Chapter 44:
“Hi Damon,” I replied breathlessly.
“Alaure, what are you doing here?” he asked, getting straight to the point. His complete disregard for me eliminated all feelings of nervousness and giddiness and replaced them with irritation.
“Gee thanks Damon, you look great too. I’m fine too thanks for asking considering you left me in hospital with only a stinking note and didn’t even bother sticking around until I woke up or at least getting in touch with me after everything that happened.”
“I thought it would be best if you tried to forget about me.”
“You don’t get to make that call, Damon”
“Okay, I’m sorry. Can we take this conversation away from all these eavesdropping ears?”
I looked around and noticed many people divert their eyes as I did. I blushed and nodded, letting Damon lead us into the elevator in the lobby.
“By the way, you do look beautiful,” he said, a light blush playing on his cheeks, “Although, don’t take this the wrong way, I think prefer you without make-up.”
Butterflies fluttered in my stomach at the compliment. I smiled, “Good to know because I totally hate wearing all this make up. It makes my face feel all oily, and I feel totally fake like I’m hiding something.”
“Good to know, hm? So my opinion matters to you?”
“Don’t get so full of yourself now,” I retorted, elbowing him playfully. The elevator dinged to indicate we had reached our floor. Before I could step out, Damon very naturally took my hand and led me out of the elevator to his suite. I could feel my face redden as I almost lost my footing. He slid his room key into the slot and opened the door. I felt as though I had stepped into a large apartment rather than a hotel room.
“Welcome to the Cascade suite,” he mocked with a cocky grin, noticing the look of awe on my face. The room was fully equipped with a dining room, fire place in a large and separate living room, and grand piano among other things.
“It may not be quite as large as my house in Alaska—”
“Is a room this large even necessary?” I asked, cutting him off mid-sentence.
“Probably about as necessary as the amount of space I have back at home, but I like having the extra room.”
“I mean really, a grand piano? Do you even play the piano? And a fireplace? What’re you gonna do, make s’mores or something?!”
“I actually do play the piano and I would be down to make some s’mores if you’re up to it.”
I laughed heartily, “I think I just may take you up on that offer. As for the former matter, why don’t you play something for me to prove it?”
He scratched the back of his head and hesistantly said, “Well I’m a bit rusty but alright.” He seated himself on the shiny black bench and lifted the cover off the keys. He did a quick scale on the keys to get a feel for it. “Any requests, milady?” he asked in a gentleman-like manner and winking with a cute boyish smirk.
I giggled, “How about ‘Baby its cold outside’”
“Sure thing,” he said hitting the first few notes of the intro. Though it was obvious he was no concert pianist as he tumbled over a few notes here and there, it was also evident that Damon had probably played for many years once upon a time.
“I really can’t stay,” I sung.
“But baby its cold outside,” Damon sung, surprising me by chiming in.
“I’ve got to go away.”
“But baby its cold outside.”
“This evening has been, so very nice.”
Neither of us had voices suitable for a choir, even so there was something so magical about that moment it left a warm feeling of pure happiness within me. I closed my eyes and immersed myself in the sound of our voices. As we sung the last notes of the song, not wanting to lose the magic of the moment I quickly asked Damon for his phone. He reluctantly complied and handed me his phone. I pulled up ‘Sincerely’ by the Moonglows on my phone and hooked it up to the aux cord on the stereo in the room.
“Sir, may I have this dance?” I asked with one hand behind my back and the other hand extended towards Damon.
He chuckled and smirked at me in a way that sent shivers through my entire body. “Why thank you, but only if I get to lead. I don’t do a very good job of following,” he remarked as he took my extended hand, pulled it tenderly to his chest, and simultaneously wrapped his arm around my waist, tugging me to his body. We were so close to each other that I could feel the rise and fall of his chest with every breath and each heartbeat against my own body. Unable to support myself on my legs anymore, I automatically leaned into him. I took a deep breath, intoxicated by the smell of his cologne.
