Chapter 258 Chapter 258

Chapter 258 Chapter 258


Damien's POV.

The lady who vouched for a family breakfast ruined the entire mood. And she didn't look quite remorseful about her action even as I stormed out in anger.

Walking past Hailey's room, I heard a few murmurs coming from her room. The shadow seeping out from the small opening at the bottom of her door seemed flustered, pacing back and forth.

I stopped and stood before her room,my hands suspended in the air as I thought about knocking. I knew she was pissed about what happened at breakfast coupled with the insults she took yesterday. Moreover, I hadn't gotten the proper chance to thank her for the case she brought up against Morellis.

The news channels were going wild with the evidence made public. Anthony was a fraud,a ruthless tyrant, that was the buzzword of the day. There were a million hashtags, public institutions dropped him as their ambassador, but there was something weird that I could feel from his response.

He was quiet, extremely mute. Anthony wasn't trying to cover up the news, no publications were paid to distract the public from the allegation, and he wasn't making moves behind the scenes to clear his name.

Absolutely nothing.

And it made my fear for Hailey's safety increase. The news was going to credit her as the sole person exposing the truth if he pushed for it. She was going to be a target yet again.

“Vincent,” I muttered, tucking my hands to myself. I needed to catch as fast as I could, then strike Anthony where he wouldn't expect it.

“Not now, Hailey,” I said to myself. I would talk to her when I was done with Vincent.

“Hey,” Amaris said behind me, causing my fingers to twitch. I hadn't noticed her coming. How long had she been staring at me?

“Amaris, I'd like to be left alone for….”

“I understand.” She cut in, wringing her wrist as she bowed her head slightly. “I came to apologize for what happened at breakfast. I'm sorry. I didn't mean for any of this to happen or for Sophia to get mad at you. I just wanted to…”

“It's not your fault, Amaris. It's my mom's,” I interrupted.

“But it feels like I'm the problem. My presence here is putting everyone on edge, and I hate it. I hate being the problem,” her eyes turned teary as she moved closer, sniffling to get my attention. “Maybe it was a bad idea showing up, I just needed help and time to catch up with you. I missed the old days when we just hung out and had no care in the world,”

She grabbed my elbow with both hands, a tear trickling from her eyes. “I'll go if you don't want me here anymore,”

“No,” the tip of my finger grazed her shoulder. “You don't have to leave. Stay as much as you like, but…” I paused and stared deep into her eyes.

I should tell her, make it known that the history between us was simply gone, almost forgotten and I wasn't interested in reheating what we once had decades ago.

“I'll be sleeping in Marco's room for the night.” Benita opened Hailey's door as she made a smirk, her eyes fixed at Hailey behind her.

She locked eyes with me as Hailey froze, circling her focus on my finger on Amaris’ shoulder. Her eyes were sharp and her expression dull but I could easily tell what she was thinking. She had all the wrong interpretation about my gesture and explaining was only going to make it worse.

“Hailey,” I murmured uncontrollably.

Before I could pull my hands away, Amaris wrapped her hands around me in a tight embrace. “Thank you, Damien. I knew you were always gonna take care of me, you haven't changed one bit,” she smiled as I hurriedly pulled out of her grasp feeling an uneasy itch crawl up my nape.

Benita exchanged quick glances between us, bowed her head at me and slowly clasped the door shut as she tried to block Hailey's view.

I narrowed my eyes at Amaris and she turned to leave almost immediately. She knew what she did and I had just realized it.

“Hailey,” I felt prompted to knock, but I got no response. “Hailey, I need to talk to you,” I continued either way and she finally gave in, opening the door with a bitter frown.

“Our baby is tryna sleep, please can you keep it down?” She tried to hold a neutral face but her facial muscles couldn't help but contort.

“If you had answered sooner, I would have stopped.” I replied with a straight face.

She rolled her eyes, fixing her eyes on the hinges of the door. “Really, you looked quite busy to me,” she whispered.

I let out a sigh, balling my hands into fists. “It's not what you think.”

“Of course it isn't,” she said with a sarcastic tone.

“How's the baby?” I asked after a minute of silence. Explaining was only going to lead to an argument. She gnashed her teeth, looking back at Benita who seemed to be standing beside her, but I couldn't tell because she was against the wall.

“Sleeping like I just said,” she replied, blinking as soon as she realized her harsh tone. “He couldn't sleep well last night, but he's doing fine now,” she said softly.

“Why? Is he okay? You should have told me earlier?” I moved a step closer, stopping at the entrance of the door.

“He's fine!” Her tone pitched high in surprise. “He played all night, that's all. It's nothing to get worked up,”

“Alright,” I breathed out and nodded. “You…”

“I'm sorry if I seem to be in a rush, but I have to get something done,” she scratched her nails on the wallpaper. She was lying, she just wanted to be left alone. I could understand why.

“Okay, but when I get back I'd like for us to have a talk,”

“Sure, I'm all in,” she said, faking a smile as she slammed the door right in my face.

Hours quickly flew by, and in a short while I sat in my car as we drove by to the west coast of the city to a certain brotica lounge. I stroked my hands in my pocket to feel my gun, looking towards Kai in the driver's seat.

“Let's make this as messy as possible.” I said to him,

We knew he was going to be surrounded by his security but we had the element of surprise. He didn't suspect a thing yet, we were going to strike as fast as possible before he would even get to flee.

As we got to a certain block bustling with hotels, bars and luxury lounges, our eyes caught an electric board of the bar. ‘Brotica luxury,” the sign read with an animated thigh opening up to a cursor.

We parked at the right spot, the sound of our guns cocking as we set out to the entrance.

“Lorenzo, take the back and shoot anyone on sight that tries to stop us. Kai and I will take the front entrance. All clear.”