Chapter 12 Reborn
THIRD PERSON’S POV.
The sharp tap of the bartender’s palm against the wooden stool jolted her awake.
Serena’s eyes shot open, her breath catching in her throat as the world spun into focus. Dim lights, low music, and the faint smell of black peppers, incense, and leather drifted around her.Suddenly she began to choke,coughing hard.
This wasn’t the pavement.
This wasn’t the ground.
This wasn’t death.
Her hands flung to the back of her head, feeling for bruises, fractures and any sign of pain. Nothing. She reached for the counter, desperate to feel something solid against her fingers. The cool wood met her touch.
She was alive.
But how?
“Ma'am, are you okay? You passed out for a second.”The bartender asked gently.
Blinking rapidly, the room finally steadied,though her heartbeat did not. She took in the bar again,but slowly this time. Then it hit her, like a splash of ice cold water.
She remembered this night.
This was the bar she’d stumbled into over two years ago, the day her grandfather died. Grief had driven her here, grief and desperation. It was the same night she had chosen Jonathan over Damian.
Jonathan, who held her while she cried,Jonathan, who promised to protect her. Jonathan who became her boyfriend hours later. She had submitted her body to him that night in what she thought was passionate love.
Her fingers clenched the edge of the bar, nails digging into the wood. Every breath sharp and shallow.
Fate had a sick sense of humor.
Serena understood now, she had been reborn. Fate had taken her back to the moment where everything first went wrong. Giving her one more chance to make it right.
“Miss, you’ve had a lot to drink,is there anyone I can call to come pick you up?” The bartender’s concerned voice brought her back to the present.
“No thank you. I'm here with friends”. She lied softly.
Seeming satisfied with her answer he nodded and moved on to other guests. Serena exhaled.
Serena wasn't there with friends but if her memory was correct, Damian Crowne would be sitting right…over…there.
Bingo!
Damian sat at the far end of the bar,stoic as always his bodyguards formed a subtle wall around him. It was just as she remembered. And she also knew that soon Jonathan would burst through the doors with his faux concern and try to take her away.
That night she had chosen Jonathan.Not this time.
She smiled, a cold knowing smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.
Damian had always been her protector, her angel hiding in plain sight but she had overlooked him, dismissing him every chance she got.
Never again.
She took a long gulp from the glass of water the bartender had left by her side and stood up, determined to go to Damian but her knees buckled and she sank back into her seat, feeling light headed. She guessed her body hadn't fully adjusted to waking up from death.
At the other end of the room, Damain was watching her with careful precision.The moment he saw her stumble,he shot to his feet.His guards followed suit
“Stand down,” he ordered. “I want to talk to someone”.
In a few long strides he reached her. “Are you okay?” he enquired carefully. He and Serena had a pattern, every time he tried to help her she would refuse his help and disrespectfully ask him to leave her alone. So he braced himself, expecting the usual rebuttal.
But instead she fluttered her lashes in what seemed like a seductive manner.
“I'm fine Damian, I was just feeling a little lightheaded".
He paused, caught off guard.
Tapping lightly on the seat beside her, she said “come on, join me”.
Damian observed her carefully, he concluded she must still be in shock from grief and he took the seat. “You’ve been busy”, he said motioning to the empty tequila shots in front of her.
“Well…it's not every day you lose your grandfather” she sniffed, trying to hold back fake tears. She needed him to believe she was actually mourning, nobody could know she had lived this moment already, no one could know she had been reborn.
Damian’s eyes hardened,Charles Gregory had been his friend, he had also taken the role of his mentor after Damian’s father died. Damian never believed Charles' death was natural but until he had proof, he stayed silent.
“How are you holding up?” He asked,taking the seat she had offered.
“It was so sudden,” she whispered “one minute he was planning for a meeting he had to attend in London and the next minute the doctors were declaring him dead.” She sniffled waiting for a reply, when he didn’t speak,she continued.
“He was my best friend, He always protected me and the one time he needed me…I couldn’t save him.”
This time, the tears pouring down her face were real. Hot and heavy.
She always blamed herself for her grandfather's death, if only she hadn’t let him go to bed with that cough, she should have insisted on taking him to the hospital that night but he promised her it wasn’t anything a little ginger tea couldn’t fix.
“You can’t blame yourself, there was nothing you could have done,” His voice was soft,comforting. “Even the doctors gave it their best shot but there was nothing anyone could do”.
He wanted to hold her hands, comfort her. But he didn’t.
The tears running down her eyes were in free fall and her nose was already dripping.
Damian handed her his handkerchief. It smelled familiar,the woody and spicy fragrance of Louis Vuitton pur oud was unmistakable. It’s the same fragrance he’d worn since university, a scent etched in her memory.
“I’m not sure how I’ll survive without him”.
She said as she wiped her eyes.
“You will be fine,” he said softly “you are stronger than you think”.
What he really wanted to say was I will protect you. Always.
But he swallowed it.
Just then, the doors of the bar swung open, and Jonathan stepped inside. His steps were exaggerated as always, like he expected the entire room to break into applause at the sight of him.That signature smile,cocky, rehearsed and untouchable was plastered on his face.
He’d always owned the power between them. He’d always dictated the rules.
But the woman waiting for him now wasn’t the Serena he controlled.
Tonight, he was walking straight into a storm. One he didn’t even know existed.