Cornered Prey

"I'm not doing a single thing to Miss Mercer," Serena replied, her voice calm and even as she turned away from the bed to face the doorway.

Damian stood there, a storm brewing in his dark eyes, his chest heaving slightly as if he had sprinted down the hall. Before he could unleash whatever venom sat on his tongue, a shrill voice pierced the sterile air.

"You are a wicked, spiteful woman, Serena Sterling!" Chloe marched out from the shadows behind Damian, her finger pointed like a weapon. Her face contorted with hysterical rage. "When Vivian was in danger, you stopped Damian from going to save her! And now you have the nerve to crawl into her hospital room to harass her? Just how shameless can one person be? Get out of here! Nobody wants you here!"

Vivian furrowed her brow, her pale face registering mild disapproval. "Chloe, enough."

She shifted her attention to the furious man towering in the doorway, offering him a gentle, placating look. "Damian, you misunderstood the situation. Ms. Sterling didn't come to cause trouble. She just came to check on my condition and to ask for a favor."

Damian's jaw tightened. "A favor?"

"It involves Miss Blair's legal case," Vivian answered smoothly. She made no attempt to conceal the nature of the visit. Turning her gaze back to Serena, she arranged her features into a mask of polite regret. "I really am sorry, Ms. Sterling. It is not a matter of me refusing to lend a hand. My hands are tied." She allowed her eyes to dart toward Damian for a fraction of a second before sighing softly. "Once Damian makes up his mind about something, no one can alter his decision. Not even me."

The rejection was flawless. Vivian delivered the killing blow with the grace of a seasoned diplomat, cementing her refusal and leaving no room for argument. She did not need to kick Serena out; she merely laid the facts bare in front of the one man who controlled the board.

Serena absorbed the words. Her last desperate option evaporated into thin air. There was nothing left to barter with, no angle left to play. She offered a tight, defeated nod. "Fine. I won't disturb your rest any longer."

Gathering whatever shredded dignity she had left, Serena walked toward the exit. As she passed Damian, she kept her eyes glued straight ahead. She treated him the exact same way he had treated her for years—like empty space, a phantom occupying the room.

A vice-like grip clamped down on her wrist.

Serena flinched, a sharp frown creasing her forehead as the sudden force halted her steps. She jerked her head up to meet Damian's burning gaze. "What do you want, Damian?"

He ignored the question. His eyes remained locked on her for a beat before he snapped his head toward the hospital bed. "I'm leaving."

Vivian parted her lips to speak, but Damian was already in motion. He pivoted on his heel and strode out the door, dragging a stumbling Serena by her trapped wrist.

Chloe stood frozen near the foot of the bed, her jaw practically hitting the floor. "Damian? Where are you going? Damian!"

He did not spare her a glance. The heavy door swung shut, swallowing both him and Serena into the corridor.

Inside the quiet ward, Chloe's shock rapidly morphed into venomous fury. Her features twisted into an ugly sneer as she stomped her foot.

"That cheap tramp!" Chloe snarled through gritted teeth, her fists trembling at her sides. "Did you see what she just did? She seduced him right in front of our faces!"

She whirled around to face the bed, shooting Vivian a look of profound disappointment. "Vivian, how could you just sit there? You shouldn't have let him walk out of here so easily with that wretched woman!"

Vivian reclined against the pillows, her expression unreadable and serene. "Those who want to leave will never stay, Chloe. No matter what strings I pull, he wouldn't have stayed in this room. Why would I reduce myself to begging and embarrass myself?"

"That is your biggest flaw! You never fight for a single thing in your life!" Chloe threw her hands up in exasperation, pacing the length of the bed. "Your passivity is exactly what made it possible for that woman to steal Damian away from you in the first place! If you had just taken a little more initiative three years ago, I bet your child with him would already be up to my waist!"

Vivian offered no rebuttal. She turned her head, fixing her vacant gaze on the window. The gray sky outside mirrored the flat, emotionless stretch of her features.

Chloe let out a huff of breath, softening her tone as she stepped closer. "Look, compared to three years ago, Damian treats you so much better now. He cares. But Vivian, you have to fight for your own happiness. You need to manipulate the situation if you have to. Yes, Serena was shameless back then, but look where it got her. Ultimately, she is the one who managed to become his wife. The result is what matters, not the process."

Vivian's eyelashes fluttered. The silence stretched for a long moment before her lips moved, her voice a barely audible murmur. "The result is more important than the process, huh?"

Out in the sterile hallway, Damian hauled Serena around a sharp corner, away from the prying eyes of the nurses' station. He shoved her backward. Her spine slammed against the cold, unyielding plaster of the wall.

The physical impact knocked the breath from her lungs, but it was the suffocating chill radiating from his tall frame that truly paralyzed her. He boxed her in, his broad shoulders blocking any route of escape.

He stared down at her, his eyes resembling shards of black ice. Serena could not read a single emotion past the sheer, oppressive anger rolling off his skin in waves.

