We make our way into the kitchen to sit at the oak table and I see that all the place settings have been laid. I do love this room with its bi-folding doors that lead out to the garden at the back, so peaceful and tranquil.
As we all approach the table I feel his hand on my back guiding me to the seat beside him, this is twice now he has had me sit at his side. There he goes again. Doing things that give me hope that he wants more than just his body on mine and what a fine looking body it is. Shit I’m losing track again but just one thought about that body, it’s enough to send me weak at the knees.
Pulling myself from my thoughts as we all take our seats, the staff place the meat cuts, salad and bread all down on the table for us to help ourselves. Conversation flows smoothly between everyone and I find my self-relaxing a little. I take a relaxing breath and fix myself a plate.
Lunch passes by without any issue, Lily and Anton are taken to their rooms, Damien, Malc and Jake all leave to go to do whatever it is they are doing which just leaves Cami and me.
We did have a great chat yesterday and it has eased the strain we were both feeling. The worry about what is going on has not eased but at least we know we are safe, protected between the three men, no one can hurt us.
“So, they seem really nice… Way nicer than I expected!” Cami says in disbelief.
“Why? Were you expecting something different?” I reply not wanting to cause another row between us.
“Don’t take it the wrong way Faith, I am not saying anything bad, they’re just… sweeter than I expected is all.” She says and I can see there’s no malice in her words.
“Sorry" I say, "you're the one who is always telling me not to judge a book by its cover.” I say to her.
I know that if I were to judge Damien from his appearance I would be running for the hills. His ruthless persona is just a front for his business. I understand that, I can rationalize it in my head. Work and home - there has to be a balance.
To think, if I had not seen the nicer side of him all those months ago, the caring, the protecting, I probably would have run out of that apartment and not even glanced back.
It was who he was when no one else was around that enchanted me, he made me feel safe.
“Faith!” I hear Cami shouting my name pulling me from my distracting thoughts.
“Shit sorry Cami I was miles away.” My every bloody thought is being consumed by him, I need to snap out of this shit, it’s not going to work out, I chastise myself.
“So what do you fancy doing? There’s the library or the sauna we can try if you want, we don’t have costumes with us for a dip but we can just wrap a towel around us in the sauna.” I ask, wanting to spend a little more time with her. I have missed her so much, so any way I can prolong the time that she is out of that room dwelling on her thoughts the better. It’s what she did for me. I may not have left the house, but she always talked to me or we watched a movie, drank wine, she made me feel normal, that is exactly what she needs right now, she needs her friend.
“OH I fancy the sauna, you think it would be ok to go and use it?” she asks me with so much hope in her voice.
“I can’t see it being a problem, Damien said to make ourselves at home, come on lets go.” I grab hold of her hand pulling her up from the table heading towards the hall.
We go down the hall on the opposite side of the huge table in the middle, I have never been down this way before now, they must go through some flowers in this house every day they have had a new arrangement on top of that table, we are not talking small bunch from a petrol station, we are talking ‘Flowers R Us’ had a party in here. Don’t get me wrong they’re stunning, they just seem too extravagant.
We wander along the hall and that’s when we see it, and the whole place just opens up. The Olympic size pool has loungers and a table around it, there is a Jacuzzi in the corner as you look along the wall. You can see the home gym through a glass wall. I think my mouth must be on the floor as I wander around the room, tucked away in the corner is the sauna door.
We spot the changing rooms for the pool and wonder in, quickly divesting ourselves of clothes we wrap towels around us from the heated towel rail.
Wow this place is amazing. It’s like visiting a luxury hotel with spa.
Opening the door the wooden room is at the perfect temperature, just waiting for us just to sit in and enjoy which is exactly what we intend to do.
“I could get used to this” I sigh when we have been sat in there a few minutes.
With my eyes closed and my body relaxing, I hear Cami’s quiet reply
“Me to” she whispers, and I know when we get through this there will be light at the end of the tunnel, for both of us life has a way of working that shit out.
Later on I am sat on the couch in the living room after not seeing Damien since lunch, it’s crazy how much I miss him being with me. How pathetic am I? It's been days since we were reunited, and whilst I have known him longer the feelings that have developed these past few days have really affirmed to me what I already knew. I'm totally in love with Damien…. Shit! I still don’t know his surname. I am going to put that at the top of my list of things to find out about him.
“Can we talk?” I look up and see Lily standing beside the couch, nodding at her she takes a seat beside me.
“I know you love him, he loves you too you know.” I’m shocked by her comment, she can’t be serious. Damien most definitely does not love me.
“Damien does not love me.” I say a little too quickly. It’s only after I realise I didn’t deny how I feel, I guess there’s no point.
“Look sweetie it’s ok. I know, I can see it but I just want to make sure you are not deluded by all of this exterior and that you know who and what he is.”
Her tone is soft but there is warning in it I’m not sure if she thinks I am a gold digger or just blind.
“Oh I know who he is.” She looks shocked at my answer.
