Chapter Forty two

I cried a lot, though in silence. I truly hoped that the driver had not noticed or recognized who I was. The ride lasted long than I had expected and my over thinking mind had worried about being lost. If that happened though, I truly wished I never got found especially by Damien. I breathed in and out after my crying session watching as we sped into the moonless dark night.

The Uber stopped me at the gate of the villa, I got out and walked towards the guards who had perplexed looks on their faces when they saw me.

I knew my appearance must have said a lot, my make up had been smeared by tears, my outfit somewhat rumpled, my hair fell back from the up do Fiona had made, I did not know how and when that happened and then I had my shoes in hand too, there was a lot going on with me at that point and I could not care less what was going through their minds.

"Mrs Kingston." They acknowledged me with nods as one of them pulled the gate open. I walked the distance to the house slowly with my bare feet aching as I did. I saw that Damien had arrived before me as expected. I cussed at the thought of him.

The same looks greeted me as I trudged quietly into the house. I mounted the stairs one step at a time and walked into my room and shut the door behind me. I slid on the door till I reached the ground, weeping heavily. I hated how I always cried about every little thing but this was not the life I signed up for. Being married to a conceited, haughty and high handed man was what I prayed to never happen to me but here I was. I had never met someone so disrespectful and I hated him so much.

At this point, I did not care about whatever the contract was, I just knew I was not going to put up a show for anyone with Damien. In fact, I promised myself to not speak to him until he apologized.

I managed to get up, then I took off my clothes and went in for a shower. I took my time in doing everything before I got drawn in by a not so sweet sleep.

I woke up in the middle of night due to a nightmare that felt so real.

I dreamt about being in front of the press and being all over the news, tagged as a fraud. I was mortified and ran for cover but no one was there and there was nowhere to hide. I reached out for help from everyone I knew but they all stood and watched me with disappointed looks on their faces.

I screamed so loud but no one listened to my pleas. The flashes of cameras had me going blind and I sunk to the ground, fighting the yells and the many profanities thrown at me. I tried blocking my ears but nothing stopped it, nothing at all.

Cold sweat broke out on my forehead. I looked around the room frantically, trying to calm my racing heart. I knew what that nightmare meant. I shut my eyes and prayed that nothing bad was about to happen because it was not going to be funny at all if our secret comes out in the open.

***

Damien's POV;

That night...

I massaged my bruised nose with my index finger and thumb. That hit hurt like a bitch especially because I did not see it coming, not at that moment, that is. I knew I deserved it for being an asshole to her and probably raising suspicions with my actions.

Miguel had informed me that she had arrived in an uber before I heard her door open and shut a few minutes later.

The whole night had been ruined and what's funny is that I do not even know why I acted the way I did. Her words were not supposed to get to me like that but they did.

I clenched my fist as I thought back to what she said. If she did not want my hands on her, it was fine, in fact, she would not even have to see me unless it was necessary. I was going to give her what she was asking for with ease. I did not even want to set my eyes on her either.

I picked up my laptop and worked on it for a while before I drifted into a deep slumber for the rest of the night.

***

It was morning and I felt it was best that I worked out to let off some steam at the gym. I needed to keep fit and also get Ariana off my mind.

I put my gym outfit on and when I got downstairs I saw my mother making her way towards me.

"Morning mom." I said and was about walking past her but she held my arm and tried pulling me towards to her, emphasis on 'tried'.

"Damien?" She called out softly. I stared at her.

"Why are you doing this to yourself?" She whispered with teary eyes.

I groaned.

"Mom, not now please." I said.

"What do you mean not now?!" She half yelled. She knew better than to raise her voice at me because it never ended well.

"I haven't seen or spoken to you for over three days now and you could not even ask about your mother and let's not forget how you had been away in Italy for over a week without letting me know." She said with so much emotion it tugged at my heart strings a little bit.

I licked my lips as I tried to speak but she would not let me.

"Don't even think about giving me one of your cold replies." She warned, pointing a finger at me.

"What would you have me say?" I questioned in a steady tone.

"Damien, when would you ever accept that we're family and that family sticks together through thick and thin?" She asked sadly.

I scoffed, all these sentimental talks amused me.

"You all wouldn't be here if I do not believe in family." I retorted firmly.

