Chapter 2
THE FOUR WALLS
DAMON
God used to punish me. His wrath, His vengeance, and His need for reciprocity would smother my unconscious mind every night.
And I’d let Him. I craved it. The pain. The anguish.
The crippling feeling of being utterly hopeless.
The self-flagellation only worked for so long.
But the demons never vanished. They never faded into distant memories.
No. The memories are and have been my companions since the day I played God, and in turn, God played me.
I no longer play His games.
The dull blades of the mahogany ceiling fan spin above me, creating a noise just white enough that my eyes remain open and my mind shut.
My gaze follows the swirling blades, like the blades of the chopper.
I control my breaths as I countdown the seconds until the alarm rings and another defensive day begins.
Three… Two… One…
“Good morning, handsome.” Her voice cuts through the humming of the alarm, and I crane my neck to the left side of the bed.
She should not have stayed the night. She knows she should have left.
I won’t use her again. She also knows that.
Her manicured fingers dance up my bare arm but nothing happens.
No shiver. No reaction. Nothing. It’s always nothing.
“How’d you sleep, baby?” She grins at me, gaze drifting to my unresponsive cock. “What about a little—”
“You should leave.” I jerk upright, pulling away from her as I get out of bed.
She pouts, the gray silk sheet slipping down her chest and exposing her perky breasts.
I sigh, tilting my head as I skim her smooth skin.
It’s not her fault. It’s never their fault.
It’s just the way it is now. “You can collect your money from Javier on your way.”
“Fine.” She rolls her eyes, grunting as she dramatically gets out of the bed.
She aggressively collects her clothes off the bedroom floor.
Great. She’s going to rant. They always do.
Three… Two… “You know,” she whips her head in my direction, “I don’t understand you, Mister Cavanaugh.
You call in the middle of the night, make me sign a stupid fucking form, and then you don’t even—”
I hold my hand up, featured hardened. “Enough.”
So much for a professional. I’m going to have to give her employer a call. For the amount of money I’ve paid, the last thing I need is lip. Especially from lips that don’t know their place.
She crosses her arms, scowling at me, and I give her a look. A look that I've carefully curated over the years to ensure the recipient loses all sense of control, of power, of brazen cattiness. She swallows as I stride toward her and cup her jaw between my fingers.
“If you wish to remain in this profession, then I highly recommend knowing when to stop talking.” I cock my head, meeting her suddenly frightened expression. I used to enjoy this. “Now…” I drop my hand and nod at the door. “Fuck off.”
“Yes, sir,” she mumbles, jogging out of the bedroom, hugging all the belongings in her arms.
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I sit on the edge of the bed.
I understand her confusion. It must be perplexing in her line of work to meet someone like me.
What I don’t understand is why they always get so angry, like I’ve slighted them.
Like I’ve committed some cardinal sin. If only they knew the sort of sins that this body has perpetrated.
They’d run as fast as the wind could carry them.
At some point, they always run. Always leave. Always.
“Sir,” Javier appears at the bedroom door, a folder in his hand, “I have compensated the lady.”
“What’s that?” I ask, nodding at the documents before grabbing a velvet robe from the wardrobe and slipping it on. Javier stays silent as he watches me with concern. “Well?”
“How much longer will you do this, Damon?” he asks, tone low. “At some point, you will need to—”
Ignoring his quasi-parental worries, I yank the folder from his hand and march toward the kitchen. The documents inside contain forecasted trends that coat my tongue with bitter anger.
“This can’t be right,” I mutter, pulling a double shot of espresso from the machine. “Run the numbers again.”
“We did.” Javier follows me to the lounge as I sit by the floor-to-ceiling windows. Stratus clouds conceal the bustling city beneath my feet, separating me from a world I refuse to reenter. For their sake. Not my own. “There are two potential investors flying in tonight from Hong Kong.”
I glance up at Javier. “Problem solved then.”
“Potential investors,” Javier enunciates as he sits across from me, fidgeting with his hand. “They…” He pauses, glancing at the various half-finished canvases sprawled around my living room. My attempt at therapy. “They’d like to meet you…face to face.”
“No,” I state, my stomach twisting at the idea. “We’ll find someone else.”
“There is no one else,” Javier notes, shaking his head. “Yannis and Marcus have been trying to find someone for months now, Damon. They’ve exhausted their resources.”
I scoff. “Hardly. I can list off twenty people who would kill to—”
“Perhaps two years ago,” Javier interrupts me, “but things are different now, Damon. This company, your father’s company…
” He closes his eyes. “Your company… It… We… We need this. We need the Li brothers. Without them,” he looks around the penthouse, “all of this can disappear.” His voice drops.
“iCEF Technology is the backbone of Cavanaugh Industries. We can’t afford to lose it, Damon. ”
“We will find another way,” I grunt, frustrated at his lack of innovative problem-solving.
“I find it incredibly difficult to fathom that none of the executive officers whom I pay handsomely can think of alternative options that don’t require my involvement.
” My jaw ticks. “Perhaps it’s time to adjust the leadership board, hmm? ”
“Your team is not the problem, Damon,” Javier states in a tone that he's not paid have. “You are the problem.”
“Me?” I scoff. “How can I be the problem?”
“Because of this!” Javier stands up and motions around the room. “Because you refuse to leave these four walls! Because, despite what you think, Cavanaugh Industries needs a face! A trustworthy face. And whether or not you like it, Damon, that face is you!”
“You do not have the right to speak to me like this!” I bark, standing up, fury brewing in my veins. “Know your place, Javier.”
“This is my place!” he growls, slamming his fist on the table.
“Your father was my dear friend, and I have been loyal to him and his family for half a fucking century! I will not watch his only remaining heir destroy the legacy he worked so hard to build!” Javier stands up and glares at me.