“Well, do tell me who you think Damien Volkov really is.” Lily asks me.
So that’s his last name, it is lovely how it just rolls off the tongue, it really does suit him, and before I get lost in my thoughts again I need to answer Lily.
Taking a big breath of air, well hear goes, she wants to know what I know, I will tell her.
“I have known Damien just over 6 months, at first I thought he saved me, but a few days ago I realised he wasn’t the hero, he was the villain in this situation.” I tell her hoping that it would be enough to get me off the hook.
“And what situation was that? Oh my dear, are you pregnant? Am I having a grandchild?” I laugh at her suggestion. I can see I’m going to have to spell it out. I really didn’t want to, I knew about Bella and what she had been through and I really did not want to upset her.
“No! Jesus no. My dad owes Damien a lot of money, so I was taken. Apparently so that Damien could try and get him to pay his debt but he didn’t want to pay, and said that Damien could keep me instead. I think his words were that I would be exceptional payment for his debt. Damien has told me, so please understand Lily that he did not want to keep me and no harm came to me from Damien.” I shuddered when I spoke, thinking about Conner’s hands on me again it was enough to bring a little bile back up into my throat.
“I can’t believe, he would do anything like that, not after what we went through. Is that why you are here? Did he decide to keep you after all?” She’s nearly in tears and I can’t handle it, I have to fix this. I don’t want her thinking badly of the only child she has left.
“No Lilly, I'm not here because of the debt, my father tried to take me, to sell me to someone else. In the process he hurt my best friend and Damien saved us both. He bought us here to keep us safe while they find him.”
“Now that I do believe, but it does not excuse anything he has done up until this point. That boy and I will be having words. How could he be so stupid in the first place to even attempt to take you? Even if it was only to scare your father!”
I st
art to cry at her words and talking about it has dragged every emotion to the surface.
“I’m sorry to have caused your family more pain.”
“Oh poor child it’s not your fault, none of this is.” She says whilst wrapping me in her arms and letting me sob against her chest.
I cry for everything that has happened to me, but most of all I cry for Bella, she never got to have her happy ever after. I am safe, I am wanted and I am loved, all the things that Bella should have had with her family.
“Come on now dear let's get a cup of tea, it makes everything seem better, well that’s what my mother used to say.”
I dry my eyes against the sleeve of my cardigan, and nod at her letting her know that a cup of tea is just what I need.
Sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of tea in my hand we are chatting about anything other than Damien, she talks about what it was like being the bosses wife and what was expected of her, but she said at the time she did not care because she loved him and would do anything for her husband, she told me how he became cold and hard as time went by and would do anything to get what he wanted.
I could sympathize with her, my own father was becoming the same except it was not power that motivated him, it was greed.
I look up to see Damien standing in the door way listening to us chat and I can’t help the smile that touches my lips at the sight of him. Lily notices my smile and looks up to where he is stood and her face suddenly changes from soft to hard, calm to rage and I think if he was wearing red she would charge.
“You and I need to talk now!” she demands. Shit, this is not good his face falls and he looks at me one last time and nods to his mother and heads out of the room.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Damien
I follow my mother into the office waiting for her to take a stand in front of my desk, it’s usually where she takes her perch to scald me, arms crossed in front of her waiting, tapping her foot against the solid floor.
“Do you want to explain to me what the hell is going on Damien!” she exclaims
“Mother I’m not sure what you think you know or what has been said but I can explain.” I let out a frustrated sigh. Since when do I have to justify myself to anybody, I am 30 years old for Christ sake, I run this family nobody else but me.
“You really need to explain to me, because I have just had to listen to that sweet girl in there tell me what she has been through and it broke my heart”
My mother’s voice was cracking with emotion.
“Right, fine, you want to know what I did. I will tell you then.” I growl, really not looking forward to hurting my mother any more than I already have. She has forgiven me for killing her husband. Even after what he had done she still loved him, she knew deep down that he was wrong to do it and she did leave him as soon as she found out, but giving up on everything you have and everything you have been for the last 20 years is not an easy fate.
Anton was a Godsend. He hated my father by this point, he helped pick my mother up and slowly piece her back together. How could a father do that to a child that he created, loved and cherished above everything else in the world, is just incomprehensible to me.
“I did take her mum.” I admit to her my voice is sharper than I mean it to be.
“How could you? What were you thinking?” she scolds me, that look of pure disappointment and utter disbelief is etched on her face.
“I wasn’t thinking. That’s just it. I had a man who owed me £350,000, and he was avoiding me. So I told Malc to grab her, we were only holding her, making him want to pay up to get her back.” I don’t recognize my own voice.
“So, you became your father.” My stomach turns at her suggestion. I am nothing like my father I would do anything to save Faith from any of this, I would never harm a hair on her head.
“I am nothing like him, I will never be like him!” I see my mother inwardly shrink at my tone. But she soon comes back to herself.
“Well tell me how this is different then? Because I fail to see it.”
