The Untouchable Damien Royce

Chapter 3

The Shadow King

The rain didn't stop. It felt like the sky was trying to wash the scent of that house off Damien’s skin. Every step he took away from the Sterlings’ villa felt like a weight dropping off his shoulders, but the hole in his chest was still there.

He walked down the middle of the dark, empty road. His boots were soaked, and his thin hoodie was soaked with water. He looked like a street rat and an outcast in the neighborhood.

Suddenly, three cars with their bright headlights shone at him as they approached.

Four massive, black SUVs rounded the corner. The cars looked very expensive. They didn't pass him; instead, they drove towards him and formed a tight circle around him.

Damien stopped. He didn't flinch. He just stood there, his wet hair plastered to his forehead, watching a long, black limousine come to a halt right in front of him.

The door opened.

A woman stepped out; even under the heavy rain, she looked untouchable. Her black suit was perfectly tailored, and her diamond earrings caught his eye; he knew she was part of the rich crowd. She was filthy rich; the kind of wealth that didn't need to shout to be heard. Behind her, four massive men in suits stepped out, their hands folded in front of them, eyes scanning while one of them held an umbrella over her head.

The woman looked at Damien, and her face crumbled.

"D-Damien?" she whispered; her voice shaky.

Damien squinted at her. He didn't know her, but a strange, dull ache started in the back of his mind. "Who are you? Did Nicholas send you to insult or do more harm to me?"

"Nicholas?"

The woman let out a bitter laugh, "That boy isn't fit to breathe the same air as you." She stepped closer, ignoring the mud ruining her expensive heels.

"I'm your mother, Damien. I'm Felicia Reeds."

Damien froze.

"My mother? Lady, I grew up in the Blue-Sky Orphanage. I don't have a mother. I was dumped there like trash."

"You were taken from me!" Felicia cried, her voice cracking, as she reached into her purse and pulled out a small, plastic-wrapped photograph. "Please. Just look."

Damien took it with a trembling hand. It was a picture of a baby with his exact, piercing eyes, wrapped in a blanket with an embroidered 'R'.

Underneath was a legal birth certificate and a DNA report dated two weeks ago.

"I’ve been looking for you for twenty years, Damien," Felicia exclaimed, her eyes searching his. "The day of the crash... someone ran us off the road. I woke up in a hospital, and you were gone. I searched every corner of this country. You were just seven, my boy. It was like you vanished into thin air. I only found the trail leading to that orphanage a month ago."

Damien looked at the photo, then at the woman. For the first time since he walked out of the prison gates, a genuine warmth spread through his chest. He wasn't a mistake. He wasn't just a "trash" orphan. He had a mother.

"Get in the car, Damien," she pleaded. "Let’s get you out of this rain."

Damien nodded slowly and followed her into the limousine. The seats were soft, and the air smelled nice.

"I’ve been watching over you, Damien," Felicia said as the car started to move.

"I didn't want to approach you while you were inside—I didn't want to put a target on your back. But I’ve been the secret sponsor behind the Sterling family. I’m the reason Chloe’s boutique business even exists. I wanted to make sure you had a good life to come home to."

Damien let out a cold, hollow laugh. "So, I’m the reason they’re rich enough to treat me like a dog? My own mother was funding my betrayal."

"I had no idea she was that kind of woman!" Felicia snapped, her eyes flashing with protective rage. "I can take it all back. The Reeds Group owns half this city's contracts. I'll hand the company over to you tonight. We will crush them by morning."

Damien leaned back, his eyes turning dark.

The "loser" act he had played for years was gone.

"No. Don't touch them yet. And I don't need your company, Mother."

Felicia’s eyes narrowed as she glanced at her son.

"Damien, the Reeds Group is the number one research firm in the country."

"It’s only number one because you license every single one of your top-tier patents from an anonymous entity called SRI," Damien said.

His voice was steady and powerful. "Am I right?"

Felicia blinked, her mouth falling open, "How do you know that? The owner of SRI is a ghost. No one has ever seen his face. They rule the global market from the shadows."

"I am the owner,"

Damien stated simply.

"I didn't just sit in a cell for three years. I built a shadow empire through encrypted lines and hidden servers. I have enough wealth to buy the Reeds Group ten times over."

Felicia stared at him with widened eyes, her mouth slightly opening and closing

"My son... the owner of SRI?"

"Yes," Damien muttered, rubbing his temples. "But you said we had an accident, but I can't remember anything from when I was little, if that was 20 years ago, I should remember, but my memories... They're like mush. I can’t see the faces clearly."

"It wasn't an ordinary accident, Damien," Felicia said quietly.

"I found the truck driver who hit us years later. He was already dead. Someone silenced him. Someone wanted you gone, and they wanted me destroyed."

Damien’s jaw tightened.

"So, my memories didn't just fade. Someone suppressed them. Someone made sure I didn't know who I was." He looked out the window as they passed a glowing billboard for Nicholas Pierce’s latest real estate deal.

‘I need a scapegoat', Damien mused.

‘I need the world to see what happens when the Shadow CEO returns.’

"Mother, keep the sponsorship going for now," Damien said, a predatory smile touching his lips.

"I want to play a game of cat and mouse. I want Nicholas and Chloe to feel like they’re winning, right until the moment I strip the floorboards out from under their feet."

"What do you want me to do?" Felicia asked, seeing the fire in her son's eyes.

"Nothing," was his response.

"Just watch. I’m going to stay a 'nobody' a little longer. I’m going to take Nicholas’s assets, one by one. I’m going to drive him insane before I show him my face. I want them to realize that the 'dog' they kicked out is the one holding their leash."

He turned to look at the window, the rain hitting it. Tipping his head back, a predatory smile spread across his face.