THE BILLIONAIRE'S FURY
Amara's POV
My heart stopped the moment Damian said the words.
"Your father… was part of the scandal that almost killed me."
For a second, the noise in the hall faded and the music, the voices, and the camera.
"Damian… I don't…" I whispered.
But he stepped closer and his face was filled with anger.
"Don't lie to me," he said. "Not now."
"I'm not lying," I breathed. "I didn't know, I swear."
He laughed once, it was a cold one. "Of course you didn't, everyone says that, everyone pretends to be innocent."
"Damian, please…"
He grabbed my arm and pulled me into a silent hallway behind the ballroom.
His eyes burnt with rage.
"Did you come here to destroy me?"
"What?" I gasped. "No! I didn't even know who you were until the interview."
"So you expect me to believe you showed up in my company by accident?" he snapped.
Tears pushed into my eyes. "I needed the job, my father's debts…"
"Your father's debts," he repeated, and his voice was cold. "Debts from what? Hiding evidence? Selling information? Working with the people who tried to take TitanCorp from me?"
"I don't know anything about that!" My voice cracked. "He never told me anything!"
Damian's chest rose and fell and he stared at me like he was trying to see the truth in my skin.
For a moment, I thought he might believe me.
But then…
"No," he said gently. "You are hiding something and until I know what it is, you are not leaving my sight."
"What do you mean?" I whispered.
He kept staring deeply at me "From today, I will control everything around you."
He stepped closer. "Your schedule, your movements and your contacts."
"Damian…"
"You work for me," he said, his voice low. "But now, you answer to me."
My chest tightened painfully. "That's not fair."
He scoffed. "Life isn't fair, your father proved that."
A tear rolled down my cheek and I wiped it fast, but he saw it.
"I didn't choose this," I whispered. "I didn't choose any of this."
"No," he said "But you are in it now."
He then turned sharply.
"Let's go. The board meeting started in ten minutes."
—
At TitanCorp — The Board Meeting
We walked into the meeting room together and my eyes were still swollen from crying, and my hands wouldn't stop shaking.
Board members stared at me with confusion and curiosity and Damian stood at the head of the table.
"All right," he said. "Let's begin."
They started talking about numbers, reports, and security issues and I barely heard them, I was too busy trying not to crumble.
Suddenly, a man from the tech division entered and he looked nervous.
"Mr. Stone," he said quickly. "We found something."
Damian's head lifted. "What?"
The man looked around the room like he was scared to speak.
"Someone tried to breach the internal system last night," he said. "High-level access attempts, they typed in a restricted authorization code."
Damian narrowed his eyes.
"Whose authorization?"
The man swallowed hard.
He looks at me.
"It… it was submitted under the name… Amara Cole."
My blood ran cold and Damian slowly turned his head toward me.
"I didn't do that," I whispered , shaking. "I didn't touch anything. I swear, Damian, I didn't…."
The tech man spoke again. "Whoever did it… they disguised the location. They wanted it to look like her."
A murmur spreads around the table and Damian's voice was low, lethal.
"So someone is framing her?"
The man nodded.
"Yes. And whoever it is… they have inside knowledge."
My breath shook and Damian leaned toward me slowly, his eyes were locked on mine.
"Amara," he whispered.
"Someone is using you to destroy me."
I froze as the truth hit me like a blow.
And then… a phone rang and the tech man checked his screen and his face turned white.
"There's… there's more," he said. "A second attack, just now."
Damian tensed . "What now?"
The man looks up.
"They didn't just use Amara's name this time."
"What did they use?" Damian demands.
The man's voice trembles.
"They used your fiancée's access code, sir."
"My what?" Damian growls.
The man swallows.
"Your future wife's authorization code, the one tied to Miss Cole's engagement status, someone is using her identity to enter the deepest level of TitanCorp's system."
My heart stopped and Damian stared at me and everyone stared at me.
And then the tech man added, his voice was shaking…
"And the system showed the breach was happening… from inside this building, right now."
The room was filled with panic and everyone looked at me like I was holding a bomb and then the tech man's voice shook.
"The breach is still happening… from inside the building."
