Damian Cross : The Stranger I Paid To Ruin Me

POV: Elena

I tried to slip away from the gala quietly, murmuring an excuse about a sudden headache, but Richard’s hand tightened around my arm with that familiar possessive grip. “Don’t be ridiculous, Elena,” he said smoothly, his smile never reaching his eyes as he steered me back toward the crowd. “Damian Cross is here, and this is the opportunity we’ve been waiting for. You will stay and play the perfect wife tonight. Do you understand?”

I swallowed my protest and nodded, my stomach still churning from both the pregnancy and the devastating realization of who Damian truly was. The cash I had left on that nightstand now felt like a terrible joke. I had paid one of the most powerful men in the country for sex and then walked away as if he were nothing. And now he knew exactly who I was.

We returned to our table and moments later Damian Cross approached with confident, unhurried strides. Richard practically lit up with greed as he stood to greet him. Damian shook my husband’s hand while his piercing blue eyes found mine and held them with dark amusement. He joined us without waiting for an invitation, settling into the seat across from me as if he belonged there.

Throughout the conversation about the merger, Damian spoke with sharp intelligence and quiet authority, but his gaze kept returning to me. He studied me openly, his eyes tracing the line of my neck and the way my fingers rested protectively over my stomach. Every look sent heat rushing through my body and I hated how easily my skin remembered his touch.

POV: Damian

She was even more captivating under the soft lights of the gala than she had been in that hotel suite. Elena Vance sat beside her pathetic excuse of a husband with perfect posture and quiet dignity, yet I could see the rapid pulse beating at the base of her throat. She had paid me and slipped away like I was some disposable toy, and the memory both irritated and fascinated me. No woman had ever done that.

I joined their table deliberately and watched her reactions while discussing business with Richard. The man was embarrassingly eager, practically offering his wife as a bargaining chip if it meant securing the deal. I smiled politely at him but my attention remained fixed on Elena. She was trying so hard to remain composed, yet her body remembered me. I could see it in the way she pressed her thighs together and the slight flush that rose on her cheeks.

POV: Elena

As the evening progressed, Damian excused himself and somehow I found myself being drawn away from the main room. Richard encouraged it enthusiastically, whispering that I should “be charming” and help soften the billionaire for the merger. I wanted to scream, but instead I followed Damian toward the quieter terrace area, my heart hammering wildly.

He didn’t stop at the terrace. He guided me into a dimly lit hallway just off the main ballroom, and before I could protest, he gently but firmly pressed me back against the wall. His tall, powerful body caged me in without fully touching me, close enough that I could feel the heat radiating from him.

“You left cash on the nightstand, Elena,” he murmured, his voice low and rough as his breath brushed my ear. “Did you think that would make it simple? That I would forget how you moaned my name when I was buried deep inside you? How your body trembled and clenched around me when you came the first time… and the second… and the third?”

I gasped softly and tried to turn my face away, but he caught my chin with two fingers and brought my eyes back to his. Shame and unwanted arousal warred violently inside me. My nipples tightened against the fabric of my gown and heat pooled low in my belly despite everything.

“I didn’t know who you were,” I whispered, my voice shaking. “It was supposed to be one night. A mistake.”

Damian’s smirk was slow and dangerous. “A mistake that left you so wet and desperate for me that you came apart in my hands over and over again. I still remember the way you sounded when I fucked you slow and deep, Elena. The little gasps you made every time I hit that spot that made your back arch. You can deny it all you want, but your body remembers exactly who I am.”

His fingers trailed lightly down the side of my neck, not quite a caress but enough to make me shiver. He didn’t kiss me. He didn’t need to. The memory of that night and the raw tension between us now was more powerful than any touch. I felt exposed and dangerously alive at the same time.

**POV: Damian**

She was breathing faster now, her hazel eyes wide with a mixture of fear and desire. I loved how she tried to maintain her composure while her body betrayed her so beautifully. This woman had paid me for sex and walked away, yet here she was, married to a fool who didn’t deserve to breathe the same air as her. The quiet strength in her made something dark and possessive stir inside my chest.

“I know exactly who you are, Elena Vance,” I said softly, leaning closer until my lips nearly brushed her ear. “I know where you live. I know who you sleep beside every night. And I find it very interesting that a woman of your dignity felt the need to pay a stranger to fuck her properly.”

**POV: Elena**

My cheeks burned with humiliation, but I could not deny the slick heat building between my thighs. His words painted every explicit detail of that night so vividly that my body ached with remembered pleasure. I wanted to push him away and slap him. I also wanted him to lift my dress and take me right here against this wall.

Before I could find words to respond, he stepped back slightly, giving me just enough space to breathe again. His eyes burned with promise and something deeper, more dangerous than simple lust.

“You started a game you don’t understand, Elena,” he said softly, his voice like velvet over steel. “And I never leave games unfinished.”

He walked away without another word, leaving me trembling against the wall with my heart racing and my mind in chaos. I pressed a hand to my stomach, where our secret child was growing, and felt fresh waves of terror wash over me.

When I finally returned to Richard, he was beaming with excitement. “Well done, darling. Cross seemed quite taken with you. This deal is as good as ours.”

I said nothing. I simply nodded and let him lead me back into the crowd while my thoughts spiraled. The stranger I had hired for one night of revenge now held dangerous, unimaginable power over my life, my marriage, and the child I was carrying. And from the look in his eyes, he had every intention of using it.