BitterReality
Damien sat down on a brown wooden chair in his dimly lit room, the only sound audible was the slow swirling of wine in his glass and the occasional creak of the wooden chair beneath him.The sharp burn of the liquor made him wince, but he welcomed the sting like it was meant to be, after all, it is helping him keep his thoughts from tearing him apart.
With his eyes narrowed, and jaw clenched, his mind winding into memories and confusion.
Then the door creaked open.
Eric dressed sharply in his three pieces suit entered, his expression tight and grim.
"Have you found her?" Damien asked, with a lazy demeanor, not even bothering to turn around.
Eric hesitated before replying.
"No, sir. It's like she vanished into the thin air." Damien's grip tightened on the glass.
"We've searched everywhere," Eric continued. "My team ran every trace, every database, every lead. But we found nothing, which is strange, every lead to her were cleaned up. It's like she never existed. So my conclusion is, it's either she is an illusion who doesn't exist at all. Or perhaps, she was staged for the plot and Tyler Ross is a fabricated identity, created just for this mission, and all the information we have concerning her is part of a larger lie."
Damien scoffed as he drank another large sum of his liquor , and then finally turned, his eyes sharp and cold and with a low voice he muttered calmly.
"Are you trying to tell me that I have just been played by a woman? Is that what you are trying to say? That she just used me, and that I was just a pawn in her chess play?"
Eric glanced away, uneasy.
"I tried to warn you, sir. She was too smooth, too careful. I knew something was off. The flags were there, you just chose not to see it. All of that is in the past now, and dwelling in the past error wouldn't solve anything, After all, the damage has already been done and the way out should be our absolute priority
Damien scoffed again, then downed the rest of his wine in one aggressive gulp. His gaze darkened with something that spell ruthless and vicious.
"Find her," he growled. "I don't care what it costs. Sweep every corner of the damn earth if you have to. Push all the resources you can, find me Tyler! I want her. Alive."
Eric nodded sharply.
"Yes, sir. I'll mobilize everyone."
He gave a respectful bow and exited quickly, sensing the fury crackling in the room like a storm about to break.
Damien like a soulless one just stares into the empty glass, his voice a low snarl.
"I will find you, Tyler. And when I do,"
He rose slowly, each movement deliberate, his rage simmering under the surface like a boiling volcano.
"You will wish you have not been born in the first place! You have so crossed the line Tyler, you have dealt with the wrongest person, and oh, you will pay. Everything that you hold dear, everything that you are," he suddenly laugh like the devil himself "I will crush with my bare hands." He said with intense venomous energy.
He then suddenly laughed a chilling, soulless sound that resonance off the stone walls.
He poured himself another drink, the wine sloshing violently into the glass. As he brought it to his lips, the door burst open again.
"Hey, look what I found, tada" Vivian his mid sister called cheerily, as if she hadn't just walked into a gloomy cloud.
A beautiful lady followed behind her tall, elegant, and glowing with pure confidence.
Damien's eyes narrowed at the unfamiliar yet oddly familiar face.
"Hello, Damien," she said with a warm, gentle smile. "Long time no see."
He blinked, confused. Then his memory caught up.
"Seraphina?" he said slowly.
She nodded. "Seraphina Blake. I'm glad you still remember me."
"Barely. It's been, what? Over a decade?"
"Twelve years, precisely," she said with a soft laugh.
"Actually after your family moved form Chicago back then, I had tried looking for you but I couldn't, I was just fifteen, I couldn't have been able to do much, but later on, your family were constantly on the news for one thing or the other, and when I saw all the big things your family was doing, I figured you guys are now way above our league, and would probably wouldn't want to associate with someone like me anymore, so I just watched you from the sidelines"
She said as she lowered her gaze.
"But I just couldn't anymore, especially when I heard of your father's demise, and all this rumors about Dexter stealing your codes, and I know how much you loved your father, So, I figured I had to come see you"
Damien remained still, his expression unreadable.
"I was even surprised Vivian still remembered me," Seraphina added. "Honestly, I thought you all would've forgotten."
Damien shut his eyes, struggling to balance his seething anger and the unexpected arrival of his guest.
"I don't remember much," he said slowly. "But I remember we went to college together. You were Vivian's friend, and I also remember your constant visit at our old house."
She smiled again.
A corner of Damien's mouth almost twitched, but it faded as quickly as it came. "Thanks for coming," he said, his voice flatter now. Guarded.
"I'm really sorry for your loss, Damien," she said, stepping closer. "You have to stay strong."
He nodded curtly. "Thanks. I appreciate it."
