Damien's POV “If you’re going to kill me, just go ahead and do it,” Katarina hissed in pain, grabbing onto her leg and squeezing it as a way to reduce the pain. “The more you tell me to kill you, the less I want to do it. If you prefer to die, you should know that I’m not going to give you that satisfaction,” I reminded her. She shook her head, taking deep breaths just as I stood up and took her hand to force her to stand. “Would you still like to get married to me? This is why you did all of that, after all,” I told her. Her eyes flew towards the glass of alcohol I had in my hand before looking back at me. “I think you’re drunk. Maybe you should sleep this off. Things don’t have to be like this between us. I’m sorry for everything I did, Damien. I’m going to do everything I can to find her body so that you can give her a proper funeral. Forget the wedding, I don’t need to get married to you.” “Begging is not going to change anything, K
Damien's POV “Send cars out to track the trucks. If you find them, don’t let them get away,” I commanded the men, who immediately went into cars and drove out to find the perpetrators. Seeing Lauren’s mother in front of me somehow fueled my anger towards Katarina. I had the sudden urge to walk into the house and end all of it once and for all, but all I could do was bend down by her body and stare. “I’m sorry that this happened to you,” I apologized, taking her arms and setting them beside her properly. “I couldn’t be there to find you in time, and I couldn’t protect your daughter the way I had promised to.” “If there’s one thing I’m sure of, it’s the fact that the people who did this to you and Lauren are not going to get away with it,” I gave her my word. I carried her into the house and set her on one of the couches, calling out to the rest of the guards who had not left in the trucks to prepare a befitting funeral for her. “Katarina,” I sai
Damien's POV “What did he do? I could help you talk to him, I promise,” Katarina suggested as she stared at the gun that was pointed at her head in fear. “He diverted my goods, worth hundreds of millions, to his port. I don’t know what he’s trying to achieve with that, but if he’s making those silly moves, it’s leading me to believe that he has Lauren’s body and is just trying to pretend.” “He doesn’t. I know for a fact that he doesn’t have Lauren’s body. He wouldn’t lie to you and have you keep me here,” she argued, seeming to have trust for someone who didn’t exactly care about her all that much. “Tell him about it. Tell him that I have little patience left and will do it if he doesn’t send my goods back while you’re still on the food. Maybe he’ll show you how much or how little he cares about you in your last moments.” Her hands trembled as she dialled Santino’s number and put it against her ear. “Santino, this is Katarina,” she told him.
Damien's POV I concluded that it would be better and much easier to tell Darla about Lauren in person than if I did it over the phone – I could let her know how important it was for her to keep quiet about it – so I didn’t argue when she told me that she was coming to the house. “You can come, Darla. There’s something important I want to tell you as well,” I told her, hanging up the phone and coming to the reminder that I was drunk. Picking myself off the floor, I staggered to the living room to place my head on the headrest of a couch to prepare myself for the conversation I was about to have with my sister.~ “Damien!” It suddenly felt as if I had been suctioned into a new life as I opened my eyes to find Darla looking at me with confusion on her face. “Did you drink the whole bottle of this?” she asked, raising the bottle of vodka to my view. I could barely give her an answer as I held on to the bridge of my nose to stop my head from explod
Damien's POV“You cannot enter this area, sir,” the two uniformed and armed men standing at the entrance of the street informed me as they stopped my car from getting through. “What does that mean? As far as I know, I have been here before without you two in the way. What’s going on in there that’s so special?” I asked with a frown, wondering if the police had managed to find Lauren before I did. The last thing I wanted was to get the police involved in that case. They were more incompetent than I knew, and they had a way of royally messing everything up and turning the blame away from their direction. “This is private property now. It has been bought, and nobody but the owner is allowed to get in until it is redeveloped and put on the market for regular citizens,” the second one told me, sounding even more annoyed at me than the first one. “I’m not here to cause any trouble. Just let me in. I have something important that I lost here, and I would like to—”
Damien's POV I didn’t know if I wanted to ask the two guards in front of me what the whole hurry and concern was all about, or if finding out on my own would be a better choice. “What is this all about?” I asked, sticking to the first option I had as they led me in the direction of the small, private cemetery, where the dead members of the Goldberg family were buried and they had wanted to bury Lauren’s mother. I watched the two guards look at each other as if silently discussing which one of them would break the news to me. “It doesn’t matter who speaks and who doesn’t. Just tell me what the hell is going on,” I commanded. Without stopping, one of them said to me as we got to the entrance of the cemetery, “I don’t think she’s dead, sir.” My brows drew closer to each other, and my heart skipped several beats. I walked past them and hurried my steps until I got to where one of the guards was holding her up and getting her to stand on her feet.
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
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