Chapter 158: Chapter 160: The Hunt Begins
DAMIEN’S POV
Damien sat in his office, outwardly calm, but inside, he was furious. The news articles were still spreading across financial platforms, each one a calculated attack on Aria’s reputation, on her character, on everything she’d worked for.
And he knew exactly who was responsible.
His phone rang. Marcus.
"Talk to me," Damien said, his voice deadly quiet.
"Found her, sir. She’s at the Plaza, having afternoon tea with some society friends."
"Good. Bundle her out of there."
"Understood. Where do you want her taken?"
Damien considered for a moment. The estate was out of the question.....he wouldn’t sully his home, Aria’s home, with Victoria’s presence.
"The warehouse," he said finally. "No one will hear her scream."
There was a pause on the other end. "Sir, are you sure? That’s...."
"I’m very sure, Marcus. Take her there. And Marcus, I want her in that warehouse within the hour."
"Yes, sir. And... how would you like us to handle her once she’s there?"
Damien’s smile was cold and cruel. "Hold her. No food. No water. No phone calls. I want her to understand what it means to be powerless. What it means to be at someone else’s mercy.
"Twenty-four hours," Marcus repeated. "Understood. What about her father? Harold Ashford will notice she’s missing."
"Let him notice. I’ll be waiting for his call"
"I’ll handle it personally, sir."
Damien hung up and immediately switched focus to damage control. He pulled up his contact list and started making calls.
First, the PR department.
"Jennifer. I assume you’ve seen the news." He listened to her frantic explanation. "I don’t care how the story got out. What I care about is killing it. Now. I want a statement released within the hour to every news outlet that published this story. They have twenty-four hours to retract or face a lawsuit for defamation
"Excellent. Send me the draft statement in thirty minutes. I want to approve it before it goes out."
His phone rang. Damien checked and saw that it was his grandfather calling.
Damien picked up. "Grandfather."
"Damien." Richard’s voice was calm but serious. "I’ve seen the news. Tell me what’s happening."
"Victoria leaked the news."
"And you’re certain it’s Victoria?"
"Absolutely certain."
Richard was quiet for a moment. "Do you need my help? I have contacts at most of these publications. I could make some calls, apply pressure...."
"I appreciate that, Grandfather, but I can handle it. And I’m... dealing with Victoria personally."
"Dealing with her how, exactly?"
"Better you don’t know the specifics."
"Okay. Just... be smart about it. The Ashfords have connections, and Harold won’t take kindly to his daughter being threatened."
"Harold lost any consideration from me when they came after Aria. Now they get to deal with the consequences."
Richard sighed. "I can’t say I disagree. How is Aria handling all this?"
"She’s...." Damien glanced through the glass wall of his office to where Aria sat at her desk, staring at her computer screen with an expression he couldn’t quite read. "She’s holding up."
"Then you do whatever you need to do to protect her. Richard added pointedly."
"I will. Thank you, Grandfather."
"And Damien? When you’re done handling Victoria, bring Aria by the estate. I want to talk to her.
"I will."
Damien ended the call with his grandfather and sat for a moment, processing everything.
He stood and walked to where Aria sat at her desk in the outer office, her eyes fixed on her computer screen with intense concentration.
She didn’t look upset. Didn’t look devastated or overwhelmed or any of the things he’d expected.
Her fingers were flying across the keyboard, lines of code scrolling across her screen faster than he could read. Multiple windows were open.....news websites, content management systems, backend databases that she definitely shouldn’t have access to.
As he watched, one of the news articles disappeared from a major financial website. Then another. Then a third.
"Aria?" he said quietly.
She didn’t look up, just kept typing. "Give me five more minutes. I’m almost done with Business Insider."
Damien moved closer, watching over her shoulder as she worked. She’d hacked into the content management systems of at least six major news websites and was systematically deleting the articles, removing cached versions, scrubbing metadata.
It was illegal. but it was also the most attractive thing he’d ever seen her do.
"Another one of your identities, I guess?" he said, unable to keep the admiration out of his voice.
She finally looked up at him, a small smile playing at her lips. "Do you mind?"
"Not at all," he said honestly. "It means my girlfriend is brilliant. Though I should probably point out that what you’re doing is several kinds of felony."
"Only if they can prove it was me. And trust me, they won’t be able to." She turned back to her screen.
She hit a final keystroke with obvious satisfaction, and the last article disappeared.
"There. All major publications are clean. There might be some smaller blogs or forums that picked it up, but those don’t have the same reach. They’ll fade into irrelevance within forty-eight hours."
Damien pulled up his phone and checked the news sites she’d just hacked. Every single article about Aria was gone. Completely scrubbed. As if they’d never existed.
"You’re incredible," he said, meaning it completely.
"I’m practical," she corrected. "Your legal team and PR department are playing by the rules. Which is fine.....it’s important to have that official response. But sometimes you need someone who’s willing to fight dirty."
She stood and moved into his arms, and he held her tightly.
"What are you going to do about Victoria?" she asked quietly.
"I’m handling it. You don’t need to worry about her."
"Damien." She pulled back to look at him. "What are you going to do?"
He considered lying, protecting her from the darker aspects of his nature. But they’d promised honesty. Promised no more secrets.
"She’s being taken to one of my warehouses. She’ll be held there for at least twenty-four hours. I want her to understand what it means to be powerless. To be at someone else’s mercy."
Aria was quiet for a moment. "And after twenty-four hours?"
"After twenty-four hours, I’ll decide if she’s learned her lesson. If she has, she’ll be released with a very clear understanding that if she ever comes after you again, I’ll make her disappear"
"And if she hasn’t learned her lesson?"
His smile was cold. "Then the twenty-four hours becomes forty-eight. And I start making good on my threats to Ashford’s business empire. I have enough evidence of financial irregularities to trigger federal investigations. and to also make them go bankrupt"
"That’s ruthless."
"She came after you. There is no punishment too ruthless for that." His hands tightened on her waist. "I told you before....I will destroy anyone who threatens what’s mine. Victoria is learning that lesson the hard way."
Aria studied his face for a long moment. "You’re not going to hurt her physically, are you?"
"No. I don’t need to. Fear and isolation are far more effective than physical pain.
"Good," Aria said simply. "Because she deserves everything you’re planning. And more."
The vindictiveness in her voice surprised him. Aria was usually so compassionate, so forgiving. But apparently, Victoria had finally pushed her too far.
