Chapter 76 Chapter 76
He patted my hair, looking at me with a mixture of relief and fury. The look in his eyes made me want to believe he actually cared about me, but after everything I had heard, how could I deny the obvious truth?
"What did Alexander say to you?" Damien asked curtly, as if sensing my tension and feeling the difference in the air.
I hesitated, unsure whether or not telling him would be the right decision. After all this time, shouldn't I have known who to trust?
"I--He-- he said a lot of things, but that is not what matters right now," I said, trying to waive the issue, but he held my face tightly, stopping me from changing the subject. The look in his eyes was murderous, and it made me wonder what he would do if he knew that I doubted him right now, even in the slightest.
"What is it? What did he say? Tell me everything." He said, clenching his jaw. I swallowed and nodded.
"He tried to turn me against you. He said you did something terrible to Victor. Something that destroyed his life and is the reason Victor has it out for you." I kept my answer as vague as possible to catch his reaction.
Multiple emotions sat on his face. He looked mad, broken, tired, furious, sad, and haunted at the same time. He moved away from me, approaching a wall as if he was about to punch into it, but he didn't.
I held my breath, allowing the silence swim in the room as heavily as it wanted to. Damien was a man I thought I understood; I wanted to understand. I believed we had crossed several boundaries, but each time, there always seemed to be a boundary I had yet to cross.
"Is it true?" I asked, my heart beating heavily, afraid of the answer I already knew.
Damjen ran his hand through his hair, and in that moment, he looked ten times more exhausted and older than his age.
"It was a long time ago, and I was--"
"Damien," I shook my head. I knew we had little time, and as much as I wanted to hear all about his past, we did not have much time.
"We don't have much time. Victor is working with Alexander." I said, and he turned to me, looking confused.
"What do you mean? Victor can't possibly be working with Alexander; he hates him." The look on his face told me he did not believe it, which was bad. Since when did he trust Victor not to backstab him? But that was a completely different case from Carlos' betrayal.
"What are you saying? Since when do you defend Victor? We both know he is not to be trusted, and I am telling you what I found out, and you're defending him." I was shocked.
"Well, what makes you say so? How do you know that?" He asked.
"Because I saw him myself. Victor was there at Alexander's hideout before you came. Before he shot you and before the explosion. He was there, and he told me himself that everything had been a setup from day one!" I paused after unintentionally raising my voice at him.
Even then, he looked at me as if I was crazy. As if he doubted me, ME! I was the victim in the middle of this whole mess! I was targeted by literally the whole Mafia world.
"Victor saved my life. He couldn't possibly be working with Alexander. Victor called Marcus, and that was how I survived the explosion, or else I would have died. I'm not saying I trust him, but it just doesn't make any sense." He turned uncomfortably, unwilling to even think too much about it.
"How did Victor know?" I asked.
"What?" He turned back.
"How did Victor know you were there? How did he know what was happening? I'm telling you je was there! I saw him, and he claimed that we thought we had figured everything out, but we hadn't."
"Open your eyes, Damien! Everything we thought we knew is a lie!"
"Stop! Enough! How dare you speak to me that way? Are you undermining my knowledge of my own war?"
I moved back, frightened by his reaction. The monster in his eyes was back, and I had to be careful.
"I was only telling you what I saw. I am not trying to undermine you or anything, Damien. I'm sorry if it came out that way, but something is completely off the rails here. Victor, Marcus..."
"Did you say Marcus?" He stopped me, and I swallowed, taking a deep breath to make sure he was calm before he did something stupid, like overreact again
"Carlos is the mole, but he is reporting to someone within your ranks. And we both know who that person is." I replied in a calm, non-insinuating tone.
Damien merely nodded and turned away, one hand on his waist and the other cupping his chin pensively. His tall frame filled the room, swallowing up nearly everything. He made the space feel smaller.
"Did you already know? I mean, about Marcus?" I asked, after a while, when he did not say anything.
"There's nothing that goes on under my roof that I don't suspect. Well, let's just say, he's been acting weird lately, and the minute he started associating with Victor, I started to doubt his alliances."
"How do we know for sure? We have to flush him out. We have to be certain, or else he would just communicate our every move to Alexander, and he will know when and where and exactly how to attack us."
"Attacking the base without my presence is kind of useless. Nobody knows I'm here. I left them with a task to guard the base. I got all your messages." He said, sighing as if suddenly remembering the most important thing about our relationship.
He walked up to me and reached to cradle my face in his hand. His eyes watched me for a while, and then he pressed his lips against mine, crushing it and kissing me with a longing that stole my very breath.