Chapter 3
In the second month of my captivity, Chloe came to see me.
She arrived in a brand-new Chanel dress, her makeup flawless, every inch the pampered princess.
When she saw me standing there in plain loungewear, bare-faced and pale, something like disdain flashed through her eyes.
“Iris, what happened to you?”
She sat down across from me and gracefully lifted the coffee a maid had brought her.
“I heard you haven’t been home in a while. Lucas is practically losing his mind.”
I looked at her and felt nothing but irony.
Lucas, worried?
He was probably hoping I’d never come back, so he could finally make room for himself and her.
“What are you doing here?”
My tone was flat and cold.
Chloe set down her coffee cup and let out a sigh.
“Iris, I know you blame me.”
“But Lucas and I… it wasn’t something we could control.”
“But I never wanted to destroy your marriage.”
I let out a cold laugh.
“Are you done?”
“If you are, then leave.”
Her face tightened.
“Iris, what happened to you?”
“You didn’t used to be like this.”
The old me?
The old me had trusted her with everything. Called her my best friend. Told her every secret.
And what had that gotten me?
She stole my husband, and now she was standing in front of me pretending to be the wounded one.
“Isn’t this exactly what you made me into?”
“Chloe, drop the fake sympathy. It’s disgusting.”
“You!”
Chloe sprang to her feet, breathing hard with rage.
That was when Damon came downstairs.
He walked straight to me, slid an arm around my waist, and kissed my forehead like it was the most natural thing in the world.
“Baby, who upset you?”
That intimate gesture, that soft, possessive nickname made Chloe’s eyes widen instantly.
She stared at us in utter disbelief, pointing at me, too angry to speak properly.
“You… you two…”
Damon didn’t even look at her. He only gazed at me with gentleness.
“Did she upset you?”
“Want me to have her thrown out?”
I looked at Damon, revulsion twisting in my stomach.
He was acting.
Acting for Chloe.
This was his way of claiming me in front of her, telling her that I was his now.
And it was also a warning to me. Don’t expect help from her.
Chloe finally found her voice. She pointed at Damon, her hand shaking.
“Damon! How could you do this to me?”
“She’s my best friend! How could you—”
“We were always just a family arrangement, weren’t we?”
His voice turned cold enough to cut.
“When you got involved with Lucas, did you ever stop to think she was your best friend?”
Chloe went silent, her face changing color by the second.
“And besides, I was never interested in you. You’ve always known that.”
Keeping me tucked against his side, Damon looked at Chloe with naked provocation in his eyes.
“Now I’ve found the woman I do want.”
“Chloe, this is where our engagement ends.”
“From now on, you and I have nothing to do with each other.”
Chloe broke down completely.
Sobbing, she lunged at me, trying to hit me.
“Iris, you bitch! You seduced my fiancé!”
Damon shoved her away in one sharp motion.
Chloe hit the floor in a graceless, humiliating sprawl.
“Get out.”Just two words.
Chloe looked up at him, then at me, her eyes full of venom.
“Fine. Fine. You’ll regret this. Both of you.”
She staggered to her feet and ran out crying.
And just like that, the farce was over.
Damon released me, the gentleness on his face disappearing at once.
“Satisfied?”
I stared at him, not understanding.
“She won’t come here to bother you again.”
“You can stop thinking about asking her for help.”
Of course. That had been his real goal all along.
To cut off every last path of escape.
To make me nothing more than his private possession.
“Damon… you’re a monster.”
He smiled.
“So are you.”
“You were willing to do anything to escape Lucas too, weren’t you?”
I had no answer for that.
He was right.
I had chased this fantasy of love so blindly that I’d thrown myself straight into another hell.
Who could I blame?
No one but myself.
I had been naïve and stupid.
