Chapter 5: Nod My Head

I narrowed my eyes, a glimmer of mischief sparking in them. “What do you think happened in there?” I asked coolly, deliberately provoking Isolde. Even in her outrage, I couldn’t resist peeling back that fake, delicate mask of hers to expose the venom underneath.

Her hand shot up, ready to slap me across the face.

But before she could strike, a startled cry cut through the tension.

“Mr. Blackwood… he’s asleep!”

Both our heads snapped toward the doorway. Adrian, Damian’s ever-composed assistant, stood frozen, staring through the cracked door. His expression was a mix of disbelief and awe.

For years, Damian had scoured the globe for treatment. Every doctor, every specialist, had failed him. Insomnia had become his curse, his shadow. Yet tonight—tonight of all nights—he slept.

Adrian’s gaze darted to me, confusion flickering across his features. “Alina? She… she knows hypnosis well enough to cure him?” he muttered under his breath. The doubt in his tone didn’t bother me.

As I stepped past him, I said flatly, “Don’t wake him. Let him sleep as long as he can. Naturally.”

Isolde’s nails dug into her skirt, her eyes burning holes into my back. “That bitch,” she seethed inwardly. “She even knows hypnotism? What else has she been hiding?”

By the time I left, the fragrance of lavender was fading. On the bed, Damian stirred. His lashes flicked upward, cold eyes snapping open. Slowly, he pushed himself upright, pressing his palm against his temple.

“Mr. Blackwood, you’re awake!” Adrian hurried inside, relief spilling into his voice. He was visibly stunned—his master’s face, usually drawn and ashen from sleepless nights, now carried color.

Damian inhaled deeply. The faint traces of my scent still lingered in the air. Something about it… unsettled him.

“Alina,” he muttered. “Where is she?”

“Miss Cole has already gone out,” Adrian replied.

Damian’s brows pulled together. His lips curved into the barest hint of something between disdain and confusion. Why did he care that she wasn’t there? Why did her scent—the only thing to ever ease his torment—linger in his mind? Impossible.

He lay back down, masking the flicker of unease. “Adrian. Light the candles. Bring a pocket watch. Hypnotize me.”

Adrian obeyed, swinging the watch gently. “Mr. Blackwood… are you sleepy?”

Damian’s eyes fixed on it, but instead of drowsiness, a dull ache began throbbing in his skull. His expression blackened.

Isolde stepped forward quickly. “Damian, let me try. If Alina can do it, then I can too.”

But the cloying perfume on her skin hit him before she even got close. His nose wrinkled in disgust. “Forget it,” he snapped.

Her scent wasn’t the same. Not even close. The truth hit him, though he didn’t want to admit it—only Alina’s fragrance could pull him into sleep.

Dressing swiftly, he left the room. Isolde’s face twisted with jealousy as she watched him walk away.

In the car, Damian crossed his legs elegantly, his gaze fixed out the window. A cruel smile tugged at his lips. “Adrian, fate has a sense of humor.”

Adrian’s brows furrowed. “Are you… speaking of Miss Cole?”

By right, she should be addressed as Mrs. Blackwood. But Damian had forbidden it. Without his acknowledgment, she was no wife—just a discarded title. To the imperial city, she was nothing more than a nameless, humiliated woman.

Damian sneered. “She’s a guilty woman, desperate to redeem herself… and yet, she’s also the only cure for me. Don’t you think that’s ironic?”

Adrian said nothing. He knew the grudges between Damian and the Cole family ran deep. They weren’t wounds that time could heal.

Meanwhile, I sat in a quiet café, waiting. My heart raced when Liam finally walked in. His suit was crisp, his shoes polished, his arm looped with a woman in a scarlet dress.

Before I could speak, she sauntered forward, lips painted as red as her dress. With an air of arrogance, she placed a bank card on the table. “This is your ex-girlfriend? There’s a million on this card. Take it, and leave him.”

Ex-girlfriend? My head turned slowly toward Liam. “When exactly did I become your ex?”

He straightened, his posture distant, almost rehearsed. “Aria, things are different now. I’ve secured a multimillion-dollar project. I’m not the struggling man I once was. Our social classes no longer match. You… you’re no longer worthy of me.”

The world fell silent. My chest tightened painfully, but then the laugh bubbled out, bitter and hollow. For his promises—for our dreams—I had risked everything. I had even let myself be dragged into Damian’s hell to protect him.

And here he was, parading another woman and throwing me away like trash.

I picked up the card, my fingers cold, my voice sharper than ice. “You’re right. We aren’t the same anymore. But it’s you, Liam—you’re the one who isn’t worthy of me.”

Grabbing his tie, I yanked him closer until his eyes widened. “Do you really believe in free lunches? Everything you have now—you owe it to me. And don’t forget, Liam, what I give, I can take away.”

He shoved me back, adjusting his tie with irritation. “Aria, do you actually think I built this with your help? Ridiculous. Even if I lied, I’d make it more believable. No, you had nothing to do with this. I’m a man worth millions now. You’re nothing.”

He turned his back on me, the red-dressed woman curling into his arm.

“Liam,” she said sweetly, loud enough for me to hear, “why waste time on someone like her? If you can’t get rid of her, I’ll find someone who can.”

“She’s nothing,” Liam muttered. “Don’t waste your energy. She’s just a poor woman clinging to scraps.”

I sat there, motionless, until their figures disappeared from sight. Then my eyes narrowed. My father’s warnings, the sudden flood of money into Liam’s account, the way I had trusted him blindly—it all began to line up.

Pulling out my phone, I dialed a number. My voice was steady. “Dig into Liam. Everything.”

The reply came quickly. “Boss, you won’t like this. He’s been laundering money, knee-deep in illegal business. And worse—he’s cheated on you with five different women. The reason your investments failed? He was using your money to fund his mistresses.”

My fist clenched.

The voice on the other end kept going, spitting out every betrayal. “Now he’s with the daughter of a billionaire fruit tycoon. He’s trying to marry into her family. That’s his plan now.”

I ended the call, my reflection in the black screen of my phone sharp and unyielding.

Liam, marrying into wealth? His future depended on whether I decided to let him breathe—or crush him.

My lips curved upward, my mind already racing. I had once begged Damian for help, to give Liam success. But now? I had over a hundred ways to bury him. All I had to do was choose one.

And Damian? He would be my perfect tool.

I couldn’t reveal my identity yet—not as the true Aria Cole, not as Master Cole the hypnotist. Damian’s hatred for the Cole family made it impossible. For now, I would bide my time.

But soon…

Soon I would watch Liam dragged down into the gutters, crawling like a rat with no escape.

And I would be the one standing above him.