I stared up into Damon’s eyes. I wanted to pull my gaze away from his, but something about his eyes kept mine locked on his. He led us around the living room, all the while neither of our gazes faltered. A light smile played on our lips as we swayed to the music. The only thing I could think about was just how good it felt to be in Damon’s arms this way and how much I longed to be in his arms many more times after this.
As the music ended, I wished that I had played a song that was longer than 3 minutes…maybe 3 hours would have sufficed. We remained in each other’s arms though the silence. I basked in Damon’s warmth and the sheer comfort of being pressed against his body. My gaze dropped to his soft lips. I moved my arm from his shoulder and draped it around his neck. Even in heels I had to get up on my tippy toes to be level with his face. I tilted my face to the side and slightly up. I could feel his muscles begin to tighten. My eyes drooped as I nervously moved in closer. I could feel the warmth of his breath on my lips as the smell of peppermint filled my nostrils.
Just when I was about to press my lips to his, he took a step backwards, breaking our embrace and my reverie. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. Did I do something wrong? Did my breath smell funny or something?
“You always do these things to me, making me forget everything I intended to do,” he half-chuckled and shook his head, “You never answered my question Alaure. What are you doing here?” he asked very seriously. The tenderness that his eyes held just moments earlier had completely disappeared.
“Can’t that wait?” I muttered, a little embarrassed that I had tried to kiss Damon and been rejected.
“It can’t,” he replied firmly.
“I came here to find you and chew you out for refusing to talk to me, but also because I need to warn you about Garrett.”
“You shouldn’t be here. Jones already warned me about Garrett.”
Oh, so that cold-blooded beast, Jones, actually does care.
“Then I only have one other thing to ask you. Damon, why have you been avoiding me and deliberately keeping me away from you?”
He looked away, refusing to look me in the eye. “I already told you why.”
“Oh, you mean that half-assed response about it being better for me if you leave me alone? Yeah well that’s not gonna cut it. Damon, I have feelings for you. Blame it on Stockholm’s syndrome or whatever you want but that’s not going to change the fact that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you every day since you ditched me at the hospital. Damon I l—really like you.”
“Well the feelings aren’t mutual.”
I was stunned into silence. Maybe it was because I had somehow always felt that Damon had started developing feelings for me somewhere in all that time together in Alaska that I hadn’t really thought about the fact that Damon might not reciprocate my feelings. Had I misread the signs all that time? Could I really have been that misguided, or was he just saying all of this because it was ‘for my own good’? But why was he so adamant about staying away from me? Perhaps he only used that as an excuse for his real intentions. Could it be possible that he was just playing with me all this time?
“So then you’re telling me that…all of that time we spent together…it meant nothing to you?”
He didn’t answer.
“The-the time we went snowboarding and watched the aurora borealis, when you comforted me during the thunderstorm that one night, the boat ride…the time you almost kissed me…and just now when we were singing and dancing together. What was all of that?” I asked dazed.
He continued to give me the silent treatment.
“What the hell was all of that?!” I demanded, raising my voice, “Were you just trying to be nice? Were you just doing it so I would tell you everything you wanted to know? Was it—was it pity for me? Did you feel bad that the poor ugly nerd never had a boyfriend, her first kiss, affection? Were you playing with me?!
“Yes…”
“Yes, WHAT?! I don’t believe you! I don’t know what your reasons are but I think you’re just trying to keep me out of your life. I don’t understand why you keep shutting people out of your life! Forget about the notion that you’re no good for me, am I no good for you?! If you really mean it then I want you to say it to my face.”
He rubbed his face and slowly turned his head to look me in the eye. Then, very calmly and with a straight face, he said to me, “Yes to all of the above. I played with your heart, I pitied you, I wanted information out of you, and I didn’t really care what happened to you. You were just a tool. And I certainly NEVER had feelings for you. Anything nice I have ever done for you since the day I met you was out of pity towards you and my own guilt. You need to move on.”
