Devil's bargain
After Damien left the office, Eva's lips curled into a sweet smile. She kicked off her shoes and wandered barefoot across the vast space, twirling in delight. Soon, she was dancing in playful circles, her laughter filling the air. When she finally collapsed onto the soft cushions, she lay there for a moment, soaking in the bliss, before springing up and dashing into the inner chamber.
The plush bed felt like a cloud beneath her, and within minutes, she drifted into dreamland. Two hours later, her alarm jarred her awake. Rubbing her eyes, she returned to the office, only to find Damien still gone. Gathering her things, she exited through his private elevator and left the building, her smile never fading.
During the drive home, she caught sight of a candy shop and couldn't resist. "Stop here," she told the driver before hopping out. Inside, she picked up candies, chocolates, and cookies, each treat making her think of Damien. She spotted a beautiful, delicately wrapped candy and smiled to herself, recalling his deep masculine voice, his scent, his lips, and the intoxicating pull of his presence.
With her little shopping bag in hand, she returned to the car and continued home, completely unaware that trouble was already waiting there, patiently, for her arrival.
The ride back from the office was quiet, the soft hum of the car engine lulling Eva into a daze. She was already replaying the day in her head when the vehicle slowed in front of the gates to Damien's estate.
Just as the driver was about to roll forward, her phone buzzed violently in her hand. She glanced at the screen, and froze.
💌Victor: Come down from that car right now and meet me across the street, or I swear I'll have that house burned to the ground.
Her breath caught.
Without thinking, Eva's fingers fumbled with the door handle. "Stop here," she told the driver quickly, her voice tight. She slipped out before the car could move again, hurrying across the road with her pulse hammering in her ears.
Victor was there, leaning against his sleek black car, his jaw tight, eyes blazing with barely contained anger. And seeing Victor after this long cool cozy moments with Damien felt like jacking up from a paradise and being throwned into a horrible nightmare.
The moment he saw her, he yanked the passenger door open, sliding into his seat without a word. The gesture was sharp, almost mechanical.
Eva hesitated, then quietly slipped into the passenger side.
The silence inside the car was suffocating. Victor's gaze was fixed on her, a hard, disbelieving stare that made her shift uncomfortably.
"Care to explain," he said at last, his voice cold, "what you're doing in your boss's house?"
Eva's hands twisted in her lap, her eyes falling to her fingers instead of meeting his.
Victor leaned closer, his tone sharpening. "Ana, tell me, are you by chance the rumored secret wife of Damien Lopez?"
The question made her heart jolt. She didn't answer, but she didn't deny it either. Her silence spoke louder than words.
And Victor almost went insane, that was the biggest joke life has ever thrown at him, the feeling and thought of being stolen from because of never being enough, and the thought that Damien his long time rival was the one married to eva almost made him run buncas.
Ever since the drama at the party, Victor had been tailing her. He had her followed, and was stunned to find her living in this neighborhood, in the most expensive house on the block. As if that was not enough, she went to work in a different car almost every day. Intrigued, he dug for information about the property's real owner, but came up empty-handed. He started to wonder if she had struck it rich somehow. But his curiosity turned to shock a few days later, when he saw Damien step out of a car and walk into the house. The thought that Eva might actually agree to live with Damien gnawed at him, unsettling him more than he cared to admit.
He had tried searching for Bob, her brother, or even her mother, anything he could use to threaten her, but came up with nothing. Then, a memory hit him. Back at the party, he'd overheard whispers that the party was in fact meant to announce the new Mrs. Lopez. But when he'd seen Damien kissing Seraphina that night, he'd assumed she was the bride-to-be, and he had even used that to mock Eva.
But now he wasn't so sure anymore, as curiosity gnawed at him, and he rushed to the internet. Only two photos of Damien had been released so far, unsurprising, given Damien's dislike for cameras. One was taken in Mexico, showing him carrying a woman who was, without a doubt, Eva. The second was even more damning, the release of his marriage certificate. Damien Lopez was, indeed, married, and the silhouette of his rumored wife was unmistakably Eva. He knew it in his gut.
