Double Standards

Serena stared directly into his dark eyes, meeting his freezing gaze without faltering. "Since you refused to meet me at your company, I had no choice but to come to you."

Before Damian could issue a chilling dismissal, a gentle, raspy voice drifted from the hospital bed inside the room.

"Damian, is someone out there?"

Serena shifted her gaze past his broad shoulders. She maintained a calm front despite the hammering of her pulse. "Miss Mercer. I heard you were in an accident, so I came to see you."

Vivian possessed a far more refined demeanor than her cousin Chloe. She was polite, never the type to cause a baseless scene without careful consideration. Hearing the greeting, her voice carried a soft, cultivated grace. "Thank you for your concern, Ms. Sterling."

Yet, beneath the polite veneer, she made zero motion to invite her guest inside. The omission was loud and deliberate.

Serena refused to back down. Tessa’s freedom hung by a fragile thread, and she had resolved that nothing would make her lose sight of Damian tonight. She forced a faint, strained smile. "Miss Mercer, aren't you going to ask me in?"

Vivian blinked, a look of sudden, manufactured realization washing over her pale features. "Oh, how silly of me to forget to ask you in." She shifted her attention back to the towering figure blocking the doorway. "Damian, why don't you let Ms. Sterling come in?"

Damian held Serena’s gaze for a few tense, stretching seconds. Then, he stepped aside, turning his broad back to her and walking into the sterile room.

The sheer irony stung Serena's chest as she stepped across the threshold. She was his legally wedded wife. Her name sat next to his on a binding marriage certificate. Yet, she had to stand in a cold hallway and seek another woman’s gracious permission just to lay eyes on her own husband.

Inside, the atmosphere was peculiarly tense, thick with unspoken accusations.

Vivian leaned against her stark white pillows, sighing softly. She looked delicate under the harsh fluorescent lights. "I'm so ashamed. It isn't really a big deal that Ms. Sterling needed to come here personally."

Serena kept her expression aloof, crossing her arms and offering no comment on the blatant performance.

Vivian tilted her head to look up at the handsome man standing by her bedside. "See, Damian? I'm fine. It wasn't a big deal. Since Ms. Sterling is here, why don't you go back with her?" She furrowed her brows, playing the helpless, understanding victim to perfection. "I'm sorry. Chloe has a big mouth..."

"Fine?" Damian’s expression instantly turned icy with protective anger. He glared down at her, his jaw ticking. "Tell me, then. What is your definition of a 'big deal'?"

Vivian lowered her gaze to her manicured hands. "I'm sorry. I've only been back for a short while, so I'm not familiar with the entertainment industry here. It never crossed my mind that Director Foley would be so brazen..."

At that precise moment, Gavin stepped into the ward. He clutched a sleek tablet, his demeanor professional but edged with palpable caution.

Damian shifted his cold gaze to his assistant. "Have you found out what happened?"

Gavin cast a hesitant, sidelong glance toward Serena before lowering his voice to deliver the report. "The director's name is Marcus Foley. He is famous and well-connected in the industry. He saw Miss Mercer tonight and assumed she was a newbie. Under the heavy influence of alcohol, he got aggressively handsy with her. In fierce retaliation, Miss Mercer grabbed a wine bottle from the table and smashed it over his head. The impact left the director with a severe concussion. He is currently being treated downstairs."

Gavin swallowed hard, the tension in his shoulders tightening as he prepared for the fallout. "The issue is the corporate backing Marcus Foley enjoys. He has the Caldwell Corporation behind him—"

Damian cut him off. His voice carried an unyielding coldness that sent a shiver through the stifling room. "I don't want to hear his name in this city ever again."

Gavin nodded immediately, understanding the sheer weight of that command. Marcus Foley was permanently canceled, effective this very second. He turned toward the door to execute the order.

"Wait," Damian commanded.

Gavin paused. "Is there anything else, Mister Sinclair?"

Damian's dark eyes narrowed, flashing with a ruthless, unforgiving intent. "That scumbag shouldn't be allowed to get away with touching her. Report him to the police."

"Understood," Gavin replied swiftly. "His actions constitute a crime. I will handle the police report and ensure he doesn't slip away."

Standing off to the side, Serena watched this brutal display of power unfold. A bitter, agonizing sensation twisted deep in her stomach. Damian did not hesitate for a single second to offend a massive corporate entity like Caldwell Corporation for his first love. He ordered the destruction of a powerful man without a flicker of doubt. Yet, when Serena had practically begged on her knees, crying for him to save her innocent friend Tessa from an almost identical situation, he had flatly, cruelly refused.

The blatant hypocrisy was a physical ache in her bones.

