Her words hit Damian harder than any betrayal ever had.
In that moment, Damian realized he wasn’t watching a performance. He was watching grief. Real, raw grief, the kind that did not care about money, status, or power.
Sophie wasn’t reacting to a CEO.
She was reacting to a human being she could not bear to lose.
And Damian couldn’t take it anymore.
He opened his eyes.
THE SHOCK THAT SILENCED HER
Sophie froze mid-compression, staring at him in disbelief. Her breath caught painfully.
“You’re… alive,” she whispered.
She stumbled backward so quickly she nearly fell over the towels scattered behind her. Her face flushed red with shock and humiliation, as if her body didn’t know whether to cry or scream.
Damian sat up, panic rising now for the first time, real and ugly.
“Sophie,” he said hoarsely. “Wait. I’m sorry.”
But Sophie turned and rushed into the kitchen, one hand pressed to her chest as if her own heart couldn’t keep pace.
Damian followed. He found her leaning against the refrigerator, shaking, breathing hard.
“I’m sorry,” he said again, because it was all he had. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
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