Page 13 of Vows of Deceit
Damien glanced up, startled, as if remembering she was there. “Sorry. Just… a lot on my mind.”
She gave him a soft smile. “Work?”
He nodded. “The Italy expansion’s delayed again. The legal team is still untangling contracts.”
Cassie tilted her head. “Anything I can help with?”
His brows lifted in surprise. “You’d want to?”
“I run a hotel empire, Damien,” she said with a quiet laugh. “I think I can handle a corporate snarl or two.”
He chuckled, and for a moment, he looked lighter but guilt still lingered at the edge of his gaze, flickering behind his smile. He was waiting for the other shoe to drop.
And it wouldn’t.
Not yet.
Cassie kissed his cheek and handed him his briefcase. “Have a good day.”
He hesitated at the door. “You’ve been… really amazing lately.”
“I love you,” she said simply.
Damien blinked, then whispered, “I love you too.”
She watched him leave and then she dialed Delia.
“Everything’s still in motion,” she said. “He has no idea.”
Damien sat in the Sterling boardroom later that morning, only half listening to the quarterly projections presented by the CFO. The glass walls offered a perfect view of Manhattan’s skyline, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching him from the other side of the glass.
His phone buzzed.
Kelly:Missing me already?
His jaw tensed. Beneath the table, he quickly typed:
Damien:Now’s not the time.
Kelly:You always say that. And yet, here I am, still in your head.
He didn’t reply. Across the table, Leo noticed. Their eyes met briefly. Leo’s expression was unreadable. Damien looked away.
Kelly lay on a daybed at her Upper East Side apartment, sipping from a martini glass and scrolling through Damien’s social media feed.
Photos of Cassie smiling. Of them together. Of the life that Kelly still felt belonged to her.
She sent another message.
Kelly:Tell her yet? Or still pretending she’s the only one you’ve ever touched?
Damien didn’t respond. Instead, he tossed his phone onto the table and stood.
“Apologies,” he said to the room. “I need to step out.”
Leo watched him go. Then opened his own phone. Scrolled until he found Cassie’s name.
And stared.
