Chapter 101 Ex-girlfriend cries– I need your support, Damien.
101\. Ex-girlfriend cries– I need your support, Damien.
Alpha Damein came to a halt just outside the entryway of his mansion as he caught the gaze of a petite back of a woman. He could picture her face. Maria Nixon. She was one of the many beautiful ladies he had dated during his life. She was a smart woman, who had occupied his mind and thoughts for a long period of time.
But it was five years ago. The attraction and passion for Maria was strong but only until she was there. When Aura came into his life all the women were forgotten and there was just her who clouded his mind. Now he was exclusively hers.
The marriage vows he took, the promises he made across from the oracle in the shrine under the scrutiny of the moon goddess were the witnesses of his pure love and loyalty. Aura was the only one he wanted and he would ever need.
Yet it was a big question mark why Maria had come here? With what intentions?
"Maria?" Alpha Damien softly called her name once he stepped beyond the barricade of iron gates.
Instantly the woman turned around and flashed a stuttering smile. A miserable stuttering smile. It depicted a deep down hurt that may be palpitating in her chest as she longingly gazed at Damien's face. He chose to avoid it and gave her a puzzled look.
Maria broke up with him and flew overseas to achieve her dreams. She was an artist and an international company offered her a good contract she didn't want to turn down. She decided to break their ties when Damien was starting to believe she could be that second chance mate he always desired after the demise of his destined one.
But Maria chose career over love. She claimed to be in touch with him. Who does? No one stays in touch with a lover who is living over a far distance where the occurrence of day and night never matches. No one likes to be committed when they know they would not see each other for as long as a year or two without any conversation.
Damien knew it was over when she left. He was quick enough to get over her as well. She was not even in his mind. Neither her gloriously delicate body nor her angelic looking face. Because every woman he dated was the same– gorgeous and great.
He would not have recalled who Maria was if the guard didn't mention her surname.
"I never thought to see you again," Damien said as he found her staring at him without breaking the spell of rigidness.
She was still the same. Same glittery eyes. Same appealing lips. Same attractive figure. Nothing about her has changed except the color of her hair. She was a blonde when he last saw her. Now she is a brunette.
"How are you, Maria?" He uttered again. "What brings you here at this hour of night?"
Damien didn't know what else to say. They never communicated even one time after she left. It was as though she knew her departure was an unsaid break up. They never said those words out but it was done. They were done. Hence, they never tried to reach out. Not Damien at least.
He was extremely tired. He wanted to go back inside and sleep beside his lovely wife. But Maria won't speak a word. Until she spoke the conversation would not start or end any time soon.
Casting her away without knowing the reason for her arrival would be bad. There had to be something that summoned her here at the doorstep of a lover she so much as passed for the sake of her career.
"Maria," He hesitantly placed a hand on her shoulder.
Maria kind of shook as she came back to reality. Her lashes stuttered before she discovered that a hand of Damien was on her shoulder and a quizzical look on her face.
"D-damien," She whispered. Her voice breaking.
"You don't look good. Is everything alright?" This is certainly not the kind of conversation two ex-lovers have over their reunion after five years.
Damien had no other choice than be polite and wait until she had the composure to speak. He scented her fear. She was also surrounded by despair as if something was weighing her down.
"Damien," Out of the blue she threw her hands around his shoulders and burst into sobs. "D-damien, my father is dead."
"Here, take this and drink. You will feel good." Madam Martha forwarded a glass of warm water mixed with honey to a trembling Maria.
"T-thanks ma'am," Maria blinked her watery eyes to the old Housekeeper, making her feel bad for her.
She didn't look good. Her eyes were crimson rimmed and puffy. The paleness in her beautiful cheeks made her look helpless. Her fingers bit and pulled each other.
Damien didn't notice earlier but Maria's dress was torn from the edge and there were some scratches scattered all over her hands and legs. It all pointed that she had been forced and the alpha was desperate to know who did it.
"You can give me the glass, dear." Madam stretched her hand out.
Her sleep was not supposed to be interrupted or of any other servants' in the mansion. But when the alpha carried her inside she had been crying hysterically. It broke everyone's spell of sleep and forced them to come out of the bed and look at what was happening. Except Aura (which Damien was glad of) almost everyone was here.
Madam Martha thought it was Aura and that she was under labor pain. She didn't think of anything else when she rushed out to the main hall. Her eyes had widened when she saw one of the cherished ex-girlfriends of him cocooned in his arms as he tried to get her to sit on the couch and free himself.
She felt her soul leave her body with all the inappropriate thoughts weighing her down. However, it turned out that Maria had come here to seek refuge in his estate— also, Damien appeared at ease when he discovered Madam Martha and other servants joining them in the hall.
"I returned to Manhattan two days ago as I missed this place and everything I left behind." Maria finally started the story everyone was keen on listening to. "I was going to go to my newly leased apartment but dad told me to move in with himself. He said that he missed me and wanted to live like the family we were before my mother's death."
She sniffed and caught Damien's arm. He leaned further to provide her some support while making sure it was not over friendly. Maria stuck and dug her face in his arm.
"I... I agreed, Damien. I had been lonely and thought my dad would give me the relief I was longing and I moved in with him. But that was the biggest mistake of my life." She sobbed.
In order to console her, Damien stroked her head lightly. He covered her hands on his arm and tried to calm her down.
"What makes you say that?" He squeezed her hand.
"Because he didn't intend to invite me in as his daughter." She whispered quietly thus taking everyone's attention. "... But as a source of amusement for him."
Madam Martha gasped. She was reminded of her bad times with her boyfriend. Though her relationship with him was varying than Maria, she was tricked and taken advantage of.
Feeling connected with her she rubbed her arm so as to prevent her from sobbing.
"H-he tried to force me tonight, Damien. H-he tried to force me while I was sleeping and to save myself I... I struck him with a metal object in the head." Sticking closer to him, Maria wept hysterically.
"I killed my father. I am sorry, Damien. I... I only struck him with the intention to protect myself. I didn't know he would die. Please I request you to not put me in the dungeons. Please don't get me arrested." She painfully cried and slipped in his lap, her hands now going around his shoulders.
"Hey, hey, calm down, Maria. Calm down. No one is putting you in the dungeons. Don't freak out. You are safe in my house."
Everyone sympathized with her. Madam Martha was in tears whereas Damien unconsciously veiled his hands around her small back.
They were unwittingly entrapped in the painful story she shared except for one person who was witnessing everything from afar. A person they thought was asleep— Aura.
Tbc...