Chapter Fifty seven

***

Damien's POV;

Her words had a way of getting to me and she obviously did not how much they did. We were not in a real relationship but I did not expect her to kick my words to the curb just like that. Those words let me know how she truly felt about me and I did not even understand why they bothered me so much.

I reached for my luggage that she had packed up really well and rolled my suitcase out of my room. I said a quick goodbye to Walter, telling him to let Ma Rosa know I had left. I knew she would not stay mad at me for too long anyways.

I drove myself to the hangar, parked my vehicle and then got into the aircraft. Since I had informed the team about the trip earlier, we took off in no time.

It was going to be a long flight and I made sure I was prepared for it.

I spent a few hours working and then I slept for the rest. An hour to the end of the eleven hour flight, I came awake and awaited touch down.

We landed safely, I exited the aircraft and got into the vehicle that had been prepared for me.

I got into my suite and took a hot shower, the cold out here was not easy.

I took some hot coffee when I was done, then I went on to review some documents that would aid the negotiation and have it in my favor. This was a huge deal that I had to come to seal myself, I had planned on gaining a stronger base in business in the Europe and the UK was a pretty great place to start.

I spent a pretty long time doing those. Still jet lagged, I decided it was best to get some sleep so I could be up early and be ready to be brutal in the world of business.

***

The next morning, I was up pretty early, I barely slept anyways, I just stared into space. My nightmares had eluded me temporarily, I knew they would be back at a later date do I wasn't all that excited about them leaving.

I had a very light typical English breakfast and went out to meet up with my 9am meeting. I pulled my deep brown fur coat on, atop my black suit and stepped out of the suite into the waiting elevator.

When I eventually got down, I briskly walked out of the hotel into the car.

"Good morning sir." The driver bade with his British accent overly evident.

"Morning." I said without looking up at him, I was too engrossed with what I was doing on my phone.

"GIU." I said to him. That was the name of the company I was to have negotiations with that morning and since he was their driver which they had provided for me he sure knew exactly where it was.

The ride took a while but we eventually got to the company and I walked in swiftly after a security personnel pulled the door open for me.

I was led up to the CEO's office, there I sat down without being offered a seat.

"Good morning Mr Kingston." He bade

"Morning Gregory." I said, now in full work mode. Gregory Middleton was the the founder and CEO of the organization and had come really far in his business.

"Welcome to London. How was your trip?" He asked.

"It was good, thank you." I responded formally.

"Some tea?" He offered.

"I'll have to pass on that offer." I declined while he nodded.

"Let's get down to business, shall we?" I asked, not in the mood for small talks.

I gestured for the guard holding my briefcase to come closer with the snap of my left thumb and middle finger. The guard came immediately and placed the briefcase in front of me on the see through table. I picked out my documents and handed them over to him along with a copy of the contract we were supposed to sign. He read through it for a few minutes and I waited for him to get done.

"Mr Kingston, now this is an outrageous condition!" Gregory exclaimed in shock, just as I had expected.

"That's what I want." I said with a slight shrug.

"Let's take a loan from you then." He said.

"How are you going to pay back?" I inquired.

"From the proceeds of the project of course." He retorted.

His statement elicited a deep chuckle for me just as I shook my head.

Here's the thing, GIU is a tech company in every sense of the word but they need some funding for the biggest project they've ever embarked on and that's where I come in.

"You do know that's too much of a risk and there's a high probability that this would flop and you would not be able to pay back this loan you so seek." I said to him.

"Well-" He tried speaking.

I tsked as I held up a finger.

"I'm not quite done yet Gregory, I hate interruptions." I said with an underlying warning in my tone. He clamped his mouth shut right after.

"My team has done the math. It's too much of a risk and there's every tendency your business will pack up, if this flops." I gestured for him to look through the documents he had in front him. He adjusted his glasses and did so.

"Think about it this way. You have an investor who's ready to take all the risks, bring in expert workers to collaborate with your equally capable team. Less work load, a higher success probability and even if it flopsz you'd still have a business up and running with a steady income. I'll incur all the losses and it's a win-win for you." I said and I knew I had him thinking deeply about what his decision was going to be.

"But an eighty-twenty disposition is just unfair, Mr Kingston. You're practically about taking over the company I have built from scratch." He said in a pleading manner. He looked absolutely frustrated.

"I'm the one taking all the risks, you'll just have to sit back, relax and make sure things work well from your end. It's not like I'm buying you out." I said.

"Let's renegotiate this. What do you say to a fifty-fifty?" He said and I chuckled at his weak negotiation power.

