She asked him once. A long time ago.
"What would you do if I cheated?"
He told her.
She didn't believe him.
Now she would.
Now the world would.
Now everyone would understand.
This was not love.
This was more than love.
This was obsession.
This was destruction.
This was the end of everything.
---
The one hundred forty-eighth week, Damien met Marcus.
Not the therapist.
A different Marcus.marcus argent.
An old friend from college.
The man in the photograph.
The man whose hand was on Christabel's arm.
The meeting was at a neutral location.
A warehouse.
Concrete floors. Steel beams. Flickering lights.
Cole was watching from the shadows.
Christabel stood between them.
"Damien, please."
"Please what?"
"Please don't."
"Don't what?"
She was quiet for a moment.
"Don't become him."
"I am him."
"You're not."
"I am."
She stepped closer.
"You're my husband. You're Lena's father. You're a good man."
"I'm not a good man."
"You're my man."
He looked at her.
"So what the fuck is this creep doing so close to ypu huh and he is looking at you with desperate eyes and watering mouth"
Marcus spoke.
His voice was shaking.
"Look, I didn't mean—"
Damien turned.
"You didn't mean what?"
"I didn't mean to—"
"To what? To touch my wife? To laugh with her? To put your hand on her arm?"
"It wasn't like that."
"Then what was it like?"
Marcus was quiet.
"That's what I thought."
---
Damien walked to him.
Stood inches from his face.
"Do you remember what I told Christabel? A long time ago? When she asked me what I would do if she cheated?"
Marcus shook his head.
"I told her I would find the man. I would kill him. I would cut him into pieces. I would cook him. I would feed him to her."
Marcus's face went white.
"I told her I would torment her. Every day. Every night. Every moment. I would remind her that she chose him. That she left me. That she broke our family."
He paused.
"I told her I would make her wish she had never been born."
---
Marcus stumbled back.
"I didn't sleep with her."
"Your hand was on her arm."
"That's not—"
"That's enough."
Damien pulled out a gun.
Not pointed at Marcus's chest.
At his leg.
"I'm going to ask you one question. And you're going to answer honestly."
Marcus nodded.
"Did you sleep with my wife?"
"No."
"Did you want to?"
Marcus was quiet.
"Did you want to?"
"Yes."
---
Damien fired.
The bullet tore through Marcus's thigh.
He screamed.
Fell to the ground.
Blood poured onto the concrete.
Christabel gasped.
"Damien!"
"I warned him."
"You shot him!"
"I warned him."
She ran to Marcus argent
Pressed her hands against the wound.
"Call an ambulance!"
Cole didn't move.
"Call an ambulance!"
Cole looked at Damien.
Damien nodded.
Cole made the call.
Damien knelt beside Marcus.
Blood on his hands.
Blood on the floor.
Blood everywhere.
"Listen to me."
Marcus was crying.
"I'm going to let you live. Not because you deserve it. Because she asked me to."
Marcus nodded.
"But from now on, you disappear. You leave the city. You leave the country. You never come back."
Marcus nodded again.
"If I ever see your face again. If I ever hear your name again. If I ever even think you might be near my wife again. I will find you. And I will make you wish I had killed you today."
---
The ambulance arrived.
Marcus was taken away.
Christabel stood in the corner.
Her hands were red.
Her face was pale.
Damien walked to her.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm not okay."
"You will be."
"How do you know?"
"Because I'm going to make sure."
---
He pulled out his phone.
Called Marcus Webb.
Not the man on the floor.
The therapist.
The one he had beaten years ago.
The one he had given $10 million to.
The one who had been helping Christabel heal.
"Marcus."
"Damien?"
"You work for me now."
"I already—"
"Not as a consultant. As my personal therapist. For life. For my family. For my children. And for their children."
Marcus Webb was quiet for a moment.
"Okay."
"Okay?"
"Okay."
"You're going to help me. You're going to help Christabel. You're going to help Lena. You're going to help everyone I love."
"I understand."
"And if you ever betray me—"
"I won't."
"You won't. Because you know what happens."
Marcus Webb was silent.
"Yes. I know."
---
Damien hung up.
Christabel stared at him.
"You just called the therapist."
"I just called the therapist."
"The one you beat."
"The one I forgave."
"The one you gave $10 million to."
"The one who's going to keep us together."
She was quiet for a moment.
"You're insane."
"I'm in love."
"Same thing."
"Different intention."
---
They didn't know someone was recording.
A worker. In the shadows. Phone out. Camera rolling.
He captured everything.
The gunshot. The threat. The blood.
He posted it online.
Within minutes, it went viral.
"Damien Moreau Shoots Man in Warehouse."
"The Truth About the Moreaus."
"This is Not Love. This is Terror."
---
Damien's phone rang.
Sterling.
"It's everywhere."
"I know."
"We need to kill it."
"Then kill it."
"I can't."
"You can."
"How?"
Damien was quiet for a moment.
"Call everyone. Use every resource. Make it disappear."
---
The video was removed within the hour.
But copies existed.
People had downloaded it.
People had saved it.
People had shared it.
Damien made calls.
Not to lawyers.
To friends.
To people who owed him favors.
To people who knew what happened when you crossed him.
Within twenty-four hours, every copy was gone.
Every hard drive. Every phone. Every cloud.
The people who refused to delete?
They disappeared too.
Not killed.
Just... gone.
New jobs. New cities. New lives.
Far away from Damien Moreau.
---
That night, Christabel put Lena to bed.
Not Damien. Her.
Lena was full of questions.
"Mama, why is Papa on the phone?"
"Because he's fixing a problem."
"What problem?"
"A problem someone created."
Lena thought about that.
"Did Papa hurt someone?"
Christabel was quiet for a moment.
"Yes."
"Was it bad?"
"Yes."
"Was it necessary?"
Christabel looked at her daughter.
"Yes, baby. It was necessary."
---
Damien appeared in the doorway.
"She's asleep?"
"She's dreaming."
"Of what?"
"Of you."
He walked to her.
Took her hand.
"The video is gone."
"I know."
"The copies are gone."
"I know."
"The people who refused to delete are gone."
She looked at him.
"I know."
"Why aren't you surprised?"
"Because I know who you are."
---
He pulled her into his arms.
"I love you."
"I know."
"I love you in ways I didn't know I was capable of."
She touched his face.
"I know. Because I love you the same way."
"Even after today?"
She was quiet for a moment.
"Especially after today."
First Line of Chapter 193 (Teaser):
"The one hundred forty-ninth week, the world moved on. But Damien and Christabel didn't. The video was gone. The copies were gone. The witnesses were gone. But the memory remained. And the memory was eating them alive."