I want Her Still

Hurting

A month later

Damien sat alone in the dimly lit room again. It had become a nightly ritual, one he didn't bother to fight anymore. Every evening, like clockwork, he'd retreat into silence, drowning himself in liquor and memories that refused to fade.

A single chandelier hung above, its soft twinkle casting fractured shadows across the polished floor, giving the room an eerie, almost mournful glow.

Empty bottles some expensive, some forgotten, littered the table before him, several tipped on their sides, their dark contents staining the mahogany like spilled blood. The scent of aged wine and smoke clung to the air, thick and unwelcoming. Silence wrapped around him like a noose, broken only by the occasional clink of glass as he brought yet another drink to his lips.

His face was a portrait of restraint, jaw tight, expression unreadable, carved from stone and silent rage. But his eyes, his eyes were a battlefield, they burned, not with fire, but with ice.

Not just fury, but with something colder.

Something deadlier.

His thoughts circled the same moment like vultures on the conversation he had earlier that day.

The lead investigator had paid him another visit, carrying a file thick, solemn, and useless.

Dozens of pictures. Dozens of women.

All bearing the name Tyler Ross.

But not a single one was Tyler or Ana.

She was still out there.

The thought of it made Damien scoffed for the umpteenth time today. He looked like a man who had just been betrayed by the universe itself.

Then a soft knock disturbed the heavy silence. A beat later, the door creaked open and Eric stepped in, cautious, his steps deliberate. He had seen Damien in many moods over the past ten years. But this, this was new. And scary.

"Have you found her?" Damien's voice rumbled through the room, low and sharp, like metal scraping bone.

Eric swallowed. "Actually, no, sir."

Damien's glass shattered against the wall before Eric could even blink.

"What level of incompetence is this, Eric? Are you seriously telling me you can't find one woman? One! An ordinary, fragile woman?" His voice rose with each word, fury ripping through him like wildfire. "Is that what you're trying to tell me?!"

Eric stood tall but tense, trying to maintain composure. "Sir, I hate to say it, but every trail leads to nothing. It's like she vanished. Her name, her face, we even swept your apartment for fingerprints. Nothing. Whoever she really is, this isn't some naive girl. We dealing with an organized sets of people, everything that happened in Singapore is a calculated planned and clean operation, with every precaution put in place"

"I don't need you repeating the obvious!" Damien roared, eyes bloodshot as he slammed his fist onto the table. "Just find her. I don't care what it takes. If you have to burn down the goddamn city do it. Just f#cken find me Tyler Ross."

Eric flinched internally but kept his face neutral. Still, he had never seen Damien like this before. Not even when they lost the Bangkok deal. Not when the cartel ambushed their convoy in Rio. This wasn't the anger of a man who lost a business asset. This was heartbreak wrapped in fury and that, Eric knew, was far more dangerous.

After a long pause, Damien leaned back in his chair, his jaw tight as he poured himself another glass straight from the bottle this time. He gulped it down like it was water.

"It has been how long now, one month, one good month and you can not produce me Tyler? Do you have any idea what it feels like, Eric?" he said, voice hoarse, quieter now but soaked in venom. "Me! Damien Lopez. A woman, a f#cken woman, walks right into my life and played me like a damn fool, that easily. And took something of this magnitude from me."

"I am really sorry about this sir. Am sorry about everything, your pain, your loss, and I understand how annoying and devastating not finding her can be," Eric replied, voice steady but careful.

"Tyler is good, she's doing a good job hiding but eventually we will find her"

"When? When Eric? God, I just cannot accept this. I would not leave Tyler. I would not! What she did to me is totally unacceptable! Unforgivable! And she would pay!"

"And to imagine that just a little moment of weakness comes with such price. Ma'am Eleanor is having a hard time accepting her husband's demise. Miss Vivian even. And seeing you like this is really surprising, I wish there is something I can do.

If only you had listened back then, From the start, I knew something wasn't right. She was too clean. Too convenient. Everything about her was almost, choreographed. I told you to be careful. But you_"

He stopped himself before saying too much. "I understand that you were blinded by love back then, but seeing how easily you fell and how she was able to hit you hard in only a short period of time still baffles me.

All I can tell you is to brace yourself up, don't let that girl continue to win like this, pull up yourself and it's only a matter of time for our men to figure it out, and she will be apprehended" Eric said trying to encourage him. But damian had scoffed as he continues to drink large quantity of wine. "Time," he echoed, swirling the liquor in his glass. "You think time is on our side?" Damien scoffed as he gnashed his teeth angrily.

