Chapter 71

Damon

I didn’t stop until I reached my room. The door slammed behind me, the sound ringing through the walls like a warning to anyone stupid enough to follow.

But for once, I didn’t want to be alone.

For the first time in my life, I’ve found myself seeking a little comfort, seeking gentle words that would ground me, that would tell me that things were just going to pass, that they were not going to proceed the way that they were.

I ran a hand down my face, the ghost of Giovanni’s smug voice still scraping at my nerves like a dull blade. I wanted to punch him in the face, I wanted to show him his place. And yet my father had stopped me.

He had walked into my house.

Looked me in the eye.

And spoke about her like she was nothing.

The man spoke about her as if she was some kind of burden that I needed to get rid of, like she had done something that needed to be punished.

And I almost lost it.

I would have lost it… if it