Damian stepped forward slowly, and his eyes were locked on me.
"Where were you ten minutes ago?" he asked
"In the meeting room," I whispered.
"Before that."
"With you."
"And before that?"
"I…I don't know, my phone was dead. I was just…"
His jaw tightens. "Someone is playing with us."
Another alert beeped from the screen and the tech man gasped. "They're in the main archive now, the most protected one."
Damian turned to me, and his voice was cold and sharp.
"You're not leaving my side."
"I didn't do anything!"
"I know," he snapped and everyone went silent and then I froze.
He knew?
Damian turned to security. "Lock everything down, find the source."
Then he grabbed my hand, it was so hard and pulled me out of the room.
—-
Inside the Elevator
His grip was painful and his breath was tight and angry.
"Damian, slow down…"
"No," he said without looking at me. "If someone is framing you, they will try again, and I need to control the situation."
"So what do we do?"
He finally turned his head toward me and his eyes softened a little.
"You're moving in with me."
I blinked. "What?"
"You heard me."
"Damian, no! I can't. Your home is…"
"Secure."
"But…"
He cut me off sharply.
"You want to stay alive?"
My mouth closed instantly and he moved closer, lowering his voice.
"I'm not giving you a choice."
The elevator doors opened to the top floor.
——
Damian Stone's Penthouse
The space was huge, quiet and too clean.
"Pick a room," he said, "But stay close."
I walked down the hallway and opened a door and there was only one visible bedroom and then I turned slowly to him.
"Damian… there's only one bed."
He sighed. "Then use it."
"What about you?"
"I will use the couch."
I stared at the massive couch and it looked expensive but uncomfortable.
"You don't have a guest room?"
"I wasn't expecting guests."
His voice lowered. "Especially not a fiancée."
I looked away quickly and then he walked farther into the penthouse and I followed without thinking.
One bed, bathroom, one impossibly cold man, living with him will be… dangerous.
For my heart.
—
Later That Night — In the Living Room
I sat on the couch, and stared at my phone and the security alerts kept popping up.
Someone was still trying to enter TitanCorp's servers using my authorization code.
"How is this even possible?" I whispered and Damian looked up from his laptop. "Someone has access to your identity, probably your father's enemies."
I swallowed. "You think my father was involved in something big?"
And then he studied me. "You look terrified," he said.
"Because I am."
He nodded slowly, like he was starting to believe me.
Then suddenly….
"Amara…"
"Yes?"
His voice changed, it was softer, unsure.
"You didn't do this."
I froze, hearing him say that felt… unreal.
"I know you didn't," he added and my throat tightened.
"Then why do you still look at me like I'm a threat?"
He closed the laptop. "Because someone wants me to."
We stared at each other and the silence between us felt warm… confusing… dangerous and then he cleared his throat and stood.
"Get some sleep."
He then walked away quickly, as if the closeness scared him too.
___
Midnight
I woke up suddenly, but I was not in my bed.
I was standing? And my eyes were half-open and my body was heavy, and slow.
"Am I… sleepwalking?"
The room was dark except for the moonlight.
I blinked slowly, I was in Damian's bedroom and he was asleep on the couch in the corner, blanket kicked off, his hair messy, and his chest rose and falling steadily.
I tried to turn around, but my body wouldn't move.
Instead, my feet walked toward him on their own.
"Stop," I whispered to myself, but no sound came out and I knelt beside him.
My hand lifted, without permission, and touched his wrist and my mouth opened.
Words spilled out, soft, shaky.
"Don't hurt him like you hurt my father…"
Damian's eyes snapped open and he grabbed my wrist instantly.
"Amara?" he whispered, breathless and I froze in his grip.
He stared at me, he was shocked, confused, alarmed.
"Amara," he said again. "What are you talking about?"
I tried to speak, but sleep still controlled me and my lips moved on their own.
"Don't… hurt him…"
Damian's grip tightened.
"Who?" he demanded. "Who are you talking about? What did your father do? Amara….wake up!"
But my eyes stayed half-closed and my body stayed frozen and the last thing I heard was Damian's sharp whisper….
"Who are you warning me about?"