He couldn't explain it, like he was trapped in a never-ending loop, always chasing, never catching up. No matter how fast he ran, Damien was always one step ahead.
God, he hated him. Damien had everything anyone could possibly dream of power, wealth, a flawless face and body, Eva's love, and now, he had her as his wife?
Never.
Victor's chest rose sharply, his expression morphing from disbelief to fury. "What?" His voice cracked with a bitter edge. "You couldn't marry me, but you went ahead and married him?"
His hands clenched on the steering wheel as if to keep himself from doing something rash. "Ana," he almost spat her name, "you really married him?"
The look in his eyes was wild, a mix of betrayal, shock, and something darker that made the air in the car feel dangerously thin.
Eva finally forced herself to look at him. "Victor, it's not what you think."
"Not what I think?" Victor repeated, his voice cracking with something between rage and despair. "Ana, you really went ahead to challenge me? You never once took me seriously, did you? I must have been nothing, some lowly fool to you, for you to marry him right after I asked you to marry me!" His eyes glistened, the anger fighting with hurt. "Ana, no one has ever betrayed me like this. No one! And I'm not going to accept it. I swear with everything in me, I will fight back. I will get back at you and your precious boss for playing with me like this! My emotions, they must have meant nothing to you."
Her chest rose and fell sharply. "And you?" she blurted. "You always act like you're the only one who's right about everything. What about you, Victor? Do you think it's right to keep chasing a target who's already completed her mission with you Mafia group? Do you think it's right to invade my space and impose yourself on me? Do you think it's okay to use my sick mother and my brother to play with my emotions?"
He froze, but she didn't stop.
"You could've just given me that money, but no. You had to hang it over my head, make it a condition that I marry you first! And then, Damian came. He paid for my mom's surgery."
Victor's head snapped toward her. "He did what?!"
"Yes!" she shot back, her voice trembling. "And that's the reason I'm married to him."
"What? You'd agree to marry him for your mom's surgery but couldn't do the same with me?"
"He didn't ask for anything in exchange, Victor. He didn't play with my emotions like you did. He just, put my mom's life first."
"It's the same, Ana! Don't paint him as some saint. How could you just accept him because of that? Fine, how much did he spend? Tell me, I'll return every cent. Divorce him, Ana. As long as you divorce him, everything will be fine."
"You must be out of your mind," she snapped. "And yes, I'm not divorcing him!"
"Really? You won't divorce him? Fine then." He pulled out his phone, his fingers flying over the screen.
"You have him on sight? Don't lose him, make sure to take him down!" he yelled into the phone.
Her heart lurched. "Victor!" she gasped, snatching the phone from his hand and ending the call. "Don't you dare do anything to him, or I'll come for you myself!"
He laughed bitterly. "Really? So now you're siding with him? Putting him first in everything? Protecting him? while I'm the villain? Do you even know what he's been doing to my company? Thanks to him, I lost a deal worth millions. Ana, I might lose my position as CEO of Larvae Group if I can't stop him, and you expect me to just sit and watch him destroy me? He wants to take everything from me Ana, and yet no one cares about me, no one, instead you are taking sides. Do you know what he did to the contract I got with the Whitehouse? I don't know how he did it, but he sabotaged it!"
Her breath slowed, her eyes narrowing slightly. "You're right. He is attacking your company. And I think he wants to bring it down completely."
His gaze sharpened. "How do you know that?"
"I saw the documents, in his private room."
"Private room?" His lips curved into something dangerous. "Oh, wait. You're his wife now. You live in his space. Which means you have direct access to him." He leaned closer, his voice dropping. "Eva, I can let this slide if you get me a certain document from him. With that, I can save my company. And I swear, I won't lay a finger on him."
"What?" she recoiled. "You want me to steal from Damian? Again? Hell no."
"Fine then," Victor said, cold steel returning to his voice. "I'll get my company back the only way I can." He lifted his phone again, his thumb hovering over the screen.
"Stop!" Eva's scream cracked through the air, her hand flying to his wrist. Her chest heaved as she glared at him, torn between fury and desperation.