Damien watched as Mrs Connor, Mason, and Madison's best friend Gina walked through the door of his suite.
Taking some steps towards them, a small smile on his face, he soon got to where Mason was standing specifically and stretched out his hands for a shake.
The second Mason's hand intertwined with his, Damien dragged his gaze down to where their palms were interwoven and his smile widened.
For reasons unbeknownst to him, he was filled with some kind of peace and relief once more, and allowing the tides of hate fall apart, he looked back up slowly, his lips quivering.
He wanted to say something. Well, he wanted to say so many things, but well they'd talked at length yesterday and as he recalled all they'd spoken about, Damien still thought it was a dream.
His mind going back to the phone call conversation with Mason Connor, he remembered every single thing his former enemy had said to him, and now he could only stand in awe.
Mason Connor, had freaking asked for his forgiveness. Not just Mason Connor, but his father and brother too and they'd all spoken to each other.
At first, he had thought it was some kind of a trick, as they were probably trying to lead him on and then taunt him, but after all they'd said, Damien was more than convinced that the Connor's had finally decided to put their grudges aside all because of Madison.
Even though he was more than curious to know what must have happened, at the same time he knew it was not in his place to ask.
The only thing they'd asked from him was his forgiveness and it'd been so easy, to give out.
Prior to the phone call, he'd promised Madison that he would drop the revenge plan against her family, and move on with his life and now... Just like he had predicted, he had already dropped the revenge plan and was now focusing on being a better man.
'A better man, without a woman by your side.' Damien's subconscious reminded him, and a small hiss escaped his lips as he shook his head slowly.
"Brother..." Mason began, much to Damien's amusement and this time he began to chuckle.
The atmosphere surprisingly wasn't tense like he'd expected it to be, and this was a very good sign that things would go well today.
Even though they still had no lead as to where Madison was, with the help of her brother now, they could get some little information and honestly Damien knew he could make do with the additional support.
"Brother..." He cleared his throat after a while and then said, "It feels so strange calling you that you know. One second we could barely tolerate and stand in each other's presence and now..."
"Now, I feel like hugging you. More like going on my knees and begging you for forgiveness. Truly I don't know if this would have happened if this incident hadn't taken place but then... Oh well... I feel kind of calm and I like it. It might take us some time to warm up to each other, but as far as we can shake hands and tolerate each other then we're good to go."
Damien felt nostalgic all of a sudden, tears threatening to spill down his cheeks but he held himself back.
Why the hell was he even crying? This wasn't some kind of fancy reunion party or something.
This was just a reconciliation. Enemies to friend reconciliation and that was that.
"Welcome once again. I hope we can be able to join heads together and get this issue solved once and for all."
"I also hope too." Mason said curtly, and shaking his hands briefly, Damien took a step back away from him intent on walking over to where Mrs Connor and Gina were standing.
"Mother..." Damien blurted out, the second he stood in front of the fragile old woman, and before he could even say anything again, she broke into sobs, falling into his outstretched arms and crying in his embrace.
"Oh mother... I'm so sorry. So so sorry." He mumbled, his hand going to her back and patting it gently, "I assure you that I'm doing everything in my power to get Madison back and bring her here. I'm working tooth and nail, to make sure we find her."
"I know son, I know." Mrs Connor sniffed, her hands going to her face and wiping the tears streaming down her cheeks away she continued, "I'm so sorry for how I treated you that day Damien. I'm so sorry. I should have urged Madison to stay back and... and accept you maybe. I should have... I just... I don't know. I'm so confused. I don't even know what to say or how this happened. One second it's like she's in front of me, just packing her things and leaving and the next she's no more. I'm seeing her pictures splashed everywhere and I..."
"It's okay ma." Damien said yet again, doing his utmost best to console the fragile woman.
Her whole body shook heavily, and her whimpers tugged at his heart.
His chest clenching as he disentangled himself from her, he continued to say comforting words to her, his gaze flickering to Gina, Madison's close friend.
"Gina..." He began, walking towards her and before he could pull her in an embrace she was already sobbing too.
"She kept getting threats. She got letters and she... this could have all been avoided. She told me and I..."
Damien instantly froze, his brows lifting as he stared dumbfounded at the crying lady in front of him.
"Gina... Gina calm down. What are you talking about?"
"I... I..." She stammered, sniffing and wiping at her tear stained face, "Madison had been receiving threat letters these past few days. Prior to the time you arrived in London. She was so scared and she... she..." Gina trailed off, while Damien's jaw dropped open in shock
What the fuck? Threat letters?
