Chapter 11 - The Monster in the Dark
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The name echoed off the concrete walls like a curse. Tyler Bennett. The man who had terrorized my past was actively hunting me in my present. He wasn't just a mid-level contractor; he had orchestrated a massive betrayal from inside Damian’s fortress.
"Tyler Bennett," Damian repeated the name softly, tasting the absolute venom of it. He stood up slowly, looking down at Victor with eyes entirely devoid of humanity. "You sold the safety of my home to an abusive coward from Milwaukee for the promise of a promotion."
"It was just business!" Victor screamed, thrashing against the heavy restraints. "She’s a nobody! You are going to burn this entire empire to the ground for a woman who scrubs toilets!"
Damian didn't respond with words. He moved with a sudden, explosive violence that made me flinch.
He grabbed the heavy metal folding chair sitting nearby and swung it brutally across Victor’s legs. The sickening sound of snapping bone echoed violently in the small room. Victor shrieked in absolute agony, his arrogant facade shattering completely into pathetic, sobbing terror.
"She is my queen," Damian roared, the beast entirely unleashed. He grabbed Victor by the lapels of his ruined tuxedo, pulling his face close. "And you are the filth I scrape off my shoes."
I watched the violence unfold, my heart hammering a frantic rhythm. A part of me, the quiet, submissive maid I used to be, wanted to run from the brutality. But the woman I had become, the woman who had lived in terror of shadows for years, watched the traitor suffer with a cold, terrifying satisfaction.
"Where is Tyler Bennett?" Damian demanded, dropping the weeping estate manager back into the chair.
"I don't know!" Victor sobbed, coughing up blood. "He only communicates through encrypted burner phones! I swear to God, I don't know where he is!"
Gabriel stepped forward out of the shadows. "He’s telling the truth, Boss. Men like Tyler don't give their coordinates to disposable rats."
Damian stared at the broken man in the chair for a long, quiet moment. Then, he turned to Gabriel.
"Take out the trash," Damian ordered coldly. "And make sure the Volkovs find the pieces."
He turned away from the blood and the screaming, walking back toward me. He didn't try to hide his stained hands. He stood before me, a beautiful, terrifying monster who had just ripped a man apart for betraying me.
"Are you afraid of me, Harper?" Damian asked softly, his chest heaving slightly.
May you like
I looked into his dark eyes, seeing the desperate fear that his violence had pushed me away. I reached out, my small, pristine hands wrapping around his bloodied ones.
"I am only afraid of what I would do if I ever lost you," I whispered.
