Chapter 4
I was about to leave. Suddenly a large hand grabbed my arm and pulled me into the nearby fire escape. My back pressed against the cold wall. A familiar scent pressed down on me. After a passionate kiss, the person spoke slowly.
“Babe, have you played enough? How was my performance? Every time Bella touches my arm, I have to go home and wash it three times.”
For two whole seconds, my brain stopped working.
Then I looked up and met Damian’s eyes.
Those dark, lazy eyes that had looked so gentle when he called Bella a “random woman,” so cold when he ignored my messages, so infuriatingly convincing when he wrapped an arm around Bella in front of everyone.
Now they were filled with amusement.
I shoved him hard.
“Are you insane?”
Damian let me push him, backing up one step but not letting go of my wrist.
“You just kissed me after hugging another woman.”
“That wasn’t a hug. That was acting.” His mouth twitched. “A very expensive, very disgusting acting assignment.”
I crossed my arms and glared at him.
“You looked pretty sincere.”
He lowered his head and reached into his pocket. A small black voice recorder appeared in his palm.
He pressed play.
Bella’s sweet voice immediately floated out.
“Damian, you’re so amazing. I knew a man like you couldn’t possibly stay with someone like Molly forever.”
Then his own indifferent voice came through.
“Mm.”
Another clip followed.
“I can help you get Dr. Smith. But I want the position by your side. You understand what I mean, right?”
“Say it clearly.”
“I want to replace Molly.”
His voice again, calm as still water.
“That depends on your value.”
I stared at the recorder, my anger stalling mid-breath.
Damian slipped it back into his pocket and finally sighed.
“Happy now?”
I was still angry, but some of the ice in my chest cracked.
“So the yacht, the gifts, the meetings… all of it was bait?”
“Most of it.” He paused. “The part about wanting to take over the family business was real. The part about introducing you to my friends was also real. The part where Bella attached herself to the project like a parasite was unfortunately very real.”
I narrowed my eyes. “And the necklace?”
“That was also real.”
He leaned in, voice low.
“I originally planned to put it on you myself. Then Bella called and said she happened to be at the mall. So I improvised.”
I almost laughed from sheer disbelief.
“You improvised by asking your girlfriend to deliver a ten-million-dollar necklace to the woman trying to steal you?”
“When you say it out loud, it does sound bad.”
“It sounds psychotic.”
Damian’s lips curled slightly. “I learned from the best.”
He reached up and tapped the center of my forehead.
“Who was it that texted, ‘The fish is almost hooked. Proceed’?”
I slapped his hand away.
“That was different.”
“How?”
“Because I was the one in control.”
“And you think you weren’t in control here?”
His tone was infuriatingly calm. I wanted to punch him.
But the truth was, my heart had already stopped bleeding.
Because I knew that look now too. It was the same look Damian had when we first made the plan in the back booth of a quiet café two months ago.
Back when Bella had just stolen Lucas from me.
Back when everyone thought I was the loser.
Back when Bella laughed in my face and said she was only trying to protect me.
That day, I had gone to the café with one goal in mind: to recruit the one man Bella could never resist.
Damian Steele.
The most unattainable man on campus.
Tall, rich, absurdly handsome, heir to the Steel family empire, captain of the tennis club, lead actor in the school play, and the kind of man girls wrote anonymous confession posts about at three in the morning.
He was also Lucas’s half-brother.
No one knew that.
Lucas was the illegitimate son of Damian’s father. It wasn’t public, but I had found out accidentally when I saw an old family photo on Lucas’s phone.
That was why I knew Damian wouldn’t be fond of him.
And that was why I chose him.