Cassie’s POV
"Drive us to the hospital," Damien said firmly.
"Yes, sir," the driver replied.
Damien turned to me. "Are you okay?"
"Yes... but my ankle still hurts."
"You’ll be fine. We’re heading there now."
I wanted to tell him about Cece.. that I thought I had seen her earlier—but I stopped myself. He would probably think I was being paranoid. Maybe it wasn’t even her. Maybe it was just my mind playing tricks on me.
When we arrived at the hospital, Damien carried me inside without hesitation. A doctor met us almost immediately and had me taken into the radiology room to check if there was any fracture.
After a while, the doctor returned with the results.
"Luckily, there’s no fracture. The ankle is just badly swollen," he explained. "She needs to avoid putting any more stress on it so it doesn’t get worse."
"Will she need to be admitted?" Damien asked.
"It would be advisable. That way she can rest properly, and the nurses can assist her with whatever she needs."
"No," I said quickly. "I’d prefer to go back to the hotel. I’ll rest better there."
Damien nodded. "Maybe a nurse can stay with her at the hotel just in case."
The doctor considered it for a moment. "Alright. We’ll give her medication now and wrap the ankle for support. But she must avoid putting weight on it."
"Thank you, Doctor," Damien said.
A nurse came in shortly after to wrap my ankle and hand me the prescribed medication. After a few hours of rest at the hospital, I was wheeled back to the hotel.
Once we were inside the suite, Damien started gathering a few pillows.
"Will you be staying in the living room again?" I asked.
"Yes. I want you to be as comfortable as possible."
I hesitated, then said softly, "I’d be more comfortable if you stayed here with me. I want you by my side."
He paused for a second before nodding. "Okay."
He arranged the pillows carefully on the bed and lay down beside me. My heart started beating a little faster than it should have. Sharing the same bed with him felt strangely intimate. The room was quiet—so quiet that when we both tried to speak at the same time, it almost felt intentional.
"Sorry... you go first," I said.
"I insist. You first," he replied, turning slightly to face me.
I shifted carefully to do the same. "Ouch—"
"Easy," he murmured.
I let out a small laugh. "Why are you like this?"
"Like what?"
"Different from how you are at the office. It’s like you’re a completely different person."
"I’m just being professional at work," he said. "Work is work. I don’t mix it with personal things."
"That’s hard to believe."
"Why?"
"You dated Cece while working with her. That sounds a lot like mixing work with pleasure."
He was quiet for a moment. "That... wasn’t actually serious."
"Not serious?" I asked. "What do you mean?"
"What we had wasn’t serious. It was just a temporary thing." He paused. "And it was mutual."
"Mutual?" I raised an eyebrow. "What about the proposal? The expensive jewelry? The kisses? All of that was nothing?"
He let out a short laugh. "How do you even know all of that? Were you stalking your boss’s love life?"
"No," I said quickly. "She posted it on her socials... or rather, you posted it on her socials."
"And you don’t think I’m crazy for doing that?"
"At first I did," I admitted. "But then I thought maybe you were just really in love with her and wanted to make sure she was being loyal."
He scoffed. "Cece isn’t who you think she is."
I frowned. "What is that supposed to mean? She’s been nothing but a good friend to me. The first day I started working, I spilled coffee on myself and she was the one who gave me clothes to change into. She’s never given me a reason to doubt her."
"Just be careful with her," he said simply.
I felt a flash of irritation. Cece was one of the best people I had met aside from Kate. I couldn’t even bring myself to mention that I thought I saw her earlier.. he would only say something that would annoy me more.
After a moment of silence, he spoke again.
"Do you enjoy working with me?"
The question caught me off guard. "Huh?"
"Do you enjoy working with me?" he repeated more clearly.
"When you’re not being a pain... yes," I said, then quickly added, "I mean, I prefer working when you’re not around."
He gave a small smile. "You can be difficult."
"And you think that’s a bad thing?"
"Yes... I mean, no," I corrected myself quickly, remembering who I was talking to.
"What about you?" I asked after a pause. "Do you enjoy working with me?"
He looked at me.. really looked at me.. and said without hesitation, "Yes. Of course. I love working with you. Every day."
The way he said it made my chest tighten. It sounded like more than just a simple answer.
"Cassie," he said softly, his voice slightly uneven, "there’s something I need to tell you."
