Damien's POV “What did he do? I could help you talk to him, I promise,” Katarina suggested as she stared at the gun that was pointed at her head in fear. “He diverted my goods, worth hundreds of millions, to his port. I don’t know what he’s trying to achieve with that, but if he’s making those silly moves, it’s leading me to believe that he has Lauren’s body and is just trying to pretend.” “He doesn’t. I know for a fact that he doesn’t have Lauren’s body. He wouldn’t lie to you and have you keep me here,” she argued, seeming to have trust for someone who didn’t exactly care about her all that much. “Tell him about it. Tell him that I have little patience left and will do it if he doesn’t send my goods back while you’re still on the food. Maybe he’ll show you how much or how little he cares about you in your last moments.” Her hands trembled as she dialled Santino’s number and put it against her ear. “Santino, this is Katarina,” she told him.
Damien's POV I concluded that it would be better and much easier to tell Darla about Lauren in person than if I did it over the phone – I could let her know how important it was for her to keep quiet about it – so I didn’t argue when she told me that she was coming to the house. “You can come, Darla. There’s something important I want to tell you as well,” I told her, hanging up the phone and coming to the reminder that I was drunk. Picking myself off the floor, I staggered to the living room to place my head on the headrest of a couch to prepare myself for the conversation I was about to have with my sister.~ “Damien!” It suddenly felt as if I had been suctioned into a new life as I opened my eyes to find Darla looking at me with confusion on her face. “Did you drink the whole bottle of this?” she asked, raising the bottle of vodka to my view. I could barely give her an answer as I held on to the bridge of my nose to stop my head from explod
Damien's POV“You cannot enter this area, sir,” the two uniformed and armed men standing at the entrance of the street informed me as they stopped my car from getting through. “What does that mean? As far as I know, I have been here before without you two in the way. What’s going on in there that’s so special?” I asked with a frown, wondering if the police had managed to find Lauren before I did. The last thing I wanted was to get the police involved in that case. They were more incompetent than I knew, and they had a way of royally messing everything up and turning the blame away from their direction. “This is private property now. It has been bought, and nobody but the owner is allowed to get in until it is redeveloped and put on the market for regular citizens,” the second one told me, sounding even more annoyed at me than the first one. “I’m not here to cause any trouble. Just let me in. I have something important that I lost here, and I would like to—”
Damien's POV I didn’t know if I wanted to ask the two guards in front of me what the whole hurry and concern was all about, or if finding out on my own would be a better choice. “What is this all about?” I asked, sticking to the first option I had as they led me in the direction of the small, private cemetery, where the dead members of the Goldberg family were buried and they had wanted to bury Lauren’s mother. I watched the two guards look at each other as if silently discussing which one of them would break the news to me. “It doesn’t matter who speaks and who doesn’t. Just tell me what the hell is going on,” I commanded. Without stopping, one of them said to me as we got to the entrance of the cemetery, “I don’t think she’s dead, sir.” My brows drew closer to each other, and my heart skipped several beats. I walked past them and hurried my steps until I got to where one of the guards was holding her up and getting her to stand on her feet.
Damien's POV It had been days since I had told my guards to keep their eyes on Santino and to tell me if he got too close to the estate, and they had reported that he didn’t have anything to do with the estate, and it was someone else who bought it. In those days, Darla had been living with me and taking care of Lauren’s mother, who had not opened her eyes yet. “I was thinking that we should create a broader line of shipping access outside the country for the company. The people in other countries, especially outside of Europe, keep complaining about how slow it is for the things that they order to get to them,” Conrad explained as we talked about the company and how to improve it. “As much as I would want that, I believe the first and best thing to do is create branches of our business in more places that are harder to reach. Delivery would be way faster. For now, the shipping method will definitely be faster.” “How fast?” he asked, noting something
“Lauren is very much alive.” At Conrad’s announcement, I found myself getting off the bench in a hurry, surprising and alarming Darla enough to stand up with me. “What do you mean by that? Do not play games with me, Conrad. If you’re still where she is, send me the address right now, and I’ll be there in a few minutes,” I instructed him. “I would never use something this important to make jokes about, Uncle Damien. She’s here at the restaurant where Shirley and I are. I prevented Shirley from walking up to her, but I don’t think I could hold her back any longer. You have to get here immediately.” “I don’t think I’ll be there if you don’t send me the address, Conrad,” I seethed at him. He hung up the phone and texted me the name and the address of the restaurant. “What is happening? Where are you off to?” Darla asked me as I set the glass of whiskey down and rushed towards where my cars were. “It’s Conrad. He just informed me that
Lauren's POV “Now that you know the truth, would you like to go back with your husband?” I had only opened my eyes a few days ago in a hospital with my head banging as if there was no tomorrow, and I was now faced with another headache. Yes, the doctor had said that my amnesia was not permanent, but I still had it at the moment. I didn’t know anything about my marriage. As much as the man standing in front of me was familiar to me, I still didn’t recognize him. It made me wonder if that was going to be my life now – being tossed from one person to another until I finally found where I belonged. “I don’t know anything about this,” I admitted. “I know that you’re probably hurt by the fact that I cannot recognize you right now, but I don’t know what else to do. I don’t want to be a burden to you or anyone else.” “You could never be a burden, Lauren. Never to me. You have never been a burden to me, and you never will be,” the man said to me.
Damien's POV “You’re fine. I’m here. You only had a nightmare. Just take deep breaths, and you’re going to be okay,” Damien said to me with a soothing voice as I panted and tried to catch my breath. I was trying my best to grab on to the faces that I had seen in the dream, but they were slipping through my fingers. I could barely remember my mother’s face as I had seen her in the dream, and it was frustrating enough. There was one thing I did remember for sure. “Katarina,” I said, and it seemed to shock Damien when I said the name I remembered. “Katarina. Who’s Katarina? Why did I see her trying to kill my mother in my dream?” I was now looking at Damien for answers he couldn’t produce. He looked at me in shock, only recovering enough to go back to rubbing my shoulders. “I know that you have the answers to my questions, Damien. As much you don’t want to hurt me, I need answers to my questions as well. I don’t want to be left in the dark with nothing,