"No can't do Mr Middleton. It seems you can get your funding else where then." I picked up my documents and arranged them in my briefcase, then I stood up and was about turning to leave when he called out in panic.

"Wait!" He yelled.

I smirked before turning around to face him. I had got him now.

"Yes, Gregory?" I said as I raised an eyebrow whilst donning my poker face.

"Sixty-fourty?" He looked desperate.

"You've got yourself a deal Mr Middleton, I'll have my lawyers review the contract and get back to you on this." I said and we shook hands as he thanked me profusely. He escorted me out and only returned to his office after I got into the vehicle back to the hotel. He had invited me over for dinner to celebrate our partnership and I agreed.

****

Evening rolled by before I knew it. I picked up my tux and put it on, then I headed out to Gregory's house to have dinner with him and his family in their simple but luxurious finely furnished duplex. He was married with two little kids -a boy and a girl- and his wife was really welcoming.

"So Mr Kingston, I heard you're married." His wife spoke up in the middle of dinner, trying to make small talk.

"I am." I stated with a blank expression on my face.

"Where's your wife?" She prodded when her husband tried giving her not so subtle signals to stop asking me a lot of questions.

"She's back home in Los Angeles." I said as I sipped on some wine.

"Can I see a picture of your wedding? Sorry, I just really love weddings a lot." She gushed, turning pink in embarrassment. I agreed to show her a picture of Ariana and I on our wedding day. It was taken outside the church just after we had said our vows, she was smiling lightly at the camera while I looked down at her, I looked so awestruck by her beauty.

I swiped to another photo. It was one of our pre wedding photos where I had one of my arms around her waist with the other in my pocket while I once again had that awestruck look on my face as I stared down at her beautiful face. She looked ethereal in all of those photos

"Aw, you two look so good together. Your babies are going to be so adorable." She cooed and I found myself chuckling nervously.

I personally did not fancy having kids. Though my mother, as well as, Ma Rosa had been hinting at if for as long as I could remember, it had gotten worse the moment I got married to Ariana but I kept ignoring their bants.

I thanked her for the compliments and also for the dinner before I left for the hotel.

During the ride, I just kept thinking of Ariana. She kept popping into my mind more often than usual and I could not understand it. I could not stop myself from viewing and reviewing every single one of the pictures and videos I had of her on my phone. It was crazy. I needed to get her out of my head.

I decided it was about time I got laid. I could not even understand how I had been able to stay celibate ever since we got married. That was something I could never bring myself to truly decipher. We both agreed we did not owe each other anything apart from being depicted as the perfect couple for the public eye. I did not owe her anything, neither did she, right? Right.

When I thought about it, I doubted anyone would know me around here so I decided to head to one of the clubs around. Getting laid was all I needed to get thoughts of Ariana out of my head and that was what I was going to do.

I had the driver bring me to one of the clubs, where I ordered enough drinks to keep me busy until I spotted the right girl that would keep me company for the night.

***

I woke up the next morning with a searing headache. I squinted my eyes open and looked over to see that someone was next to me. I looked down and I was met with the greatest shock of my life.

"You're finally awake." She said with a wide grin.

"What the hell? How did you get in here?" I asked, absolutely befuddled about what was happening at this point.

"Through the door baby." She bit her bottom lip and tried kissing me but I pushed her off me.

"Aleena, I do not have time for your games. What happened last night?" I questioned, hoping that it was not what I was thinking.

"Simple, we had sex." She shrugged blithely.

"It was the best night of my life." She said with a content sigh as she laid back on the bed with a satisfied look on her face.

I pinched the bridge of my nose and grunted in frustration. I had really messed up this time.

"Listen to me. No one should know about this." I said trying to hide how shaken I truly felt.

"Why? Can't you see we're meant to be together?" She tried hold my face and I smacked her hands off me.

"I'm warning you Aleena. You don't want to see my bad side. Not a word about this to anyone." I warned sternly.

"Ugh fine!" She rolled her eyes with a huff.

"Aleena?" I said knowingly.

"I said fine, I'm not letting anyone know about this, okay?" She said sounding like she was growing annoyed.

"Pick your things and leave, I have a flight to catch." I said and walked out on her.

While in the shower, I leaned my head on the wall thinking about how I had just messed up big time.

I knew Aleena. She would not let this go so easily. I knew how she could get if she wanted something and she had wanted me for so long, she would do anything to get her claws on me.

This was not over. I knew in my heart of heart that it was not.