Chapter 4 - A Repeat Performance

Damon

“Hey, get back here!”

“Get the fuck down from that car and get her!”

My head snaps up from my laptop; that’s Leo’s voice. I have a sinking feeling that his shouts have to do with Ava. Not again.

True to my thoughts, I catch sight of her long hair dancing behind her as she runs as fast as her legs can carry her. I bark out a bitter laugh. How could I be so stupid as to believe her again? I should have known this was just another way for her to wiggle her way out of the mess she created.

Typical Ava.

“Start the car and follow her!” I bark at Mark, my driver, who starts the car immediately and speeds off in the direction I saw her run.

The car catches up with her in no time and slows right beside her.

“Get in the car while I’m being nice,” I say with a calmness I don’t feel.

She pretends like she can’t hear me and picks up her pace instead. Damn, for someone who just woke up from a coma, she’s fucking fast.

“Step on the gas and block her way,” I tell Mark. I’m so done with her bullshit. I’m taking her straight to the police station once I catch her. Scratch that. I’ll fucking make her suffer.

Mark stops right in front of her and blocks her way. She comes to an abrupt stop to avoid hitting the car and looks up with eyes filled with panic, her chest rising and falling in an attempt to catch her breath.

That’s right, Kitten, you should be fucking scared.

I step out of the car and walk over to the other side where she is. She takes a step back with every step I take forward. Her green eyes are filled with fear and defiance.

“Damon, let me go,” she says with eyes filled with unshed angry tears. “I’m not the one you are looking for.”

I bark out a dark chuckle and just stare at her. I have to give it to her; she’s got some nerve.

“I don’t see the documents you said you’d bring to me,” I say, assessing her with mock curiosity.

“Where’d you keep them?”

She looks everywhere but at me before replying, “I don’t have them; Ava sold the house.”

I nod at her as if I understand, then open the door. “Get in the car. We’ll talk on the way home,” I say, eerily calm.

“I’m not going back to that house!” she shouts. “There’s no way—argh! Put me down, you bastard!” she screams as I grab her like a sack of potatoes and throw her into the car.

I’m so done with her bullshit. I’ve got somewhere to be. I’ll deal with this when I get back.

Ignoring her screams and locking the door from the outside, I round to the other side of the car and get in.

“Let’s go, Mark,” I say, ignoring Ava’s shouts beside me.

“Damon, please! Let me go,” she tries to say amidst tears. “I’m not Ava! How many times will I have to tell you that, you bastard!” she screams in anger.

I turn to stare at her. Her face, stained with so many tears and snot. Her green eyes swirl with a mix of hatred, desperation, and fear. What if she’s telling the truth? Is she not Ava? If I’m being honest, she acts a bit differently from the typical Ava. Ava never—

What the hell are you doing right now, Damon?! The voice in my head shouts. Are you stupid? I can’t believe you are about to fall for her lies again. I shake my head to rid myself of the voice.

I turn to her, “You don’t think I’ll fall for that, do you?”

“Now do me a favor and shut the fuck up. I don’t want to have to gag you, unless that’s what you want,” I say, my voice laced with amusement.

She glares at me, confirming my thoughts; she caught the double meaning behind my words.

“We’re home, Sir,” Mark says, pulling up at the entrance of the house.

I check my wristwatch to see the time. I’m late. I pull out my phone and shoot a quick text to Leo, who has been driving behind us since we left that place.

Leo appears a minute later and opens Aria’s side of the door. Oh, it’s Aria now? The stupid inner voice comes back again.

“Shut up,” I mutter to myself. What is wrong with me?

Surprisingly, Aria doesn’t put up a fight and gets out of the car.

Where’s the feisty kitten? I watch her get into the house with Leo without so much as pushing him. She must have seen that her acting doesn’t affect me.

“Let’s go,” I say to Mark.

“Where are we going, sir?” he asks, starting the ignition.

To face another hell.

“The family house,” I say as I rest my head on the headrest, in thoughts of how to get through the hell they call “dinner” at my father’s house.

I wish I didn’t have to face those witches and bastards today.

My father married three wives; mine is the third, and I’m her only child. The first two gave birth to one son each, too. They are both older than I am, but somehow manage to be the most stupid people I've ever met. The mothers are not better off.

As they say, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

I’m snapped out of my thoughts by the buzz of my phone.

I check my phone to see Kingsley, my PA and best friend calling me. We met in college, and we've been friends ever since. He works for me because he's the only person I can trust to handle things when I'm not there.

“What’s up, Kay?” I say into the phone the moment I pick it up.

“Hey, was I interrupting something?” His voice, filled with amusement.

What’s he talking about?

“I haven’t gotten to dinner yet, Kay. I can’t give you family drama details now,” I say dryly into the phone; my eyes roll. He thinks my family dinners are always interesting because drama never fails to happen every time.

He always makes me tell him everything after each dinner.

“As interesting as your family drama is, I wasn’t talking about that. I was talking about your runaway girlfriend. Have you guys had make-up sex yet?” he squeals into the phone. He freaking squeals!

I close my eyes in a bid to contain my anger. “You know, if you weren’t my best friend, you’d be dead already,” I speak slowly into the phone, wishing he were here right now so I could smash his head in. He always knows just the nerve to pull.

“Well, I guess I’m lucky then,” he utters dryly. “Tell me everything,” he insists.

This bastard is so persistent.

“We’re here, sir,” Mark tells me as he pulls to a stop in front of the mansion.

“As much as I’d love to chat with you right now, I have to go. I just rolled into the zoo. Beer tonight?” I say, trying to keep my tone light.

“Ah, great. The zoo, huh?” he chuckles knowingly. “Well, try not to get eaten alive. We’ll catch up over beer tonight.”

I roll my eyes and hang up.

Snapping my eyes shut, I suck in a deep breath and brace myself for yet another messy dinner.

“Here goes nothing,” I say as I get out of the car and step into the zoo, the heavy front door creaking shut behind me like a trap.