Chapter 5 His Secrets, Her War

Two Years Ago - The Night Everything Ended

Ariella stood on that stage with a steel smile and a heart breaking inside her.

The Cross-Blake merger was supposed to be the biggest corporate deal of the decade. A power play of epic proportions. The moment she and Damien would rule the city together - partners in more ways than one.

Instead, she'd watched as Damien walked away.

No explanation. No warning.

Just vanished into the night like a ghost with her heart in his hand.

He let her burn.

And she had vowed never to forgive him.

---

Present Day - 9:02 AM, Ariella's Office

She didn't sleep the night before.

Every word Damien said haunted her - "Because someone threatened your life if I didn't walk away."

It didn't make sense. Damien was ruthless, cunning, a shark in the boardroom. But protective?

Of her?

She opened her private terminal and keyed into a system only four people in the country had access to. The logs from two years ago. Merger files. Investor meetings. Staff changes. Surveillance footage.

She needed proof.

She needed truth.

And she needed it before her heart betrayed her again.

---

9:41 AM - Cross Global, Damien's Office

Damien Cross stared at the encrypted message flashing across his screen.

PHASE TWO INITIATED.

PROTECT HER.

ELIMINATE WITNESSES.

- Z.

His jaw clenched.

Z was moving again.

That meant time was running out.

He tapped a button. A private line rang.

"Alexei. Find the surveillance footage from June 12th, two years ago. Blake HQ rooftop. There's something I missed."

The Russian voice on the other end replied without emotion. "You never miss anything."

"I missed her," Damien said quietly.

---

12:00 PM - The Past Resurfaces

Ariella watched the footage five times.

Then a sixth.

June 12th. Two years ago. 11:48 PM. Rooftop of Blake Tower.

Damien was there.

But he wasn't alone.

A man with a scar down his jaw - the same man who stood at Ariella's charity gala last month, pretending to be a UN donor. She paused the video. Zoomed in.

Scar Man whispered something into Damien's ear.

Damien stiffened.

Then walked away.

Just like that.

Just like that night.

Her breath caught.

He wasn't lying.

---

1:02 PM - She Confronts Him

Ariella stormed into his office.

"Tell me who he is," she demanded, slamming the image down. "The man on the roof. The one who made you leave me."

Damien's eyes darkened.

"You found that fast."

"I'm not your average heiress," she snapped.

"I never thought you were," he said quietly.

"Tell me his name."

Damien folded his hands. "Zakharov."

"Russian?"

"Former FSB. Now freelance asset for corporate sabotage syndicates."

"What did he want?"

Damien looked at her for a long time. "You dead."

Her stomach dropped.

"He said if I didn't walk away from the merger - if I didn't let you fall publicly - you'd end up in a body bag. He showed me pictures, Ari. Your driver's schedule. Your apartment blueprint. Your mother's hospital wing. He had eyes everywhere."

Ariella swallowed.

"All this time... you let me hate you."

"Because it was safer than the truth."

She staggered backward. "And now? You think it's safe to tell me?"

"No. But you deserve to know why I broke you."

Silence.

She turned, trembling.

He didn't follow her.

Again.

---

5:00 PM - Jules' Apartment

Jules handed her wine, curled her legs under herself on the velvet couch.

"So let me get this straight," Jules said, eyes wide. "Your ex-fiancé didn't betray you because he wanted revenge, but because some Russian psycho threatened your life?"

"Yes."

"And now he's telling you two years later because the psycho is... back?"

"Yes."

"And you slept with him before all of this came to light?"

Ariella groaned. "Please don't remind me."

Jules grinned. "Girl, your life is a Netflix original."

Ariella stared into her glass.

"I don't know whether to hate him more... or forgive him."

Jules leaned in. "The real question is: Do you still love him?"

---

6:37 PM - Flashback: Three Years Ago

Rain lashed the rooftop. Her champagne glass shook in her hand.

"I don't want just a merger, Damien," she'd said that night. "I want everything. I want blood and power and passion. I want to ruin the world with you, and then rebuild it."

Damien had smiled.

"You want to ruin the world?"

"With you? Absolutely."

He kissed her then.

Hard. Cold. Wet with rain and lust and promise.

"I'll ruin anything for you," he whispered.

---

7:01 PM - Present Day

Ariella stood on her balcony, phone trembling in her hand.

She dialed him.

He answered on the first ring.

"Meet me," she said. "Midnight. Same rooftop. We end this. Or start it again."

He didn't hesitate. "I'll be there."

---

Midnight - Blake Tower Rooftop

Wind whipped through her coat.

Damien waited by the ledge, in all black, moonlight sharpening the edges of him.

"You came," he said.

She walked toward him. "I almost didn't."

He smiled faintly. "You always do the hard thing."

"Because I believe in pain," she said. "It's honest."

"And what about pleasure?"

She looked him straight in the eyes.

"That's where the lies hide."

His expression faltered.

"I hated you," she said. "I hated you for what you did. I built an empire out of spite. Slept with investors just to erase the way you touched me."

He flinched.

"But I never stopped wondering why you left."

Damien stepped forward. "And now?"

"Now I know."

She paused.

"And now I'm angry."

He blinked.

"Not because you tried to protect me. But because you never gave me a choice."

She slapped him.

Then kissed him.

Then pulled back before he could deepen it.

"I don't forgive you," she whispered. "But I'm not done with you either."

He touched his lip, where her kiss had burned.

"Does that mean war?"

Her eyes gleamed.

"It means we fight together now."