“When I saw her in that room, once she had woken up, she was cowering in the corner it brought it all back mum, then he said we could keep her and it killed me. It was like history repeating its self and I needed to break the cycle so I said I would get her out. And I did that, I got her out but what I didn’t expect was that I would have feelings for her. I became obsessed with her safety, I watched her, every single day, to make sure she didn’t come to any more harm.”
“So you are telling me you did all this because you like her? Can you not see that she has spent the last 6 months as a shell of the person she was before, and that my dear boy is not a woman you want to coddle because in the end you will make her hate you.” My Mother’s words are harsh, but true.
“I know Mother, I know, but her father comes back into her life and things have gone from bad to worse. We had Jake watching them, but her dad still managed to get into the apartment and he hurt her best friend so I brought them here to keep them safe, well mainly Faith.”
“So is her father that big of a threat to her?” she asks me, I can see that she likes Faith, it’s the only reason that she is taking such an interest.
“From what we know at this point he is hiding in plain sight. He has guards protecting him, that’s all we seem to be able to establish at this moment in time.”
I don’t want to tell her everything, she will only worry. Telling her we were going in to end him some time soon, would not be a wise decision. No my Mother needs minimal information.
“Look Mum, I know you don’t really understand and I am sorry but I can’t change how I feel when I am with her.”
“You don’t think I understand what love is? Of course I do you silly boy! I watched the man I love sell my child, only to then have my other child kill him to avenge his sister. It ripped my heart out when the man he turned into was dead and cold and not the man I fell in love with. It’s the man he used to be that I mourn and love with all of my heart, so don’t try to tell me Damien, that I don’t understand.” I see the tears filling up in her eyes and they are threatening to fall down her cheeks.
“I’m sorry that all this has brought up old memories Mum and that you have been pulled into this, but I won’t let her go, I can’t.” My words are full of pain I hate that I have caused it all.
“I know love. Of course you can’t. You love her!” her words send me into a panic, I don’t love her, it’s not possible.
“I think you’re jumping the gun a bit Mum. I like her and I care about her wellbeing but that’s not love.” I can’t think along those lines, it will complicate everything and that is something that we don’t need. Oh who am I kidding… it’s already complicated.
“Ha! If you say so. No I’m not saying I agree with what you have done or can even begin to contemplate why you did it, but you are my son and I love you, so you will hear no more of this from me, I have said my piece. But don’t try to pull the wool over my eyes. I know my son.” She walks over to me and places a kiss on my cheek before heading out of the office.
I make my way over to my desk reflecting on what has transpired over the past few months. Is my need for power and revenge really turning me into him?
I pour myself a huge tumbler of whiskey, and swallow it in one go. Do I love her?
No, I don’t. Am I infatuated by her body? Yes.
Speaking of infatuation I need her. Now!
Making my way to my room, I have a plan in mind and I want to follow it through.
She is sat on my bed with a book in her hand reading, when I walk in she looks amazing. The wave of lust hits me straight in the groin. She belongs there in my bed, in my home. She belongs with me and seeing her there intensifies my lust tenfold.
“Hey Damien, I’m sorry I told your Mum. She kind of cornered me, you’re not mad at me are you?” her voice is sweeter than sin and my cock is straining against my slacks, I decide to play this out a little to see how far she will go.
“I might be mad at you.” I say trying to mask the desire in my voice.
“Well I said I was sorry. What more can I do to make it up to you?” I can sense the smile there and I won’t say it’s not turning me on more because it is.
“You can start by crawling over here and showing me what else that mouth of yours can do.” As I finish my words she places her book down on the bedside table and crawls across the bed towards me. The sight of her on her hands and knees is fucking sexy as hell. Her pace is slow and measured teasing me as she goes, her eyes sparkle as they lock onto mine, She comes to a halt inches from my crotch.
“What would you like me to do now?” she asks her voice is breathless.
“I want you to show me how sorry you are.” I tell her, hoping she rises to the challenge. She sits back on her heels and her hands tentatively reach up to my zip, I feel the tug as she slides it lower and I clench waiting for the pop of the button.
“Is this what you want?” She says to me, and my God if it doesn’t make me harder hearing her voice like that.
“No what I want is your pretty mouth wrapped around my cock.” I put as much command as I can into my lust filled voice. It must work because she pops the button and starts to tug my pants down, when I feel the cool air hit my tip, I shudder wondering what she will do next. I throw my head back and close my eyes waiting for the sensual assault.
I wait and wait and it does not happen I look down to see her just staring at me stifling a giggle.
“What’s the hold up Faith?” I ask harshly wondering what’s so funny it’s not every day your waiting for a blow job that never happens; then they have to refrain from giggling, it could really wound a man's ego.
“Well I hope I’m getting something out of this?” the cheeky little minx turning the tables on me making me sweat like that.
“And what is it you want?” I question her.
“Well, I’ve heard that there is a position we can do where we both pleasure each other, that’s what I would like to try,” well fuck me sideways she wants to try a sixty nine? Bring it on baby. I can get on board with tasting her sweet little pussy.
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