Chapter 2 - HE CAME TO COLLECT HER
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Tessa moved toward the office door.
Damian blocked her.
“Move.”
“No.”
“He’s going to cause a scene.”
“Then he’ll cause it outside.”
“You don’t understand.”
Damian’s stare hardened.
“I understand perfectly.”
“No, you don’t. If I don’t go out there, he’ll get worse.”
The sentence came automatically.
A survival calculation built through months of conditioning.
Keep Trent calm.
Don’t embarrass Trent.
Don’t make Trent wait.
Don’t challenge Trent in public.
Don’t let other men disrespect Trent.
Every rule existed because violating one meant paying for it later.
Damian seemed to hear all of them inside the single sentence.
“Tessa,” he said carefully, “you are standing in a locked office asking permission to go calm down a man who strangled you.”
“He didn’t strangle me.”
Damian looked at her neck.
She hated herself for saying it.
“Fine. He did.”
Damian nodded once.
“Good.”
“Good?”
“You said it.”
Her eyes burned.
“I need to talk to him.”
“Why?”
“To stop this.”
“No. You need to stop believing you’re responsible for his behavior.”
“You think one inspirational sentence fixes this?”
“No.”
Damian’s voice became colder.
“I think removing his ability to reach you helps.”
“That sounds like a threat.”
“It is.”
Carlo remained by the door, wisely silent.
Tessa turned to him.
“Is Trent armed?”
Carlo answered immediately.
“Not visibly.”
Damian glanced at him.
“You searched him?”
“No. He hasn’t entered the property.”
“Keep it that way.”
Tessa shook her head.
“He won’t leave.”
“Then he can stand in the cold.”
“He’ll call the police.”
Damian shrugged.
“Let him.”
That startled her.
“You want police here?”
“No. But I’m not holding you prisoner, and he isn’t entitled to retrieve you like luggage.”
Carlo’s mouth twitched.
Damian noticed.
“Something funny?”
“No, boss.”
“Go downstairs.”
Carlo left.
Tessa remained frozen beside the desk.
Through the office windows, Lower Manhattan moved as if nothing had changed.
Cars.
Pedestrians.
A delivery bicycle.
Somewhere outside, Trent waited.
“Let me see him,” she said.
“No.”
“I wasn’t asking.”
Damian’s eyebrows lifted.
Tessa regretted the tone instantly.
Then realized something strange.
He was not angry.
Damian Rossy, a man who could silence a room by turning his head, appeared almost impressed.
“You’re welcome to walk out,” he said.
She blinked.
“I’m not preventing you.”
“But?”
“But if he touches you on my property, the conversation changes.”
“What does that mean?”
“You know what it means.”
Tessa grabbed the silver key from his desk.
She shoved it into her pocket.
Damian noticed.
Neither of them mentioned it.
They went downstairs.
The lunch staff had begun arriving.
Bobby stood behind the bar pretending to polish a glass he had already polished three times.
Two hostesses whispered near the kitchen.
Damian walked beside Tessa.
Not ahead.
Not behind.
That mattered.
He was letting her make the choice.
The front doors opened.
Cold November wind came through.
Trent stood across the street.
He saw her immediately.
Even from thirty yards away, Tessa recognized the shift in his body.
Relief.
Possession.
Anger.
He crossed against traffic.
A cab honked.
Trent ignored it.
“Tessa.”
She stopped on the sidewalk.
He looked exhausted.
Same jacket as last night.
Unshaven.
His eyes went to Damian.
Then returned to her.
“Who’s this?”
“My employer.”
“I know who he is.”
Trent smiled, but there was no humor in it.
“Everybody knows who he is.”
Damian said nothing.
That made Trent nervous.
Good.
Tessa hated that she thought it.
“I came to get you,” Trent said.
“I’m working.”
“You left without saying anything.”
“I leave for work every morning.”
“You turned your phone off.”
“Yes.”
His jaw tightened.
“You know I worry.”
Tessa nearly laughed.
The familiar performance sounded obscene here.
“You worried so much you followed me?”
“I didn’t follow you.”
“How did you know I was here?”
“You work here.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Trent stepped closer.
Damian shifted half an inch.
That was all.
Trent stopped.
His eyes sharpened.
