CHAPTER 1: THE SCARS SHE COULDN'T HIDE
CHAPTER 1: THE SCARS SHE COULDN'T HIDE
Damien couldn't move.
His fingers, which had yanked down the back of Isabella's wedding gown only seconds earlier, slowly released the torn fabric.
Every inch of her back was covered in raised welts, fresh cuts, and scars layered upon scars—as if someone had spent years turning her body into a canvas of pain.
Isabella dropped to her knees.
She wrapped her arms around herself and shook violently.
"I'm sorry..." she cried between gasps. "Please don't use the belt. I'll be good this time. I promise."
The words struck Damien harder than any bullet ever could.
She wasn't talking to him.
She wasn't even seeing him.
She was trapped in a memory.
Damien slowly knelt beside her.
"No one's going to hurt you," he said quietly.
She flinched anyway.
His chest tightened.
Her father had trained her to fear kindness just as much as violence.
"So that's why," Damien whispered.
Isabella looked at him with empty eyes.
"My father said if I ever told anyone..." she whispered, "...he'd bury my little brother beside my mother."
Damien's jaw clenched.
He had married Isabella for one reason—to destroy her father, Victor Romano.
Victor had betrayed Damien's family years ago, stolen millions from his organization, and disappeared behind political connections.
Damien believed Isabella had helped him.
Now he realized she had never been his partner.
She had been his first victim.
He carefully draped his tuxedo jacket over her shoulders.
"Look at me."
She hesitated.
"I swear on my life," he said, "your father will never lay another hand on you."
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For the first time that night...
She believed someone.
