Page 146 of Watch Me Burn
“Practical reasons, at first.” He moves to stand beside me, close enough that his warmth seeps through my clothes to my skin. “Concealment, intimidation. Later, it became something more. A separation between the man who runs the Wolfe Group and the one who hunts in the night.”
“A separation that became complete when you met me.” Understanding dawns, bitter and sharp. “Two personas for two relationships.”
He nods, those dark eyes never leaving my face. “I didn’t plan that. It just happened. As I fell in love with you, I needed a way to spend more time with you. Accepting your masked stalker as a killer was one thing, but accepting him as your new neighbor was another completely.”
“So, you lied.” The words taste like ash. “For months.”
“Yes.”
At least he doesn’t try to deny it.
“You stalked me, manipulated me. Made me think I was losing my mind.”
My voice cracks despite my efforts to keep it steady. We already had this conversation the other night, with no resolution, but I can’t let it go. Tears threaten, hot and angry, behind my eyes. I’m so fucking tired of crying.
“Yes.” Still no excuses. No justifications. “I did. But I never meant to hurt you.”
I want to scream at him. Want to throw something. Want to make him feel even a fraction of the betrayal tearing through my chest. But I also want to touch him, press my face against his neck, and breathe him in until this ache in my soul subsides.
“It wasn’t about trust, Luna. Yes, there was concern at first that if you knew my true identity, you’d be tempted to turn me in. But what I feared most was your rejection. The thought of losing you caused me to make some bad decisions.”
“Bad decisions? Is that what we’re calling psychological manipulation now?”
His jaw tightens, but he doesn’t flinch from my sarcasm. “What would you call it?”
“Fucked up.” I replace the mask, and my fingers brush against his as I withdraw my hand. The contact sends electricity up my arm. “So fucked up I don’t have words for it.”
“And now?” The question emerges wrapped in false calm, but tension coils through his frame like a spring wound too tight.
“Now that I know everything? I do know everything, right?”
“Yes. I have no more secrets from you. And now you have a choice. Stay and accept all of me, or leave and forget you ever knew either version.”
“As if I could forget.” The words slip out bitter and raw. “Do you think I haven’t tried? Do you think I haven’t spent sleepless nights wishing I could scrub you from my memory?”
Pain he’s unable to hide without his mask flickers across his face.
I turn away from him, surveying the room once more. All these animals were given second chances because of Damien’s brutal actions. Lives saved through the taking of other lives. The contradiction should be impossible to reconcile, but looking at these photographs, feeling the weight of all that suffering transformed into healing…
But haven’t I already accepted it? That morning I found the first body on my porch and felt that flicker of savage satisfaction once the terror had faded. The way I responded when I confronted him on my porch, when he entered my bedroom, mask and all. My decision to help cover up what happened with Caleb.
“I’ve never felt this way before, Luna. I didn’t know I was capable of it. Of wanting someone so completely. Of needing them. Needing you.”
I spin to face him. “But you always told me I was yours. How is that not needing me?”
“I thought all I needed was your body and your surrender, but you gave that so willingly.” His voice grows rougher. “It was such a beautiful gift. I wanted more, and before I knew it, the heart I didn’t think I had was beating only for you.”
I can't breathe. He's standing here undefended, has stripped away the armor he wears like a second skin, and it's everything I've ached for and everything that terrifies me.
“What are you saying, Damien?”
He moves toward me. “I thought my parents killed that part of me a long time ago, the part that could feel something real for another person. The part that could love.” He takes my hand, placing it over his heart. The rapid beat pounds against my palm. “But this is real, Luna. You changed everything.”
The warmth of his chest seeps through my fingers, and I hate how right this feels. How safe his touch makes me feel. It always has.
“How can I trust anything about you now?”
“You can’t. Not yet. But I’m standing here without masks, giving you all of me. Showing you all of me. The good and the monstrous. Giving you the knowledge to destroy me. That’s something I’ve never offered anyone.”
