Chapter 200

• Damien’s face shifted away from me, calm and unreadable like a still lake disturbed briefly by a soft breeze. The ripples faded quickly, leaving only that familiar, cold mask I’d come to know so well. He’d been waiting for this day, I could tell bracing himself, walking on eggshells through these past months, holding everything inside with iron will. This was the best outcome he’d hoped for: a fragile peace, a quiet before whatever storm was next.
• His brother, Logan, watched him with worry etched deep in his eyes. I could see it the exhaustion buried beneath Damien’s composed exterior, the weight of all those silent sacrifices pressing down on him. Logan feared what might happen if that fragile control cracked. He whispered to himself once, half-joking, half-pleading, that he’d pray for his brother kneel for hours at the temple if he had to, just to keep him safe. Because since Ava entered his life, Damien wasn’t the same man anymore. He’d changed drastically and Logan didn’t want to see him slip back to the cold, ruthless ghost he used to be. Or worse.
• Meanwhile, I lay in the dark, telling myself I was memorizing the plan. But really, my mind was empty numb, blank, refusing to hold even a single thought. When things became too tangled inside, I had this habit of letting the pressure dissolve into nothingness. Sometimes, when that didn’t work, I’d have to go further, find a harsher way to survive. But it had been a long time since something gnawed at me like this.