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Chapter Twenty
Abby
Abby rested her forehead on the steering wheel and blew out a tired breath. Hunting down her birth mother had been one of the most terrible ideas among terrible ideas. Wyatt—and even Elaina—had cautioned her against it, but she’d been relentless. Abby supposed she needed the distraction after Damian and the storm of attention her family had gotten when some reporter blasted Caleb and Celeste to smithereens.
It was all Damian’s doing, she knew that, and she held no malice against him whatsoever. Both her father and Celeste deserved to have their dirty laundry aired. Since Wyatt had cared less about Celeste not being his mother, Abby supposed that things—in the end—had worked out just fine, except for the part where she was sick from heartbreak.
Damian haunted her every thought, and in an effort to put him aside, she’d gone looking for her mother. It was a massive disaster and yet another heartbreak. It turned out that her birth mother had happily given her and Wyatt up. She was more than grateful for the chunk of change to get away from Caleb, who’d constantly made empty promises about leaving his wife to be with her. She’d made a new life for herself and she was none too happy about someone from her past showing up. It had all been pointless. Tail between her legs and feeling more miserable than ever, Abby returned home. It was back to her normal life—work, putting up with Elaina invading her space, and pining over Damian.
She slid out of her car with another dejected sigh. Just as she turned to make her way towards the entrance of her building, the glimpse of a familiar car across the street caught her attention. Leaning against it was an imposing figure, unsmiling, wearing all black and dark glasses.
An involuntary smile touched her lips…and Damian wondered why she’d thought he was a gangster. After her amusement relented, surprise kicked in. She stood frozen, staring at him just as he stared at her.
He pushed away from his car and walked toward her. He looked amazing. Dark and handsome as ever, while she probably looked like something out of a Stephen King novel. Self-consciously, she reached up to smooth her windblown mane. What she would give for a bit of Elaina’s clown makeup.
Damian stopped a few feet from her. Though she couldn’t see his eyes behind the sunglasses, she could practically feel his eyes sweeping over her in the way that always made her toes curl. “Bonita pelirroja,” he said with a slight smile.
Her heart did a few back flips. She was still a pretty redhead. That was a good sign, right? It was strangely hard to find her voice. “Hi, Damian.”
His glasses came off and she saw his bloodshot, sleep-deprived eyes. It seemed she wasn’t the only who had suffered from an onset of insomnia. “How are you, Abby?”
“Uh ... alive.”
“Your sister told me you went to see your birth mother.”
“She did?” They talked to each other, and they were both still alive? Incredible.
“I stopped by a few days ago and after having to beg, she told me you went to Arizona. She refused to tell me when you’d return, so I had to resort to waiting outside your apartment building every day. It was a real bitch move on her part if you ask me.”
Abby was floored. She gawked at him, not sure what to say. He’d waited for her every day. What did that mean for them? Before she could ask, he stepped closer. He searched her face for a few seconds. “How did it go with your mother. Did you find her?”
Pulling her trembling, lower lip between her teeth, she shrugged. “I found her. Let’s just say it was a waste of money hiring an investigator. I should have stayed home.” Her voice cracked just a little, but she was proud of herself for not giving into her tears. She sniffed. “On a scale of one to ten, how pathetic is it that I feel like orphan Annie, red curls and all, right now? I feel like I should be in a little red dress singing It’s a hard knock life.”
Damian fought to swallow his laugh, but it erupted. Taking her by surprise, he covered the distance between them and engulfed her in a tight embrace. “Oh, Abby, I’ve missed you.”
She held onto him, and for the first time in months, she felt comforted. “Y-you did?”
“So much. My days and nights have been unbearably miserable without you around to add a little color.”
Reluctantly, she stepped out of his arms to study him. “But, I …”
“I know,” he said. “I had ulterior motives when we met, as well.”
“Damian, I can’t tell you how sorry I am. There aren’t words.”
He shook his head. “I feel like I should apologize for causing you further grief by making your family’s secrets public. But, I want you to know that I kept the part about your parentage to myself, Abby. I may not have cared about the rest of your family, but I cared about you. I still care about you.”
“Thank you,” she said. “For trying to protect me even after what I did to you.” Blinking rapidly in an attempt to hold back the tears that kept trying to break through, she averted her gaze. “We’re both remorseful, but so much has happened. Your father is dead, and so is mine. Our relationship has been tainted by the murky past. We were doomed from the beginning. Star crossed lovers.”
Damian groaned. “For god’s sake Abby, this isn’t some tragic romance. Last I checked, either one or both of us have to be dead for it to become that. Since when did you become such a pessimist?”
“Since I spent months wallowing in self-pity and grief,” she said.
Fingers grasped her chin, forcing her to look into his dark eyes. “You once told me that you focus on the epic romances and not the tragedies. Why can’t you do that now?”
Abby nearly swooned, nearly dissolved into a puddle at his feet. He’d actually remembered that. For all of his toughness and coolness, Damian was the sweetest guy she’d ever met. “You really want to have an epic romance? Something ... real?”
He visibly swallowed. “Yes. I hope you were being honest when you said you fell for me…because I fell for you too. Hard, Abby.”
