Torturing Céline proved to be even harder for Damien than he had initially thought.
He had underestimated his love for her. His body couldn’t watch her cry. His heart broke whenever he caught a glimpse of the sadness in her eyes. He couldn’t do it.
He had called Sarah in so she could handle his meals and maybe a few other things because he feared Céline might poison him. He had to be careful her character was questionable even if he loved her, he didn’t trust her.
His love for her made it impossible for him to do the things he planned to do to her. He couldn’t handle seeing her break down again. Even if he knew she was only faking it, his own heart couldn’t take her pain. If he kept seeing her, it wouldn’t be long before he ran to her begging for forgiveness. He had to be strong.
To remain in the game, he devised a new plan. That was why he had packed all his things out of the closet in his old room. He had to stay away from her. He had to stay hidden from her through out the period they were both in the house for the fake honeymoon.
He didn’t leave his room during the day. Sarah provided him with everything he needed. At night, when he was sure Céline was sleeping. He went out to get some air.
On the second night, his legs directed him to his old room against his inner will power. He told himself he only wanted to see what she was up to, but he was lying to himself. He missed seeing Céline’s smile. He missed making her blush.
Damn! Why couldn’t Céline be real? Why did she have to ruin everything they had?
He got to their room and pushed the door slightly open, luckily it was unlocked. He peeked into it and there she was laying on the bed, shaking in her sleep. She had forgotten to close the windows and the blanket had moved away from her body.
Damien stepped into the room and pulled the windows closed. He then moved to the bed, watching her closely. She was cold.
Unable to just leave her like that Damien carefully picked up the blanket and placed it on her body, tucking her in.
She looked so innocent, one would think she was truly an angel. Why did she turn out to be a demon?
Angry and hurt, Damien was retracing his steps out of the room when Céline moved. He froze in shock and turned gently to look at her, but she didn’t wake up. She only passed a hand unto her nose and then she was sobbing in her sleep.
Damien’s brows met in dismay. He moved closer and observed that she was really crying silently in her sleep. Her cheeks were flushed, tears dropped from the corners of her eyes and she sniffed every now and then.
He stretched his fingers to her, wanting to wipe her tears away. He wanted to hug her and tell her everything would be fine. But just as his fingers almost brushed her skin, he pulled back.
This was probably a trap, he thought.
He waved a hand over her eyes and saw that she was truly sleeping. Damien could not understand how she could pretend even in her sleep.
She didn’t know he was there, so how could she time herself to cry in her sleep?
He threw one last look at her and shook his head walking quietly out of the room. He had to stay strong. He couldn’t fall for Céline’s tricks.
But every night after that day, Damien found himself in Céline’s room. He told himself he only needed to close the windows to avoid a burglar getting in or even her accomplice. Who knew why she always left the window open when she was always cold?
She didn’t cry every night but she didn’t look happy in her sleep either. Damien was beginning to doubt himself. Nobody, not even a hardened criminal could act so well when they were unconscious. Did he even hear her right that day in the office? Was she truly a gold digger?
If there was something he could recognize it was pain and he saw that in her eyes, every night. But, that could also just be pain for being discovered or pain for not being able to leave.
His doubts were what led him to open an account with a hundred million dollars in it for her. He did this to monitor her movements. He had to find her accomplice. She might be a victim of circumstance or someone might be using her to hurt him. But he had to be careful. He would not let his love blind him nor allow his hatred control him. He would keep his distance and find out what exactly she had planned.
So far, she hadn’t even called the account officer. She hadn’t made any move. Maybe that too was a part of her plan. Maybe she was waiting for the honeymoon period to be over so she could switch on her phone and call the bank officer. But if she was truly desperate. She would have made a move by now, Damien thought.
He had to handle the matter delicately. He couldn’t afford to make a mistake.
Damien was still deep in thought when his door flew open and a very pissed off Lucas stepped in.
“What in the hell is going on here?”
Damien was taken by surprise, their honeymoon was still on for a few more days, yet Lucas was here. Did Céline violate his rules and call him?
“I am talking to you Damien, Answer me? You didn’t go for a honeymoon! That is even the least of my worries right now!” He said, moving deeper into the room.
“I don’t care if you decide fucking your wife in here was the best thing to do! My problem is, why did you hide it from me? And why does Céline look like shit!”
At this point, Damien knew without doubt that Céline must have called Lucas and played her victim card. He narrowed his own eyes at his friend and watched him. Lucas really liked Céline and like everyone else they thought she was an angel. If he decided to flare up too, they would never come into an agreement.
“Fuck it Damien! I tried talking to her and she started crying so much so that she got sick! What is wrong with you bro! You love that woman, what happened to that love? What is going on in your head?”
“She got sick?” Damien asked. She didn’t look sick last night when he went to check on her, she only had her usual pained look but nothing serious.
“Oh now you actually care about her health?” Lucas sneered, walking closer to Damien.
“You left her alone in that room! What sort of family are you planning on running?”
Damien sat back on his bed. He was tired. The last week had drained him both physically and emotionally. He was tired of keeping it all to himself. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing Lucas found out they never left, because he was starting to lose his mind.
“Did she do something to hurt you? – don’t even answer that because I am positive she did nothing wrong! You just grew cold! Talk to me what is happening in that thick head of yours!?”
“You caused me so much trouble searching for that woman for you and after every turmoil you both went through you have finally married her and now you treat her this way? I don’t understand, give me something to work with here!”
Lucas went on and on and Damien didn’t know where to start from. It occurred to him somehow he might have been wrong about her. Or was he?
Fuck!
“Oh wait!” He said moving closer to Damien. He watched him closely, “is she dying? Does she have a disease or something?”
“Wait, are you dying?”
“No, did she lie about something?” Lucas tried to find out but Damien remained quiet. He didn’t know where to start from. What if Lucas didn’t believe him, what would he do then. He could only have prove of her illegal plans, when Céline moved the money in that account to some other places where he could trace it down to criminal activities and pin both her and her accomplices.
Lucas sighed in frustration at Damien’s silence.
“I have tried talking to Céline and she practically broke down in my arms. If you do the same or continue with this silent treatment, I am calling everybody…”
Damien snapped his eyes up to Lucas in alarm. He didn’t want Lucas calling everybody. Without prove, they were all going to think he was crazy.
“… And I mean every single person. Brian, Charles and your mum. If you still keep quiet, I am going to call the fucking media man! What is going on here!?”
“Céline’s a fucking gold-digger!” Damien panicked and let the truth slip out of his mouth.