"You don't even treat us like we matter." She countered.

"Paying all your bills and dropping huge sums in your bank accounts all the time is not treating you like you matter?" I was thoroughly amused now. What did these people want from me? What else did they expect me to do?

"Damien there's a lot more to this family than you being the breadwinner." She gritted.

"Mom, I do not have all the time to sit and chitchat with you people all day." I stated plainly.

"You're sounding like the rest of us are idle. We have businesses to run just as you do. Jesse works for you!" She pointed out.

"You work, yes. But not as much as I do." I said.

"That's not the point!"

"Then what is the point mom?!" My voice went up a notch and she clamped her mouth shut as she stared at me with a hurtful expression on her face.

"I'm just saying that..."

"That I should accept your husband and children into my life, treat them nicely and act like we're some lovey dovey family?"I completed for her and I saw her nod eagerly.

"Well, no can do." My conclusion brought tears to her eyes, I walked off while she called out to me on the verge of tears. I willed myself to not turn back and comfort her. I just could not bend to such a wish.

I marched towards the gym and got on the treadmill immediately. I got on it and ran for such a long time, I thought my ribs would rip apart.

I worked out for a while, taking short breaks in between. Walter came in with my drinks during one of such breaks as I prepared to lift weights.

He had a knowing look on his face, my mother must have gone to him and relayed what went down between us.

"No." I said knowing fully well what he was going to say.

"I did not even say anything." He said innocently as he placed my water bottle next to me. I gulped half of it down and wiped my mouth with the back of my palm before looking up at him from where I was seated.

"I know exactly what you want to say and my answer will always be no. He's not my father and he does not deserve my respect especially after what he did." I said as I moved towards the punchbag. I got on with punching for a while and I saw that he was watching me from the corner of my eye. I paused for a while.

"I understand that but don't you see how it's hurting your mother?" He tried reasoning with me.

"She's perfectly fine. Her husband is there for her anyway," I said, fully convinced that she actually was fine.

"I'm the one who's got no one." I said a little sadly which was very unlike me. It sounded weak. I looked up and saw Walter giving me a worried look, I turned back and kept punching for a while, to get rid of how I was feeling on the inside.

"Ariana's here for you, Damien." Walter spoke.

"She's going to leave soon." I disproved his statement callously. Alhough I knew that I could trust Walter with the truth if I ever decided to tell him, it was best to not let him know.

"Trouble in paradise?" He questioned.

"There's nothing like paradise in this case, Walter." I said.

"What exactly is the problem here?"

"She hates me and now she's moved out of the bedroom we share." I explained without staring at him

"It seems like you're really pained by that." He pointed out.

"I'm not. I'm not even bothered." I denied with a shrug. I was truly not bothered about it, I did not care what anyone thought about me.

"Huh..." Walter said not at all sounding convinced.

"You two came in quite late from the event you attended." He said.

"Yeah we did." I mumbled, not wanting to let him know that we had an altercation the previous night.

"A little birdie might have told me you two got into a major fight." He said with a wry smile on his face.

"How dare he? I do not pay my workers to have them spewing information that is no concern of theirs." I was furious.

"Sack that driver right away!" I ordered coldly.

"So there was a fight really?" Walter spoke up. Oh no, this man had used reverse psychology on me!

"Damien, no one told me anything, you know how confidential things can be around here. Your body language explained everything, you had a deep scowl on your face when I mentioned last night." He explained looking genuinely amused at how I reacted. Walter was too much of a smart man, nothing went past him. He knew me too well that was why I knew I could not hide anything from him, I figured he was going to find out the truth about my marriage to Ariana sooner than I expected.

I stayed quiet for a while.

"What happened?" He prodded me to speak. I looked up at him and sighed tiredly.

I told him what had happened and was met with a look of disappointment on his face. I looked away, somewhat ashamed.

"Damien, I'm going to have to ask you to come clean with me." He sat next to me on the bench as he spoke.

"I'm sure even you would agree with me that it is way too early for you to have such issues in your marriage, it's not even a month yet!" He exclaimed and I nodded in agreement.

"What's going on?" He asked. I gave up, he was going to find out anyway so I decided it was best I opened up.

Yes, I told him the truth and truly hoped I was not taking a risk by doing so even when I knew it was.