Damien expected her to leave his room but she just stood there, refusing to leave, so he studied her for a few seconds, his eyes scanning her face not with warmth, but with the calculating coldness of a man who no longer trusted anyone.
Seraphina, to her credit, didn't cringe.
She simply stood there, her posture graceful, her expression genuine.
Vivian, sensing the tension, gave an awkward cough.
"Well, I'll give you two a moment. I need to check on something in the kitchen."
And with that, Vivian excused herself, but not without casting Damien a hopeful glance.
As the door closed, silence settled between them. Damien turned away and poured himself another drink.
"So, Seraphina Blake. What brings you back after all these years? Really."
"I told you. I heard about your father and everything happening. I worried for you and wanted to see how you were doing."
He let out a humorless chuckle.
"You you are saying you tracked me down after twelve years simply because you were, worried?"
"I never stopped thinking about you," she said softly. "I know how that sounds. Maybe a little pathetic. But when you lose people who meant something to you, it sticks. Even if you were just a memory I carried around for a while."
Damien finally turned to face her, eyes hard.
"The last woman who claimed to care about me nearly destroyed everything I built. So forgive me if I don't exactly lay out the welcome path"
Her lips tightened into a small line, but she didn't back down.
"I'm not here to hurt you, Damien. I'm not Tyler Ross."
He trembled at the name even hearing it now made his blood boil.
"You know about her?"
"Enough to know she broke you. And that you're still bleeding. Actually Vivian told me everything."
Damien downed his drink in one swift gulp.
"You just came, so quit playing therapist with me, Seraphina."
She sighed.
"I'm not here to play anything. I just thought, maybe you could use someone who knew you before all this madness. Before the codes and the companies and the betrayal. Before it all."
That last word lingered in the air like smoke.
Damien moved closer, just slightly, his voice now lower, darker.
"And what exactly do you want in return for this 'sentimental support'? A job? A favor? Access to the Lopez estate?"
Seraphina met his eyes with startling steadiness.
"You might not know this yet, but my family is involved in politics; my father is a member of the house of Representatives, and I can say we are doing well for ourselves, so believe me when I say, I want nothing from you, Damien. Not a title, not your money. Just a chance. To be a part of your life again, to be close friends , just like we use to be back then, if you'll let me."
That caught him off guard.
He stepped back, brushing a hand through his hair, trying to hide the storm raging in his chest.
"You picked a hell of a time to show up," he grumbled.
"Yeah," she whispered. "But sometimes, the best people only shows up when the world is engulfed in chaos"
For a brief second, Damien eyes flickered.
But then it was gone again, replaced by walls that had been rebuilt brick by brick.
"When are you leaving?"
"I can't leave yet, I want to stay for a while, its just that, since I just flew in from Chicago, I have no where to say around here, plus I know no one around here, I mean California is so big, am scared of staying alone. After all, am just a girl." She added a little too dramatic
"You can stay in one of the guest rooms," he said abruptly, turning away. "Vivian will show you."
"Thank you," she said simply.
Seraphina stared at him, stunned, breathless.
It had been twelve years since she last laid eyes on him. Back then, he was the boy she couldn't stop dreaming about. She'd sworn he was the most handsome thing that had ever walked the earth, and she'd done everything to catch his attention, to make him hers.
But he never agreed.
Never gave in.
And now, standing before her, he wasn't just the boy she remembered.
He was a man, utterly, devastatingly masculine.
Time hadn't dulled his beauty. No, far from it.
Instead, It had refined it. Sharpened it. Like nature had taken its time perfecting him.
He stood tall, easily over six feet, with a frame carved like a Greek god, broad shoulders, a narrow waist. His shirt clung to him in all the right places, outlining every sculpted line of his chest. His arms were strong, toned, veins trailing down to his forearms like a roadmap to paradise.
And then there were the abs.
Oh!
Hard, defined, and sinfully visible beneath the stretch of his shirt, the fabric almost struggling to hide the ridges of his perfect six pack. His torso looked like it belonged on the cover of a fitness magazine, or a dream.
His jawline was sharp and shadowed with just enough stubble to make her mouth dry, and his lips, full, firm, kissable, were curved into that same unreadable expression he wore back then.
She couldn't look away.
He was every bit the fantasy her teenage heart had once burned for, only now, he was more.
But as Seraphina stood alone in the silence after not a vibrant, beating heart left the room, a shadow of something passed across her face. Not fear, not manipulation.
Something far more dangerous
"I am back now Damien! Back to where I belong!" She said in a low voice as she gave a silent scoff.