I stood transfixed as Damon’s words sunk in. I opened my mouth to say something but the only thing that came out was a quiet but sorrowful sob. The room and Damon’s face became blobs of color as tears blurred my vision. A heavy feeling in my chest left me weak as my legs shook, threatening to give in. Where butterflies and warm feelings once filled me, there now seemed to be a black hole. I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists. I wiped my tears with my thumb so as not to smear mascara and eyeliner all over my face. I deepened my breathing and held back any more tears. Something just wasn't adding up here.
I was just about to barrage Damon with more questions when the breast that I had stuffed my phone into began vibrating. At first I didn't want to bother answering but when the feeling became intolerable and a little awkward I caved in and pulled it out. The caller ID showed that Jayden was calling.
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Jayden’s POV
“You have to get out of here. It’s not safe for you to be here.”
“Why? What do you mean?”
“Garrett’s here and he wants revenge.”
We moved away from the hordes of people walking along the hallway and into a more secluded area where our conversation would not be overheard.
“Seriously, here of all places? I mean I expected him to go after Damon sometime soon enough but really the irony of that man coming to a place like this.” I muttered to myself. “Wait a minute, Fiorella, what are you doing still hanging around that good for nothing piece of trash?”
Fiorella turned her gaze to the now suddenly fascinating red and gold patterned carpet.
“Tell me Fiorella, what happened after Alaure helped rescue everyone? Is he somehow holding you captive because I can deal with that and help you get you far, far away from him.”
Fiorella squirmed around in discomfort. “No, it’s nothing like that. I chose to stay with him. I actually…I helped him get away safely.”
“Oh God no…Fiorella, please don’t tell me…” I drifted off, not wanting to complete my sentence.
Fiorella nodded and with much embarrassment replied, “Yeah, I’m still in love with him. It’s not like I can just get over him. I’ve been with him for almost 9 years. That’s longer than a lot of people can even keep up a marriage nowadays.”
I scoffed, “Yes, but in all that time you’ve ‘been with him’ has he ever treated you as an equal, as anything more than a tool? Hell, has he ever treated you like a human being for God’s sake?! I bet even after helping you escape he still treats you like shit, ordering you around like some slave, demanding sex whenever he wants, and hitting you when he wants to take out his rage on someone, doesn’t he? How can you possibly be okay with being with someone like that?”
“You’re not wrong Jayden…actually you’ve pretty much got him pegged. But I’ve seen more sides to him than you have. He used to be much kinder actually. I just want to see that side of him again,” she sighed and leaned against the wall for support. “He used to have the sweetest smile that would melt my heart and any pain he ever caused me. In our earlier years together sometimes he actually would treat me like a human being. In fact I was almost like a friend. After being with him a few years I began to forget about the life I used to have and began to feel like I was there by free will. Sometimes we would try cooking together, almost burn down the kitchen together,” she chuckled dejectedly. “And sometimes when we watched movies together I would get to snuggle up beside him and he would put his arm around me lovingly…protectively, possessively, and I actually felt so loved. I may have just been imagining those feelings but regardless, it felt really nice. I felt like I was his girlfriend. It wasn’t until Baxter talked to Garrett about getting even with Damon—with the incentive of more money—that things began to change. I used to be the only girl at Garrett’s place until then too but that all changed soon after.
A single, unruly tear rolled down her pink tinged cheeks. I closed the space between her and hugged her. I held on tight to her frail body and hoped my soul would reach hers with our embrace.
“You feel so warm,” she sniffled. “It almost feels like…Garrett. Except you’re a lot less muscular than him.” The two of us laughed. “But I feel loved and protected just like I once felt I was,” she said, smiling at me. “I wish he would go back to being the man I knew him to be.”
“But seriously Fiorella, do you really expect him to somehow change back into the man he used to be? You have to remember there isn’t an undo button. Whatever he went through that caused him to be this way won’t easily be undone if it’s possible for him to change at all.”