Eric stepped forward slightly, braver now. "I think you're letting her win by sitting here in the dark, drowning yourself in wine and anger. Resigning to alcohol is the way and solution of the weak, and I don't know you as one. Please sir stop doing this to your self. She is not worth it. I've followed you for a decade. Sir, this, this is not you. You are not a weak person."

Damien's hand paused mid air, glass halfway to his mouth, then he gave a dry, bitter laugh.

"You think she's not worth it?" Damien asked, voice like ice.

"I think you're worth more than this," Eric replied.

For a moment, Damien just stared at the glass in his hand. Then he slammed it down hard but this time, it didn't break. He pushed himself up from the chair, jaw clenched, breathing hard.

"Hmm," he scoffed in irritation, "I just can't relax. This is a big slap to my face, a woman deceiving me, stealing from me, and then my father's life, and she can't be find? How can I ever accept this?" He muttered, his tone dark but laced with a new fire. "I trust you Eric, you pretty good in finding someone, this time I really need you to find her. Do whatever it takes. Hack every street camera, every hospital record, every police report. Look for new names, new faces, facial reconstructions, anything."

"She'll be found, sir. That's a promise."

Damien gave him a nod barely perceptible, but enough.

As Eric turned to leave, Damien's voice stopped him at the door.

"When you find her, Eric,"

"Yes, sir?"

"Bring her back alive. But if she resists," Damien's eyes narrowed, fire glowing in the depths. "Make sure she knows exactly who she just made pact with."

Eric was just about exiting Damien's room when seraphina had quickly finds her way into the room the moment she saw the door was opened. Eric wanted to stop her, but she was in already, so he just walks away.

Seraphina,

Well, ever since she had been staying at the Lopez estate for over a week now or so, she has made effort, carefully arranged effort to fit in again, but despite all her effort, her charm, her influence as Vivian's old friend, and even a small white lie to win over the family's affections, she still hadn't been able to get close to Damien.

Everyone in the Lopez household seemed to have warmed up to her, everyone except Damien. He hadn't even joined the family at the dinner table in days.

She pretended to be fine, smiled when expected, laughed at the right moments but inside, she was unraveling. Her real reason for being here couldn't be exposed, not yet. But the weight of being so close to Damien and still being locked out of his world had finally become unbearable. She had to see him.

She'd been paying close attention to the rhythm of the house especially the door to Damien's room. Only one person ever went in and out, Eric. No one else. Not even family.

Seraphina couldn't stop wondering what had broken him this deeply. Was it truly the loss of his father? Or was it the betrayal of the girl Vivian had mentioned the one who had stolen their codes, and Damien's heart?

So when she saw Eric exit Damien's room again, she didn't hesitate. This was her moment.

She slipped inside quietly, her heart pounding in her chest.

She had done this before, pushed her way into Damien's space, into his life. Back then, they were younger. Back then, he ignored her. No matter what she did, he never looked her way. Maybe it was because she was still a girl then. But now now she was older, wiser, and more determined. She wouldn't lose him this time.

"Hi, Damien," she said softly, her voice laced with a practiced gentleness, her smile fragile like a blooming lotus.

Damien looked up, and the moment their eyes met, his already dark day seemed to get even darker.

"I don't let strangers into my room, Seraphina," he said coldly.

"Well, then it's a good thing I'm not a stranger," she replied with a wink, trying to lighten the tension.

"What do you want? Make it quick. Then leave."

"That's not very gentlemanly of you."

"I'm not in the mood for this."

"I know. I just, I wanted to check on you. You've been locked away in here for days. I was worried."

"I don't need you to be worried about me. I let you stay because your home was far away, not because I wanted your company, or unnecessary meddling, but, It's been a week, Seraphina. Why are you still here?"

"Are you, are you chasing me away?"

"Yes. Yes, I am. Leave already."

"Come on, Damien. For old time's sake, don't treat me like this."

"How am I treating you, exactly? You women always come in with your soft voices and innocent smiles, only to tear people apart. What is it you want, huh? You here to ruin me too?"

Her breath caught in her throat. "Wow, Is that really what you think of me? That I'm just like her? Damien, I'm not here to hurt you. I only want to help you heal. God, you don't even know how much it kills me to see you like this. I've always_"

"Thank you for your concern, Seraphina. Now please, go."

"Damien, please," she said, her voice cracking. "If there's anything, anything, I can do, just say it. I would do anything to help you."

"I don't need your help! I have my own men. What could you possibly do?"

"Don't underestimate me Damien, You never can tell, I might be able to do something. I overheard you and Eric talking, about that girl. The one who betrayed you. If finding her will bring you peace, let me help. I'll do anything."

"I said I don't need your help!" he barked, his voice sharp as glass. He stormed toward her, ushered her out of the room, and slammed the door behind her.