“Oh, I get it.”
“Tread carefully,” Damian said.
Those were his first words.
Trent laughed.
“You screwing my girlfriend?”
Tessa’s stomach dropped.
Damian remained calm.
“No.”
“Then stay out of our business.”
Damian tilted his head.
“You made it my business when you arrived at my restaurant.”
“I came for her.”
“She isn’t a coat.”
“She’s my girlfriend.”
Damian looked at Tessa.
“Is that a legal ownership category I’m unaware of?”
Under different circumstances, she might have smiled.
Trent did not.
His face reddened.
“Tess, let’s go.”
“No.”
His expression changed.
Not dramatically.
That was the frightening part.
The charming mask remained.
But something behind it disappeared.
“What?”
“I’m staying at work.”
“We need to talk.”
“Not now.”
“I said we need to talk.”
“And I said not now.”
The silence stretched.
Then Trent saw it.
The concealer smear.
His eyes landed on her collar.
Panic flashed across his face.
“You showed him?”
Tessa’s heart began pounding.
“I didn’t show anybody.”
“You showed him what happened between us?”
Damian’s voice cut through the street noise.
“What happened?”
Trent ignored him.
“Tessa, get in the car.”
“No.”
“Tessa.”
“No.”
Trent reached for her wrist.
Damian caught his arm before contact.
Everything stopped.
Damian did not twist.
Did not strike.
He simply held Trent’s forearm.
But Trent’s face went white.
“Let go of me.”
Damian’s voice remained almost gentle.
“She said no.”
“I wasn’t touching you.”
“No.”
Damian released him.
“You were touching someone who works for me after she told you not to.”
Trent rubbed his wrist.
“You think this scares me?”
“Yes,” Damian said.
The lack of arrogance made it worse.
Trent looked at Tessa.
“This is what you want?”
She opened her mouth.
Her voice failed.
Damian did not answer for her.
That mattered too.
Tessa forced the words out.
“I want you to go home.”
“Our home.”
“The apartment.”
His face twisted.
“You ungrateful—”
Damian stepped forward.
Trent stopped.
For one breathtaking second, Tessa thought Damian was going to break the promise within twenty minutes of making it.
Instead, he asked quietly, “What were you about to call her?”
Trent stared.
Damian waited.
“No, please. Finish.”
Trent looked around.
People were watching through Oak Haven’s windows.
Humiliation spread across his face.
And Tessa knew humiliation was gasoline.
He backed away.
“This isn’t over.”
Damian’s eyes darkened.
“It is for today.”
Trent pointed at Tessa.
“You come home tonight, or everything changes.”
Then he walked away.
Tessa watched until he disappeared around the corner.
Her knees weakened.
Damian noticed.
He did not touch her.
“Inside.”
She followed him.
Only after the restaurant door closed did she realize she was shaking violently.
“I made it worse,” she whispered.
Damian looked through the window toward the corner where Trent had vanished.
“No.”
His voice was grim.
“He made it worse.”
That afternoon, Tessa discovered Trent had emptied their joint checking account.
At five-twelve, she received the second surprise.
Her private emergency savings account had also been drained.
And when she called the bank, the representative told her the transfer had been authorized using her password.
A password only one other person knew.
Trent.
Tessa stared at the computer screen.
Fourteen months of escape money.
Gone.
She had $83.17 remaining.
Then her email chimed.
One message.
From Trent.
COME HOME AND WE’LL FIX EVERYTHING.
Tessa read it twice.
Damian appeared behind her.
She had not heard him enter.
His gaze moved from her face to the screen.
“What did he do?”
Tessa closed the laptop.
“Nothing.”
Damian’s jaw tightened.
“Tessa.”
Her eyes filled.
She hated that more than the bruises.
“He took my money.”
“How much?”
“Everything.”
Damian became silent.
Then his phone appeared in his hand.
Tessa stood.
“No.”
He paused.
“Don’t call anyone.”
He looked at her.
“I’m calling my attorney.”
That surprised her.
“What?”
“You expected a gun?”
“Honestly?”
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
For the first time all day, Damian smiled.
It was brief and humorless.
“I promised not to kill him.”
May you like
He dialed.
“I made no promises about destroying him legally.”
