The Wife He Never Meant to Love (Lila and Damon) novel Chapter 157

Chapter 157

Chapter 157

The night settled gently over the estate.

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For a long time, Damon remained where he stood, staring at the room-at the version of himself that once existed here. Untouched by loss. Unaware of what was to come.

Slowly, he sat on the edge of the bed.

His body ached in ways he had ignored for too long. His mind, once relentless, had begun to quiet.

For the first time in days… weeks… he allowed the silence to take hold.

No strategies.

No contingency plans.

No guilt clawing at every thought.

Just breathing.

He lay back, staring at the ceiling.

Images came-not of enemies or investigations-but of them.

His wife’s smile.

His son’s laughter.

Not as something lost…

But as something waiting.

Damon closed his eyes.

“I’ll find you,” he whispered into the quiet.

Not as a desperate promise.

But as a steady vow.

Sleep came slowly-but when it did, it was deep and unbroken.

Morning would come.

And with it, not just the weight of his mission-

But the clarity to carry it.

Morning arrived without urgency.

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Chapter 157

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Sunlight filtered through the tall windows, spilling softly across the room. For once, Damon did not wake to alarms, reports, or the weight of unfinished battles pressing against his chest.

He woke because his body had rested enough.

And that alone felt unfamiliar.

For a few seconds, he remained still, staring at the ceiling-orienting himself, not to danger, but to quiet.

Then memory returned.

Not as chaos.

But as purpose.

Damon sat up slowly, running a hand through his hair. The exhaustion that had consumed him the day before had dulled-still there, but no longer overwhelming. His thoughts felt… aligned.

Clear.

He stood, moving with intention now, not urgency.

The study was already occupied when he arrived.

Margaret sat where she had the night before, a fresh chessboard prepared, as though nothing had changed.

Yet everything had.

“You slept,” she observed without looking up.

“I did,” Damon replied.

“And?”

He took the seat across from her, his gaze steady. “You were right.”

A faint, almost imperceptible smile touched her lips. “I usually am.”

Damon almost smiled-but it faded quickly as something else took its place.

Focus.

“I’ve been approaching this wrong,” he said. “I’ve been reacting… chasing fragments, burning through resources, exhausting myself.”

Margaret made the first move on the board. “And now?”

“Now I stop chasing,” Damon said. “I make them come to me.”

That caught her attention.

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Her eyes lifted.

“Go on.”

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Damon leaned forward slightly, his voice calm but precise. “The underground network and the corruption inside Blackthorne Industries-they’re not separate.”

Margaret said nothing, but her gaze sharpened.

“They’re connected through dependency,” he continued. “Money, access, influence. I’ve been trying to cut them out piece by piece.”

He shook his head once.

“That’s inefficient.”

He moved a piece-measured, deliberate.

“So instead… I collapse the structure they rely on.”

Margaret studied the board, then him. “You’re proposing to expose everything.”

“Yes,” Damon said. “But not publicly. Not yet.”

“Then how?”

“I feed them certainty,” he replied. “A controlled leak. Something valuable enough that they can’t ignore it.”

Margaret’s fingers stilled over her next move.

“A trap,” she said.

Damon nodded. “One they’ll walk into willingly.”

Silence stretched between them again-but this time, it was charged with strategy, not grief.

“And what will you use as bait?” she asked.

Damon held her gaze.

“Me.”

Margaret’s expression hardened instantly. “No.”

“It’s the only way to guarantee their attention.”

“It’s the fastest way to get yourself killed,” she countered.

“They already think I’m unraveling,” Damon said calmly. “Overextended. Desperate.”

He leaned back slightly.

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Chapter 157

“I’m going to let them keep believing that.”

Margaret’s eyes searched his face-not for weakness, but for recklessness.

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“What you’re suggesting requires precision,” she said. “Not just from you, but from everyone involved.”

“I know.”

“And trust,” she added.

Damon’s jaw tightened slightly. “That’s the variable.”

Margaret nodded once. “Then you control it.”

She made her move on the board-swift, decisive.

“Limit who knows,” she continued. “Compartmentalize everything. If there is a breach, it must not reach the . core of your plan.”

Damon watched the board, then nodded. “Simon stays.”

“A given.”

“I’ll need one more,” he added. “Someone they won’t suspect.”

Margaret considered this briefly.

Then, quietly-

“I may have someone.”

Damon looked up.

“But understand this,” she said, her tone sharpening. “If you choose this path, there is no room for hesitation.”

“I won’t hesitate.”

“You cannot afford to break again,” she pressed. “Not in the middle of this.”

Damon met her gaze evenly.

