Damien did not sleep.
He lay awake beside Elias, one arm draped protectively over his waist, eyes open to the dark. His mind moved with cold precision, assembling patterns, timelines, vulnerabilities. Marcus Vale had made a mistake not by threatening Elias, but by doing it personally.
Personal mistakes invited surgical consequences.
Morning came quietly. Elias woke to find Damien already dressed, cufflinks fastened, expression composed into something smooth and unreadable.
"You're planning," Elias said softly.
"Yes."
Elias sat up, sheets sliding down his chest. "You're not shutting me out."
Damien turned, gaze steady. "Never."
Elias nodded once. "Then tell me."
Damien crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed. "Marcus's empire is built on silence. Offshore holdings. Shell companies. Regulatory blind spots."
Elias's eyes sharpened. "And you know where the noise is."
"I know where it can be," Damien corrected. "But I need confirmation."
Elias was already reaching for his tablet. "Then let me look."
Damien watched him for a long moment, then nodded. "Carefully."
They worked in parallel Damien making calls that sounded innocuous but weren't; Elias tracing paper trails with elegant patience. It felt natural, terrifyingly so. Two minds aligned toward the same end.
By noon, Elias found it.
He didn't smile when he did. He went very still.
"Damien," he said quietly. "I found something."
Damien came to his side instantly.
Elias turned the screen. "Energy credits rerouted through a philanthropic trust. The trust funds 'infrastructure relief' in regions Marcus publicly criticizes."
Damien's mouth curved slightly. "Hypocrisy is common."
"This isn't," Elias said. "The trust is laundering penalties from environmental violations. He's paying off regulators with their own fines."
Damien's eyes darkened. "That's not leverage. That's a detonator."
Elias met his gaze. "If this goes public, it destroys him."
Damien closed the tablet gently. "It will. But not yet."
Elias frowned. "Why wait?"
"Because," Damien said calmly, "he needs to know why."
They moved quickly after that. Lawyers briefed without names. Journalists tipped without attribution. Regulators nudged without exposure. Damien didn't strike directly.
He arranged gravity and let Marcus fall into it.
By evening, Marcus's stock dipped. By nightfall, a watchdog group announced an investigation. By midnight, the rumors sharpened into headlines.
Elias watched the news roll in, a strange calm settling over him.
"You're terrifying," Elias murmured.
Damien glanced at him. "Only to those who deserve it."
The phone rang.
Marcus.
Damien answered.
"You planned this," Marcus hissed.
Damien's voice was cool silk over steel. "You planned worse."
"You'll burn with me," Marcus snapped.
Damien looked at Elias, then back to the city beyond the glass. "No," he said. "You'll burn alone."
He ended the call.
The silence that followed felt final.
Elias stepped closer, placing a hand at Damien's side. "It's done."
Damien covered Elias's hand with his own. "Yes."
The tension that had lived in Damien's shoulders finally eased, replaced by something heavier relief edged with aftershock. Elias felt it and pulled him closer, resting his head against Damien's chest.
"Come back to me," Elias whispered.
Damien exhaled and let himself be pulled.
They kissed slowly this time, not hungry, not desperate anchoring. Damien's hands slid into Elias's hair, cradling, grounding. Elias answered with equal care, fingers pressing at Damien's back, reminding him he was here.
Alive. Chosen.
They moved to the bedroom without haste, shedding the day like a skin. The intimacy that followed was unhurried and deep kisses tracing familiar paths, hands rediscovering with reverence rather than urgency.
Damien held Elias close, forehead resting against his. "He tried to make you a weapon against me."
Elias smiled faintly. "Instead, he taught us how well we work together."
Damien's lips curved. "You enjoyed that."
"I enjoyed standing beside you," Elias corrected.
They lay together afterward, bodies warm, the city humming outside.
A message arrived just before sleep took them.
Breaking News: Marcus Vale Steps Down Amid Federal Inquiry
Damien read it once. Then he set the phone aside.
Elias watched him. "How do you feel?"
Damien considered the question. "Quiet."
Elias kissed his shoulder. "That's what safety feels like."
Damien pulled him closer, protective without pressure. "Stay."
"I'm not going anywhere," Elias said softly.
They slept like that no longer braced for impact, but aware of what they had become together.
Because power had tried to test them.
And instead of breaking
It had bound them.