Chapter 4 - Midnight Confessions
Midnight arrived with a heavy, oppressive stillness over the Chicago River.
Ivy had finally fallen into a deep, exhausted sleep in one of the guest suites under the care of a private nurse Damen had summoned. Selene sat alone at the edge of a massive marble dining table, staring out at the distant, glittering lights of the city through the rain-streaked glass.
Footsteps approached softly from behind.
Damen placed a steaming cup of chamomile tea beside her elbow before pulling out the adjacent chair and sitting down.
“You haven’t slept,” he observed quietly.
“Adrenaline has a way of keeping a person awake,” Selene replied, wrapping her hands around the warm ceramic mug. She turned her gaze toward him. “Why do you do it, Damen? Why run an underground empire when you could live anywhere in the world as a legitimate billionaire?”
A dark, humorless shadow crossed his features.
“Legitimacy is an illusion invented by people who want to feel superior about how they acquired their fortunes,” Damen said softly. “I grew up in the shipping yards of South Chicago, Doctor. When you are starving at nine years old, nobody hands you a scholarship or a venture capital fund. You take control of the streets, or the streets consume you.”
Selene listened, feeling an unexpected pang of deep resonance. She thought of her father dying on the kitchen floor while orange juice spilled across the linoleum—the moment her own illusion of safety had shattered forever.
“We’re both trying to control a world that refused to protect us,” she murmured.
Damen looked at her with a new depth of intensity, his gray eyes softening just fractionally. “Perhaps.”
Before either of them could speak further, the private elevator chime chimed softly in the foyer.
Marcus, Damen’s towering head of security, stepped out of the elevator carriage, walking briskly across the marble floor toward the dining area. He carried a heavy, encrypted tablet computer.
“Boss,” Marcus reported crisply, nodding respectfully toward Selene before addressing Damen. “We located Holloway outside the Mercy Street Clinic twenty minutes ago. He was pouring gasoline across the front steps.”
Selene gasped, pressing a hand over her mouth.
“And?” Damen asked calmly.
“He attempted to draw a firearm when our extraction team moved in,” Marcus continued impassively, placing the tablet on the table. “He is currently secured in our lower holding facility across the river. He won't be bothering Dr. Mercer—or his wife—ever again.”
Damen dismissed Marcus with a brief wave of his hand. The giant man turned and walked back into the elevator without another word.
Selene stared down at the polished wooden surface of the table. The man who had terrorized Ivy and threatened to destroy her life was gone—neutralized by a force she could barely comprehend.
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“You’re safe now, Selene,” Damen said quietly, using her first name for the very first time.
The simple sound of her name spoken in his deep, resonant voice sent an electric shiver straight down her spine.
