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Damon stares at me for a long time. I can’t imagine what he’s thinking behind those cold, dark eyes of his. The fire behind those eyes is still burning brightly as he finally comes to a decision.
He can’t do this.
But then he’s running away. Out of the car. Toward this man.
Away from me.
Away from my command. Away from my resolution...
We’re through if you do this.
I watch him sprint through the flames. I watch him tackle this man to the ground. I watch Damon’s fists unload into this man as he lies in the hot dirt. Constant punching.
I witness his violence.
He is on top of the man. He is in full control. He is unleashing his entire physical strength on the intruder.
I see Damon as the criminal he is. I see his brute power. His anger. His dark side.
And I can’t look away.
I am in shock.
That is not Damon. Please tell me that’s not Damon. That’s not the man I know.
But he is the man I believed him to be when I didn’t know him - the man that everyone in Crystal River has heard the stories of, the criminal with the cold heart, the man who didn’t give a single fuck about anyone else, the man I had come to believe didn’tactuallyexist.
But there he is, beating up a man in front of me.
And then there are cars pulling up behind me. Damon’s men have arrived.
I open the car door and step out.
I move like I’m in a trance. Jim is here. I see him through the smoke and the bright flames. He comes rushing toward me.
“Are you okay, Ava?” he asks.
“I need a driver,” I say in a monotone voice. “I’m going home. Right now. Without Damon.”
48
DAMON
I havehim tied to a chair - this man who I found at my brewery in the dead of night as it burned. I knew for certain that he was involved in the fire.
And I was not wrong.
I’ve brought him back here, to my mansion on the outskirts of Crystal River, far away from the law. Down here in my basement, there is no rules of some government we must abide by: only what I command and deem what’s right. My kingdom.
The man has blood streaming down one side of his face. Some of it is his. Some of it is mine from when I lunged at him in the fire and smoke to tackle him to the ground.
I don’t remember much from that moment when I left Ava in the car to chase after this man. I simply remember my senses going haywire. Burning. Punching.Anger.
I leave the man tied in the chair and head upstairs, locking the basement door behind me and nodding to mysecurity to make sure no one goes in or out of that room. I head into my office and immediately pour myself a whiskey.
Fuck this.
I am still so angry. It hasn’t faded since I first saw my brewery up in flames on the drive back from the airport.
