"I’ll kill your wife."
"Stay away from her." Damien snapped at Simon without even thinking. The fear of losing everything was replaced with the terror of Simon killing Aveline.
Simon suddenly laughed, crossing his legs as he leaned back in the chair. "After all, Damien Ashford loves his wife."
Damien, however, wasn’t ready to accept it either. "I’ll decide when she dies," he hissed. His voice carried raw fury.
Simon’s voice cooled as he spoke, "If she dies, the shares will be yours, the land will be yours too." It’s just that people would be suspicious of Damien. "You lose nothing."
Damien stord over, grabbed his mobile from the desk, and almost shoved it in Simon’s face. "She signed a f**king will today. If she dies, everything goes to the orphanage."
Simon read the text ssage from a contact nad Nina.
[I tried calling you. Anyway, Dad insisted I prepare a will and sign it as the world learned more about , and it’s dangerous. Sending you a copy. Let know if you have bought anything in my na so that I can include it.]
Below the ssage was a photo of Aveline’s will.
Simon laughed cruelly at Damien’s fate. But he abruptly stopped, making the air more tense. "Damien, divorce her first thing in the morning. Or I’ll kill her before the clock hits 12." Either way, the chairman should be changed, and Charlie should be out of prison.
Simon stood up as he added his ultimatum, "The clock is ticking." And he walked away with Victor following him closely.
Damien stood there, unmoving for a long mont before he scread out of frustration. All his plans had been ticulous.
How did everything fail and co chasing him back at the sa ti?
How?
He didn’t believe in coincidence. And he doubted Alaric.
He ran out and raced towards NexGuard.
––––––
At NexGuard,
Alaric was catching up on work when Ezra notified him about Damien at the security gates. "Let him in."
In less than a minute, Damien stord into his office and grabbed Alaric’s collar. "Alaric Lancaster, if you have a problem with , co at . Why are you risking my wife’s life?" Fear and anger laced his voice.
The words hit Alaric like a physical blow. ’Aveline’s life was in danger.’ His blood turned to ice, and for a split second, his carefully maintained composure cracked.
Every instinct scread at him to demand answers, to find out who dared threaten her, to tear apart anyone who would hurt her. His hands trembled slightly as the protective fury surged through him, but he forced himself to maintain control.
He barely managed to look natural as he shrugged off Damien’s hands. "Why are you screaming?" The words ca out steady, but inside, panic clawed at his chest.
Damien growled, "Don’t play innocent. It’s all your doing. To get Aveline."
Alaric knew about the problems Aveline had created for Damien. But how could any of those be life-threatening to Aveline? Damien was the danger, right?
The thought that soone else might be targeting her sent another wave of cold fear through him.
He promptly responded, "Damien, if I had started attacking you, you wouldn’t be standing here." Then he asked, his voice sharper with barely controlled urgency, "What the f**k are you talking about?"
He needed to know who was threatening Aveline’s life. Every second of not knowing felt like torture.
Damien watched Alaric carefully, studying him as he uttered every word. Alaric didn’t seem to be lying because Alaric never lied about what he did.
"Aren’t you the one behind Linette Rowe?"
"Who is she?" Alaric hadn’t even seen Linette’s picture clearly.
Damien raked his fingers through his hair and started pacing the room. If Alaric wasn’t doing it, then who was targeting him?
Lawrence didn’t have that much of a brain. Was Linette just doing her work? And was this all a coincidence?
Was he supposed to let Simon kill Aveline, or should he divorce her?
Because no other option could help him get Charlie out with a clean slate.
Alaric quickly dropped a ssage to Ezra on his laptop to find out who was a threat to Aveline, if not Damien, and who Damien had t. His fingers moved with urgent precision, the need to protect her overriding everything else.
He wanted to grab Damien when he rushed out, but held back with all his might. He couldn’t let Damien doubt his intentions if he was putting on an act.
Once Damien disappeared from the gates, he shut his laptop and rushed out. He barely paused at the exit.
If Damien was keeping an eye on him, he would better put on the act of staying in the office. "Your car keys?"
Ezra fetched them from his pockets.
Alaric grabbed the keys and instructed Ezra as he left, "Stay in my office, send security to the Laurent mansion." He took Ezra’s black Range Rover and sped towards the Laurent mansion, his heart hamring against his ribs with every mile.
–––––
At the Laurent mansion,
Unaware of everything, Aveline got fresh and prepared for bed when she heard a knock on the door. Her spine chilled. She had thought Damien would be too busy to return.
Swallowing hard, she said, "Yes?"
As soon as the door opened, she breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of Alaric. But the next mont, she frowned. He could have called her if anything was important, instead of appearing there.
"What’s wrong?" She got off the bed, watching him walk in.
Celeste also arrived with the help of the housekeeper.
Alaric’s hands were still shaking slightly, fear coursing through him. Simply seeing her safe wasn’t enough to calm the panic that had taken hold.
He held Aveline’s arms and made her sit as he knelt in front of her, his touch gentle but urgent. "Sunshine, try to think and rember, is there anybody Damien is scared of?" His voice was steady and calm.
Aveline had lots of questions, but she tried to think, sensing his urgency. A lot of things were changing in this tiline compared to before her regression. However, she had never seen or heard of Damien being scared of anybody.
So she shook her head. "No. I don’t know." Then she asked, "What happened?"
Alaric would have preferred not telling her, but she had to know if he was going to arrange security for the mansion.
"Your life might be in danger. Damien ca to NexGuard and said, "I’m putting your life in danger’ by attacking him."
Aveline instinctively glanced at Celeste. She didn’t want her health to be affected by all this news. But Celeste seed to be calm, letting them figure everything out.
She looked back at the man who was more worried about her than she was about herself. "Maybe he was bluffing to get to know the truth."
Alaric had noticed the genuine fear in Damien. For a prideful man like Damien, showing fear in front of others was nothing less than losing.
In their ga of deception, it was hard to trust anybody easily. So, "Until I find out, there will be security around the mansion." Saying this, Alaric glanced at Celeste, who nodded imdiately, stating she had no problem.
Aveline didn’t know what else to say. Her life could only be in danger from Damien. Who else would want to harm her?
"Alright." She agreed without troubling Alaric anymore.
He stood up, his eyes lingering on her longer than intended. The thought of losing her made it hard to leave her side. "I’ll be outside. Call for anything. If you rember sothing, even if you feel sothing is off."
She nodded, and he was moving when they heard her mobile buzz on the nightstand.
For an unspoken reason, Aveline took an extra mont to check. She had received a text from an unknown number.
[Nice will. Let’s hope I don’t have to bury you before you enjoy it.]
Her face paled.
Alaric imdiately asked, "What is it?"
She turned the screen toward him. His jaw clenched, and the panic he had been barely controlling threatened to overwhelm him completely.
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