Page 46 of Deliah

He didn’t say a word. Just stood there, frozen. Broken. I turned and walked. My legs felt like lead, but I kept moving. Away from him. From the villa. From the safety I didn’t know if I trusted anymore.

It felt like hours had passed when I finally reached the bottom of the hill.

My feet were sore, my body ached, and my head pounded like a warning siren.

I collapsed by the roadside, curled into myself on the cold pavement.

I didn’t have a phone. Didn’t have my bag.

Didn’t even have a plan. Just me, the night, and the emptiness inside me swallowing everything whole.

Tears spilled down again. Heavy. Endless.

What the fuck was I doing? Why did I always run?

Why couldn’t I just believe someone loved me without needing to rip it all apart?

I rocked back and forth, gripping my arms, sobbing into the crook of my elbow like a child.

I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. I just kept hearing Charlie’s voice.

Just another one of his whores . And Damion’s silence.

And then that final, terrible thought: I can’t survive another heartbreak.

After what felt like an eternity—just me, the pavement, and the slow unravelling of every decision I’d ever made—I saw him.

Damion. His silhouette moved towards me, slow, unsure, like he was approaching a wild animal that might bolt at the slightest noise.

I didn’t even try to run. I had no fight left.

No words. Just a tight, aching pain in my chest and a hollow kind of numbness settling in my bones.

He didn’t speak at first. Just sat down beside me on the pavement—quietly, gently.

Not too close, but close enough that I could feel his presence in the silence. Then he spoke.

“Baby,” he said softly, his voice hoarse, “I know you needed space. And I should’ve respected that. But please… just give me five minutes. Let me explain.”

I turned my head slightly, just enough to look at him. My eyes were swollen, my face blotchy. My head throbbed behind my temples, but it was the heaviness in my heart that hurt the most.

“I don’t know if I can,” I whispered. “I don’t know if I want to hear what you have to say, Damion.”

He swallowed hard. “I get that. I do. But I promise you—I would never hurt you. Not on purpose. Not ever.”

I didn’t reply. I just sat there, trembling, waiting. So he continued.

“You already knew about Layla,” he said quietly. “I told you about her. That day you asked how I got into this lifestyle. I told you she was the first person I did this with. That part was true.”

He paused, glancing over at me. I didn’t move. I didn’t blink.

“You want the full story?” he said gently. “Okay. Here it is.”

He exhaled slowly, like the words were heavier than he expected.

“I met her at a club I used to go to in London. Like I said before, she was the one who introduced me to all this. And yeah, at the beginning, I liked her. She had that power. She knew how to use it. But what I didn’t know—what she never told me—was that she was also seeing someone else.”

His voice darkened, the bitterness creeping in.

“She was seeing Charlie.”

I flinched. Like he’d slapped me with her name.

“I had no fucking clue, Deliah,” he said, shaking his head. “None. She was with me… and all that time, she was also with him. And the moment we both found out, she left. Disappeared. No explanation. Just gone.”

He went quiet for a second. His fingers tangled nervously in his lap.

“But Charlie… he didn’t see it that way.

He blamed me. Said I knew all along. Said I manipulated her.

Accused me of abusing her. I don’t know what story she fed him—maybe she felt guilty, maybe she was trying to protect herself.

Maybe she didn’t say anything, and he just assumed based on the shit we used to do together.

But it wasn’t like that. It was consensual, everything. I swear to you.”

I could hear the sincerity in his voice, but my chest still ached. The words from Charlie clung to me like smoke I couldn’t get out of my lungs.

“She used me,” Damion said, voice quieter now. “For what she wanted. For money, for control, I don’t know. She fucked us both over and then vanished.”

He looked over at me again, eyes glassy.

“That was years ago, Deliah. I haven’t thought about her since. I don’t have any feelings for her. I don’t even have memories of her that matter anymore. She was just the person who introduced me to this world—and then left me in the middle of it.”

My throat tightened.

“I didn’t tell you everything because…” He trailed off, then sighed. “Because I didn’t want this to happen. I knew how Charlie felt. I knew he’d stir the pot, say shit that wasn’t true. And I should’ve warned you. I should’ve told you the whole story.”

My fingers curled tightly in my lap. My head dropped slightly, as if I couldn’t hold the weight of my confusion any longer.

“I should never have let you work at that club,” Damion continued. “That’s on me. I fucked up. I thought I could protect you and still give you the freedom you wanted. But I failed.”

His voice broke, and he reached out slowly, as if expecting me to flinch.

