Chapter 167 - ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY SEVEN

Chapter 167: Chapter ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY SEVEN

VINCENZO

Damien would having with absolute certainty that even in death, because he held something I could never reclaim.

A part of her heart would always belong to him.

I had to learn to live with that rotting truth.

I didn’t know if I had the strength.

On the bed, her slender fingers twitched.

It was subtle, but my eyes had never left her. Every thought in my head died instantly.

"Angel," I called out, leaning forward, my heart slamming against my ribs.

Her eyes—those vivid blue eyes I’d missed more than oxygen—fluttered open.

They darted frantically around the sterile room, wide with sudden panic. Taking in the white walls, the soft beep of the heart monitor, and the heavy bandages wrapped around her right hand.

Then, her gaze locked onto mine.

And the panic dissolved into raw, agonizing ruin.

"D... Daddy?"

Her voice was tiny. Fractured. The word sounded like a fragile question, as if she was terrified I’d strike her for saying it.

"I’m right here, baby girl." I shifted onto the edge of the mattress, taking her uninjured left hand in both of mine. Her skin was freezing. She was trembling violently. "I’ve got you. I’m not going anywhere. You’re safe."

"It... it wasn’t a dream?" Her pale lips quivered. "The beach. The dress. Damien..."

"The nightmare is over." I reached up with a steady hand, gently brushing the golden hair away from her face. "It’s over, Angel. You’re home."

She stared up at me, then her tear-filled eyes drifted down to her bandaged hand. She stared at the thick gauze for several long seconds, and I watched the horrific memory snap back into place.

My throat constricted around a wall of emotion. I’m sorry. I had no choice. I couldn’t let you blow your head off. I couldn’t lose you.

"W-Why...?" Her voice broke completely, tears spilling over her lashes. "Why didn’t you just let me do it?"

I held her gaze, my heart breaking into a thousand pieces.

She collapsed forward against my chest, violent, agonizing sobs wracking her small frame—devastating sounds that tore through me like cold steel.

"I’m sorry," she choked out against my shirt, her breath hitching. "I’m so sorry, Daddy! I didn’t listen to you! I was bad, I left the house, I let him—I let him do those things to me—"

"Shh." I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her flush against my chest, cradling her head. "No apologies. Don’t you dare apologize to me."

"But I... I loved him, Daddy!" The confession burst out of her in a desperate, shameful rush. "I fell in love with the monster who took me! I betrayed you! I let him break me, I let him own me... I’m ruined. I’m so dirty and broken. I don’t deserve to be your little girl anymore!"

She was crying so hard she was hyperventilating, her fingers clutching frantically at my suit jacket.

I tightened my grip, holding her harder than I ever had in my life.

"Look at me." I pulled back just enough to frame her face in my broad hands, wiping her tears with my thumbs. "Look at me, Angel."

She forced her eyes up to mine—red-rimmed, bloodshot, and drowning in absolute devastation.

"You are not ruined," I stated, my voice absolute, leaving zero room for doubt. "You are not dirty, and you are not broken. You are my daughter. You have been mine since the day I brought you into my home, and you will be mine until my heart stops beating. He hurt you—yes. He twisted your mind—yes. But he did not destroy you. You are breathing. You are alive. And we are going to fix every single piece he broke."

"But I loved him, Daddy..." she whispered, her voice stripped with guilt. "Part of me still... I don’t know how to make it stop..."

"I know." Saying those words felt like swallowing glass, but I kept my voice steady. "I know you did. And I am going to spend the rest of my life making you forget his name. I’m going to love you so completely, so fiercely, that there won’t be a single dark corner left for his memory. I will fill every scar he left until he is completely erased. Do you hear me?"

"I don’t deserve you," she sobbed, burying her face into my neck.

"You deserve the world." I pressed my lips to her temple, her tear-soaked cheek, her nose, her trembling mouth. "And I’m going to give it to you. Starting right now. We’re going to heal you. And then I’m taking my baby girl home."

She clung to me, weeping until her body ran out of tears, her heavy sobs slowly tapering off into quiet, exhausted hitches. Finally, she pulled back slightly, her small hand resting against my chest.

"Daddy?"

"Yes, my sweet girl?"

"Is he... is he really gone? Is Damien..."

"He’s dead, Angel. He’s never going to touch you again."

She nodded slowly, staring blankly at the blanket as her mind processed the finality of it. Grieving the monster.

I couldn’t hate her for it. Damien had infected her soul, and tearing out a parasite leaves deep, bloody wounds. But wounds heal. Scars fade.

I would give her all the time in the world.

"I’m so tired..." she whispered, her eyelids fluttering shut.

"Then sleep, baby." I eased her gently back onto the pillows, pulling the warm blanket up to her chin. "Daddy’s right here. I’m not leaving your side."

Her uninjured left hand reached out, her small fingers wrapping tightly around mine, holding on like a lifeline.

Gradually, her breathing deepened. Her grip relaxed as sleep pulled her under, carrying her down into a quiet dark where I prayed no nightmares could reach her.

I sat there in the silence, listening to her breathe. In and out. The most beautiful sound in the universe.

She was here. Safe. Healing.

Traumatized, marked, and forever changed.

But alive.

And that was more than enough.