Chasing Her Smile

Chasing Her Smile
The following morning at the airport, Damien rested his back against his car outside as he patiently waited for Lucien to come out.

Moments later, he spotted him among the crowd emerging from the terminal. Damien raised his hand and waved.

A broad smile appeared on Lucien’s face as he strode toward Damien, travel bag in hand, and hugged him tightly. He missed him so much, and he could tell Damien felt the same by the way he stayed willingly in the embrace.

“I’m sorry I called you urgently,” Damien said as soon as he pulled back.

“No problem, Wolfe. Tell me, what is the problem?” Lucien asked, urgency and worry etched into his features.

“Let’s go in the car,” Damien said as he helped him place his bag in the trunk. Then they both slid into the front seats.

Several minutes later, the letter trembled in Lucien’s hands as he lowered the paper and looked at Damien in the driver’s seat.

“Lila is Isabelle’s daughter?” he asked in a shaky voice. Damien nodded slowly.

“I was going to fight you, and that is why I called you quickly. But I did not realize until the end that she mentioned you had no idea about the letter or her being Isabelle’s daughter,” Damien explained, staring out at the busy airport.

“Jesus, Damien! What a crazy coincidence is this?” Lucien nearly yelled, running a hand through his hair. “Do you even remember how I said Lila’s father is related to me?”

“Yeah, you said he was your distant cousin who came to you in the middle of the night and left a baby for you to look after,” Damien said simply. Lucien shook his head in disbelief.

“So the baby was Isabelle’s? Oh my goodness! This is unbelievable!” Lucien exclaimed, still shaking his head before glancing at the letter again.

“This is so pathetic, Wolfe. You could not love Isabelle, and Tom Reaver told me the night he brought Lila that the woman he loved, the mother of his child, loved someone else and died thinking about him,” Lucien continued, trailing off as he looked back at Damien, who had lowered his head in guilt.

“So you are the someone else, Wolfe? Whoa. This is crazy! You caused both of Lila’s parents’ deaths?”

Damien lifted his gaze toward Lucien immediately. “How could you say that, Luc? You of all people know why I had to let Isabelle go. I could not stand the idea of her getting hurt because of me.”

“Oh yeah, but you fell in love with her daughter and could not let her go,” Lucien retorted and Damien swallowed slowly, his eyes widening in surprise.

“How did you know?” he asked softly.

Lucien sighed and waved a hand. “Lila called me and told me about you two some time ago. She begged me not to be mad at you.

She said she wanted you and that she was the one who seduced you into loving her.”

“But that is not true,” Damien countered. “I have felt like this toward her since the first night I saw her in my library.”

“Yeah, definitely not because I also wondered how Lila would fall in love with a man twice her age,” Lucien said with as much sarcasm as he could muster, earning a cold glare from Damien.

“Alright, alright.” Lucien sat up straight. “Where are we going to look for Lila? Have you thought of anywhere she might have gone?” he asked, worry clear in his voice.

“I do not know, Luc,” Damien said, shaking his head miserably.

“How can you love someone and not know where they could have gone in a situation like this?” Lucien scolded him but Damien looked away, saying nothing.


Damien and Lucien were led into Giovanni’s estate by four of his men. Lucien kept glancing around nervously, asking why they had come, but Damien remained silent, his jaw tight and his eyes focused ahead.

After a long, tense walk, they reached the front villa. More than twenty of Giovanni’s men were stationed outside, guns in hand, their stares sharp and unyielding. The air was thick with danger, making Lucien shift uneasily beside Damien.

Soon, one of the men emerged from the entrance and approached Damien. “He wants you to come inside,” the man said.

Damien shook his head, his voice calm but carrying a weight that brooked no argument. “Tell him I will wait outside until he is ready to see me.” The man nodded and left to relay the message.

Lucien’s eyes widened in alarm, and he grabbed Damien’s arm. “Wolfe, do you even have any idea what you are doing? Have you forgotten who Giovanni Terranova is? Why are you risking this? Do you think he is hiding Lila or something?”

Damien remained still, not saying anything.

Minutes later, Giovanni emerged with four men flanking him. His steps were slow and deliberate, and a chilly smile curved across his face as he approached Damien.

“You must have a death wish to come into my den, Wolfe,” he said in the most natural voice, as if he were making small talk about the weather.

Damien smiled faintly, lowered his gaze for a heartbeat, then lifted it again with quiet defiance.

“You want to kill me because I raised a gun at your daughter for messing with mine,” he said in a gentle, composed tone that only made his words sharper. “I told you that day, and I will repeat it. If your daughter tries it again, I will kill her and come to bring her body to you myself.”

Giovanni’s brows lifted slightly, the only sign of surprise he allowed.

Beside Damien, Lucien shut his eyes in pure frustration, fighting the urge to bury his face in his hands.

“That is what fighting for your love means, sir. You will kill anyone who messes with your daughter, and the same applies to me. So I do not think I have done anything wrong, have I?” Damien continued, and for the first time, Giovanni’s features softened.

Damien paused briefly and nodded before speaking again. “I hope we do not meet for retribution or anything of the sort again, sir. You could say I am calling a truce. That is it, sir. If we meet again, it should be for something good.”

Giovanni’s eyes widened in surprise, his expression reflecting exactly what he felt. He could not believe what he was seeing or hearing.
Damien bowed in respect and turned to leave when Giovanni spoke from behind him.

“I am sorry, Wolfe. I wish you all the best with your love,” he said.

Damien turned, gave a small, genuine smile, and then began walking away with Lucien by his side.

“Whoa, it seems you would do anything for my Lila!” Lucien said with a wide grin, wrapping his arms around Damien in excitement.

Damien stopped and shot him a glare. “Your Lila?”

“Of course. Lila has been mine ever since she was a baby,” Lucien drawled, purposely provoking him.

Damien scoffed and removed his hand from his back. “She is mine now, Luc. If you do not want to be kicked in the balls, then do not ever call her yours again,” he said sharply, then began walking away.

Lucien froze for a moment, glancing at his manhood, but then he smiled and fell in step behind him.

Soon, they were on the road. Lucien drove while Damien sat in the passenger seat, eyes scanning the people and everything passing by.

Lucien was convinced Damien truly loved Lila, and that thought made him happy. But they still needed to find her. His friend did not look well at all, and the worry pressing on Lucien’s chest would not ease until they did.

Damien was still staring out of the window when the car stopped at a traffic light. His eyes were drawn to a banner outside a bakery on the roadside. It showed a beautiful woman with a wide, radiant smile, seemingly advertising the bakery.

The woman’s smile reminded him of Lila, and a sharp ache settled in his chest.

“What will you do if you cannot find Lila?” Lucien asked, breaking the silence. Damien slowly turned to look at him.

“I will start a bakery,” he said without hesitation.

Lucien’s eyes widened. “A bakery?”

Damien’s gaze returned to the passing streets, the image of Lila’s smile burning brighter than the sun. Whatever it took, he thought, he would find her. 

The traffic light ahead changed to green, and the car rolled forward, carrying him closer to the choice he had to make and the woman he could no longer live without.