Damien's POV It had been days since I had told my guards to keep their eyes on Santino and to tell me if he got too close to the estate, and they had reported that he didn’t have anything to do with the estate, and it was someone else who bought it. In those days, Darla had been living with me and taking care of Lauren’s mother, who had not opened her eyes yet. “I was thinking that we should create a broader line of shipping access outside the country for the company. The people in other countries, especially outside of Europe, keep complaining about how slow it is for the things that they order to get to them,” Conrad explained as we talked about the company and how to improve it. “As much as I would want that, I believe the first and best thing to do is create branches of our business in more places that are harder to reach. Delivery would be way faster. For now, the shipping method will definitely be faster.” “How fast?” he asked, noting something
“Lauren is very much alive.” At Conrad’s announcement, I found myself getting off the bench in a hurry, surprising and alarming Darla enough to stand up with me. “What do you mean by that? Do not play games with me, Conrad. If you’re still where she is, send me the address right now, and I’ll be there in a few minutes,” I instructed him. “I would never use something this important to make jokes about, Uncle Damien. She’s here at the restaurant where Shirley and I are. I prevented Shirley from walking up to her, but I don’t think I could hold her back any longer. You have to get here immediately.” “I don’t think I’ll be there if you don’t send me the address, Conrad,” I seethed at him. He hung up the phone and texted me the name and the address of the restaurant. “What is happening? Where are you off to?” Darla asked me as I set the glass of whiskey down and rushed towards where my cars were. “It’s Conrad. He just informed me that
Lauren's POV “Now that you know the truth, would you like to go back with your husband?” I had only opened my eyes a few days ago in a hospital with my head banging as if there was no tomorrow, and I was now faced with another headache. Yes, the doctor had said that my amnesia was not permanent, but I still had it at the moment. I didn’t know anything about my marriage. As much as the man standing in front of me was familiar to me, I still didn’t recognize him. It made me wonder if that was going to be my life now – being tossed from one person to another until I finally found where I belonged. “I don’t know anything about this,” I admitted. “I know that you’re probably hurt by the fact that I cannot recognize you right now, but I don’t know what else to do. I don’t want to be a burden to you or anyone else.” “You could never be a burden, Lauren. Never to me. You have never been a burden to me, and you never will be,” the man said to me.
Damien's POV “You’re fine. I’m here. You only had a nightmare. Just take deep breaths, and you’re going to be okay,” Damien said to me with a soothing voice as I panted and tried to catch my breath. I was trying my best to grab on to the faces that I had seen in the dream, but they were slipping through my fingers. I could barely remember my mother’s face as I had seen her in the dream, and it was frustrating enough. There was one thing I did remember for sure. “Katarina,” I said, and it seemed to shock Damien when I said the name I remembered. “Katarina. Who’s Katarina? Why did I see her trying to kill my mother in my dream?” I was now looking at Damien for answers he couldn’t produce. He looked at me in shock, only recovering enough to go back to rubbing my shoulders. “I know that you have the answers to my questions, Damien. As much you don’t want to hurt me, I need answers to my questions as well. I don’t want to be left in the dark with nothing,
Lauren's POV “Darla,” Damien called out to her in a scolding tone, but it was too late. I was now staring back and forth between Damien and Conrad, waiting for one of them to give me an explanation on what was happening without me having to ask. “Is somebody going to tell me what she means by that? I was with your nephew before I got married to you? How? What happened?” I questioned, suddenly feeling stupid and used. It was as if they were all in on something that they were laughing about behind my back. “Say something, Damien,” I said, using my leg to nudge his own. “There’s nothing we can say that would make it all feel better unless you get your memories back. A lot happened between you and Conrad. I can only tell you that there’s no animosity,” Damien assured me. “I wouldn’t say that,” Conrad argued. “You have not picked up any of Shirley’s calls, and you have been ignoring her texts. I would say there’s a bit of animosity on your side.”
