For a long, breath- stealing moment, I couldn't move.
My back pressed against the wall, my fingers pulsing around my phone, my heart beating so violently if I allowed it might incise itself against my chest. The hallway outside had gone deathly silent — too silent for what I'd just heard.
A fight. A thud. A crash. And now a voice. Aurora… Damon's voice was strained, low, dragging like each syllable cost him something. Open… the door. A shiver rushed through me. Was that really him? My pulse hammered. The unknown texter told me not to open the door for anyone. Any man could mimic a tone. Fear could distort my hearing.
And the silence in the hallway was the kind of silence bloodsuckers use.
I swallowed hard, trying to undergird my breath.
" D — Damon? " My voice cracked embarrassingly.
A rough exhale came through the door. It's me. A pause. Please. That please wasn't like the earlier one he'd whispered in the rain. This one was scraped raw, shaky. Wounded.
I crawled forward on shaky legs until I reached the door. My legs floated over the cinch. With my other hand, I lifted my phone to my observance, and my voice quivered as I said
" If it's really you tell me something only Damon would know. "
Silence, also his voice coarse, but still incontrovertibly his — came low and unsteady through the door.
You burned your first regale in the mansion because you were trying to make me your mama 's honey- gusto funk form.
You cried in your room that night because you thought I didn't like it. A breath. I ate every bite, Aurora. Every single bite. My breath hitched. That night. A night no one else knew about. A night I'd buried long ago under humiliation and loneliness.
Gashes gouged my eyes, hot and immediate. My knees weakened, and I leaned my forepart against the door.
" Damon " My voice broke.
The doorknob shifted under my hand not violently like ahead. Just slightly. nearly like he was bracing himself against it.
" Aurora, " he murmured, I'm hurt.
My heart lurched violently.
That was each it took.
I uncorked the door with pulsing fritters.
The moment it swung open an inch, Damon stumbled forward, nearly collapsing into the apartment. I dived artificially and caught him under his arms.
Oh my God Damon
He mugged, jaw tight, one hand gripping the doorframe as he fought to stay upright. His generally immaculate shirt was torn at the shoulder. His lip was resolve. A bruise was formerly blowing along his cheekbone. His hair — always impeccably prepped was disheveled and damp with sweat and rain.
And there, on his knuckles, stripes of blood.
My breath caught. Not his blood. Someone else's.
My stomach twisted.
He eventually managed to look up at me those dark, violent eyes blown wide with adrenaline, fear, and something deeper, something nearly frantic.
Aurora, he rasped, are you hurt? Did he touch you?
I shook my head snappily, helping him outside and locking the door behind him. No. He didn't get in.
Damon's shoulders sagged in relief, like my answer physically held him up.
But the relief lasted only a alternate before he swayed.
Damon!
I seized his arm again, guiding him toward the lounge. He whizzed vocally as he lowered onto it, his breath uneven. When he lifted a hand to wipe the blood from his lip, his fritters quivered.
A man like Damon Blackwood didn't fluctuate.
Fear drilled down my chine.
What happed? I muttered.
He leaned back, gobbling shakily. He was staying for you.
I felt the world tilt. And he wasn't working alone. A chill tore down my arms. Damon… who were they?
His jaw strained. His eyes darted down. He didn't answer incontinently.
rather, he let out a earnest breath. I should n't have left. I should n't have walked down from this door.
I blinked, stunned. What do you mean? You left because I — because I shut the door on you.
He shook his head, quailing at the movement. I left because I saw someone watching the building.
My pulse stumbled. What? I thought he paused. His throat cracked. I allowed
I was imagining it. I hoped I was imagining it. But when I reached the parking lot, I realized he wasn't watching the building
His scrutiny met mine also.
He was watching you.
A cold surge washed through me, leaving me numb.
And when I came back, Damon continued, voic tensing with fury, there were two men outside your door.
The room shrank around me.
Two.
I hadn't indeed known.
Damon's hand coiled into a fist, knuckles decolorizing.
They said your name, he said, wrathfulness and sweat twisting the words.
They knew who you were. They weren't trying to rob you. They were waiting. I swallowed hard, waiting for what?
His eyes darkened.
For you to open the door.
My heart swiped sorrowfully.
What did they want? I asked.
Damon looked down again.
And that frightened me further than the nonnatives outside my door.
Because Damon Blackwood never looked down.
Not from danger. Not from confrontation. Not from anything. Unless the truth was worse.
His jaw gripped. His voice was low, wobbling with a slightly subdued rage.
They wanted to take you.
The air ripped out of my lungs.
Take me? Damon, who are they? Do you know them? His silence was an answer.
My stomach twisted. Damon.
Still nothing.
Damon, look at me, sluggishly, reluctantly, he did.
The truth was there. In his eyes. In the tension in his shoulders. In the way his breath hitched, like the words were too dangerous to say out loud.
I don't know who they are, he said precisely. But I know who sent them.
My blood went cold.
Who? My voice broke. Who would want to harm me?
His eyes were shadowed, dark with something raw and intimidating.
Someone who's been manipulating effects for a veritably long time.
My throat dried. " Seraphina? "
His jaw tensed.
Aurora I don't have evidence. But I know she's able of this. Or worse.
My legs weakened. I sank onto the lounge beside him without realizing it.
No, I murmured. Seraphina wouldn't
She would, he said sprucely.
His voice cracked. Not with wrathfulness — but with fear.
She formerly destroyed our marriage. She followed you intimately. She's sabotaged you many times. Why wouln't she try commodity worse now that you've eventually left
I goggled at him, stunned by the fury pulsing through his voice.
And also something hit me.
You said I swallowed hard. You said someone's been sabotaging us for years. Damon — what exactly do you mean? What exactly?
He ran a shaky hand through his hair.
Aurora I should have told you months ago, years ago maybe but. I was guarding you by keeping you out of it. His voice dropped to a harsh tale.
But I was wrong. My pulse picked up. Out of what? He met my eyes. I think Seraphina's obsession didn't end when I married you. I froze. Understanding hit me like ice water. You think she was watching us. No, he corrected softly. I know she was. My breath caught.
He reached for my hand — hesitantly — like he wasn't sure if he had the right presently. When his fritters brushed mine, they were cold.
Aurora I left you alone in that house. I thought keeping my distance protected you. I thought the cold meant safety. But all it did was blind me. His voice shook. I didn't realize someone else was watching you when I wasn't. I felt the room spin. Watching me? I whispered. He nodded once. Waiting for you to be vulnerable. My stomach dropped. And today… you walked out of the courthouse without security. You moved into a building with no surveillance. You shut me out. His voice cracked with pain and guilt. It made you the perfect target.
Gashes soaked my eyes. Damon, this isn't your fault.
His grip on my hand tensed. It is. All of it. I should have told you. I should have protected you. I should have
A loud metallic bang echoed from nearly in the hallway.
We both froze. Another bang. Closer.
Damon uncurled incontinently, ignoring the pain in his body.
His voice was low as he said.
They're not gone.