“I know. It’s just that I understand why he’s so frustrated, especially now. His entire life and fortune have just been destroyed—“
“But he basically did exactly that—destroyed people’s lives— and so many worse things to us and those poor girls he bought, raped, and killed. He has no right to feel upset. How can you feel pity for a hypocrite? He’s an asshole and you deserve someone that will treat you with the respect you deserve, like an equal rather than the mud that’s caked on the bottom of his shoe. I hate to say this, and I don’t mean to be cruel, but I doubt that Garrett will ever treat you the same way he did once upon a time. Why do you still put up with him?”
“It’s not like I have anywhere left to go. I’ve been with Garrett for almost 9 years. He’s the only home I know anymore.”
He’s the only home I know anymore. I couldn’t help but feel pity for Fiorella. That devil of a man should not be considered home for anyone. He was a sick, disgusting, and poor excuse for a man that deserved to rot in hell for the rest of eternity. “That is not a good excuse. Fiorella, look around you. Every single one of these individuals here today are here for girls like me and especially you. They’re here to fight against people like Garrett and support people like you. More importantly, I’m here to help you. I can give you a home, teach you what you need to know, help you get back on your feet and be a strong, independent woman. Let me be your new home.”
I stretched my hand out to her with my palm up. “It’s as though all of these people have stretched a hand out to you, but you have to make the choice to stretch out and take our hand.”
Fiorella’s beautiful green eyes glimmered from tears. Her eyes shone with the light of hope as she slowly lifted her right hand. The moment was instantaneously shattered however when her phone began to ring. She pulled it out of her purse and read the caller ID.
“It’s Garrett.”
“Don’t answer it, Fiorella. Please don’t go back to him,” I pleaded.
She gripped her phone tight to her chest. Her eyebrows furrowed and she bit her lip nervously as she contemplated what to do.
“You don’t have to stay with him anymore and you don’t have to be alone either. I can help you!” I begged.
She shook her head. “I can’t,” she whispered, taking a step back away from me. I reached out to her to stop her but she quickly slid away from me and ran in the other direction.
Dammit. I won’t give up on her. “Ah crap,” I muttered, slapping my face with the palm of my hand, “I have to call Alaure and let her know what’s going on.” I spent so much time worrying about Fiorella I almost forgot all about warning Alaure. I hope I’m not too late!
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“Hello?” I answered, trying my best to mask my distress.
“Alaure?! Alaure?! Where are you? Are you safe? Are you okay?” Jayden asked in a panicked voice.
“Yeah-yeah I’m alright,” I stuttered, taken aback by her panicked tone, “Is everything okay?”
“No, it’s not. I have some bad news. Wait a minute. Were you crying, Alaure? Are you okay?”
Dammit, how did she figure it out? “No,” I lied, as firmly as possible.
“Don’t lie to me Alaure. I know when you’re upset. What did that asswipe do now?”
“I don’t want to talk about it right now. Not over the phone. What is it that you wanted to tell me?”
She sighed. “Okay, fine. This is important so I’ll let it go for now. I just ran into Red, I mean Fiorella—”
“Wait, you mean Fiorella from—“
“YES, from Garrett’s place. She said she came here with him—”
“You’re joking. Please tell me you’re joking.”
“I really wish I were. She told me he’s after Damon. Are you with him?”
Just when I thought this day could not get any worse… “Yeah, he’s here with me. We’re in his suite.”
She gasped, “He didn’t—“
“No Jayden,” I replied quickly, knowing exactly where her train of thought was taking her.
I thought I heard her mutter ‘I am going to beat his ass if he…’ before she clearly said, “Alright then. What’s the room number? I’ll meet you over there. Oh, and let him know what I said. Though I don’t know why we bother helping him when—”
“Okay, I will. And it’s on the top floor. Make a right when you get out of the elevator. The door is down that hall.”
