at me."
She did—slowly, painfully.
Damien's voice broke.
"I would have moved heaven and earth for you. For us. For our child."
Tears streamed down her face.
"And you didn't even give me the chance," he whispered.
Aria trembled.
He reached up, brushing a tear from her cheek.
"Let me be in his life," Damien said quietly.
"Let me be his father."
He swallowed.
"Don't take that from me again."
Aria's voice cracked as she whispered—
"I don't know how to do this."
Damien cupped her cheek gently.
"We do it together."
Her chest tightened.
His eyes softened—dark storms turning into aching desperation.
"Aria," he murmured, "tell me his name."
Her breath hitched.
She wiped her cheeks, voice barely a whisper.
"Eli."
Damien closed his eyes, emotion breaking across his face.
He repeated the name softly.
"Eli…"
Aria watched as Damien's entire world reshaped in front of her.
He looked at her again, voice trembling.
"That's my son."
She nodded slowly.
Damien inhaled shakily.
"And I'm going to know him."
It wasn't a question.
It wasn't a request.
It was a vow.
A vow that would change everything.