The carriage driver quickly jumped down from his high wooden seat. He hurried over and pulled the carriage door wide open for them. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Damon held Camilla steady by keeping a firm hand on her waist. He reached out his other hand toward the driver. He offered the man her delicate shoes and her small silk reticule.

"Please, sir," Damon said. His voice was polite but carried a clear, commanding authority. "Could you help me keep this carefully in the carriage?"

The driver quickly nodded his head, eager to please the powerful General.

"Yes, My Lord," the man replied. He carefully took the items from Damon’s large hand. He leaned inside the carriage and placed the shoes and the purse neatly on the soft velvet seat.

Outside, Camilla was trapped in a very tight space.

Because she was standing on top of his boots, she was incredibly close to him. Her back was touching the hard wooden side of the carriage. Damon was standing right in front of her. He was leaning forward slightly, using his tall body to cage her in. He kept his large, warm hand firmly on her small waist, keeping her perfectly steady so she wouldn’t fall off his boots.

Camilla had to tilt her head up to look at his face.

She looked deeply into his dark brown eyes. The amusement from earlier was completely gone. He still had that very dark, very angry, highly intense look in his eyes. He looked like a predator cornering his prey.

Camilla did not feel intimidated. She felt incredibly annoyed. She crossed her arms tightly over her chest again.

"Who are you trying to intimidate with that scary look?" Camilla thought to herself, glaring right back at him. Her internal voice was full of defiant fire.

She remembered Syrus’s words from earlier.

"As if he didn’t come to this exact establishment for the exact same thing!" she accused him in her mind, completely misjudging his reasons for being there. "He says he was here for a meeting. A meeting in an escort establishment? Ha! What a massive lie. Hypocrite!"

She turned her head slightly to the side, breaking eye contact. She looked down the busy street, her mind racing with practical plans.

"Since there is absolutely nothing left to salvage in this fake, terrible marriage," Camilla reasoned internally, feeling deeply frustrated by his constant anger. "We should just get divorced immediately. We are both clearly miserable. I will take my money and leave."

She thought about the beautiful, warm room she had just left behind.

"I might as well just be with Julian, or Elian, or Ilias after the divorce," she thought proudly, a small smile returning to her mind. "They were very nice. They know how to treat a woman properly. I will take my gold, buy a huge house, and invite them all over for grapes."

Damon stood perfectly still, caging her against the carriage.

He listened to her entire internal rant. He heard her call him a hypocrite. He heard her plan to divorce him.

But the very last thought—her specific, happy plan to run away and surround herself with those half-naked escorts after she left him—caused a very strange, very dark reaction inside his mind.

The sharp, uncomfortable feeling in his chest returned with a massive, undeniable force. It was an intense, overwhelming possessiveness. He suddenly realized he absolutely, completely hated the idea of her smiling at another man. He hated the idea of her leaving him. He had spent the last year pushing her away, but now that she actually wanted to go, he realized he could not let her leave.

Damon’s angry expression slowly shifted.

He let out a very small, incredibly dark, highly amused smile. The smile did not reach his intense eyes.

He decided to punish her for her thoughts in the most effective way possible. He was going to use her own fake words against her. He was going to trap her with her own lies.

Damon leaned in much closer. He lowered his head, invading her personal space completely. He brought his face so close to hers that he could feel her warm breath against his skin.

"Thank you for sharing my heavy workload," Damon said softly, his deep voice dropping to a smooth whisper. He was actively teasing her, repeating the ridiculous excuse she had used in the private room.

Camilla’s eyes widened, confused by his sudden change in tone.

"That was very thoughtful of you, seeking out recruits for my army," Damon continued, his voice dripping with smooth, heavy sarcasm.

He moved his hand from her waist. He slowly slid his hand up her back, resting his large palm gently against the space between her shoulder blades, pulling her body a tiny bit closer to his chest.

"I never imagined you love me this much, I am so lucky." Damon whispered.

He stared directly into her shocked eyes. He made sure his next words were incredibly clear, absolutely final, and totally unbreakable.

"I promise to never, ever bring up the word ’divorce’ in front of you again," Damon vowed softly. The smile on his lips grew slightly wider. "We are bound together. We will grow old together in that mansion, Camilla. You are never leaving me. I won’t let you go."

To seal the dark, inescapable promise, Damon leaned his head forward. Very gently, but very firmly, he rested his smooth forehead directly against her forehead.

Camilla completely stopped breathing. Her heart gave a sudden, massive, terrifying jolt inside her chest.

She could feel the heat of his skin against her forehead. She could feel the strong grip of his hand on her back.

"Is he completely mad?" Camilla thought to herself, her internal voice screaming in absolute panic. Her brain was completely short-circuiting.

She could not understand this at all. She had just been caught with six escorts. She had made a fool of him in front of his friend.

"Did he hit his head somewhere on the way here?" Camilla wondered frantically, staring at his smiling face. "Is his brain broken? Shouldn’t he be scolding me loudly right now? Shouldn’t he be screaming at me, then immediately sending Kade to get a divorce paper drafted?"

Damon did not wait for her to process her shock. He did not give her time to argue or form a clever reply.

He pulled his head back slightly. He moved his hand from her back and wrapped his strong arm completely around her waist again. With one effortless motion, Damon lifted her up off his boots. He carried her easily with one hand.

He turned and gently placed her safely inside the carriage, sitting her down on the soft velvet seat right next to her shoes and her reticule.

Damon turned to the other side of the carriage and immediately climbed into the carriage after her. He closed the door firmly behind him, trapping them both inside the small, enclosed space.

He sat down on the seat directly across from her. He stretched his long legs out and crossed his arms over his chest, looking completely satisfied with the reaction he had gotten from her.

"To the Benson mansion," Damon called out loudly to the driver through the small window.

The driver cracked his whip. The horses neighed, and the carriage lurched forward.