Chapter 5 Shadows and Smoke

Amara woke to the sound of thunder.

Rain battered the windows like fists, and the storm outside mirrored the storm in her head.

She hadn't slept much.

Not after the third floor.

Not after the name Eloise was etched permanently into her thoughts.

Not after Damien looked at her like he hated her for opening a door that was never meant to be opened.

She ran a hand through her tangled hair and got up.

The mansion was quiet. Too quiet.

Until-

Bang!

The sound came from downstairs. Sharp. Urgent.

She wrapped a shawl around her shoulders and moved toward the main staircase.

What she saw made her stop cold.

Damien stood in the foyer, half-dressed in a black shirt, blood dripping from his knuckles. A man in a leather jacket lay groaning on the marble floor, clutching his jaw.

Two security guards rushed in behind him.

"I told you to watch the perimeter," Damien barked. "How the hell did he get in?"

The guard stammered. "We-we don't know, sir. He bypassed the south fence-"

"I don't care how," Damien snapped. "If he gets near her again, shoot him."

Amara's breath caught.

Her?

She stepped into view, her voice steady despite the way her heart pounded. "What's going on?"

Damien looked up, as if he hadn't realized she was watching.

"This man was looking for you," he said simply.

The man on the floor spat blood. "She knows who I am."

Amara's eyes locked on him-and everything inside her went still.

No.

Not here.

Not now.

His face was bruised, but still recognizable. She hadn't seen him in over a year.

But she'd never forget him.

Jax.

Her brother's old friend. A man who once promised to protect her... and instead helped destroy everything.

"I don't know him," she said coldly.

Jax laughed bitterly. "So now you're Mrs. Blackwood? You think that changes what you did?"

Damien stepped forward. "You have ten seconds to leave this house before I make you disappear."

Jax wiped his mouth. "She's not who you think she is. Ask her about the fire. Ask her about her real name."

Damien didn't flinch. "Five seconds."

Jax's eyes didn't leave hers. "You can't run forever, Aria."

Then security dragged him out into the storm, leaving silence in his wake.

Amara stood frozen. Damien didn't say a word. Didn't move.

Until she did.

"I need to explain," she whispered.

"No," he said. "You need to start explaining."

She turned her face away. "My real name is Aria Hale. Amara was my mother's name. I changed it after the accident. After everything fell apart."

"What accident?"

She looked at him, and for once, the walls between them began to crack.

"My father was a surgeon. Respected. Powerful. Until someone framed him for a drug scandal he had nothing to do with. My family's name was destroyed overnight. He died from the stress. My mother a few months later. The house burned down after someone tried to break in-maybe to silence us, maybe to bury evidence. I ran. Changed my name. Hid."

Damien's jaw tightened. "Why come to me?"

"Because you were the one person powerful enough to keep me hidden," she said, her voice trembling now. "And I needed the money to settle the last of my father's hospital bills."

Silence stretched like a blade between them.

"You lied to me," he said finally.

"We both did."

He looked at her now like he was seeing her for the first time-not as the woman in the wedding contract, not as the trophy wife in high heels-but as someone fractured and fierce.

"You shouldn't have gone to the third floor," he said softly.

"And you shouldn't have let me think you didn't bleed," she replied.

Their eyes held. The storm howled louder. Something passed between them-quiet, sharp, undeniable.

"You'll stay in this house until I figure out who that man was working for," he said.

"You're protecting me now?"

"I'm protecting my investment," he said stiffly. Then added, "And maybe... something more."

She blinked, stunned.

But he was already walking away, shoulders rigid, voice low.

"And for the record," he said before disappearing up the stairs, "Jax was wrong about one thing. I don't care who you were. I care who you are now."

And just like that...

The contract wasn't the only thing keeping them bound anymore.