Chapter 24: Devil’s Slave Is In Trouble?
The next morning, the space beside Ana was cold.
She woke up to the sound of the shower running, and by the time she sat up, wrapping the sheets around herself, Damian was already fully dressed in a sharp, dark charcoal suit.
His expression was entirely professional, the raw, predatory heat from the night before tucked away behind his usual mask of absolute authority.
He adjusted his silver cufflinks, his dark eyes briefly cutting to hers. "The driver will drop you off at the office in an hour. Don’t be late."
Ana blinked away her sleepiness, noticing the slight tension in his jaw. "Are you leaving already? Where are you going?"
"You don’t need to know," Damian replied flatly, grabbing his briefcase from the dresser.
Ana’s jaw tightened. She let out a loud, frustrated grumble, tossing the silk blanket aside in annoyance. He truly treated her like a ghost when it suited him.
Damian paused at the door, turning his head slightly. A dark, mocking smirk played at the corner of his lips as he tracked her irritated expression. "Fix that attitude of yours, doll. Or I’ll gladly fix it for you the moment I get back tonight."
With that final, dangerous promise, he strode out, leaving her flustered and boiling with silent rage.
_______________________
An hour later, the sleek black car pulled up to the Sterling Global headquarters. Ana stepped out into the bustling corporate morning, bracing herself for another day of sorting dusty archive boxes.
However, the moment she walked onto the marketing floor, Mr. Harris was already waiting for her. He didn’t look nervous today; instead, he held a massive, thick binder with a tight, calculating smile.
"Good morning, Anastasia," Mr. Harris said, his voice dripping with forced pleasantry. "Since you handled the archives so well yesterday, it’s time to test your actual capabilities. This is the Sterling-Aegis Merger Project. Our biggest tech-collaboration launch is happening next week."
He dropped the heavy binder onto her desk with a loud thud.
"I need you to thoroughly analyze these market projections, cross-reference them with our competitor data, and draft the final presentation overview," Harris commanded. "It needs to be flawless, and it needs to be on my desk by the end of the day."
Ana looked at the massive stack of documents, a heavy weight settling in her stomach. This wasn’t intern work; this was a high-level executive assignment given to someone on their second day.
But she refused to back down or run to Damian for help. "I’ll get it done," she said firmly.
For the next seven hours, Ana buried herself in the data. She skipped lunch, her eyes straining against the glare of her computer screen as she meticulously drafted the presentation, pouring every ounce of her business education into making it perfect.
By 4:30 PM, she finally hit save, exporting the highly confidential file directly to the department’s shared secure server.
She let out a long, relieved breath. She had actually done it. "Finally!"
But... Her relief was brutally short-lived.
Tick
Tick
Tick
Not even five minutes after she uploaded the project, the heavy glass doors of the marketing department swung open. Three men in sharp, identical black suits walked in, their expressions completely devoid of emotion.
Leading them was a stern, middle-aged woman with her hair pulled into a punishingly tight bun.
She walked straight past the whispering staff and stopped right in front of Ana’s desk.
"Anastasia Sterling?" The woman asked, her voice booming across the silent floor like a gavel.
"Yes?" Ana stammered, her fingers tightening around the edge of her desk.
The woman flashed a cold, bureaucratic identification badge. "I am Director Francis from Internal Affairs. A formal, anonymous breach report has just been flagged by our security systems. The highly confidential Aegis Merger file you uploaded five minutes ago was simultaneously leaked to an external server belonging to our primary competitor."
Ana’s blood ran completely ice-cold. She stood up so fast her chair rattled. "What? That’s impossible! I only uploaded it to the secure company server. I didn’t send it anywhere else!"
"The digital footprint traces directly back to your specific employee login and device," Director Vance replied ruthlessly. She gestured to the two male officers behind her. "Please step away from the desk. You are being charged with immediate corporate espionage. You will accompany us to the interrogation wing now."
Ana looked around the room in absolute panic, her heart hammering wildly against her ribs. The entire office was staring at her with horror and malicious satisfaction.
And through the glass partition of the executive elevator bank across the hall, she caught sight of a shadow.
Vivian Stark stood there, a tiny, triumphant smile playing on her lips before she stepped into the elevator. Vivian had perfectly timed the trap, launching a multi-million dollar corporate blunder right when Damian was completely unreachable at the hospital.
________________________
The white-picket gates of the Sterling country estate parted smoothly as the sleek black sedan rolled up the gravel driveway.
Damian personally helped his mother out of the vehicle. Victoria Sterling, despite having just been discharged from the hospital after a terrifying tumble down the grand stairs, still held herself with the regal, unyielding grace of a woman who had ruled high society for decades.
She leaned slightly on Damian’s strong arm, her stark white hair perfectly coiffed, though her face was still a bit pale.
"I told you, Damian, I don’t need you playing nursemaid," Victoria murmured, her voice carrying a soft, aristocratic rasp as they walked into the grand foyer. "A few bruises won’t break me."
"Sit down, Mom," Damian commanded flatly, guiding her into the main master suite on the ground floor to ensure she wouldn’t have to touch a single staircase.
Just as he was tucking a blanket over her legs, the heavy oak doors of the bedroom burst open. Marcus, Damian’s personal assistant, came running in, his tie a mess and his face flushed with panic.
"Sir! Mr. Sterling, there’s a severe problem at the headquarters..." Marcus gasped out, catching his breath.
Damian didn’t even turn around. His jaw clenched in pure irritation. "Not now, Marcus. I told you I am unavailable today."
"Go and check it out, Damian," Victoria instructed softly, placing a gentle hand over his wrist. "I am perfectly capable of resting on my own. Don’t let your business suffer on my account."
Damian looked down at his mother, the cold mask he wore for the world softening just a fraction. He pulled the blanket up to her chest, his tone absolute. "Nothing is more important than you. The company can wait."
Victoria let out a low, amused chuckle. "You are just as stubborn as your father was."
"Sir, please," Marcus interrupted, his voice trembling as he stepped further into the room. "You don’t understand. It... it’s about Miss Anastasia."
The atmosphere in the room froze instantly.
Both Damian and Victoria snapped their heads toward the assistant in absolute surprise. The silence that followed was suffocating.
Victoria’s eyes widened, a look of profound shock washing over her elegant features as she stared at her son. "Anastasia? Anastasia is back? She’s here in the city... and you didn’t think to tell me?"
Damian’s expression turned completely lethal. A dangerous fire flared in his dark eyes. He had intentionally kept Ana’s return a secret, wanting to brief his mother properly before introducing them, and certainly not like this.
He whirled around, fixing Marcus with a gaze that could kill. "What happened?"
"Internal Affairs," Marcus stammered, backing up a step under the sheer pressure of Damian’s aura. "Director Francis just marched onto the marketing floor. Miss Anastasia has been formally accused of corporate espionage for leaking the Aegis Merger files to our top competitor. They... they’ve already taken her down to the interrogation wing, sir."