Chapter 114: Temptation

Damian I slammed the front door behind me, my heart thudding against my chest as I marched through the living room. My throat tightened, and I couldn’t shake the gnawing feeling that I’d become a stranger in my own home. Flicking on the TV, I slumped onto the couch, hoping for some kind of distraction, but the news blared with the state of the economy—another downturn, another plunge into despair for people like me. “Damn it!” I snarled, my fist clenching around the remote as the anchor droned on about rising unemployment rates, collapsing markets, and politicians who didn’t have a clue how to fix it. My Adam’s apple bobbed as I swallowed the bile rising in my throat. “What the hell is wrong with this country?” I yelled at the screen, knowing it was pointless, knowing it wouldn’t change a damn thing. But the rage needed an outlet, and the TV was a safer target than my own reflection in the glass of the coffee table. As I rubbed my temples, trying to quell the headache pounding behin