Damien (Slater Brothers #5)(116)

“I’m in the sittin’ room.”

I turned my eyes from the window to Damien when he entered the room, and it took every ounce of willpower I had not to run to him. I missed him so much it hurt, but before the possibility of a reconciliation could happen, we needed to talk.

“Sit down.”

He did just that on the settee facing me.

“Thank you for agreeing to talk to me,” he said, clasping his hands together as he rested his elbows on his knees. “I know how hard it is for you.”

“Talkin’ to you isn’t hard,” I said. “It’s one of the easiest things to do. The hardest is hearin’ what you have to say.”

“I know, baby.”

My heart yearned for him the second he called me baby.

“I’m goin’ to listen to whatever you have to say with an open-mind, so don’t dilute anythin’.”

“I won’t,” Damien answered. “I told you when you were ready that I’d tell you everything, and I’m going to do that.”

I nodded and waited.

My heart thrummed in my chest.

“My parents were murdered by a man called Marco Miles,” Damien said with his eyes locked on mine. “My dad was Marco’s best friend and had been since they were kids. They started up their empire from scratch and grew it from the ground up. They had links to most likely every mafia family in and out of the States, every drug cartel known to man, and others that were unknown, and they had the law in their back pocket for decades.”

Breathe, I told myself. Just breathe.

“My brothers and I grew up in a lifestyle that was nothing like yours. We were treated like princes and got whatever our hearts desired because of who our dad was. Escorts were servicing me and Dominic from the time we were thirteen; the first onces were actually a birthday gift from our brothers. Our lives were a blur up until my mom and dad got killed just after my and Dominic’s fifteenth birthday.”

Damien’s leg began to bob up and down as he spoke.

“My dad crossed Marco, looking to get some extra money on a drug deal, so Marco had my dad and mom killed. They were best friends, had known each other their whole lives, but my dad’s greed for money and power changed him, made him hollow… evil. My mom was no better; the only thing she loved was money and materialistic things. I didn’t lie to you about that; she and my dad were cold to me and my brothers.”

My heart hurt for him.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m sorry you were raised by loveless parents; I hurt for you knowin’ that.”

Damien cleared his throat. “Thank you.”

I leaned back in the chair and waited.

“For a long time after my parents died”—he sighed—“I convinced myself that I didn’t love my brothers.”

My lips parted in shock.

“I have always been the affectionate brother,” he continued. “I was always the one who craved my parents’ love and attention, and when they didn’t give it to me, I’d do crazy things to get it. After they were murdered, I was so lost in grief that I was terrified of losing any of my brothers, so I pretended I didn’t love them. That way if I did lose them, it wouldn’t hurt. I told myself I tolerated them because they were my flesh and blood. It made me a nasty son of a bitch to be around at times. Because of that, I never let anyone close. I had sex with a lot of different women because it was the only connection that I could control. I was hollow inside … until I met you.”

I swallowed.

“Back on the compound, we grew up with Marco’s nephews, Trent and Carter. Carter was around us a lot, but he was the opposite of Trent. He was a loner and never seemed into anything that happened in the compound. Dominic, Trent, and I were practically best friends at one point. The only difference between us was he enjoyed when people were beat up and tortured. When our dad and his uncle made us participate in punishing someone, he loved it, said it helped build character.”

I curled my lip in disgust.

“We hated it too,” Damien said, noting my reaction. “We didn’t want the life our dad had provided for us if it came along with the things we hated. The day our parents were murdered, Dominic and I were going to tell them we wanted to leave, but after they died, I refused to leave. I felt connected to the place since I no longer had them.”

I understood that. His grief made him latch onto the thing his parents cared about most, that poxy compound and horrid lifestyle.

“Trent was bad for me to be around when I was in the state of mind of wanting to feel no pain, the only person who glanced me out was Nala.”

I exhaled a breath. “Nala?”

“My girlfriend at the time,” Damien said then quickly added, “I don’t want to hurt you by talking about her, but you need to hear about her to understand everything. To understand me.”

In that moment, I was so thankful that I didn't give Barbara the name Nala.

“I told you, don’t dilute anythin’.”

Damien nodded. “I met Nala when we were ten. She had just moved into the compound with her dad, and we hit it off straight away. She followed me and Dominic everywhere, and I never minded because I had a crush her. I asked her to date me when we were thirteen, she said yes, and we were together up until she was murdered.”