“You’ll see.”
* * *
Twenty minutes later,we were standing in an open field, and I had his gun in my hand. “Damien, is this necessary?” I sigh, eyeing the weapon warily.
“For your survival, yes, it is incredibly necessary,” Damien clarifies while he lifts my arms again, his chest pressing up against my back. “We both came too close to dying. If anything happens to me, I need to know that you’ll be able to protect yourself.” I pivot in his arms, and I peer up at him. Damien’s eyes flitter over my face, and he sighs. “Don’t look at me like that, Ezra. I may not always be around to protect you. Turn around.”
I wince when he forces me to turn my back to him. I listen to his guidance as he goes through the steps of posture and aiming. Three hours and many failed attempts later, I had enough, and Damien was getting exceedingly irritable. “I can’t do it!”
“You can do it, just focus on your target.” He snarls through gritted teeth. “Try again.” I grit my teeth and raise the gun, pointing it at the line of cans in front of me. “Suck in a deep breath, keep your hands steady and your eye on the target,” Damien speaks lowly in my ear. “Exhale slowly as you squeeze the trigger.” My finger pulls the trigger, and the gun fires. My ears pop at the loud bang, and I watch, stunned as the empty can flew off the wall with a distinctive ‘clink’ when the bullet hits it.
“I did it.”
Damien smirks, crossing his muscular arms over his chest. “That’s my girl. Now the others.” I turn my attention to the remaining three cans and pull the barrel, chambering another bullet before I aim. Every time I pull the trigger, I see that hitman before my eyes, and I hesitate. “What did I tell you when we first met Ezra…”
I stare at the cans steadily. “If you’re brave enough to pick up a gun with intent to kill, you better be prepared to pull the trigger,” I repeat, and he nods, his unwavering ashen gaze fixed on me. I shove aside my anxiety and pull the trigger shooting down the rest of the cans. I release a slow breath and lower my arm. Damien comes up behind me and drops a kiss on my temple.
“Hesitation is the seed of defeat.” He speaks lowly in my ear, and I lift my eyes to look at him. “There’s no room for uncertainty when you’re staring down the barrel of a gun, pretty girl. You either kill or be killed. Those are the only two choices you have.”
One moment we were staring into each other's eyes, and the next, I was on my back on the floor, naked with Damien leaning over me, my legs on his shoulder while he’s pounding into me ferociously. A soul-baring orgasm tears through me at lightning speed, and I scream so loud my voice hangs in the air.
“Ezra, fuck!” Damien follows, chasing his own release before he collapses on top of me, breathless, our hearts pounding against the others ribcage.
* * *
We spentan incredible three days together after that. It almost felt like the dream I had, excluding the little boy. I was happy, and he seemed to be content in our little bubble as well.
And then we got back to New York, and our bubble of paradise ruptured as quickly as it formed.
I can’t even explain or begin to understand at what point it all went to shit once again. We’ve been back at my parent's place for two days now, and Damien has been very stand-offish. I can feel the tension radiating off of him in waves whenever he’s around me, but he refuses to talk to me about what's troubling him.
“Daddy?” I knock on his door and push it open, hoping to ask him a question about me returning to work. I’m going stir crazy sitting around waiting to be killed. I’m going to die of boredom at this rate. My father isn’t in his study when I walk in. I notice a large envelope on his desk with my name on the front and frown. My curiosity gets the better of me, and I open it and slide out whatever was inside.
Photos. I turn them, and every bit of air escapes my lungs when I see pictures of me naked and bound to a bed…blindfolded and spread out.
“Oh my God,” I recall the day these were taken…by Damien while I was abducted and before we first got intimate. How could he? The thought alone of my father seeing me naked was horrifying, but this…this was uncouth. Hot angry tears burn the back of my eyelids as I grip the envelope and storm over to the guest house where I left Damien.
As soon as I walk in, his eyes lift from his phone, and they crinkle at the sides while he studies me. It doesn’t take a genius to see I was livid. He sits up straight, face grim as we stare at one another. “What’s wrong?” He questions, rising to his feet and steps closer to me when he notices the tears in my eyes. He reaches out to touch my jaw, but I bat his hand away hastily before I slap him hard across the face.
Damien’s eyes flash when they turn to look at me. If I weren’t so livid, I would have been terrified of the menacing look on his face as he steps closer to me. “Ezra, you have five fucking seconds to explain yourself!”
“I only need one.” I hiss back and toss the pictures at him. He catches them and his brows knit tightly, and his jaw clenches when he lowers his gaze and looks at them. I see the realization dawn upon his face, and he looks at me again. “How could you?”
“Ezra.” He reaches for me, but I step away.
“Don’t touch me,” I whisper hoarsely, and Damien frowns in response. “You took photos of me naked, bound to a bed, and sent them to my father. How could you do that?”
Damien’s gaze softens, and he sighs, rubbing his forehead. “It was a request from the client. Hugo wasn’t going to pay the money, so they wanted leverage. They knew your father’s reputation was the most important thing to him— even more so than your life. I did what I had to do.” He explains, and I bite my lip and look at him. “You were nothing but a job to me then, Ezra.”
I wipe away the tears that fell and shake my head. “Yeah, and now I’m nothing more than a shackle around your ankle, right Damien?” I tell him, and he sighs again. “Did you not consider for one-second what I might have felt or what it would have done to me if these photos were leaked to the press?” Damien keeps his gaze on mine for a long moment.
“Ezra I—”
“Stop,” I interrupt him. “I’m done, Damien. I’m tired of constantly being used and lied to by everyone around me. I’m tired of trying to understand what it is that you want from me. You asked me to trust you, and I did, but I was foolish to ever believe a man like you, even more so for allowing myself to fall in love with you, but I’m done being a scapegoat.” I lift my gaze to his and shake my head. “For all of you. I’m done with you and everything else. I can’t do this anymore. I don’t care about the danger to my life. I can’t take much more. I just can’t.” I turn to walk to the door to leave, but Damien grabs my arm and stops me. I look back at him.
“What is it that you want me to say here, Ezra?” He questions coolly. I look up at him and shake my head. “You want me to apologize for doing my job? For saving your life. I didn’t take those pictures to be malicious or to hurt you. You’re alive and breathing today because I took those pictures. They would never have gotten to the press because I knew your father wouldn’t let that happen.”
“That doesn’t make it okay!” I yell at him and yank my arm out of his hold. “I am not a goddamn object you, my father, and everyone else can use as a pawn to get what you want! I am a person. I have feelings, and you had no right to objectify me like that, Damien!” I turn to walk away again, but Damien grabs my arm, yanks me into the bedroom, and slams the door shut before pressing me up against it.