"Why should I care about them?" he growled, his voice low and dangerous. "Why should I care about anyone? They never cared about me."
His heart pounded in his chest as the darkness threatened to overtake him completely. He could feel it rising, a tide of hatred and pain that was ready to crash down and obliterate everything in its path.
But just as he was about to lose himself to the abyss, a sudden knock on the door of his study shattered the silence.
"Damon!" Kyra's voice called out from the other side, filled with concern. "Damon, are you in there?"
The sound of her voice was like a lifeline, pulling him back from the edge of the darkness that had nearly consumed him.
His breath caught in his throat as he recognized her scent, the one thing in this world that could ground him, the one thing that could still bring light into his life.
