The Confession (Damien's Inner Voice)

I finally reached her.

For years, every calculated move led to this moment. Every decision, every sacrifice, every lie all designed for one purpose:

My mother's justice.

I remember the emptiness in her eyes.

The way she sat quietly at dinners while my father drifted farther away.

The way she pretended not to notice his infatuation with her that woman.

Ariana's mother.

Beautiful. Alluring. Manipulative.

She stole my father's mind. His heart. His loyalty. And my mother...

She withered in silence.

Until she finally slipped away a broken, invisible woman.

After she died, one truth remained:

I would destroy the woman who destroyed my mother.

But the years taught me patience. Revenge isn't taken with rage it's crafted with precision.

I studied them.

Their family.

Their weaknesses.

I waited.

And then the opportunity presented itself like fate bowing to my will.

Ariana's father was sick. Desperate. Vulnerable.

He needed money.

I offered it wrapped in the perfect contract: marriage.

Ariana became mine. My leverage. My pawn.

At least, that's what I believed.

But she... she wasn't what I expected.

She isn't cold like her mother.

She's warm.

Innocent.

Kind.

Her eyes don't hold manipulation they hold hope.

How could a woman like her mother raise a daughter like this?

And now... I know the answer.

Because Ariana isn't her daughter.

She never was.

The truth hidden behind layers of deception concealed perfectly by the very woman I sought to destroy.

The real daughter... is still in the shadows.

Watching. Moving.

But now?

Now I face the unthinkable.

I no longer want to break Ariana.

I want to protect her.

Save her from a war she never asked for.

From a legacy of poison that isn't even hers.

But how do I stop what I've set in motion?

How do I abandon my mother's memory… for her?

How do I fall for the daughter of my enemy only to discover she was never truly my enemy at all?

My plan was flawless.

Until she smiled at me.

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