---
Chapter Eleven: Breaking Point
The hospital waiting room was too cold. Too quiet. Too sterile. Like it didn't belong to the chaos banging around in Elias's skull.
Cassian was in surgery. Crushed. Bleeding. Lying there, maybe slipping away. And Elias hadn't even gotten to say goodbye before they rolled him out.
The door creaked open.
Damien slipped in like a ghost—no noise, no warning.
Elias didn't move.
"You're awake," Damien said, voice low.
Elias didn't even blink. "Why are you here?"
Damien hesitated, then kept his voice soft. "Because you're not safe."
Elias's laugh was bitter. He stood up slow, sharp eyes locking on Damien. "Oh, so now you care about my safety?"
Damien flinched but said nothing.
"Where were you," Elias pressed, "when someone tried to kill me—again?"
"I came—"
"After. Always after." Elias cut him off, voice rising, raw. "After I'm bleeding, after someone's dead, after the glass shatters, after everything's already f***ing broken."
"I was trying to protect—"
"Then why the hell does it feel like you bring the danger every damn time you show up?!" Elias spat.
Damien took a step closer. "Elias—"
"Cassian could die!" Elias snapped, voice cracking. "He did nothing. Nothing! He was just nice to me! And now he's lying in there—on life support!"
"I didn't touch him," Damien said quietly.
The silence froze between them.
Elias's voice went low, trembling. "You didn't have to."
Damien's mask cracked for the first time. "You think I would—"
"I don't know what to think!" Elias yelled, fists slamming the wall, fury pouring out. "You show up with your half-truths and riddles like I'm supposed to just trust you? You're always on time to save me—like you know something bad is coming. It's suspicious, Damien."
Damien's calm voice was too calm. "I didn't just save your life, Elias. I gave up everything for you."
"You gave up Noah," Elias said, voice thick with accusation. "You loved him, didn't you? That necklace—when you broke it, it was like breaking your own heart…"
Damien's voice cracked, barely a whisper. "He wasn't just someone I loved."
Elias froze.
"He was your father," Damien said.
Elias staggered back, like he'd been hit. "No… he was my brother. He—he—"
"He was sixteen when you were born," Damien cut in. "Your grandparents took you in, called you theirs to protect him from the shame."
"You're lying."
"No. I'm not."
Elias's fists slammed the wall again. Face burning, tears stinging. "You let me believe he was my brother. You let me—DAMN IT, DAMIEN!"
Damien finally lost it.
His voice exploded so loud the windows rattled:
"BECAUSE I WAS TRYING TO KEEP YOU SAFE! EVERY TIME I GET CLOSE TO SOMEONE, THEY DIE!"
His body trembled, voice breaking, chest rising and falling like he'd run miles.
"I LOVED NOAH! MORE THAN MYSELF! And he left! Left me! Left you! I couldn't stop him—and I couldn't stop falling for you too!"
Elias stood frozen.
"What did you just say?"
Damien was wild now, pacing like a man undone, hair messy, eyes burning with pain.
"I've been trying to protect you—from the world, from the truth, from me—because I knew. The moment I saw you—it was already too late."
Elias's heart slammed in his chest.
He couldn't speak. Couldn't breathe.
Damien sank into a chair, hands through his hair, jaw clenched tight.
"You don't get it," he whispered. "If I lose you too... I'll have nothing left."
---
Outside Cassian's ICU
The doctor stepped out, voice heavy. "He made it through surgery. He's critical but stable. We put him in a medically induced coma to reduce swelling in his brain."
Elias gripped the wall like it would keep him standing.
"Can I see him?"
"Briefly," the doctor said.
Inside, the room hummed with machines. Cassian lay pale, bandaged, tubes everywhere.
Not the man who'd made Elias laugh just days ago.
Elias walked close, voice barely more than a whisper.
"I'm sorry," he said, trembling. "I dragged you into my nightmare… and now it's swallowing you whole."
He brushed Cassian's hand. Cold. Fragile.
"I don't even know who the villain is anymore."
---
Damien Alone
Damien sat in his car, rain pounding the windshield.
He dialed.
A rough voice answered. "Did he suspect you?"
"No. Not anymore."
The reply was cold: "Then you know what comes next."
Damien hung up.
His eyes locked on the hospital windows.
On Elias's silhouette in Cassian's room.
His knuckles turned white on the steering wheel.
"You don't get to leave me too."
---
Elias stepped out for air, heart still pounding.
A nurse brushed past him. Something felt off.
She dropped a crumpled scrap of paper.
Elias picked it up.
Messy scrawl read:
You're being watched. Room 503 isn't safe.
Trust no one. Not even the man who says he saved you.