Chapter 2 No.2

Isobel Stout POV

I didn't walk away from the ballroom; I fled. The applause for my father and his new bride roared behind me like a landslide, threatening to bury me alive. My hand throbbed where Janiyah's heel had crushed it, but the pain in my chest was far worse. It was a hollow, gaping wound where my dignity used to be.

Tears blurred my vision as I navigated the gilded corridors, desperate for an exit, for air, for anything that didn't smell of expensive lilies and betrayal. I wasn't looking where I was going. I turned a sharp corner near the side exit and collided hard with a wall of solid black fabric.

The impact jarred the breath from my lungs. The half-empty glass of champagne I was still clutching-God knows why-tipped forward, splashing amber liquid down the front of an immaculate, bespoke suit.

"I-I'm so sorry," I stammered, looking up in horror.

The apology died in my throat.

The man standing before me wasn't one of the New York soldiers I was used to. He was taller, broader, and radiated a kind of cold, lethal stillness that made the air temperature drop. He had hair the color of midnight and eyes like shattered ice.

Damien Flynn. The Don of the Chicago Outfit.

Panic flared in my gut. Spilling a drink on a man of his rank could get a soldier killed, let alone a Capo's daughter who had just been publicly shamed.

But Damien didn't shout. He didn't even look at the stain on his lapel. His icy gaze drifted over my head, piercing through the open doors of the ballroom to where my father, Elroy, was laughing with a glass of scotch in his hand, oblivious to the wreckage of his own family.

"Pathetic," Damien murmured. The word was soft, but it carried the weight of a gavel striking a sounding block.

He finally looked down at me. There was no pity in his eyes, only a clinical, terrifying assessment.

"A Capo who allows his own blood to be humiliated in public has already lost his territory," he said, his voice a low rumble that vibrated in my bones. "He just doesn't know it yet."

The words struck me harder than Janiyah's slap. For years, I had told myself my father was just busy, stressed, grieving. But this stranger, this predator from Chicago, saw the truth in a single glance. My father wasn't grieving. He was weak.

Damien stepped around me as if I were nothing more than a piece of furniture and headed toward the terrace doors.

I stood frozen for a heartbeat. Then, a strange, dark heat curled in my stomach. It was the heat of a bridge beginning to burn.

My father cared about two things: his reputation and his assets. And as his only daughter, a virgin intended for a strategic marriage alliance, I was his most valuable asset.

I turned and followed Damien Flynn.

The terrace was bathed in the cool glow of the city lights. Damien stood by the stone railing, lighting a cigarette. The flame illuminated the sharp angles of his face, casting him in shadow and fire.

"You're persistent," he said without turning around. Smoke curled from his lips. "Or stupid."

"You think my father is weak," I said, my voice trembling not with fear, but with adrenaline.

Damien turned slowly, resting his elbows on the railing. He looked at me with mild amusement, like a wolf watching a rabbit try to bare its teeth. "I don't *think* anything, Miss Stout. I observe."

I stepped closer. The wind whipped my hair across my face, but I didn't brush it away. I needed him to see me. Not as Elroy's daughter, but as the instrument of his ruin.

"He plans to sell me," I whispered, the words tasting like bile. "To the highest bidder. To solidify a treaty. That's all I am to him. A bargaining chip."

Damien's eyes narrowed slightly. "And you're telling me this because?"

"Because I want to take that away from him." I closed the distance between us until I could smell the tobacco and the dangerous, masculine scent of him. "You despise him. I saw it in your eyes. So help me destroy what he values most."

Silence stretched between us, heavy and electric. Damien dropped his cigarette and crushed it under his polished shoe. He reached out, his large hand wrapping around my throat. He didn't squeeze, but the threat was there. His thumb traced the pulse hammering frantically against my skin.

"You're asking for a devil's bargain, little girl," he warned, his voice dropping to a rough whisper. "If you walk through this door with me, there is no going back. You will be ruined."

"Good," I breathed, leaning into his touch. "Ruin me."

Something dark flared in his eyes-a spark of hunger that mirrored my own desperation. He didn't say another word. He simply released my throat, grabbed my hand, and pulled me toward the private elevators.

The ride up to the penthouse was a blur of silence and escalating heartbeats. When the doors opened to his suite, the city of New York sprawled below us through floor-to-ceiling windows, a glittering ocean of indifference.

Damien didn't turn on the lights. He led me to the center of the room, his grip on my hand tightening.

"Last chance," he growled.

I reached up and unzipped my dress. It pooled at my feet, a pile of expensive silk that felt like a shackle falling away.

Damien's gaze raked over me, possessive and intense. He didn't offer gentleness. He didn't offer love. He offered exactly what I asked for: a weapon.

He kissed me then, hard and demanding, tasting of smoke and champagne. I kissed him back with all the fury I had suppressed for ten years. When he lifted me up and carried me to the dark leather sofa, I didn't close my eyes. I watched the lights of the city blur as I surrendered my future, my name, and my father's honor to the enemy.

I was burning myself to ash, just as I promised. And God, it felt like freedom.