"Serena. What did you say to Vivian?"

She pushed her hands against his chest, desperate to wedge some space between them. Damian countered instantly. His large hand snapped up, his long fingers gripping her chin with bruising force. He pinned her head back against the wall, forcing her to maintain brutal eye contact.

The moment their gazes locked, Serena's stomach plummeted into an abyss. A strange wave of dissociation washed over her, making the harsh hospital lights blur at the edges of her vision.

"Answer the question."

The low, gravelly vibration of his voice scraped against her nerves. He leaned in closer. His hot breath ghosted over her lips, mingling with her own erratic pants. It felt deeply unsettling, yet a phantom ache in her chest told her this proximity was a familiar rhythm. A ghost of a past where they might have shared such suffocating intimacy.

Serena stared up into the dark, violent storm brewing in his irises. A sudden, unexpected giggle bubbled up from her throat.

"What are you afraid of?"

Damian's grip faltered for a fraction of a millimeter. His eyes flickered. "What did you say?"

She refused to look away, meeting his hostility head-on. "I said, what are you so afraid of?"

"Afraid?" He scoffed, the word sounding like a foreign concept on his tongue. A mocking, cruel smile tugged at the corners of his thin lips. "Enlighten me, then. What exactly am I afraid of?"

Serena had no logical explanation for why the words slipped out. Perhaps it was raw survival instinct kicking in, or maybe the sheer, heavy weight of his aura forced a reckless reaction from her brain.

"You practically broke down the door right after I arrived, looking like you were terrified I was about to murder your precious first love." Serena forced a smirk, ignoring the throbbing pain in her jaw. "I came here on my knees, begging for a favor. Do you genuinely think I would try to bully the woman you hold on a pedestal when you hold every single card in this game? You are either blind or incredibly stupid to miss logic that simple."

She let her eyes drag up and down his immaculate suit, her expression dripping with mocking doubt. "Are the standards to be a CEO really dropping this low?"

She did not just call him blind; she insulted his intelligence, stripping away the untouchable dignity he wore like armor.

The mocking smile vanished from Damian's face. The lines of his jaw hardened into granite. "Of all the moments you could choose, do you really believe it is wise to provoke me right now?"

"It's not like you plan to help me even if I get on my knees and play nice. I might as well say what is actually on my mind." Serena let her shoulders drop, projecting a mask of cold indifference. "You will paint me as the villain even if I stand here and do nothing wrong. Wouldn't it be far more efficient for me to just embrace the role? It saves me the exhausting trouble of trying to clear my name with a man who won't listen."

The sheer audacity of her statement pushed Damian past the brink of anger. A harsh, dark laugh tore from his throat. "So you aren't even going to bother pretending to be a decent person anymore?"

"Nope." Serena offered him a slow, gentle smile. Her voice dropped, adopting the lazy, dangerous purr of a cornered cat. "It seems like you are hellbent on making my life a living nightmare. So, don't you dare think for a single second that I won't do the exact same thing to you."

She expected him to tighten his grip. She expected a shout, or for him to slam his fist into the wall beside her head. Instead, Damian froze.

He stared down at the cold, proud defiance etched into her delicate features. A sudden, jarring daze settled over his expression. Fragments of an old, buried memory seemed to flash across his eyes.

Serena felt a shiver trace its way down her spine. The look in his eyes shifted into something unnerving. He was staring directly at her face, yet it felt as though he was looking through her, searching for the ghost of someone else.

Was that... gentleness?

She squinted, leaning forward a fraction of an inch to decipher the bizarre softening of his gaze. The moment she moved, Damian snapped back to reality. He abruptly released her chin and dropped his hand to his side. The icy, impenetrable wall slammed back into place over his features, making Serena wonder if the vulnerability she saw was merely a trick of the fluorescent lights.

"Not going to make my life easy, you say?" Damian's voice underwent a terrifying transformation. The raw fury vanished, replaced by an emotionally hollow, crisp resonance that echoed in the quiet corridor. It was a sudden, predatory calm. "And just how, exactly, do you plan to do that?"

Serena stood paralyzed. Her breath caught in her throat. She only threw the empty threat to rile him up. She wanted to scratch at his armor, to hurt him with the same casual cruelty he used to destroy her hopes of saving her friend. It was a desperate, petty strike meant to make him pay for his refusal.

She never anticipated this reaction. His anger did not just subside; it vanished into a chilling void of curiosity. He stood perfectly still, his eyes resembling the depths of a midnight ocean—vast, suffocating, and barren of light.

A deep, psychological panic clawed its way up Serena's throat. The oppressive tension wrapped around her ribs, squeezing tight. She suddenly felt like a foolish rabbit that had charged headfirst into a steel trap, locking the jaws shut with her own two hands.

Under the crushing weight of his silent, terrifying anticipation, she broke eye contact. Desperation flooded her veins as she opened her mouth, scrambling for a way to escape the psychological trap.