"There you are," Damian said, his eyes crinkling in that way she used to find so charming. Now, it looked like a predator's grimace. "You look stunning tonight."
He reached for her hand, his fingers warm and familiar as they laced with hers. A jolt of revulsion, so strong it was almost a physical shock, shot up her arm. His touch felt like a snake coiling around her skin. She fought the urge to gag, to snatch her hand away and run.
Instead, she smiled. It was a brittle, fragile thing, but in the dim light of the hallway, it passed.
The ride down in the elevator was silent. The drive to the restaurant was not.
Damian talked about their future. Summer in the Hamptons. Skiing in Aspen over Christmas. A trip to the Amalfi Coast next spring. Every word, every shared dream he painted, was a new twist of the knife, a mocking reminder of her own stupidity.
She nodded and smiled, making the right noises at the right times. "That sounds wonderful, darling."
Her mind was miles away, racing, trapped in a frantic loop. The video. Where was the video? On a hard drive? In the cloud? How could she get it? How could she destroy it?
At the restaurant, the food was exquisite, but it tasted like ash in her mouth. She pushed a piece of seared tuna around her plate, the knot of nausea in her stomach tightening with every passing second.
"Everything okay?" Damian asked, his brow furrowed with perfect, practiced concern. "You've barely touched your food."
"I think I'm just a little jet-lagged from the Paris trip," she lied, the words feeling clumsy and foreign on her tongue. "My head is pounding."
"We should go home," he said immediately, signaling for the check. "You need to rest."
The relief that washed over her was so immense it almost made her dizzy. She just had to get through a few more hours of this charade.
Back in the apartment, the glittering view of the city felt like a mockery. As Damian poured them both a glass of water, her phone buzzed on the counter.
The screen lit up: Dad.
Seeing the name, a raw, desperate wave of love and guilt crashed over her. Her vision blurred. She snatched the phone, turning away from Damian before he could see the tears welling in her eyes.
"I'll just take this on the balcony," she said, her voice tight.
He nodded, already distracted by a notification on his own phone.
The cold night air hit her face, a welcome shock. She swiped to answer.
"Hi, sweetheart," her father's voice, warm and kind, filled her ear. He asked about her trip, about her day. Then, his voice filled with an almost boyish excitement. "Just a few more weeks until the big 6-0. Are you ready for my party?"
The birthday gala. The place where Damian planned to detonate her life and her family's reputation. A hand of ice squeezed her heart, so tight she couldn't breathe.
"Of course, Dad," she managed to say, her voice miraculously steady.
He sighed, the sound heavy with fatigue. "This business with the warehouse fire... it's a mess. A huge loss. But don't you worry about a thing, Julia. I'll handle it. Everything will be fine."
His strength, his unwavering need to protect her even when he was the one under attack, shattered the last of her composure. She was the reason for this. Her blindness, her trust in a monster, had brought this danger to his door.
After they hung up, she stood in the wind, silent tears streaming down her face. She didn't let them fall for long. She scrubbed them away with a vicious anger. The grief was still there, a gaping wound, but something else was growing in its place: a cold, hard resolve.
She had to get out of this apartment. Tonight. She needed to be somewhere safe, somewhere she could think. She needed to get back to the family estate on Long Island.
But she couldn't just run. He would get suspicious. She needed a reason, a good one.
She walked back into the living room, carefully arranging her features into an expression of quiet distress.
Damian looked up from his phone. "Everything okay with your father?"
She didn't answer right away, letting the silence stretch. Finally, she looked at him, her eyes wide and troubled. "Damian... I was just thinking. Are we moving too fast?"
He blinked, clearly thrown. This was not a conversation he had anticipated.
She pressed on, dredging up a real, existing wound and twisting it to her purpose. "It's just... your mother. Eleanor. She's never liked me. She thinks I'm not good enough for you." This was true. Eleanor Knight had always treated her with a barely veiled disdain. It made the lie perfect.
"I feel so much pressure," she continued, letting her voice tremble. "I think... I think I need a little space. Some time to think about us." She looked down at her hands. "I want to go home for a few days. Just to clear my head."
His eyes narrowed for a fraction of a second, a flicker of calculation in their depths. But it was gone as quickly as it appeared, replaced by a look of gentle understanding, tinged with hurt. It was a masterful performance.
"Of course, darling," he said softly. "I understand. I'll talk to my mother. We'll sort this out." He was playing the part of the wounded but supportive partner flawlessly. It made her skin crawl.
"I'll have my driver take you out to Long Island first thing in the morning," he offered.
"Thank you," she whispered. She couldn't bear to be in the same room with him for another second. "I'm really tired. I think I'll go to bed."
She walked to the bedroom, her legs feeling like lead. She closed the door behind her and, for the first time in three years, turned the lock. The click echoed in the silent room.
Her back slid down the cool wood of the door until she was slumped on the floor.
The first step was done. She was getting out. But the exhaustion that hit her was profound, a soul-deep weariness. She curled into a ball on the plush carpet, the room spinning around her.
She didn't sleep. All night, his words from the study played over and over in her head.
A spoiled, stupid girl.
He was wrong. The girl he thought he knew, the naive Julia Whitney, was gone. She had died tonight in the hallway outside his study.
She had to get that video.
Whatever it took.
