The Maid's Deception-Chapter 85 - 84: The Decision I

DAMIEN’S POV

Damien stood in his private study at 7 AM on a cold February morning and realized with devastating clarity that he couldn’t do this anymore.

One month. Thirty days since he’d walked away from Aria in that greenhouse. Thirty days of trying to move on, trying to forget, trying to convince himself that cutting her out of his life was the right choice.

It wasn’t working.

The first week had been hell. Pure, unfiltered rage and devastation. He’d fired people, cancelled meetings, destroyed his carefully cultivated reputation for calm, collected leadership. His staff had walked on eggshells. His board had questioned his competency. Julian had staged multiple interventions. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Week two, he’d forced himself to get it together. Had buried the pain under ruthless professionalism. Showed up to meetings prepared. Made decisions. Ran his empire with the same cold efficiency he was known for.

Everyone thought he was better. Recovered. Moving on.

They were wrong.

He was just better at hiding it.

Week three, he’d fled to Tokyo on a business trip he didn’t need to take, thinking distance would help. It hadn’t. He’d stood in meetings with Japanese investors and thought about her. Had eaten dinner alone in a Michelin-starred restaurant and remembered the way she’d looked at him across the table in his private quarters. Had woken up at 3 AM in a luxury hotel and reached for her before remembering she was gone.

Week four, he’d returned to New York and thrown himself back into work with manic intensity. Sixteen-hour days. Back-to-back meetings. Acquisitions, mergers, strategic planning....anything to keep his mind occupied.

But at night, alone in his study...because he still couldn’t sleep in his bedroom, still couldn’t face the bed where he’d claimed her....the pain was just as sharp as day one.

And now it was day thirty. One month exactly.

And Damien was exhausted.

Exhausted from pretending. Exhausted from running. Exhausted from trying to convince himself that he was fine when every cell in his body screamed that he wasn’t.

He picked up the small box on his desk....the necklace and earrings Aria had left behind. His marks. His claims. His gifts that she hadn’t thought she deserved.

He’d been carrying them with him for a month. In his pocket during meetings. On his desk while he worked. Constant reminders of what he’d lost.

Julian said it was masochistic. That he needed to put them away, move on, let go.

But Damien couldn’t. Because letting go of these meant admitting it was really over. And he wasn’t ready for that.

Might never be ready for that.

His phone buzzed. A text from Julian: "Coffee this morning? Need to talk to you about something."

Damien almost ignored it. Almost. But Julian had been relentless in his friendship over the past month, refusing to let Damien completely isolate himself. It was annoying and necessary in equal measure.

He typed back: "My office. 9 AM."

That gave him two hours to prepare. Two hours to figure out what the hell he was going to do about this situation that was slowly destroying him from the inside out.

Julian arrived at exactly 9 AM, carrying two coffees and wearing an expression that said he meant business.

"You look like shit," he said without preamble, handing Damien one of the coffees.

"Good morning to you too."

"I’m serious. You’ve lost weight. When’s the last time you slept more than four hours?"

"I sleep enough."

"Bullshit." Julian sat in the chair across from Damien’s desk and studied him with the kind of intensity that came from fifteen years of friendship. "You’re still destroying yourself over her."

"I’m working. I’m functioning. What more do you want?"

"I want my friend back. The one who didn’t look like a ghost. The one who could smile without it being completely fake. The one who actually gave a shit about his life."

Damien took a long drink of his coffee, using the time to control his response. "I’m fine."

"You’re not. And we both know it." Julian leaned forward. "Damien, it’s been a month. You need to make a decision."

"I made my decision. I let her go."

"Did you? Because from where I’m sitting, you’re still completely tangled up in her. You carry her jewelry in your pocket. You can’t sleep in your own bedroom. You work yourself to exhaustion so you don’t have to think about her. That’s not letting go. That’s just suffering in silence."

"What do you want me to do, Julian? Call her? Forgive her? Pretend the betrayal didn’t happen?"

"I want you to figure out what you actually want. Not what your pride says you should want. Not what makes logical sense. What you....Damien Blackwood, the man, not the CEO....actually want."

The question hung in the air, heavy and unavoidable.

What did he want?

To forget her? Impossible. He’d tried. Every day for a month, he’d tried. She was burned into his brain, his heart, his very DNA.

To hate her? He’d tried that too. The anger had been there in the beginning, hot and consuming. But beneath it.....always beneath it.....was the love. The devastating, relentless love that wouldn’t fade no matter how much he wanted it to.

To move on? How? When every woman he saw was compared to her and found lacking? When every moment of every day reminded him of what they’d had?

"I don’t know what I want," Damien finally admitted, the words tasting like defeat.

"Yes, you do. You’re just too scared to admit it." Julian’s voice was gentle but firm. "You want her back. You want to try again. You want to see if what you had can survive what she did."

"It can’t."

"How do you know? You haven’t tried. You haven’t talked to her. You haven’t given either of you a chance to see if forgiveness is possible."

"She betrayed me, Julian. Fundamentally. How do you come back from that?"

"I don’t know. But you won’t find out by avoiding her for the rest of your life." Julian paused. "Do you know what today is?"

"Thursday."

"It’s one month exactly since you caught her in the greenhouse. One month since you walked away." Julian’s eyes were knowing. "And you’re sitting here in your study at 9 AM, holding her jewelry, looking like you’re about to break. That tells me everything I need to know about whether you’ve moved on."

Damien set down his coffee and ran a hand through his hair. "Even if I wanted to see her.....which I’m not saying I do.....what would I say? ’Sorry I let you suffer for a month, want to try again?’ It’s been thirty days, Julian. She’s probably moved on. Probably met someone who doesn’t test her, who doesn’t play games, who just helps when she needs it."

"Or maybe she’s been suffering just as much as you." Julian pulled out his phone, pulled up something, and handed it to Damien. "Lucy talked to Aria’s friend Marcus last week. Said Aria’s working herself to death at Mount Sinai. Taking double shifts, extra call, volunteering for the hardest cases. Sound familiar?"

Damien stared at the phone, his chest tight. "She’s working at Mount Sinai?"

"Has been for three weeks. Same hospital where her mother was treated. Where your team performed the miracle." Julian’s voice was pointed. "She walks those halls every day and thinks about you. Just like you sit in this study every night and think about her."

The thought of Aria at Mount Sinai....surrounded by reminders of him, of what he’d done, of what they’d lost....made something in Damien’s chest crack.

"Is she....." He stopped, hating how much he needed to know. "Is she okay?"

"No. According to Marcus, she’s barely holding on. Working constantly. Not sleeping. Lost weight. Looks like a ghost." Julian’s expression was sad. "Sound familiar?"

It did. It sounded exactly like what Damien had been doing.

"So you’re both destroying yourselves," Julian continued. "Both suffering. Both drowning in what you lost. And neither of you is brave enough to reach out and see if there’s a way forward."

"She could reach out. She knows where I am."

"You had her escorted off the property by security. You ignored her texts. You made it very clear you didn’t want to see her. Why would she think you’d changed your mind?"

"Because she should know....." Damien stopped, the words dying in his throat.

Should know what? That he still loved her? That he thought about her constantly? That a month of separation had done nothing except prove how completely she’d ruined him for anyone else?

How would she know that when he’d spent a month in total silence?

"You want closure or you want her back?" Julian asked. "Because those are your only two options. This limbo....this half-life you’re living....it’s not sustainable. Make a choice, Damien. Any choice. But make it consciously."