After Gavin exited, the room fell into a heavy, suffocating quiet once more. Vivian glanced between Serena and Damian, her expression softening into an angelic mask of understanding.

"Damian, I'm fine now," Vivian urged gently. "Ms. Sterling must have something urgent to discuss with you since she came all the way here to find you. You should go home with her."

Serena stood rooted to the spot, her posture rigid. She did not speak, but her body language made her stubborn stance obvious. She would remain in this ward until Damian walked out that door with her.

Damian stared at Vivian for a few seconds, the hard lines of his face softening fractionally. "Alright. I'll be leaving now. Call me if there's anything."

Vivian nodded, a soft smile gracing her lips. "Okay."

Damian turned his attention to Serena, the coldness returning instantly. "Let's go."

Serena turned on her heel, eager to escape the stifling air of the hospital room. She reached for the heavy door handle.

"Ms. Sterling," Vivian called out.

Serena paused, glancing over her shoulder. "Is there anything else, Miss Mercer?"

Vivian offered a weak, trembling smile, playing the perfect, graceful peacekeeper. "Damian was just worried something bad happened to me. That's why he was here. I hope you won't misunderstand his protective anger."

Serena merely sneered inwardly at the blatant performance. She did not bother to formulate a polite response or engage in the charade. Pushing the door open, she walked out into the sterile, quiet corridor.

The walk to the hospital parking lot was shrouded in a heavy, oppressive silence. The night air was crisp and biting, but it did nothing to cool the simmering tension between them. They reached Damian's sleek luxury car parked under the amber glow of a streetlamp. Serena stepped forward, her hand wrapping around the handle of the front passenger door. She pulled it open, preparing to slide into the seat.

"Sit at the back," Damian ordered.

His freezing tone sliced through the quiet parking lot like a blade. Serena froze, her hand gripping the cold metal of the door handle. She stiffened as profound humiliation washed over her, pinning her in place. The casual dismissal, the explicit banishment from the seat beside him—it confirmed her profound lack of place in his life. She was nothing to him. A nuisance to be hidden away in the shadows.

Swallowing the bitter lump forming in her throat, she silently pushed the front door shut. The thud echoed loudly. She opened the rear door and settled into the suffocating quiet of the backseat. The divide between the front and the back felt like a massive, uncrossable chasm.

Damian slid into the driver's seat, the engine roaring to life with a low growl. He steered the luxury vehicle out of the parking lot, heading toward their shared home instead of returning to his office. Streetlights cast fleeting, rhythmic shadows across the leather interior, highlighting the sharp, tense lines of Damian's profile in the rearview mirror.

The heavy silence stretched, pressing down on Serena's chest until she could barely breathe. She turned her gaze from the passing city scenery to the back of his head.

"Is your front passenger seat strictly reserved for Vivian?" she asked, her voice breaking the heavy quiet.

Both of them knew exactly the weight of that question. His knuckles whitened against the steering wheel. A long, tense moment passed before his low, unwavering voice permeated the dark confines of the car.

"Yes."

Even though she had expected it, the brutal honesty still startled her deep in her core. He did not even attempt to soften the blow or offer a fabricated excuse. Gathering her remaining composure, she refused to let the searing pain derail her true agenda.

"Since you are so reluctant to upset Vivian, we should settle our divorce as soon as possible," Serena suggested, leaning forward slightly to catch his gaze in the mirror. "I am not asking for money or assets. I just want your help to save Tessa."

"Declan is the only son of the Vance family," Damian interrupted harshly, his eyes darting up to glare at her reflection. "They were benevolent enough not to blame us since the incident happened during our party. Serena, I hope you can stay out of this and stop causing trouble."

"If I don't help Tessa, she will rot in jail!" she argued, her voice trembling with rising, righteous anger.

"What does that have to do with me?"

The cruel, precise answer stabbed deep into Serena’s heart. It caught her off guard, stealing the breath from her lungs. The sheer lack of empathy was devastating, a stark reminder of the monster he could be when he didn't care. She stared at his reflection, the righteous anger boiling over, burning away the lingering humiliation.

Finding her voice, which now bordered on sharp, satirical disbelief, she let out a hollow laugh.

"Then, aren't you afraid of causing massive trouble by canceling Marcus Foley and offending the powerful people backing him?" She mockingly locked eyes with his reflection. "Damian, Vivian didn't even say a single word, yet you helped her get rid of the man who laid his hands on her without a second of hesitation. You ruined a powerful director for her without her even asking. I am not asking you to seek justice for Tessa. I am not asking you to put Declan in jail. I am just begging you to physically get Tessa out of that place."

She paused, letting the blatant double standard hang heavily in the suffocating air between them.

"Is it really that hard?" she asked.