Lena clenched the note between her fingers, its words searing into her mind like a brand.
"A gilded cage is still a cage. Are you ready to be set free?"
Vaughn wasn't just watching he was baiting her. Testing her.
She exhaled slowly, steadying her pulse before slipping the note into the hidden pocket of her evening gown. This wasn't the place to react, not with a hundred pairs of eyes on her. But one pair in particular burned into her skin.
Damian.
Across the ballroom, he was mid-conversation with a senator, but Lena felt his gaze flick to her sharp, assessing, as if he sensed the shift in her demeanor. He didn't miss anything. If she walked toward him now, if she so much as hesitated, he would know something was wrong.
And she wasn't ready for that confrontation. Not yet.
So, she turned on her heel and walked out.
Shadows and Secrets
The corridor leading to the terrace was dimly lit, the distant hum of the gala muffled by thick marble walls. Lena stepped outside, inhaling the crisp night air, but it did little to calm the storm inside her.
She pulled the note from her pocket, reading it again.
Was Vaughn trying to turn her against Damian? Did he believe she would betray him?
The thought unsettled her more than it should have.
A quiet voice broke through the silence.
"You should have come to me first."
Lena turned sharply.
Damian stood in the doorway, his expression unreadable, but there was an edge to his voice something dangerously close to disappointment.
She tightened her grip on the note. "You knew?"
"I saw the man who slipped it into your purse." His gaze dropped to the paper in her hand. "What does it say?"
For a second, she debated lying. But Damian wasn't a man easily deceived.
Wordlessly, she held it out to him.
He stepped forward, his fingers brushing hers as he took the note. The moment he read it, his jaw tightened, and the muscles in his neck corded.
"Vaughn," he muttered.
Lena crossed her arms. "He thinks I'm his way in. That I'll choose his side over yours."
Damian's eyes snapped to hers, something unreadable flickering in their depths. "Will you?"
The question shouldn't have cut as deeply as it did.
Lena lifted her chin. "Do you really think I would betray you?"
He studied her for a long moment, his gaze dark and assessing. Then, slowly, he folded the note and slipped it into his pocket.
"No," he said, his voice quieter now. "But Vaughn does."
Lena exhaled, but the tension between them remained. "What now?"
A shadow crossed his face, something colder than fury. "Now, we show him exactly how wrong he is."