AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER ONE
Damon
Glass and steel, cold and lifeless, unique, a feat of modern design, with no other structure possessing the same elements.
That’s how magazines and critics described my buildings around the world.
They were full of shit and knew nothing.
They were ice palaces—glass and steel, cold and lifeless, with no warmth or feeling, just like my existence.
With my back against the balcony railing, I sat on the floor and stared at the two-story structure, representing the pinnacle of all I’d accomplished.
I threw my glass across the terrace. “This place is junk compared to her.”
She was all that I ever wanted, needed, desired.
The only woman I ever loved.
My Sophia.
And I destroyed her. I broke her. I betrayed her trust.
She was better off without me.
I closed my eyes and lifted my face to the sky. The bright morning sunlight beamed down on me, making me squint and my head spin.
I wasn’t sure how many days I’d spent out here, maybe two. It was probably a lot more since I remembered getting up a few times to accept takeout orders.
At least I managed to eat something.
I glanced through the floor-to-ceiling panels making up the wall separating the living room of my penthouse and my terrace. Food boxes sat on every surface, as well as dirty dishes.
The moment I tore apart the one good thing in my life, I abandoned the desire for control and order. Chaos was what I deserved.
It wouldn’t matter to anyone what happened to me anyway. I might as well continue my tumble into obscurity.
I’d lost all the people who cared about me.
Who gave a shit if I’d picked up a bottle for the first time in my life to see if the oblivion my father and grandfather loved so much actually existed?
Yeah, it existed, but it made you remember every other damn thing you fucked up in your life even more.
At least now I understood why the bastards kept hitting the bottle. It made them forget what pieces of shit they were for that short time the haze had its hold on them. Not to mention nausea and the hangover.
Why the hell would anyone want to feel this way?
“You’re a liar, Damon Pierce. And know this. I will hate you forever for doing this to us.”
The memory of Sophia’s tear-streaked face as she’d said those words filled my mind.
That was why? It was better to suffer the hangover, the horrendous pain of remembering the loss of the most important thing in your life.
I reached for my tumbler of fifty-year-old scotch and realized there wasn’t anything near me.
“Goddammit.” I pushed to my knees. “Whose bright idea was it to throw the glass at the door?”
Fuck. I was talking to myself.
