That night, Damien couldn’t sleep.
His thoughts inundated his mind and sleep drowned out of his system. All he knew was pain, heartbreak, frustration and even more pain.
How could a woman play such a game on him? What even hurt him more, was the fact that he so stupidly fell for it. He allowed her roll and tangle him on her little finger.
He loved her unconditionally. He gave her all his heart without leaving a muscle out. He opened himself up completely to her, making a total fool of himself because she never loved him.
She only loved his money.
“Fuck it!” He screamed, jumping off of his bed for the nth time that night.
He walked to the bar and poured himself another shot of drink. His eyes were bloodshot already from too many drinks, yet, he couldn’t stop himself. He needed the alcohol. He needed the sting of the drink to wipe away the pain in his heart. He needed the bitterness to fill him up. He didn’t want to remember the sweetness he thought he had seen in Céline.
He didn’t want to remember the way his heart had warmed up each and every time she had smiled.
He didn’t want to remember the way goosebumps appeared on her skin whenever he kissed her. Because everything was a lie.
“A fucking lie!”
He screamed, smashing the glass of drink to the wall. The wall bled of alcohol and the shattering pieces of the glass reminded him of the shards of a heart he now had to carry around.
His Céline. That was what he had started calling her, yet his so called Céline turned out to be a cheap gold digger.
“Damn you Céline!” He spat through his teeth, glaring at the trail the drink left on the wall.
How was he going to face the world, when once again the mighty Damien Culhane was fooled by a woman?
Another woman named Céline! Another fucking Céline.
“Damn you!” His voice trembled as his throat constricted.
He should have known better. He should have fucked her and moved on with his life.
He shouldn’t have allowed his heart to get entangled. He fell too deep. He was too stupid.
The pieces of his throbbing heart pricked at the skin in his chest. He felt so much pain, tears filled his eyes.
He sealed his eyes shot, forcing himself not to cry. He couldn’t cry. He shouldn’t let himself cry. Céline was not worth his tears. She wasn’t!
“Aarggh!” He screamed out in pain.
Hard as he tried, the traitorous tears spilled onto his cheeks and refused to seize. He felt so much pain in his heart, he could not explain it.
He loved Céline with all his heart. Why did she have to go and play him like that, why? Why did he have to keep falling victim of wicked women, that had no conscious at all? Why?
“Why?” He dropped on the floor and hugged himself as his body shook relieving his pain.
How else was he supposed to love a woman? He did everything he knew how, he was even willing to wait till they got married before touching her! He didn’t even one day, imagine cheating! But everything, turned out to a big lie.
Damien remained on the floor, his head on his hands, crying out the love he had only imagined.
By the time the first rays of light flooded into his windows, he was still awake. His tears had dried and only maddening rage remained. It was like he had stayed awake all night crying his pain away.
He never should have changed his mind. He never should have kissed her. He never should have allowed himself to fall in love again.
Love and happy endings were not meant for people like him. All he could ever have was his business, his money and his lifestyle; and he would never let anyone take that away from him.
If Céline wants his money, she would have to think really hard because he wasn’t going to make it easy for her, in anyway.
He sniffed and raised his stiff head, rolling it around to relieve the pent up stress it had endured all night.
To deal with cheap criminals like Céline, he would have to think ahead of her to protect his hard earned money; and to do that he needed some information.
He took out his phone from his pocket and called Brian. He was the smartest out of his three friends when it came to legal matters, only he could help him.
“Hey Brian!” Damien’s voice was sharp and determined despite the throbbing ache in his head. He was hell bent on dealing with Céline and he would.
“The man of the moment! What’s up, the sun isn’t even up yet and you already miss me?” Brian joked through the phone.
“Sorry, if I woke you but I need to figure something out…”
“No, I was about leaving the bed anyway -The stripper I got last night was no fun. She slept after the first round…” Brian said, clicking his tongue.
“What’s up, bro?” There was shuffling on his head and he moved around.
Damien thought carefully of a way of phrasing his question to not arouse questions from Brian. The last thing he needed was for people to change his mind.
“Is there a way I can possibly lose all my money?”
He tried to make it sound casually but the pause on the other end meant Brian wasn’t buying his acting.
After a good two minutes, Brian’s voice came up. “Damien do not be ridiculous. You aren’t even married yet and you are already worried about your finances! Did Céline’s family ask for dowry or something?”
Accepting his idea would have made everything easier, but Brian would probe him further and if he wasn’t satisfied he would call Lucas and Charles and somehow, those two would be able to find out the truth.
“No, it’s nothing like that… I am just worried for my kids -my future kids.” The lie just came out of his lips and he couldn’t be more grateful to his brain.
“Really? You are worried about your kids? Is Céline pregnant– what am I even saying you are a fucking billionaire Damien, no amount of child’s care is going to make you a dime poorer! You are a money machine brother!”
“I know Brian, I just- I just want to know… Are there possibilities?”
“Even if the stock market fell a hundred times, you will still be a billionaire Damien…” Brian took a deep breathe and then spoke the words Damien wanted to hear.
“But… Maybe if a major disaster happened?” Brian shrugged.
“… Or maybe you got a divorce. But I am certain you don’t have to worry about that, Céline is too sweet to even think of divorcing you. You are one lucky bastard Damien…”
Damien grinned. A plan to make Céline suffer was finally coming together in his mind. He would go on with the wedding and the only way Céline was going to get her dirty hands on his money was through a divorce, he had to make sure she never got it.
It was risky but he would do it. First, because he needed to see her suffer the way she had made him suffer. Secondly, his mother wanted him to get married to the damned pest, if he refused, she would only bring more pests into his life.
Why not kill two birds with one stone?
He would marry Céline and deal with her. Other women who were like her would hear her story and learn from it. Plus, his mother would be happy and she would stop bringing pests into his life.
The easiest thing to do was to call off the wedding. But that would be too easy a punishment for such a dirty and cheap cheat like Céline.
Beside, she was smart enough to get people to sympathize with her to the point they could request he pays her off for the heart damage.
The fake heart damage she would obviously be carrying around, if he decided to call off the wedding.
He would have to deal with her differently.
He would marry her and she would not be able to get a divorce from him. She would not be able to get a single illegal cent from him.
She always said she wanted to lose her virginity on her matrimonial bed, well she would wish she never said that; because what they would have would not be a matrimony, it would be torture.
He would make her life a living hell.
He would hurt her so much, she would curse the day she met him. She would beg for mercy but she would get none. By the time he finished with her, she would wish she had met a different target.
No one plays with Damien Culhane’s heart and gets away with it.