đź“– The Billionaire's Dark Secret
Chapter Six – The Forbidden Truth
Zoey's hands still shook as she cleaned a shard of glass from her arm. A thin red line marred her skin, but the sting was nothing compared to the burn in her chest.
Damian wasn't human.
She didn't know what he was, but every instinct screamed that truth now. No man moved like that. No man's eyes glowed with molten gold. And no man shattered lightbulbs just by existing.
Zoey wrapped the cut with a napkin and stood in the ruined breakfast room, heart pounding. She had two choices: she could leave, as Damian demanded, or she could face the truth head-on.
And Zoey Hart had never been the type to run.
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That afternoon, when Damian disappeared into one of his endless "meetings," Zoey explored. The mansion was a labyrinth of silent halls, closed doors, and portraits of long-dead men who all bore Damian's impossible eyes.
Her footsteps echoed as she pushed open the heavy library doors again. The air here was thick, humming with the same strange energy she'd felt the night before. Shadows clung to the corners as though alive.
She approached the desk where Damian had first warned her away. Papers were scattered, written in a language she didn't recognize—elegant, jagged script that seemed to shift when she stared too long. A leather-bound journal lay open, its ink faded but legible.
She read the first line aloud under her breath:
"The curse binds me still. Centuries of hunger, centuries of shadows. The blood of my enemies is never enough."
Zoey froze. Centuries. Hunger. Blood.
Her lips parted in shock as the realization hit her like a strike of lightning. Damian wasn't just powerful. He wasn't just different.
He was immortal.
The air in the library stirred violently, as though the room itself resented her discovery. The candles flickered, shadows twisting into unnatural shapes. Zoey's pulse thundered as she stumbled back—straight into a solid chest.
A familiar one.
"Curiosity," Damian's voice growled low in her ear, dangerous and silken all at once, "will be the end of you, Zoey."
She spun, heart leaping, and found him standing far too close. His eyes weren't hiding now; they burned gold, fierce and unearthly, locking her in place.
"You've been alive for…" she whispered, breathless. "For centuries."
Damian's lips pressed into a grim line. "Longer than you can comprehend. Longer than I care to remember."
Her mind reeled, but her heart—the traitor—beat harder, faster, pulling her toward him. "You should terrify me."
"And do I?" His question was sharp, but his eyes… his eyes searched hers with something fragile, almost human.
Zoey swallowed hard, her voice shaking. "Yes. And no. That's the problem."
For the first time, Damian's mask slipped fully. His hand lifted, brushing a strand of hair from her face with a touch so tender it contradicted everything monstrous about him.
"You are fire in a world of ash, Zoey Hart," he murmured. "And I… I am already burning."
Before she could respond, a violent crash split the air outside the library. Shouts echoed through the halls—guards, panicked, calling Damian's name.
His expression hardened instantly, the vulnerability gone. "Stay here," he commanded, his voice once again all steel and darkness.
But Zoey's instincts told her one thing: whatever waited outside wasn't just danger for Damian. It was danger for her, too.
And no part of her was willing to stay behind anymore.
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