Lauren's POV The screech of tires and the deafening crunch of metal hit me like a dreadful punch in the gut. One second, I was gripping the edge of my seat as Damien’s driver drove us toward safety, and the next, our car was spinning out of control, thrown off course by the violent impact. My heart pounded in my ears as I tried to make sense of the chaos through Shirley’s terrified screams. “What the hell just happened?!” Conrad’s voice was tense, his words tinged with panic. The car finally came to a halt with smoke seeping through the hood. I could hear Shirley’s soft whimper beside Conrad as he held her and tried to keep her grounded, a quiet sound that cut through the loud ringing in my ears. Before I could fully register what had happened, the doors of the car that had hit us flew open, and men spilled out, their footsteps heavy and fast as they approached us. My breath caught in my throat as I noticed the glint of metal in their hands—guns. They were clo
Lauren's POV “What do you suggest we do about this?” Conrad asked, staring at Damien. It was evident, the fear looming in the car and hovering above us after the phone call from Matteo. It was no use trying to hide it. The situation was terrifying. Damien grinded his teeth as the doctor cleaned the wound in his back, unable to give an answer to Conrad even if he wanted to. “We should all run away,” Shirley suggested, making us all turn heads in her direction as she continued. “How long and how far is this man willing to pursue us! If we all go to separate places—me and Conrad, then you and Lauren—he wouldn’t even know the people he wants to go for.” In response, Damien sighed and shook his head. “I wish things were really that easy, Shirley. That family is unhinged, if I do say so myself since I know what kind of a person my brother is. Matteo will stop at nothing to get his revenge. There is no running away.” “Besides,” he continued after a moment of tense
Lauren's POV I opened my eyes to find it dark outside. My head was brewing with a mild ache that seemed to get worse as I sat up to an empty bed. With a frown, I looked around at the bedroom one more time to find Damien, but he was obviously not there. “Have you seen Damien?” I asked as soon as I saw Shirley in the hallway walking towards the stairs. “We had lunch together. I think he’s in the garden with Conrad,” she answered. With a nod, I walked down the stairs with her and into the garden at the back of the house. Conrad and Damien stopped talking as they looked up and found me approaching. “I slept in so late,” I said, sitting beside Damien. “I missed lunch.” “If you’re hungry, I can get the chef to make something for you. I had the staff come over here to work,” Damien announced. I shook my head in response. “I’m not very hungry, honestly,” I said. As we all sat there, I couldn’t help but notice how neither of them had said a
Lauren's POV Shirley’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets as she stared at me in disbelief after my confession of wanting to see Matteo alone. “Lauren, are you out of your mind!?” She yelled, her sharp voice cutting through the tense air around us. “Why on earth would you even think about doing that? I might not know him, but I know he’s dangerous, and I’m sure you know it too. He’s not someone you just walk up to and strike up some conversation with.” I felt the every single word she said and how true they were, but I couldn’t back down. I couldn’t let fear dictate my actions. “I might not have met him as well, but I know exactly what kind of person Matteo is, Shirley. Yes, he’s a dangerous man. But that’s precisely why I need to do this.” My voice was steadier than I felt inside. “The only way to get off his list of people to hurt is to head straight for him and come to an agreement. If we wait around, doing nothing, he’ll come for us when we least expect
Lauren's POV My palms tightened around the steering wheel as I pulled over in the parking lot of the restaurant. The sign above the entrance glowed faintly in the night, welcoming all. My heart pounded in my chest, a mixture of fear and determination coursing through my veins. “This is it, Lauren,” I quietly whispered to myself. “There’s no turning back now.” It all seemed quiet, a little too quiet since it wasn’t even past midnight just yet. Taking a deep breath, I stepped out of the car, the cool night air sending a shiver down my spine. My footsteps echoed softly as I made my way to the entrance. The door barely made a sound as I pushed it open, the warm light inside an opposite of the darkness outside. My eyes soon adjusted to the dim lighting. The restaurant was nearly empty, making me feel uneasy. My gaze landed on a couple seated at a corner of the restaurant, and relief washed over me at the fact that I wasn’t completely alone. If things went so
Lauren's POV As I sat across from Matteo, the phone pressed tightly to my ear, the detective’s presence accompanied by the last words he had told me lingering in the air. There was a high possibility that the man seated in front of me was my mother’s killer. “Are you sure about this?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady and avoid sending any hints to Matteo. There was a pause on the other end, the kind that made me want to fill it with more questions that the detective probably didn’t have answers for. “It’s what our suspect claimed, Mrs. Goldberg. But we’re not fully certain yet. We’re going to bring Matteo in for questioning first thing tomorrow morning.” My grip on the phone tightened as I glanced up at Matteo. He was watching me, his lips curling into a mocking smile that made my stomach turn. I tried everything I could to keep my expression neutral, nodding as if the detective could see me. “Okay, thank you for letting me know. Pl
Lauren's POV The drive back to the house felt like it took forever. Each second that passed only deepened the aching cavity in my chest, the weight of Damien’s words pressing down on me and making it difficult for me to breathe. As I pulled into the driveway, my hands trembled, and I had to take a moment to steady myself before I could get out of the car. The house was quiet with nothing but the distant sounds of nocturnal bugs to remind me that I was alive. As I stepped inside, I found them all in the living room—Damien, Shirley, and Conrad. As soon as Shirley saw me, she rushed over and wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug. “I’m so sorry, Lauren,” she whispered, her voice filled with guilt. “I didn’t want to tell Damien, but I couldn’t find you anywhere. I didn’t know what else to do. You could have at least told me that you had not changed your mind.” I wanted to be mad at her. I wanted to lash out and tell her that she had no right, but I could
Lauren's POV The drive to the police station was even more nerve-wracking than anything. My mind traveled to all the places possible as I thought about Matteo and what grand stunt he wanted to pull. Was he trying to make a point to bring me to the station and tell me that even with the police present, I couldn’t do anything to him? “Come on, come on, come on!” I said to myself, honking at nothing as I drove past the countryside house that still had a hole gaping from the side of it from the explosion. I slammed my foot on the brake pedals as I almost sped past the station in a bid to get there as fast as possible. The action caused me to get lurched forward aggressively with just the seat belt being there to slam me back in place. An officer walked towards the car, knocking on the window and signaling for me to wind it down. “Ma’am, are you okay?” He asked, raising an eyebrow at me as he glanced around at the interior of the car to see if anyone else wa
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