Lauren's POV “That is the worst possible thing you could want to do, Lauren,” Darla protested against my request to see Katarina. “Even if you do want to do it, Damien would never allow it “ “I want to see Katarina. I want to know what I did to deserve any of this. I want to ask her if the only thing she holds against me is getting married to Damien,” I said. It was hard for me to think that she was only jealous, and that was it. She hit me with a truck after attempting to kill my mother. That was something you could only do to your worst enemy. “Tell me something, Lauren,” she said as she grabbed me by the hands and stood up with me. “Do you remember what happened now?” “All of it,” I answered. “From what she did to my mother to what she did to me, I remember all of it. I want to know what made her do it. If she had threatened me and told me to get divorced from Damien, I would have understood, but why did she have to bring my mother into it? Why di
Lauren's POV “What are you doing?” Damien asked me as he got into the room and found me folding some of my clothes into my bag. “Are you going somewhere?” “I believe I need a break from all of this. I have to get out of here for a while. I could check myself into a hotel and stay there for a while so that I can recollect everything that’s been going on around me,” I said. “You need to take a deep breath and tell me what’s going on,” he said, taking my shoulders and making me face him. “I heard your conversation with Darla a few minutes ago,” I admitted, seeing the genuine surprise on his face when I said that. “Lauren, we can talk about this. We can figure this out. You don’t have to move out,” he requested. “When were you going to tell me, if you were even going to tell me at all?” I asked him, crossing my arms and giving him an opening to say something in his defence. “I didn’t know how you would take it. It started with my father. My
Lauren's POV One moment, I was staring at my mother as she stood in front of me with her pale face and red-rimmed eyes, and I was hugging her and pulling her into my suite in the next. “How…how are you here? I just left the house, and you were still unconscious. Oh, my God. Do you need anything at all? Are you hungry?” I bombarded her with questions as I sat her down on the bed and wrapped a blanket around her. “Lauren,” she said, looking up at me with her eyes glossy from tears. “I can’t believe I still get to see you after everything. I don’t deserve any of this.” “You can’t say that. It’s not your fault. You deserve to be free and happy. You—” “You got married?” she asked me, taking her frail arm and using it to cup my cheek. “You have no idea how proud I am. I didn’t think I would get to see you again. I woke up and demanded to see you. The man claimed that he was your husband.” “It’s a bit complicated, but yes, I’m married.” I nodded in c
6 MONTHS LATER “What are you doing?” I laughed as Damien pulled me out of bed that evening and practically sat me down in front of the vanity to brush my hair and get me ready. “The dinner’s in one hour,” he reminded. “I don’t want to be late for this.” I frowned and turned around to face him, prompting him to stop brushing my hair. “So, you’re worried about family dinners all of a sudden? You know, the last time we had this, you seemed like you would have been better off dead than being there.” “People change.” He shrugged, a grin sitting on his face that made me realize that there was something he wasn’t telling me. I couldn’t drill him about it because I had a secret of mine. I took the brush from his hand and started to do it myself when he placed a kiss on my cheek. “I love you,” he said. I had gotten used to his random love confessions whenever he felt the need to say it. It had been six months since…well, everything. I moved back fr
“Lauren, are you okay?” Damien asked as he opened the door to the house where he was staying later that night. Instead of giving him an answer, I pushed myself into his arms and broke down in tears. That might, I cried all the tears that I had refused to cry the whole time. Every emotion that I had refused to let out and express, all of it was on the ground around. And Damien just let me. “You’re fine, you’re fine,” he told me in sweet whispers as he led me to the bedroom and set me down on the bed. He held me there for as long as he possibly could. “He was doing that to them for years. Shirley and I were friends—best friends—in high school, and I didn’t even notice. How could I not notice what she was going through at the time?” I asked when I had no more tears left. “What do you mean? What was she going through?” Damien asked, sounding confused as he stared at me and waited for me to recollect and gather myself. “Her father was taking advantage of
I had spent two more nights in the hotel biting my nails anxiously as I waited for any update from Jameson about Shirley’s father and if he had been caught. I spent those days wondering if he knew now that she was dead, and if he felt guilty about being a big factor in it. It was no surprise that I jumped and snatched my phone from the nightstand when his name flashed on my screen one evening while I was forcing myself to close my eyes and go to sleep. “Lauren, I need you to help me identify the bastard,” his voice boomed coolly into the phone when I picked it up. “I might be a bit sorry for him if he’s not the one and I got the wrong guy. I’ve taken matters into my hands right now.” “I’m coming. I’m coming right now. Send me the address,” I rambled. His words sent a new rush to me, the sleep that was eluding me long forgotten as I got up and dashed out of bed and started gettingready to leave. When Jameson hung up, a quick text from his numbe
