Chapter 3

Damian's relentless pacing stopped. He turned to me, a flicker of something unreadable in his eyes. Surprise? I had expected him to be pleased, to see my quick agreement as the obedience he'd cultivated for seven years. But his jaw was tight, his lips pressed into a thin line.

"You could say no," he said, his voice strangely tight.

For a wild, insane moment, I almost did. The word was on the tip of my tongue, a rebellion born of heartbreak. But what would happen then? He would find another way. He would find another girl. And I... I would be cast out, back into the darkness he'd plucked me from, but this time with no hope and a target on my back. I was his possession. A possession that had outlived its primary usefulness.

He took a step towards me, his hand reaching out as if to touch my face. It was a familiar gesture, one that used to make my heart flutter.

This time, I took a step back.

His hand froze in mid-air.

"I am your executive assistant, Mr. Benjamin," I said, my voice flat and professional, a tone I usually reserved for his business dealings. "You give an order, I execute it. That is the arrangement."

His eyes narrowed, studying me as if he were seeing me for the first time. The silence stretched, thick with unspoken words. I could feel his gaze on me, analytical and cold, stripping away the years of shared history, of shared beds, leaving only the raw, transactional nature of our relationship.

Finally, he let out a slow breath. "Fine."

He walked over to me, his movements once again fluid and confident. He stood behind me, his hands settling on my shoulders. I felt the warmth of his palms through the thin silk of my robe, a phantom of an intimacy that was now dead.

I flinched, my muscles tensing involuntarily. His grip tightened for a second, a silent command to be still.

"It's just a role, Alexa," he murmured, his voice now smooth and persuasive, the voice he used to close deals and bend people to his will. "Think of it as acting. Earl is just a mark. This doesn't change anything between us."

A bitter laugh threatened to bubble up my throat. Doesn't change anything? It had changed everything.

"Once this is done," he continued, his fingers tracing the line of my collarbone, "you can have anything you want. That villa in Santorini you liked? It's yours. The new collection from Van Cleef? I'll buy it all for you."

I lifted my head, meeting his gaze in the reflection of the dark window. "Thank you, Mr. Benjamin," I said, my voice empty. "I will perform my duties to the best of my ability."

The warmth of his body behind me, a comfort I had sought for years, now felt like a cage. The familiar scent of his cologne, sandalwood and something uniquely him, was suffocating.

I pulled away and walked towards the door, needing to escape the cloying intimacy of the room.

"Alexa."

His voice stopped me at the threshold. It was the way he said my name, the same low, intimate tone he used in the dark, right before he would pull me against him.

I turned. He was standing by the bed, a dark silhouette against the glittering cityscape. The shadows hid his expression, but I could feel his gaze, intense and heavy.

"I hope... when this is over," he said slowly, "you find someone who makes you happy." His voice was soft, almost gentle. "We can part on good terms. A clean break."

A clean break. After seven years of being his, of having my life entwined with his so completely that I didn't know where he ended and I began.

I thought of the day he'd found me, a broken thing in a dirty basement. He had been my savior, my god. From the very beginning, I knew we were from different worlds. He was the sun, and I was a shadow, lucky to even exist in his light. Every day I had spent with him, every touch, every shared meal, had felt like a stolen gift. Something I didn't deserve but was greedy enough to take.

I had always known this day might come. I just never thought it would hurt this much.

I forced my lips into a smile, a brittle, cracking thing. "Of course, Damian. Thank you."