Lauren's POV “Mrs. Goldberg, how are you doing now?” I was bombarded by a doctor as soon as I opened my eyes in the hospital room. “What happened? Why am I back here? Where’s Damien? My stomach hurts,” I rambled as my eyes moved across the room and confusion hit me from all angles. “Mr. Goldberg will be arriving shortly. He went down to sort out everything with your health. Your wound opened up when you were stressed, and it started to bleed. Right now, you don’t have to worry about it getting worse. I just want to see about the other symptoms.” “What other symptoms?” I asked with narrowed eyes. “I was just shot. There’s nothing too serious about it now that the wound has been dressed, right?” The doctor gave me a glance and went back to his clipboard with a nod. “Indeed,” he confirmed. “I just want to make sure that there’s nothing more for some follow-up, is that okay with you?” I knew that there was close to nothing I could do even if I di
Lauren's POV My hands slowly let go of Damien’s as I stared at him and foolishly waited for him to tell me that he was joking, as if he would lie about something like that in the first place. “Lauren,” he said in a tone that was telling me to calm down and not have an explosive reaction to the news, but I could barely hear a word he said as the former ones still rang in my head. “The doctor caught it on time. It’s still in the early stages.” …you have leukemia… “I don’t think you understand,” I said with a shake of my head. “My father… My father died of leukemia. This… How can this be happening to me?” “You are not going to die, Lauren. We can get your treatment started as soon as possible. There really is nothing to panic about.” I looked back at him, only to see that he was also holding himself back from panicking. Sure, he could tell me a million times not to panic, but I knew better than to believe that he was internally calm about it.
Lauren's POV “I don’t think you can just pull her out of the center, Mrs. Goldberg. If there’s any complaint on your mind, you can let us know and we will make possible changes for you,” the woman on the other end said. “Oh, you don’t understand. I have no complaints. I just want her out. I’ll take care of her when she’s out, and I’ll make sure she doesn’t return to drugs.” I knew just how hard things would be as I said them, but I was left with no other choice. “Your mother was registered by one signatory, and that happens to be Mr. Goldberg. Without his approval, I’m afraid this will not be possible,” she explained to me. I knew that there was no convincing Damien over something like that. I would have told him about it before he left the room if that were possible. “Does Mr. Goldberg support this decision?” the woman asked, reminding me of her presence on the other side of the phone. “I haven’t spoken to him about it yet. I just thought that s
Lauren's POV “I don’t understand.” Damien shifted fully to look at me as though he had not heard my words, and I hated that I would probably have to repeat those words and end up piercing myself even deeper in the heart. “I don’t want to say it again, Damien. I know you heard me.” I shook my head. “I think you should, Lauren,” he argued. “If you can say it more than once, it could lead me to believe that you truly want to do it. Right now, I’m convinced that you’re not sure about it.” “I want to get a divorce, Damien,” I said again, forcing my face to remain straight as I started to find the sheets on the bed more interesting to look at than his face. “Did you just make that decision on a whim? You just thought about it and decided to say it out loud all of a sudden?” he guessed correctly, but I couldn’t give him a confirmation of it. He knew the answer to it. “I don’t think I want to get treated. Things are hard enough as they are, and it would b
“The cells are not as much right now, as we have caught them early,” the doctor said as we sat in the hospital the next morning. “You will have to start chemotherapy as soon as possible, with strong antibiotics to stop the growth and the spread.” “I’m ready to start anytime. I’ll even start it right now if you want,” I said before my desperation to get better would sink back into me and I would start to get second thoughts on the whole thing once again. “I will prescribe drugs for you, and we will have to admit you and keep you under observation. Will that be okay with you?” the doctor asked. “That’s fine.” I nodded, turning to Damien with a faint smile “I want her to get the best treatment that you can give her. She has to beat this at all costs. Is that something you can assure me of?” he asked the doctor, whose first reply was a nervous laugh. “Of course, I can assure you that she will be well taken care off and treated per the nation’s standa
Lauren's POV I opened my eyes and heard muffled voices coming from somewhere in the room. I didn’t know when I fell asleep, but I knew that I’d had a crying session with the doctor about being afraid to die before I slept off. “…that he’s not going to come here,” I heard Damien’s familiar voice saying to someone else. “You know just how difficult he is. He’s not going to listen to me. You’re the only one who can go toe to toe with him. I don’t even have that energy and time to spend arguing,” Darla’s voice replied. “You’re awake,” Damien said to me as I struggled to sit up and they both helped me up. “What’s happening? I heard you two arguing,” I inquired, looking from one to the other as they both held identical expressions on their face. “It’s nothing too important. You don’t have to worry about it. It has to do with work, and she keeps pestering me,” Damien explained, but from Darla’s face, I could tell that that was not the exact case. It was
Lauren's POV Damien was extremely quick to stand up and walk out of the hospital room that I was in after telling me to remain in there and not make a move to leave. “Even if I wanted to, I can’t,” I replied, showing him the IV connected to my hand. “I’m too tired to stand up anyway.” As he slammed the door shut and went out, I turned to Darla who had a worried expression on her face. It got me curious enough to want to know the intensity of the differences between Damien and his brother and how much of a mess they would make out there. “How big of a scene is Jameson making?” I inquired, pulling her out of her mind. “Not nearly as big enough as what will happen when Damien goes out there,” she answered. “He kept asking to see his brother’s wife from the receptionist, and he forbade her from calling the room. He almost forced himself into the elevator.” My brows rose to the sky as I imagined what Damien would be saying to him in that moment.
Lauren's POV “You seem to have heard enough about me,” Jameson said, laughing as I avoided eye contact with him. “What have you heard? Pray tell.” “Get the fuck out of my house right before I do something that we’re both going to regret,” Damien said, taking me towards a couch and placing me down on it. “He’s not going to do anything to you.” “You’re falling in the same trap that father fell into,” Jameson said to Damien. “It’s surprising that you don’t see it. Even if you don’t, it’s distressing that nobody else told you about it. Why didn’t you tell him that the same thing that happened to father—” “Talk about him one more time,” Damien threatened, “and I will not hesitate to kill you.” Jameson tilted his head to the side, chuckling. “I was not there to watch you grow up. Not that any of that is my fault since you didn’t hesitate to throw me in prison when you had the chance. The one thing I’m glad about is that you grew up to be a proper man.
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