*Early Morning*

Damian's POV

Damian had always woken before the sun.

It wasn’t discipline anymore. It was survival. A habit he had honed over years of managing crises before breakfast, time zones, and locking away grief before anyone could notice it still lingered.

But today, he lay still.

Eyes open, jaw tense, the weight of something unspoken pinning him to the mattress.

Not numbers. Not the corporate threats.

Her.

Elena.

The image of her sitting in the garden with Emma with their heads close, fingers entwined had etched itself so deeply into his mind that not even sleep could erase it.

He sat up slowly, swinging his legs to the...