Chapter 145 One forty five

Chapter 145 One forty five
Damien’s POV

I sat down slowly, the weight in the room pressing down on me from all sides.

“Aria… calm down,” I said, my voice steady despite the storm building inside me. “I’ll explain everything.”

But the moment the words left my mouth, I knew…

It wasn’t going to be that simple.

She let out a sharp, almost disbelieving laugh, shaking her head as she took a step back from me.

“Explain?” she repeated.

Her eyes locked onto mine, and what I saw in them made my chest tighten.

“Damien,” she said, her voice trembling slightly despite how controlled she was trying to sound. “When were you planning on telling me you had a child with my auntie?”

My breath caught.

“What?”

The word came out before I could stop it.
But she wasn’t done.

“When were you planning on telling me,” she continued, her voice rising now, “that you abandoned my auntie after getting her pregnant?”

Everything went silent.

Completely silent.

It felt like the ground beneath me had just disappeared.

I stared at her, my mind going blank for a second as her words echoed over and over again.

A child.

Pregnant.

My heart slammed hard against my chest.

“No…” I muttered under my breath, 
shaking my head slightly. “No, that’s not…”

It hit me.

“She… she had a child?” I whispered, more to myself than to her.

My thoughts spiraled instantly.

Gianna.

That night.

The aftermath.

The way everything ended.

And now…

This?

My chest tightened painfully.

“I didn’t know…” I said, my voice low, almost distant. “I didn’t know she was pregnant.”

Aria let out a bitter scoff.

“Of course you didn’t,” she snapped.
Her words pulled me back, forcing me to meet her gaze again.

“I’m serious,” I said, more firmly this time. 

“I had no idea.”

Her eyes searched mine, like she was trying to figure out if I was lying.

If I was just trying to cover up the truth.
But I wasn’t.

This… this was new to me too.

“I didn’t know,” I repeated, slower now. “If I had known…”

“If you had known, what?” she cut in sharply. “You would have stayed? You would have taken responsibility?”

I hesitated.

And that hesitation said more than any answer I could have given.

Her expression hardened instantly.

“Exactly,” she said quietly.

“That’s not fair,” I shot back, frustration creeping into my tone. “You’re judging me based on something I didn’t even know existed!”

She laughed again, but there was no humor in it this time.

“Then explain,” she said, folding her arms across her chest. “Explain what happened between you and my auntie.”

I exhaled slowly, running a hand through my hair.

This was it.

No more avoiding.

No more delaying.

“You want the truth?” I asked.

“Yes,” she replied immediately.

“Fine.”

I leaned back slightly, my gaze dropping for a moment as I tried to piece everything together in a way that made sense.

“It was years ago,” I began. “I met her at a club.”

Even saying it out loud felt strange.

Like I was opening a door I had deliberately kept shut.

“It wasn’t anything serious,” I continued. “Just a one-night thing.”

Her jaw tightened, but she didn’t interrupt.
Good.

Because I needed to say this without being cut off.

“At that time…” I paused briefly, choosing my words carefully. “I wasn’t exactly… disciplined.”

That was putting it lightly.

“I was seeing different women,” I admitted bluntly. “One-night stands. No attachments.”

Her expression didn’t change, but I could feel the judgment in the air.

“And your aunt wasn’t the only one,” I added.

Silence.

Thick. Heavy.

“But she was different in one way,” I continued. “After that night, she wanted more.

I looked up at Aria again.

“She wanted something serious. A relationship.”

“And you didn’t,” she said flatly.

“No,” I replied just as directly. “I didn’t.”
Because that was the truth.

“I made it clear,” I went on. “From the beginning. I didn’t want anything beyond that night.”

“But she didn’t accept that,” Aria said.

I nodded slightly.

“No, she didn’t.”

The memory of those arguments came back clearly now.

The tension.

The accusations.

The pressure.

“We had a disagreement,” I said. “A bad one.”

“That’s one way to put it,” Aria muttered under her breath.

I ignored that.

“It escalated,” I continued. “And I decided to walk away completely.”

I paused.

Then added…

“I changed my number.”

Her eyes widened slightly.

“You disappeared?” she asked, disbelieving, lacing her voice.

“Yes.”

“At that point, it was the easiest way to end things.”

“Easiest for you,” she shot back.

I clenched my jaw but didn’t argue.

She wasn’t entirely wrong.

“There was no pregnancy involved in that decision,” I said instead. “If she had told me, if I had even suspected, this would be a completely different conversation.”
But she hadn’t.

At least… not that I knew of.

“I walked away because of the situation between us,” I added. “Not because I was running from responsibility.”

Aria stared at me, her expression unreadable now.

“So you’re saying,” she said slowly, “that you left my aunt without knowing she was pregnant with your child.”

“no.”

The word came out without hesitation.
Because that part…

That part was true.

I exhaled slowly, feeling the weight of everything pressing down harder now.

“There’s more,” I said after a moment.
Her brows furrowed slightly.

“What?”

I hesitated.

Then continued.

“At that time… I was still married.”

Her eyes widened.

“To Ginny,” I clarified.

Saying her name felt like pulling another thread from a tangled past.

“But that marriage…” I trailed off briefly before finishing. “It wasn’t what it looked like from the outside.”

Aria didn’t speak.

She just watched me.

“Ginny didn’t want children,” I explained. “Not then. Maybe not ever.”

I shrugged slightly, though there was no humor in it.

“She was focused on her modeling career. 
Said having a child would ruin her body. Ruin her image.”

The words sounded hollow even to me.

“And because of that…” I paused, my jaw tightening. “Things between us became… strained.”

That was an understatement.

“There was distance,” I continued. “In every sense.”.

I didn’t need to spell it out.

The implication was clear.

“And that’s when you started sleeping around,” Aria said quietly.

I didn’t deny it.

“Yes.”

The word hung in the air.

Honest.

“I’m not proud of it,” I added, my voice lower now. “But that’s what happened.”
Silence followed.

And then I looked at her again.

Really looked at her.

“I didn’t know about the child,” I said one last time, my tone firm but not defensive. “If what you’re saying is true… then this is the first time I’m hearing it.”.

Her expression didn’t soften.

If anything, it grew more complicated.