Despite my towering over him, he doesn’t appear small.
Not at all. “I understand that these past two years have been difficult for you. I am not undermining the significant loss you’ve suffered, but listen to me, my son, and listen carefully.
You will meet with the Li brothers tonight.
You will shake their hands. You will entertain them.
You will show them a good time. And then, when the ink on the contract dries out, you are free to come back here and hide once again. ”
“I am not hiding.” I grit my teeth, knuckles pained and clenched. “I am not—”
“They arrive at eight,” Javier says, reaching for his cell phone. “I’d take them to Lux after dinner. Our sources say they’ve got a soft spot for naked women.” He raises a knowing brow. “If I recall correctly, you were a rather generous patron there, were you not?”
I glower at Javier. “You are skating on very thin ice right now.”
“If I fall in,” Javier says, “you are coming with me.” Javier waves over Josephine, my housekeeper. “Get him cleaned up before this evening.” He glances up at me. “That beard is two inches too long.”
“Hush.” Josephine gives me a sly grin as she pats my cheek. “I like the beard. It makes him look wise.”
Javier rolls his eyes and mumbles something under his breath. “Just make him look presentable. God forbid the press sees him looking like this.”
Josie clicks her tongue and smacks Javier’s shoulder. “Don’t you have someplace to be, huh? Leave.”
“With pleasure.” Javier glares at me. “Don’t be late. Got it?”
“He would’ve never dared speak to my father like that,” I mumble as Javier leaves the room. “He doesn’t respect me. Not anymore.”
“I believe it’s called tough love,” Josie says, pushing me into the kitchen for breakfast. She places an omelet in front of me. “At some point, Damon, you must rejoin the world. I think that time has come. Now eat.”
“I’m not hungry,” I say, pushing the plate away as nausea creeps up my throat.
When you’ve spent the last two years only conversing with your staff, the idea of having to charm strangers and win their vote of confidence is worrisome.
The weak part of my brain, the part that’s been viciously attacked by my conscience, actually thought I wouldn’t be able to do it.
To act normal. To act confident. To emit the immense power that’s tied to the Cavanaugh name.
What an idiotic thought. Almost comical.
Evidently, I forgot that that power runs through my veins as it did my father’s and his father's before him. It’s a part of my DNA.
The ability to swoon, to enchant, to fucking captivate. It’s a blessing.
And a goddamn curse.
This night needs to end.
Now.
“Another one!” Han shouts, slamming his shot glass on the table, nearly shattering it. His brother cackles, downing his own drink. “Join us, Damon!”
“Yes!” Pei chuckles, flagging down a server he’s been ogling since the moment we set foot in Lux. “Three more!”
“Just two,” I state, sickened by the stench of the spirits. “I’ll take another water.”
“Oh, come on,” Han drawls, swaying from intoxication. “Aren’t you having fun?” His grin widens. “We’re having fun.”
“I can see that.” I give Han a feigned smile. They better sign those fucking contracts, or I’ll personally see to it that their coke habits get leaked to the Hong Kong media. I give Venus, our server, a tight-lipped smile. “I’m fine with water.”
“You look…” Venus scrunches up her nose as she stares at me, realization dawning once she places who I am.
She beams, jaw-dropping. “Holy shit! You’re alive!
” She bends over the table, swaying her hips side to side as her voice dips to an alluring rasp.
“Baby boy, where’ve you been?” She pouts. “We missed you.”
“You’ve missed my wallet,” I state, gaze cold. She frowns. The truth hurts. “Don’t look so upset, V.” I tip my head at the Li brothers. “I’m sure my friends here would love to hear about your modeling aspirations.”
“Your friends, huh?” She bites her lip, pupils converting to dollar signs as the melodic house music blaring around the club fades, and a deep, rhythmic beat begins to thump out of the speakers. “Where you boys from?”
“Please welcome to the stage,” the DJ announces as Venus lures the Li brothers into her vortex, “the angelic…the cosmic…” A thigh-high glitter heel peeks out of the black satin curtains. “Luna Lush.”
She must be new. I sigh, sinking into the booth as the lights dim and fog coats the platform. Fog? Since when? How excessive.
Crossing my arms over my chest, I skim the stripper’s curvaceous silhouette as she steps further onto the stage, her bare back facing the crowd.
She moves her hips in slow elegant circles, gliding her hands down her hips, until the bass drops, and she snaps down, her platinum blonde hair sweeping across the floor.
Her movements are practiced and perfected and raw, so raw, like she’s dancing only for herself, no one else.
Playing with the building music, she drops to her knees, rocking her hips side to side before flipping over and seductively licking her plump ruby red lips.
I sit up.
Blue and purple lights illuminate her sharp features as she crawls on all fours through the thickening fog to the edge of the stage.
Like a well-behaved dog. Like a really good girl.
Her tits bounce side-to-side with every calculated stride as she sweeps her hypnotic gaze across the room.
When her bright green eyes lock with mine, my pulse quickens and blood rushes straight to my fucking cock.
An alien feeling of caged desire spreads through my body and mind as I stare at her. It doesn’t make sense. Everything about her is artificial. Her hair. Her nails. Her skimpy little outfit. This shouldn’t be happening. This never happens. Not since…
My breath turns shallow as I watch her move, so nimble and free.
The type of freedom that only comes from an incarcerated past. I can’t explain it, but there’s something in her soft green eyes that piques my morbid curiosity.
She radiates a perplexing dichotomy of wild and tamed, and it doesn’t make sense.
She doesn’t make sense. It infuriates me. Drives me mad.
Her unwavering gaze stays locked with mine, and I notice a sliver of a taunting smirk spread across her flawless face.
Who are you?
She answers me silently as she sinks her teeth into her bottom lip and air, that’s desperate for answers, leaves my lungs.
I dare you to find out.