“Gotcha, be there soon,” she said, hanging up the phone.
I couldn’t bear to look at Damon so instead I continued to look at my phone as I addressed him. “Jayden said she saw one of the girls from Garrett’s place. She came here with him and he’s after you.”
“Garrett is here?”
“That’s what I just said, didn’t I?”
“You need to get out of here, quickly!” he ordered. I could feel Damon’s anger slowly beginning to boil.
“Wait, why? I’m not done talking to you and Jayden is coming up here.”
“You idiot! Are you seriously asking me why? Once Jayden gets here, the two of you need to get as far away as possible. Garrett is targeting me and you’re going to be in the way. He’s probably going to try and use you for leverage which will just lead to the two of you getting hurt unnecessarily once again.”
“Like you actually care,” I scoffed. Damon shot me a look but refrained from saying anything that would further provoke me.
“You shouldn’t even be here in the first place!” he roared. “You knew Garrett was targeting me yet here you are practically stalking me! If you’re not going to care about your own safety then think about Landon and your father. You may have only just made up with him but I’m sure he’d be devastated to lose you again.”
“Wait, how do you know about what happened between me and my dad?!”
Before I could demand an answer, someone knocked on the door. Expecting it to be Jayden, I immediately swung open the door without checking the peephole.
I, however, did not expect to see Garrett with one hand firmly over Jayden’s mouth and the other hand with a gun that was pushed up against Jayden’s head. Tears were streaming down Jayden’s cheeks and her eyes openly screamed just how scared she was.
“Well, well Damon. It’s been quite a long time, hasn’t it?”
“Garrett, let her go.”
“Gladly,” he said, pushing Jayden down to the floor. Before I knew what was happening, Garrett grabbed my throat, pulled me towards him, and pushed the gun to my forehead in one swift motion. “This one is more important to you, isn’t she? Don’t either of you even think about moving even a millimeter closer to me or I’ll blow her brains out,” he said in that psychotically sick voice of his.
“It’s me you’re after. If you want to shoot me, fine but don’t get these girls involved. I’ll tell you whatever it is you want and you can shoot me dead after if you want, okay. I don’t give damn what happens to me.”
Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a familiar face timidly inch into the room. “There you are, Red. Do me a favor sweetheart and search that man for me. Make sure he doesn’t have any weapons on him.”
She hesitated but nodded and quickly strode over to where Damon was standing. She first inspected the coat pockets and then unbuttoned the tux to inspect the pockets of his trousers. She pulled back the coat to reveal the handle of the gun that was neatly tucked into a pouch on his belt.
“Sir, I’ve found one.”
“Good. Take that one and search the rest of him for any more guns or knives.”
Fiorella removed the gun from its pouch before patting down the rest of his body like airport security and walked back to stand behind Garrett. “That’s the only thing, sir.”
“Now then, since you don’t have any weapons on you anymore to keep you safe, let’s see just how confident you are.”
“My statement still holds,” Damon calmly replied with the same determination in his eyes as before.
“Hmph! I’m a little surprised to be honest. I thought you would have put up more of a fight. Don’t you care about what happens to your life? What about your precious company that you invested so much into, so much so that you stole Baxter’s dream away from him? Though let me be clear I don’t actually care what happened to the fellow, I’m only in it for the profit, but I’m rather curious nonetheless.”
“Would you just lower your gun first?”
“And lower my guard against all of you. Not a chance. Besides, I’m still deciding exactly what to do with you.”
Damon gritted his teeth with irritation. “You have to interrogate me now with everyone here?” he muttered, shaking his head. He then released a heavy sigh. His shoulders slumped in resignation. He rubbed the back of his neck and stared at the ground. “It’s because I don’t care anymore,” he said very evenly and firmly. “You’d be saving me the trouble if you went ahead and shot me. At least I could avoid the label of suicidal to my 20 other labels: murderer, rapist, asshole, heartless son, demon-spawn, hot-headed, greedy. I don’t think I need to continue. Besides I don’t have anyone important left to worry about me. Nobody’s life would change if I were to just disappear. In fact the world just might be better off if I die. I don’t care about my life because I want to end this cycle of hatred with me. I just want to ensure Alaure and Jayden’s safety…I’ve put them through enough already.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. When did Damon begin to think like this?