“I won’t,” he said.

This time, it wasn’t denial.

It was control.

Margaret studied him for a long moment… then gave a small, approving nod.

“Good,” she said.

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Chapter 157

She moved her final piece.

“Check.”

Damon looked down at the board.

A pause.

Then, slowly-a shift.

He moved his king.

Not to escape blindly-

But to reposition.

“To be continued,” he said quietly.

Margaret’s lips curved faintly. “Now you’re learning.”

Outside, the estate was already stirring to life.

Inside, something far more dangerous had begun.

Not desperation.

Not chaos.

But design.

And somewhere, unseen-

the people who thought they were hunting Damon Blackthorne…

were about to realize

they had just stepped into his game.

By noon, the illusion was already in motion.

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Damon sat in his office at Blackthorne Industries, the glass walls around him offering full visibility- deliberately so. Anyone watching would see exactly what he wanted them to see.

Disorder.

Stacks of reports lay open, some deliberately misplaced. Screens flickered with incomplete data sets. A half- finished ‘audit glowed on one monitor, paused at a critical discrepancy.

To the untrained eye, it looked like a man overwhelmed.

To the right observer-it looked like opportunity.

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“Leak is seeded,” Simon’s voice came through the comms, low and steady. “Encrypted channels. Just enough sloppiness to make it believable.”

Damon didn’t respond immediately. His gaze remained fixed on the screen in front of him, fingers idly tapping the desk-not in anxiety, but in timing.

“Which nodes took it?” he asked after a moment.

“Three confirmed,” Simon replied. “Two internal. One external relay tied to the underground network.”

Damon’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Good,” he said. “Let it spread.”

He stood, grabbing a file from the desk-one carefully constructed to look like a critical piece of evidence. Inside were fragments of truth wrapped in deliberate gaps.

Bait.

Elsewhere in the building, the first hook sank deeper.

A mid-level executive-one of the remaining suspected moles-hesitated only briefly before accessing a restricted file that should have been locked.

But today, it wasn’t.

The system accepted his credentials without resistance.

Too easily.

Back in his office, Damon watched the breach unfold in real time.

“There,” Simon said. “We’ve got movement.”

Damon’s screen split into multiple feeds-access logs, internal cameras, mirrored data transfers.

“Don’t stop him,” Damon instructed.

“He’s copying everything.”

“I know.”

A pause.

“You’re sure about this?” Simon asked. “Once it’s out, we can’t control where it goes.”

Damon’s expression remained calm.

“We’re not trying to stop the flow,” he said. “We’re shaping it.”

Hours passed.

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Chapter 157

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The bait moved exactly as intended-jumping from internal systems to external hands, each transfer widening the net.

By late afternoon, the response came.

Not loud.

Not obvious.

But precise.

“They’re probing back,” Simon said. “Tracing the source.”

Damon leaned back in his chair slightly, as if anticipating it.

“Let them see just enough,” he replied. “Route it through the secondary shell.”

“Done.”

On the surface, it looked like they were closing in on a vulnerability-a crack in Damon’s control.

In reality, they were being guided.

Step by step.

Night fell.

The city lights flickered on, casting reflections across the glass walls of Damon’s office.

Inside, the atmosphere shifted.

“External contact established,” Simon said. “They’re not just watching anymore.”

Damon stood.

“Location?”

Simon hesitated.

“Abandoned shipping terminal. Dockside sector.”

Damon’s eyes sharpened.

“They’re moving fast,” Simon added. “Faster than expected.”

“That means they’re interested,” Damon said.

“Or desperate.”

Damon picked up his coat.

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Damon’s expression didn’t change.

“Not busy enough,” he replied.

A faint chuckle.

“You handed us quite the gift today.”

Damon tilted his head slightly. “Did I?”

The man stepped closer, a faint smirk visible now.

“All this effort to clean your company,” he said. “And yet… you left the door open.”

Damon’s eyes flicked briefly around the space-counting, measuring, confirming.

Then back to the man.

“Tell me,” Damon said calmly, “did you ever wonder why?”

A pause.

Just a fraction too long.

That was all Damon needed.

Outside, in the shadows beyond the terminal-

movement.

Unseen.

Unnoticed.

Exactly where it needed to be.

Inside, the man’s smirk faltered slightly.

“What are you-”

Damon took one step forward.

And for the first time-

smiled.

“Phase one,” he said quietly, “was never about the leak.”

The lights above flickered.

Then-

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Chapter 157

shifted.

And in that instant, the balance of the room changed.

Not in their favor.

But his.

Somewhere, deep within the system they thought they had breached-

the trap closed.

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