"What is it?"
"I’ve thought about it several times. I know what I want... but I don’t know if it’s too late to say this. I think I’m in—"
My phone rang, cutting him off.
"I’m sorry," I said, reaching for it. "Let me just mute this."
"No. Answer it."
I glanced at the screen. Edward.
"Hey, Edward," I said as I picked up. "How are you?"
From the corner of my eye, I saw Damien’s expression tighten the moment I said the name.
"Where are you right now?" Edward asked. His tone was unusually stiff.
"I’m in the hotel room. Is something wrong?"
"Is Damien with you?"
"Yes... why?"
"I saw some pictures of the two of you online. In a park. Laughing like you were on a date. He even carried you into his car." He paused. "What’s going on between you two?"
I let out an awkward laugh. "I’m sorry... what are you talking about?"
"Why are you acting like you don’t know?"
"Because I don’t," I said, my voice starting to shake.
"I’ll send them to you."
The call ended.
A few seconds later, my phone buzzed with incoming images. I opened them and froze. They were pictures of me and Damien from earlier—laughing, holding ice cream, looking far too comfortable. There was even one of him carrying me into the car. From the outside, it really did look like a date.
I turned the phone toward Damien. "Have you seen these?"
He glanced at the screen. "What are these?"
"Us. Someone took pictures of us earlier and posted them online, making it look like something else entirely."
"Oh," he said calmly.
"Why are you so relaxed about this?" I asked, my voice rising. "Did you do this?"
His expression hardened slightly. "What? Why would I do that? Why would I ruin my own reputation for you?"
The words stung more than I expected.
Before I could respond, Kate’s name flashed across my screen. I answered immediately.
"Cassie, what is going on?" she asked. "You’re going viral with your boss. People are saying you used a love potion on him or something."
"That’s completely false," I said quickly.
"I know. You don’t need to explain. I’m booking your flight. You’re leaving New York tomorrow."
"Okay," I said quietly.
When I looked up, Damien had already gotten out of bed and walked toward the living room. The distance between us felt sudden and heavy.
I had messed up.
He had been nothing but kind to me since we arrived, and I had accused him without thinking. The guilt settled deep in my chest. I couldn’t even bring myself to go after him and apologize properly.
Instead, I sent Edward a message saying I would explain everything the next day, since he wasn’t answering my calls anymore.
—
Morning came too quickly. I barely slept. My mind kept replaying everything.. the photos, the accusation, the look on Damien’s face when I asked if he was responsible.
At some point, my thoughts drifted to my father. He was the only person I could think of who might want to see me fall. But even that didn’t fully make sense. He didn’t have the money to fly out here just to take pictures, and he wasn’t calculated enough to pull something like this off so cleanly.
The nurse arrived later to help with my medication. She assisted me with a bath and helped me get dressed. By the time I was ready, I was already in a wheelchair, prepared to leave for the airport.
"Wait," I said as she started wheeling me out. "I need to see Damien first."
She took me to the living room, where he was seated.
The moment he saw me, he stood up.
"I’m sorry for what I said yesterday," I began. "I shouldn’t have accused you. I was just angry and scared, and I took it out on everyone... even you."
"I’m sorry too," he said. "I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did."
I hesitated, then added, "For a moment, I even blamed Cece. Which was stupid."
He frowned slightly. "Why would you blame her?"
I gave a small, awkward laugh. "It’s nothing. Just my imagination. I thought I saw her yesterday at the park, but when I looked again, no one was there. So I must have been mistaken."
Something in his expression shifted. He looked more alert.
"Why are you all dressed up?" he asked.
"I’m going back to New Jersey," I said quietly. "I just want to go home. I’m sorry you had to find out like this."
He was silent for a second, then nodded. "It’s fine. I’ll get the jet ready."
"You don’t have to. Kate already booked a flight for me. I leave in about an hour."
"Alright," he said. "I’ll have my driver take you to the airport."
"Thank you."
A few minutes later, the driver was already waiting downstairs.
I reached for my bag, but just as I picked it up, a loud knock sounded at the door.
Damien walked over to open it.
The moment the door swung open, an angry voice filled the suite.
"Where is she? That wretched woman trying to take you from me—"
Fear crawled up my spine as the familiar voice echoed through the room.