DAMIEN POV“Are you sure an about this?” Lily asked as we walked into the restaurant. It was a Turkish restaurant, a popular one with a very good rating. Most of the elite in the city wines and dines in this restaurant and I thought it a suitable place for a social stroke bribe dinner. I invited Judge Langston and his wife to dinner in pretence of old time sake to see if I could sway the judges ruling by reminding him of the favour he owes my family, not that I am going to come out and say it. I am hoping this dinner just reminds him. I can’t openly offer him a bribe, but if he does get the message and rules in my favour then a lot of appreciation will be coming his way. “What are you talking about baby? I just want to catch up with the judge, is been a long time since we socialised,” I tried to play dumb, my innocence playing through my smile. Lily gave me a look that says that she doesn’t believe me.“And no ulterior motives, like say trying to bribe the old judge with a meal to
KAMARIA POV “Mum, why does the judge wants to see me today?”Davina asked with a child like curiosity, blinking up those familiar blue eyes at me like she expects me to have all the answers to everything in the world. A small smile stretches my lips. Her incessant eagerness to learn new things ever since she was a young child have always amused me, and the habit isn’t slowing down as she grows. She always want to know the whys of things. Wonder who she gets that from? Certainly not from me. I was a very quiet, mind my business kind of kid when I was growing up, a debilitating introvert, and not until I met Bobby did I start coming out of my shell. “I don’t know baby, we will find out when we get there.” I helped her into her thick yellow jacket, it is slightly cold this morning. “Will Daddy be there?” She asked as we headed for the door. “Yes, he will be,” I answered with no excitement in my voice. “You hate him.”It wasn’t a question. I looked down to her small figure walking b
DAMIEN POVWe had just taken our seats when the clerk yelled. “All rise.”We stood as judge Langston walked in, and then sat down once the old man has taken his seat. What are you going to do, Old man? I stared intently at his face as if I could read his mind. I barely heard the words coming out of his mouth because I was more interested in his final ruling, and only got back to the discussion when he called out my daughter’s name. Hearing her answer her mother’s maiden name pisses me off. I am going to change it as soon as I get the custody. I turned to look back as the judge asked for my daughter to stand up. She looked nervous. She looked at her mother and she smiled at her and that seemed to calm her down and the nervousness cleared. “Come closer child,” the judge requested in a soft voice as if scared to spook the girl. She walked out of her seat getting pats from her mother’s friends and her father. I was surprised not to see her boss. Did he finally grow a leak of sense and
KAMARIA POV Is it over, not by a long shot, knowing Damien he wouldn’t accept this victory easily, but I was glad for this win. I hugged my daughter tearfully not willing to let her go. “Congratulations,” Eden said. I released my daughter and turned to face him.“No, thank you,” I said and then hugged him.The shocked look on his face made me smile. His stiff body relaxed under my hug and then he returned it. “I believe you should be thanking your daughter,” he whispered and pulled away. “I will take my leave now, Miss Paisley, gentlemen,” he nodded at my father and best friends, before he focused on my daughter. “It was nice to meet you, young Miss Paisley,” he stretched out his hand to Davina. My daughter blushed, but shook his hand strongly. “Thank you,” she whispered to him. “You are welcome. Hopefully your mother wouldn’t need my services again.”We can only hope. I smiled my thanks again at the lawyer for his service before he left. “Come here baby girl,” I pulled my da
KAMARIA POV “What!”The whole family looked shocked at the news of Damien’s accident. I was still processing it and didn’t know how to react. I mean I just saw him few minutes ago, even though he was being a dick, now to hear this. “Is he alright mum?” Davina asked, her voice low and terrified.I went to her and pulled her into my arms. “Don’t know baby, but I am sure he is alright.”I said the words just to shield her from the pain of knowing that her father is hurt. I shouldn’t have blurted out the news in her presence. “What are you going to do?” Bobby asked patting my back in comfort. I looked confusingly at him, not sure what I should do at this moment. Would Damien even want me there?“You don’t own that bastard anything, and I don’t care if he lives or dies!”I glared at my father for his careless angry words. I know he is pissed at Damien for the shitty way he treated me, but he is still my daughter’s father and shouldn’t say such things in front of her. Even though I ha
DAMIEN POVI opened my eyes and the first thing my brain picked up on was that everything hurts, and the second thing was my unfamiliar environment. A lot of questions were running through my mind. What happened? Where am I? Why does it feel like I have been run over by a truck twice? I couldn’t coordinate a response to all these questions because my head feels muddled and did I mention that it hurts. The bright light of the room hurts so I shut my eyes, breathing in relieve when the pain reduced. That is one problem taking care of. I don’t need Einstein to tell me that I have been hurt. It is the how that is taking time to come to me. I opened my eyes again. It didn’t hurt as the first time. I looked around me to realise that I was in the hospital and I wasn’t alone. My mother was sitting on the hospital chair dosing. “Mum!” My voice came out croaky and my throat felt very dry. She didn’t hear me, so I tried again, pushing through unused muscles to sound louder. I succeeded. She
KAMARIA POV A month later. Monday morning. At the office things got a little crazy. We have another contract for a technology company and we will be doing the presentation in few days time and we have yet to come up with the theme of our presentation. I wanted fresh ideas so I have gathered the team for us to brain storm together. I want to hear what they have got. So far nothing catchy from the ideas they have dropped. They are all very common ideas that have been used over and over again by others for this particular advertisement, and I don’t believe using something very common is going to win us the contract. “Anything else?” I asked after discarding everything they said. We have been at it all week and this morning, and I can see they looked exhausted. Everyone in the room kept quiet, looking out of ideas to peach in. My creative team is made up of five people. As the company is still starting up there aren’t that many employees. They all looked around at each other waitin
KAMARIA POVShe didn’t hesitate to answer. “I want you to come back,” she stared directly at me as she said the words like her eyes will help me understand what the hell she is talking about. “Excuse me!” I was confused. “I know you two are divorced, and I know you have got no reason to help us, but I am asking.”Though her demeanour was softened she still tried to maintain her haughty nature so as not to come off like she was begging me for something. I believed that is the best please I am going to get out of Carolyn Black. She has had said everything she wanted to say, but there was still something missing out. “And his wife?”Carolyn’s expression turned sour. Oh oh. Trouble in paradise. Am I a bad person for feeling a little giddy that Damien’s marriage might be experiencing trouble? I think God will understand. “That skank left him,” Carolyn growled, her eyes full of anger and retribution. “Oh” That was the only thing I could say. Not that it surprised me that the model