The Billionaire's Intern (Maya Thompson) novel Chapter 167

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Chapter 82. Even Wolves Need Patience-2

Chapter 82: Even Wolves Need Patience-2

He glanced sideways, voice quieter.

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“She buried her own dreams just to make space for everyone else’s. Then, all of a sudden, someone’s seeing her. Someone trying to carry weight she’s never let anyone else touch. Choosing her. Offering things she never thought she deserved. Especially when you’ve spent your whole life thinking no one ever would. That kind of shift doesn’t feel safe when you’ve ne ver had a soft place to land. It feels dangerous. Like free-falling.”

Damien’s fingers curled around the railing, knuckles tight.

“I don’t want to be her free fall, Nick. I want to be her anchor. The one constant she can trust, not something that throws her off balance.”

He exhaled slowly, jaw tense.

“But how do you prove to someone who’s never had safe… that you are?”

A beat of silence passed before his voice dropped again, rough and quieter now.

“She says she wants me. Then she pushes me away. I don’t know how much more of that I can take without breaking something… in me or in her.”

Ashcroft didn’t speak right away. He took a slow sip from his glass, eyes still trained on the

endless black sea.

Then, quietly, “Then don’t break. Not her. Not yourself.”

He glanced sideways at Damien, voice firm but not unkind.

“You’re not just some guy she’s dating. You’re the guy. The one she’s letting in even when every instinct is telling her to run. That’s not fear of you—that’s fear of losing herself in you. And you-” Ashcroft pointed slightly with the glass, “-you’re terrified of giving too much and having it not be enough. But you said it yourself, D. You’ve already crossed every line. So don’t pretend you’re halfway in.”

He paused, letting that hang in the humid air between them.

“You want her. So don’t ask for easy. Ask for real. And if you want real with her, you’ll have to walk beside her fear until she learns it’s safe to stop running.”

Ashcroft’s voice softened slightly, more personal now.

“She doesn’t need you to save her, Damien. She just needs to believe she can stand still-and

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Chapter 52. Even Wolves Need Patience-2

you’ll still stay.”

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Damien’s jaw flexed, the muscle ticking hard beneath his skin. He looked away, breathing slow through his nose, like he was trying to get a grip on the fury coiled tight in his chest.

“I’m not halfway in,” he muttered, voice low, dangerous. “I’m in this more than I’ve ever been with anyone in my goddamn life.”

He turned toward Ashcroft now, eyes sharp, voice clipped.

“You think I don’t know she’s scared? I see it in her eyes every time I get too close. I feel it in the way she pulls back just when I think we’re okay. But I’m not asking her to drown in me. I’m just-” He broke off, exhaling roughly. “I’m just asking her to try. To stop assuming I’ll vanish the second it gets hard.”

His voice dipped, almost quiet. “I’d carry her fear if she let me. I’d walk through fire if it meant she’d finally believe I’m not going anywhere.”

He looked back toward the sea, jaw set tight. “But if she keeps running, Nick… even I have a breaking point. And I’m not sure what it’ll do to me if I reach it.”

Ashcroft’s tone was steady, but there was steel beneath it.

“If she runs, chase her. That’s what you do when it matters.”

He paused, watching the way Damien’s fingers curled tighter around the glass.

“And if you’re hitting your breaking point… then remember why you’re doing this in the first place. You didn’t just fall for her by accident, Damien. You chose her.”

His voice softened

“So be patient, D. Don’t treat her like one of your billion-dollar deals you’re trying to close. This isn’t some corporate merger or hostile takeover. It’s not a ‘take it or leave it’ offer.”