“I know you’re angry. I know you have every right to be. I just…” He looked down, then back up at me with eyes that shattered me. “I don’t want to lose you. I don’t know how to do this without you, Deliah.”

Tears pricked the back of my eyes again. My breathing was ragged, chest rising and falling with silent sobs I didn’t even know were coming.

He reached out again, this time placing his hand lightly on my knee.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he whispered. “And I know I’m not perfect. I never pretended to be. But I’m trying. I swear to God I’m trying.”

I sat there, silently crumbling. The part of me that loved him wanted to believe every word. The part of me that had been broken before screamed at me to run.

“Why didn’t you just tell me about Charlie?” I said finally, my voice breaking.

“Because I didn’t want his version of the past to shape our future,” he said. “Because it wasn’t the truth. And I didn’t want him to ruin something real.”

I looked at him—really looked at him—and for the first time in a long time, I saw it. Not just the confident, dominant version of him I was used to. I saw the man behind all of it. The one who was scared. Scared to lose me. The one who’d been hurt too.

“I’m so fucking tired, Damion,” I whispered. “Tired of being upset. Tired of not knowing what’s real. I can’t survive another heartbreak.”

His voice cracked. “Then don’t leave. Let’s figure this out. Please, Deliah. Don’t walk away from this. Don’t walk away from me.”

We sat there, side by side on the cold pavement, in a silence that wasn’t empty anymore. It was filled with pain and love and everything in between. And for the first time in hours, I didn’t feel completely alone.

“How do I know you’re not going to get bored of me?” I whispered, voice trembling. “That I’m not just… another one of your lessons?”

The words caught in my throat. Saying them felt like peeling back my skin.

Damion didn’t flinch. He stepped closer, dropped to his knees in front of me on the pavement, eyes burning into mine.

“Because, Deliah…” he said quietly. “I love you.”

I froze.

He reached for my hand but didn’t take it—just hovered there, waiting, letting me choose.

“I’ve loved you since the moment I laid eyes on you. That night on the pavement in the city, when you were all attitude and fire and chaos.” He smiled gently, like it was a memory he carried in his chest. “I knew then. Even if I didn’t say it.”

Tears filled my eyes, but I couldn’t look away.

“I love everything about you,” he said, voice thick with emotion. “Your eyes. The way you challenge me. That laugh that drives me insane. The way you care so deeply, even when you pretend you don’t. I love all of it, every messy, beautiful inch of you.”

I looked down, but he reached out and gently lifted my chin, guiding my eyes back to his.

“I will never hurt you, Deliah. I swear to you on everything I have—I would fight the fucking world for you.”

My chest cracked open. His words didn’t just hit—they buried themselves inside me.

“Please,” he whispered, thumb brushing a tear off my cheek. “Please come home. Just give me one last shot. I’ll earn every second of your trust, I promise.”

And in that moment, with my heart splitting in two and my head still pounding, I looked up at him—and I believed him. Every word. Every promise.

I leaned in and kissed him, slow and steady.

There was no rush, no fire—just something softer.

Truer. It felt like breathing for the first time in hours.

Like our souls had been waiting for that exact moment to find their way back to each other.

When I finally pulled back, his arms wrapped around me with such care, I crumbled all over again.

The kind of crying that comes from relief.

From safety. From the terrifying realisation that you almost lost something you never really had the words for.

He just held me there, letting me fall apart in his chest, kissing the top of my head over and over until the tears slowed.

Then finally, he whispered, “Come on, let’s get you home. You need to rest.”

I let out a soft, tired laugh. “I don’t think I can make it back up to the top.”

He smiled, brushing my hair back from my face. “Don’t worry, baby. I’ve got you. My car’s just up here.”

I blinked at him. “Wait—you followed me the whole way down here?”

He grinned. “Basically, yeah.”

“You stalked me?”

“Deliah, you had just had your head stitched and decided to take off on a solo midnight marathon down a dark hill. I couldn’t exactly let you go wandering into the darkness.”

I snorted. “You’re unbelievable.”

He reached for my hand, lacing our fingers together. “You’ve said that before. Usually when I’m right.”

We walked slowly towards the car, leaning on each other like old souls, bruised but not broken. The silence between us had changed now. It wasn’t heavy anymore. It was peaceful.

Just as we reached the car, he said it again—casually, like it had always been there between us. “I love you, baby. You’re a fucking nightmare… but I love you.”

I laughed through the ache in my chest. “Hey, don’t get smug. You’re still in trouble. You’ve got some serious making up to do.”

He opened the car door, smirking. “I’m looking forward to it.”

And somehow, despite everything, I knew he meant it.