He turned to look at Mrs Connor and Mason, wanting to ask if they had any idea about what Gina was saying, but they looked dumbstruck and shocked too.
It was evident, that they didn't know about this. They had no idea.
"Can you explain more. Madison got threat letters? Did she try to report to the police and..."
"She tried telling them something. After she got a threat letter, she went to the nearest police station to report, but they didn't help her. Instead... Instead..." She stopped talking, staring around the room, that was filled with police officers and keen looking guards and Damien could see that she was scared of saying something.
"Talk! Don't be scared of anyone. Tell me what they did." He spat out, fists clenched and jaw gritting in anger already.
As if all the things Madison had gone through just wasn't enough. She'd gotten threat letters?
His heart plummeted all the more. Strings of guilt plaguing him yet again.
"Talk Gina, what did the police officers do?"
"Okay. I will. But then prior to the threat letters again, she told me about some men stalking her. Men in dark hooded clothes, and they were always at her house, or at the bakery where we both worked. I never believed her, and I even told her she was hallucinating or something but now I know better. I should have believed her back then at least. I should have..." Gina trailed of, her shoulders shaking as she continued to sob and overwhelmed with emotions too, Damien pulled the young lady in for a hug.
This was the only thing he could offer her, and stroking her back gently he tried his best to comfort her.
"Okay, okay..." She muttered after a while, her eyes clearing as she took a step back from Damien and thanking him for the comforting hug, she continued, "I... I will talk about the police officers. So Madison got a threat letter some weeks back, and she went to the station to report. The men there asked her for some money, and when she had none to give, they offered to sleep with her in exchange for the help she needed and she refused. They then mocked her, and told her to leave the station. She..."
"Fuck! Arghhhhh..." Damien yelled, getting the attention of everyone in the room.
"How could they fucking do that?" He began to question, his gaze turning and landing on the chief investigator who was also in the suite, he asked, "Do you hear that? Did you just hear what this woman said? This could have been averted at least, but your boys were incompetent and... They wanted to sleep with my woman? My Maddie? What the heck."
"I'm sorry Mr Daniel, but you have to calm down and..." The detective began, getting up from his couch as he walked over to where Damien was prancing about, but he was having none of it.
"I should freaking calm down? I should calm down? Someone asked for help from the men under you, but what did they do? Ask for sex? Ask for money? Oh shit..."
"I'm so sorry sir. We will take care of this." The detective said almost immediately and before Damien could say a word, the man asked Gina yet again, "What police station did she go to?"
"The one by..."
Shaking his head angrily, Damien kept prancing about, as Gina talked to the Detective, giving useful information.
"Got it. Thank you so much. Mr Damien..." The detective called out and Damien turned to face him, brows raised as he waited for him to say something."
"I'm sorry once again. I assure you that I would personally deal with the men that almost assaulted Miss Madison verbally and sexually. If this turns out to be true, they would face the consequences of their action. I promise you."
A snarl in his eyes as he stared at the detective, Damien sweared, "If anyone as much as touch a hair on Madison's head, I swear to God, your men and even you would severely pay for this. For being incompetent and failing to protect a distressed citizen. Oh, you would pay. Those men will pay, I assure you."
"I'm sorry sir." The detective said remorsefully, but Damien said nothing thereafter.
His hands on his waist, he gave the detective one last look and then he said, "You lots should just leave this suite. Every single one of you. Even the guards, everyone should just freaking leave!" He barked and instantly they began to do as he'd ordered.
Soon, every single guard and police officer was out of the suite leaving Damien with Mrs Connor, Mason, Gina and Mr Rudiger.
"Should we leave too?" Mason asked after some moments of brief silence and Damien nodded negatively, "No, no. I... I just needed some time to process what I just heard."
"Have you had anything to eat son?" Mrs Connor asked all of a sudden, and flashing her a pained look, Damien replied, "No, and I'm not hungry."
"When last did you eat? You look like..."
"I'm fine ma'am. I just... I... What can I offer you all? I'm sorry I've barely treated you properly. Fruit juice? Wine? Food?"
"What about..." Mrs Connor chimed in again, and Damien just shot her a look that indicated that he didn't want to push the topic further.
"Whatever you bring will be fine." Mason replied curtly after some time, diffusing the tense atmosphere and giving him a grateful nod, Damien left the suite, walking straight to the kitchen to get anything he could.
Anything at all...
.......
Thanks for reading. 💕