Lauren's POV “Are they going to try and kill me as well?” I asked, staring at Damien in fear and confusion. “They wouldn’t dare, and I won’t let them. I just want to keep you and the baby safe. You don’t have to worry about anything. You’re going to be as safe as possible,” he assured me. “As safe as possible,” I echoed with a nod. “Do I have to go into hiding or anything of that sort?” “Not necessarily. I’ll always be with you. If I’m not, you’ll have people guarding you with every step that you take. Nobody is going to hurt you.” I sighed and sat on the bed beside him, not sure what to say or do about everything that had been happening to us. As much as I wanted to move back into the house with him and feel safer, I couldn’t help but think that it was riskier that way. “Have you had anything to eat?” I asked him, my eyes glancing at the bandage wrapped around his chest. “I just opened my eyes, actually,” he answered. “I’m not very hungry
Lauren's POV “You’re alive,” Katarina muttered in awe, her mouth collapsing as she stared at me as if she was staring at a ghost. “Why? You didn’t want me to survive it, did you? How dare you come close to me? You have to leave, or I will call the police on you,” I told her. It took a moment for her to regain her composure as she looked around and cleared her throat. “Where is Damien? I saw him on the news. I have to make sure he’s fine,” she told me as shamelessly as she could muster while refusing to make eye contact with me. “You’re looking for him?” I scoffed. “Did it ever occur to you that he might not want to see you as well?” “Look, Lauren…” She wanted to speak to me to get me to see her point, but I stepped away from her completely on instinct as she limped towards me with her injured leg, causing her to pause in her tracks. I glanced down at her leg, remembering that Damien had told me that he had shot her in her leg. “Is e
Lauren's POV “Give me the phone, nice and slow,” Santino instructed me in a tone that seemed like he was talking to a child who was holding a loaded gun. “What are you doing here—” “No, Darla,” Santino interrupted her before she could speak any further. “You will only speak when I tell you to speak. Give me the phone, Lauren.” “Lauren, hand the phone to him,” Darla told me, sounding afraid and making me hand the phone to him. “Why are you doing this, Katarina? What do you stand to gain from all of this?” I asked, staring at her as Santino used my phone to make a call. “Damien, my good friend,” Santino greeted with a grin as Damien picked up the phone. “Yes, I’m right here with the new love of your life. You know, it’s the first time I’m seeing her in person and I must say that you have done well for yourself.” There was a pause as he listened carefully to what Damien was saying, his grin growing even wider. “There really is no need
Lauren's POV “Darla?” I called out to her with a faint voice, looking at her with eyes brewed with tears as I placed my hand over my stomach to stop the bleeding, but it wasn’t stopping. Darla was staring at me almost helplessly, walking up to me slowly and carefully with her hands held out to me. Tears were rolling down her cheeks as well, and I was starting to lose my breath. “Oh, my God,” she muttered, pushing Santino to the side. “What did you do to her? How could you do this?! What are you trying to achieve with this?!” “Stay out of this, Darla!” Santino replied, taking her by the hair and prying her away from me so carelessly that she hit the coffee table on her back. “Baby, we didn’t plan to shoot anyone. You said you would not take any actions like this unless we were in deep trouble that we couldn’t get out of,” Katarina said, approaching Santino and taking him by the arm as she looked at me with worry. “No, we didn’t plan to shoot anyone
Lauren's POV I was officially a worse mother than mine was when she was still with me when my father was sick. How did I let a three-week-old die without even trying? “Take a deep breath, Lauren,” I heard Damien tell me as he took my hand and demonstrated taking a deep breath for me to follow, which was how I realized that I had been holding my breath since the news was broken to me. “I can’t,” I gasped, shaking my head. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t even protect my child. “Lauren, I know that this is hard. I know it’s going to be hard for the next days to come, but we are going to get through this together. I want you to know that none of this was your fault—” “No, no, no,” I denied his words as tears welled my eyes and fell along my cheeks. “It’s all my fault. I didn’t do everything I could. What could the baby have done? It was my responsibility to protect our child, Damien.” “If you’re going to pin the blame on
Lauren's POV “Help,” Katarina whispered, staring at me with helpless eyes, almost as if something had died in them in the few hours that she had spent in the basement. Katarina and Santino were hanging from the ceiling of the basement, their hands tied so tightly and raised up in the air with blood dripping down their bodies. “What…what happened to them?” I stuttered, looking at Damien who did not seem to be bothered about anything. He simply stared at them with nothing but hatred in his eyes, like he was thinking of other ways to make them suffer more than they already had. “Nothing too bad just yet,” Damien answered. “I don’t believe they have reached their breaking point just yet. You can ask them whatever questions you have. Hopefully, they can muster the strength to speak.” I took small and cautious steps towards them with a deep breath. “So, you two wanted me to convince Damien about divorce. You said you had a plan to bring forth after eve
Lauren's POV “Mom?!” I asked, getting off the bed as I heard her burst into sobs and someone else in the background yelling to hold her down. “Hello? Is anyone there? What’s going on?! Hello?!” I called out, but there was nobody there, and Darla was now taking my shoulders and telling me to calm down. As soon as the line went dead, I collapsed back onto the couch with my face in my palms and shameful tears rolling down my cheeks. “Oh, God. This is all my fault. I think she’s trying to escape. I shouldn’t have told her just yet. I just wanted her to know. I didn’t want her to have her hopes up. Oh, no,” I muttered. “Talk to me, Lauren. What happened? We can sort this out. Do we need to go see your mother?” Darla questioned. “Can we do that? I think I need to see her to find out how she’s doing,” I said with a nod. “Yes, I really need to see her. Can we go today?” “Where is Damien, even? Damien!” she called out to her brother, who was now ex
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
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