I stared at the unopened email that had been scheduled to be sent to me by Shirley. Several questions whirled in my head as I sat on the edge of my bed, not sure what to do or even whether to do anything at all. Had she planned to send that, knowing what she would do to herself? Was she going to apologize in the email? Was I even ready to open it? “Oh, Shirley.” I shook my head with a defeated sigh. God knew I loved her with everything I had in me, but she went ahead to stab me in the back. And even at that, I still loved and cared about her. Was Katarina’s death really all that drove her to do what she did? The more questions I had, the clearer it became to me that the answers I needed, along with closure, were trapped in that email message that I had refused to open. Finally, I clicked on the bold letters that showed the subject of the email, and it came into full view, to the detriment of my heart. To: LAUREN. Subject: I’M SORRY… ‘By the tim
I didn’t know how long I stood there, watching Conrad choke on his tears above Shirley’s body. My heart broke for him, and I could feel Damien’s rigid body standing beside me. “Let’s go,” Conrad finally said as he got up and used the sleeve of his shirt to wipe his tears. “We need to take her away and give her a funeral. She may have done horrible things, but she was not entirely a horrible person.” Conrad turned to me with a faint smile on his face. “Are you coming, too?” I froze as my mind whirled with thoughts upon thoughts. I hadn’t thought about the funeral, going to it. I didn’t even think that I would be leaving Beverly Hills that soon after just getting there. “I don’t think I should. I mean, I just moved here. Leaving would be difficult,” I said. “I’m not asking you to leave Beverly Hills permanently, Lauren,” he argued. “I just want you to attend the funeral and return. I know you don’t want to be there, especially after everything she did to you
I opened my eyes the next morning the most satisfied I had been in the past few days. There was a small smile on my face as I snuggled even deeper into Damien’s chest. It felt like leaving was something to not even be thought about. “Good morning,” he said, his voice startling me as he kissed me on the head. “Did you sleep good?” “I did,” I answered as I finally got the strength to sit up, getting a good view of him. Before I could say a word, there was a knock on my door. I got out of bed after a moment and opened the door to find Maria standing there with a Tupperware container in her hands and an apologetic smile on her face. “Can I come in?” She asked. At first, I considered shaking my head and telling her that it wasn’t the best time for her to come in, but I decided against it. I stepped aside for her to walk in, which she did. I took note of how she looked around in the living room as if trying to find something. “Why are you here this early, Maria?
My feet were glued to the ground, my mouth gaping open without much consciousness as I still tried to get more air in my lungs. I didn’t know whether it was Damien’s presence or the fact that I had finally stopped moving, but my lungs didn’t seem to be allowing much air. “I came as soon as I could,” he said, glancing at Melissa. “She didn’t want to let me in.” “Of course I didn’t let you in!” Melissa scoffed apologetically as she now helped me move forward. “You think I hand the keys to anyrandom man who walks in here and claims to know a tenant?” Without paying any more mind to her, Damien approached me and got me out of her arms. I had half a mind to collapse into his touch and break down, but I held myself upright as Melissa helped me open the door. “Are you going to be okay?” She asked me, still looking worried for me. “What even happened to you?” “Just a little run, I’m fine. As soon as I drink water, I’ll be fine. Thank you,” I said. She took
Damien hung up the phone without another word. I didn’t know what to do with that response or the lack of it. I fell into the couch and had to stop myself from crying. Had he finally gotten sick and tired of my constant back and forth with him? I didn’t even get the chance to tell him just how much I loved him. What was the point of doing it anyway? Nothing was going to get fixed that way. “Hey, are you okay?” Fred placed a gentle hand on my shoulder after a while of me sitting and staring at nothing. I jumped at the suddenness. “I said your food is ready. Let’s go.” We walked into the kitchen, where he had spread garlic bread and toast with sunny side up eggs. A pot of coffee was brewing on the counter as we both sat. Fred let me dig into the food, but I couldn’t shake off the effect that his long and hard stare had on me. “Is there something you want to talk about?” I engaged, letting him know I could tell that he was staring. “Oh, um.” He cleared
“Lauren?” I grunted, turning around and waking up as I heard my name. Fred shook me awake, and the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was my phone in front of my face. “What is it?” I asked, sitting up on the couch where I had fallen asleep after arguing with Fred about where to sleep since he wanted me to take the bed for him to take the couch. “Your phone is ringing. I just walked by and saw it,” he said, handing me the phone. I rubbed my eyes, trying to focus on the screen of the phone and the caller ID when the phone stopped ringing. I looked up at Fred who has his arms crossed and was leaning against the door which led to the kitchen. “Aren’t you going to call who it is back? It could be an emergency, especially after what happened yesterday.” All of a sudden, I was reminded of the yesterday’s incident and what I had witnessed. A headache was brewing in my head now, and I grabbed the phone as tightly as I could. I wasn’t sure I was r