Chapter 12
Chapter 12
Vivienne's face was turning purple. She strained against his grip.
"Damien — what's happening to you? I didn't lie, you're misunderstanding me —"
"Let go — I can't — cough cough —"
He wasn't letting up. In under a minute she was blacking out, eyes flooding, lungs crushed.
Right before she went under, he let her drop.
She gasped air, chest heaving.
Before she could think, he had a fistful of her hair again and was slamming her head into the wall.
"Ah —"
Blood ran down from her hairline into her eyes. She curled up on the floor.
When she could open her eyes again, she looked up at him and saw the storm in them.
Her heart skipped.
Something was very wrong.
Through the dizziness she forced the words out. "Damien — what did I do, what's the matter with you?"
"Did I upset you? If you hate me, I'll leave, just — why are you hurting me?"
She cried, broken.
Tears had always worked. One tear from Vivienne and Damien would crumble. He would give her anything she asked for.
That was her privilege.
She was expecting him to soften.
When she looked up, all she saw was disgust. Contempt. Like he was looking at trash.
She scrambled to get up. He laughed, low and cold, and flicked a hand. The door locked.
Security came in and stood behind her.
"You're not walking out of this."
"You schemed against Seraphina. You drove her to her death. And now you think you get to just leave? Too easy. I want you dead."
She didn't believe what she was hearing.
She didn't have time to react. He picked up a glass ornament from the desk and slammed it into her head. Blood and shards everywhere.
"Ah —"
She screamed and fell. He stepped onto her and pressed his full weight down.
The sound of glass driving into flesh was very clear in the quiet room.
"AH —"
His face was unreadable. He ignored her screaming and ground down, across her body, back and forth.
The white carpet turned red.
She couldn't move anymore. Only the thread of breath kept coming.
"Damien... how could you do this to me..."
"I'll die..."
He laughed, cold.
"You pushed her hand into a pot of boiling soup and played victim. You paid people to beat her and called it harassment from a patient's family. You staged your own kidnapping to make me distrust her. You hired that bastard with the medical license to torture her. And then on your birthday you shoved her into the ocean."
"All of it was you. Wasn't it?"
"And then you say — but she might die too."
Her skin went the color of the wall. Her chest was in a vise.
How did he know —
"How did you dare, Vivienne."
"Because of what you did for me when I was a kid, I stood by you through everything. I stood by you even when your mistake put her mother in a coma. Your career. Your status. Your money. I gave you every last thing you asked for."
"Why did you have to touch her. Because of you, she walked out. I have no home. I will never see her again. Tell me — what could I possibly do to you to earn her forgiveness?"
She shook her head. She was ashen, trembling.
"It wasn't me — it wasn't — I didn't hurt her —"
"Damien, I swear I didn't do any of this. Someone's setting me up. That has to be what happened. You believe me, right? Let me go, please — it hurts so much —"
She'd made sure there were no cameras at the spot where she'd pushed Seraphina off.
As long as she denied, denied, denied, he couldn't pin it.
She was shaking, white, shivering, screaming in pain.
He laughed once. His jaw set. He finally lifted his foot off her.
For one second she thought she'd gotten through.
Then he bent down and played a recording.
The one from the yacht. Her pushing Seraphina.
She froze.
Everything in her drained.
He had it.
Her pupils shrank. Her body started to shake uncontrollably.
"No — no —"
She tried to argue.
He waved his hand.
Security seized her, dragged her outside, and dumped her onto the gravel of the courtyard, bound, hands behind her back.
She realized what was happening.
He was going to do to her what he had done to Julian.
Headlights flared on her from four different directions.
Four cars.
Her mind snapped off. When she could think again, she was surrounded.
"Damien — I know I was wrong, but it wasn't on purpose, Sera going off the boat wasn't my fault —"
"Damien, don't — don't do this, please — please don't do this to me —"
"I was wrong, spare me —"
He didn't even glance at her.
Her color was ugly. Her lips were bloodless.
"Damien — you can't do this to me!"
"Have you forgotten? I saved you when we were kids. I pulled you out of that silence. There is no you without me. You can't —"
The debt. That had always been her shield.
She hadn't expected that Seraphina's death would cost him his sanity. But she was still sure of her play. If she played the childhood card he'd come back to himself. She could apologize for the "accident." She'd outlast this. In time she'd be the only one left at his side.
Hope flashed in her eyes.
Standing inside that hope, Damien lifted his hand.
He signaled the first car forward.
It drove over her hand.
"AH —"
Her scream filled the courtyard.
And that was only the beginning.