Page 29 of The Founder's Power

He flinches, and he sucks in a breath. It’s as if I reached in and touched the wound he didn’t want me to see.

But if we’re to see about anything, we need to talk about this kind of stuff.

He rises slowly to his feet. He’s so much taller than me that he towers over me, but this isn’t about him showing off his height. He’s bent over me, like he wants to face me as an equal, still without his armor and no mask either.

“I won’t make excuses,” he says quietly, “and I won’t deny it. Yes, I made choices I regret. I’ve hurt people, and I pushed people aside in the name of progress. I thought I had to for success to come first. I thought emotions were… inconvenient.” His gaze holds mine, steady despite the crack in his voice.

“You’re allowed to have a past with other women?—”

Damian snorts and shakes his head. “I don’t know everything that Vincent told you… or what he insinuated… but if I claimed I loved another woman, he’s flat-out wrong. You’re the only woman I ever told I love you too, and maybe that’s why I keep screwing things up with you because I don’t know what I’m doing. I dated before you, yes. Here and there. Nothing serious because…”

“Business always came first.”

He flares his nostrils. “After you… I might bring a woman to an event here or there, but no, I wouldn’t say I dated any of them.”

“Just for show.”

“More friends. Again, I don’t know who Vincent is specifically talking about, but there was one woman who was a business associate who…” He pauses.

“The truth,” I whisper.

“She dropped hints about wanting to talk over dinners. We did a few times, but then she would suggest drinks. Going to the bar. I could tell she was hoping for nightcaps at her place, and I never entertained that. She eventually gave up by way of quitting. She didn’t even give two weeks’ notice.”

“I see,” I murmur.

“With you… I was terrified. Fuck it. I still am. You saw too much. You mattered too much. So I shut you out instead of letting you in because I didn’t know how to let myself be loved without being… controlled.”

My chest tightens. He’s not deflecting. He’s not spinning. What he’s doing is… confessing.

“Vincent told you what he wanted you to hear,” he continues. “He and I have a history. I won’t deny that. We’re business rivals, but his seeking you out… that’s personal, but even so, I deserve your questions. I’m not that man anymore.” He pauses and grits his teeth. “Or at least I’m trying not to be.”

I stare at him for a long time, trying to find the lie, but it’s not there. All I see is a man stripped bare. A man who has been wounded partially at least by his own doing, his own choices. A man who is finally being honest to himself and to me. A man still learning how to carry the weight of everything he’s been.

And maybe a man finally ready to carry us.

“I don’t know if I can trust you yet.” My voice wavers.

He nods. “Then let me earn it. Every day.”

My heart pulls in two directions—one toward safety, the other toward the man standing in front of me asking for a second chance not with promises but with truth.

I think I want to believe him.

“I know I hurt you not once but twice,” he whispers. “I’m sorry. I hate myself for hurting you. I really do.”

I glance away. His apology hangs between us like a fragile thread. It would be easy to pretend that it’s enough, that the tremble in his voice and the pain in his eyes are all I need to believe him.

But I’ve been down that road before.

So I steady my breath, lift my chin, and say, “Then show me.”

His brow creases. “I’m trying to.”

“No,” I say gently but firmly. “You told me, and you admitted things, and that does matter, but it’s not enough. Not anymore.”

He goes still.

Hmm. Maybe he doesn’t quite know how to navigate this version of me, but I’m no longer wide-eyed. I’m no longer waiting to be chosen, and if I do give him another chance, this will be the last one.

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