“Awwww,” Garrett teased, imitating the voice most would use to speak to a child, “poor depressed and lonely pretty, rich boy. How sad. He doesn’t have anyone that cares about him.”
“Is this what you think about yourself?” I whispered, trying to hold back the rage growing inside of me. Gradually I raised my voice. “IDIOT! What about Nadya? What about me? Aren’t we important to you? My life would change if you left!”
“Would you just shut up and move on! I can’t give you any of what you need or deserve. In case you’ve forgotten, my last girlfriend was murdered because she got involved with me. Unless you have a death wish too, just stay out of my life!”
“Now, now that’s quite enough you love birds,” Garrett continued to tease. “We still have some business to take care of. Let’s see. How about you write a will which bequeaths your precious little company to me and then I’ll kill you to make sure you don’t get in the way and fulfill your gloomy wish. And this one…” he said as he examined me, “I think I’ll have my way with this one first before I let her go. A little payback for Baxter.”
“You won’t lay a finger on her!” Damon growled with a deadly look in his eyes. “Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.”
“My, my. That wasn’t even an order. It was a statement. You know, I really don’t like it when people think they can tell me what I will or won’t do, especially when I clearly have the upper hand. You really don’t have a say in anything I will or won’t do. Quite honestly, I don’t even need you to write the will as long as I kill you. There are other ways of getting exactly what I want. Red, shoot him dead with his own gun, then plant it in his hand to make it look like a suicide.”
Fiorella, who stood less than three feet away, stared at Garrett with a terrified look on her face. “But sir, are you sure?”
Garrett glared at her viciously. “Are you of all people undermining my authority? You filth! Remember your place you bitch!” he raged. Her eyes widened as she compliantly pointed the gun at Damon with a shaking hands. She put her finger on the trigger but seemed to be at war with herself.
“C’mon, what are you waiting for?” Garrett pressed.
Fiorella then turned to look Garrett deep into his eyes. “Everything I’ve ever done for you is because I love you…at least I loved who you used to be. But you’ve only ever taken my love for granted,” she said as she flicked her arm to Garrett and pulled the trigger without hesitation. Garrett’s howls echoed through the room as he fell down to the floor. A blood stain grew on the side of his shirt.
Without another thought, I disentangled myself from Garrett and grabbed the gun from his hand. I tried to step back away from him, but he managed to grab my ankle and send me crashing to the floor. The gun slid out of my hand and slid behind me across the floor. I scrambled to get the gun but Garrett yanked me back as he propelled himself forward towards the gun. Before he could grab it Damon pinned him down at the same time that Jayden snatched up the gun and aimed it at Garrett.
“You deserve a punishment far greater than this for everything you’ve done,” Jayden said, “but at least there will be one less scumbag if I get rid of you.” Jayden squatted down and put the gun straight to his forehead. Her eyes showed uncertainty and her hands seemed to tremble a little. I could imagine she was probably wondering if she should actually shoot him and take someone’s life or if she should just let him bleed to death.
I glanced at Fiorella who was transfixed on the spot. The thing that had changed since she shot Garrett was that she had lowered her arms. Her eyes were wide with disbelief. She was probably still in shock about shooting someone who had become so dear to her and in even more shock at the thought that he was about to die just before her very eyes.
Jayden closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them, all uncertainty was replaced with rage and steely determination. “I won’t give you a sliver of chance of surviving and I certainly won’t let you just sit in jail. That would be too lenient. I hope you rot in hell,” she said as she slowly put more pressure on the trigger.