The storm hadn't let up by morning.
Celeste left the Moreau Foundation building with Damien's warning still gnawing at her. She told herself she was being paranoid, that the photograph in the black envelope was just some twisted attempt to scare her. But the streets felt different today — tighter, as if the city itself was watching.
Halfway to her car, she saw him.
Damien, leaning against a black Aston Martin Valhalla at the curb, rain beading on the shoulders of his coat. He didn't wave. He didn't smile. He just opened the passenger door.
"Get in," he said.
She hesitated. "I have a meeting—"
"It's been cancelled." His tone left no room for argument.
Inside the car, the air was warm but tense. Damien's driver pulled away without a word, weaving through the wet streets until the city gave way to the industrial docks.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"To show you why you can't keep pretending you're not involved."
They stopped in front of a warehouse. Inside, the air smelled of oil and saltwater. A man was tied to a chair in the center of the room, his head hanging low. Two others stood nearby — strangers, but with the same cold, watchful eyes as the man who had delivered the envelope.
Damien walked straight to the chair, tilting the prisoner's chin up with one hand. "This man followed you last night," he said without looking at her. "He works for someone who thinks you're leverage."
Celeste's stomach dropped. "Leverage for what?"
Damien finally turned to her, and in his eyes she saw something she couldn't name — not softness, not cruelty, but a dangerous certainty.
"For me."
The prisoner groaned, muttering something in a language she didn't understand. Damien's jaw tightened. He said a single word to the men beside him, and they dragged the prisoner away into the shadows.
Celeste's voice was barely a whisper. "What are you going to do to him?"
Damien stepped closer, his presence filling the space between them. "You don't want to know. What you do need to know is this — from now on, you don't go anywhere without me knowing. Not because I want to control you…" He paused, his gaze locking on hers. "…but because I'm the only thing keeping you alive."
And in that moment, Celeste realized the truth: she wasn't just in Damien's world anymore. She was trapped in it.