Chapter 30 Ship emergency: The mole
~~Charlotte’s pov~~
A cold shiver ran down my spine as Damien grabbed the knife. I knew he would hurt himself. I was shocked at what I saw earlier, but that didn't mean I wanted to lose him.
“Please don't hurt yourself,” I begged.
Tears clouded his eyes, and his chest heaved. “My heart hurts more than his cut ever will.” The knife pressed against his skin, and my heart raced.
“Damien , please.” I stretched out my hand to him.
“You think I'm a monster.” Tears steamed down his face as the knife slid across his wrist.
“Oh god!” I rushed to him and slipped the knife out of his hand.
My hands trembled as I held his bleeding hand. “You slit your wrist; you could die! I'll call one of your soldiers who knows how to treat wounds!” I spun around to run off.
But his hand suddenly grabbed mine and drew me back against him. He pulled me in a tight hug. “You…you still care about me?” he trembled against my body.
“I need to call a doctor.” I struggled to pull away, but he gripped me even tighter.
“I don't care about my wound; I only care about you.”
“I don't hate you, Damien, I swear; I was shocked, that's all,” he finally let me pull away from the hug. “I love you…and I always will.” I placed my hands on either side of his face as I spoke.
He held my hand, letting his blood spread on it. “I love you too, and that was all in the past, I swear.” His fingers twitched against my hands.
“I know…. I know, Damien. I was just in shock. You have to understand that I'll never stop loving you and….” I exhaled sharply, “You'll never be a monster to be Damien” I meant every word I said.
His breath shook as his knees slowly dropped to the floor. I immediately knelt before him. He shut his eyes so tight that wrinkles formed on his forehead. “Do you still love me?” He let out a strangled huff as he cried.
“Of course I do. How could you ever question that?” I asked, “The fact that you'd question that hurts.”
I thought for a second, then immediately grabbed the knife from the side; his brow raised.
“If this will prove how much I love you, Damien,” I drew the knife to my wrist, but he immediately slapped it off and pulled me away from it.
“Vita mia, don't you dare!” He kicked the knife aside.
I stood up on the ground. “If you can do it, why can’t I?”
“I would die if you got hurt.” He pulled me into a hug.
“I love you, Damien Davenport; nothing will ever stop that. I don't care what you do.”
Suddenly there was a knock on the door. I tried to turn to answer, but Damien held me tighter.
“Damien, that could be important.”
“You are more important,” he breathed.
“Boss!” Marcus’s voice echoed through the room, “You need to see this!”
Damien let out a strained groan as he slowly pulled away from me; he reached for a coat and wrapped it around himself, his feet echoed as he walked to the door and pulled it open.
There Marcus stood with a worried expression on his face. “We lost power, boss,” he immediately spoke.
“What do you mean we lost power?”
I silently approached them.
“All the lights are out; something went wrong with the power.”
“Can it be fixed?” I asked.
His gaze shifted to me. “Not on water, ma'am; we have called another one of our ships to come get us. It will take three days.”
Damien's hand gripped the door. “Well, it's settled then.”
Marcus shook his head. “There's an issue with the rations. I counted the occupants of the ship, and the food will only last us until morning.”
Damien turned to look at me and then back to Marcus. “My wife and I will meet you at the provision stores.”
Marcus nodded and walked off.
Damien shut the door and turned to face me. “Well, this is going to be an issue.”
"What are we going to do?” I asked.
He sighed, “I don't know, my love.” He moved to the cupboard and pulled it open. He brought out a tank and a suit jacket and turned to face me. “Change into this.”
A few minutes later, we stepped out of our room. I wore his black tank top and a suit jacket; Damien had found one of Ezera’s shorts for me to wear under it.
Damien , on the other hand, was dressed fully in a suit; he did the buttons as we reached the provisions stores. A few of the soldiers had gathered, waiting for him to arrive.
The rations that remained were gathered in a circle; they were all canned foods. Damien slid his hands into mine. I had bandaged his wound before we came out; I knew it hurt, but he acted nonchalant about it.
“What are we going to do, boss?” Marcus stepped forward.
Just then Ezera walked in. “I heard about the rations.”
As Damien parted his lips to speak, Alexander's voice echoed through the place.
“Does the big bad Damien ship have no food? Who would have thought?” His voice was laced with sarcasm."
Damien 's jaw clenched, and he turned to face Alexander. “You are only here because my wife asked. I promised to let you on my ship, but I never promised not to lock you up.” His brow raised menacingly. “I will do it if you don't shut up.”
Alexander smirked, but as his eyes caught mine, his smile fell; he bowed his head and slowly moved to sit on a crate. I looked away from him.
Damien stared at the food for a while before he finally spoke, “Take three days' worth of food to my bedroom; my wife needs to eat even if I don't. The rest of you share this amongst yourselves; you'll have to stay hungry for at least a day before we get to land.”
“What about you?” I asked.
He turned to look at me. “I can't let you stay hungry, my love.”
“You won't eat for three days?”
He bit his lower lip. “Baby, if I eat, then you'll have to starve, even for a second. I'd hate that.”
“But still…”
“Shhhhh,” he shushed, “I'll be fine.”
The soldiers had stepped forward and had begun to share the food.
“I'm the boss, Charlotte.” Damien whispered in my ear, “If I eat while they are hungry, what will that say about me?”
I pressed my hand on his chest. “But still, three days’ rations? If they have to starve for a day, I'm sure I can do that too; we can share.”
He shook his head, “No…no.”
“Demein,” I squeezed his arm. I reached for his jacket and moved it to the side. “So you see this?” I turned around to face him. “This symbol on my back says that I'm one of you.” I turned back to face him. “I'm not just your wife, Damien; I'm a soldier, and no husband of mine is starving.”
He cupped my face with his hands and drew closer to me. “But we are making Alexander starve, right?”
I laughed. “No, he saved my life.”
As I laughed, my face caught Alexander; his fists had clenched so tight his knuckles were white, his jaw was clenched tight, and his eyes faltered.
Should I have told Damien about Alexander's kiss back in his cabin in the woods?
His phone suddenly buzzed, and he looked down at it; my brow creased, something suspicious was going on.
He immediately turned mad and walked out of the provisions room.
“Give me a second, my love,” I spoke to Damien.
He nodded and let go of me.
I quickly turned to head out of the room; as I tried to step out, I froze as I saw Alexander. He had his back to me ,but I could see his phone pressed against his ear.
“The ship stopped; your plan worked,” he said. As he turned around, I quickly pulled ba
ck into the room, my back pressed against the wall.
My heart spiked, and I swallowed.
Was he behind this?
What did he stand to gain?