2. MARKED

~ Damon ~

• • • • • ONE WEEK LATER - - - - -

Damon lay on his bed with his head facing the ceiling. His expression was stoic and his eyes were empty. It was eight in the morning but the room was dark. Damon didn’t bother getting up to open the curtains. Everything was pitch black and empty, just like his heart. The only sound that filled the room was the sound of his low breathing. And faintly, very faintly, he could almost hear the sound of his heart beating. It almost amazed him how that thing was still working after all that it’s been through.

I used to have it all… The whole world under my feet and my girl by my side.

Damon’s mind wandered to the days before the wedding and all the events that led to that fateful morning. Everything was magical. He had it all. He was going to end his enemies and marry the love of his life. They were going to live happily ever after... Until they don't.

Damon wasn’t the type of man who’d get blindsided. Ever since the attack on his wedding six years ago, he vowed to never be blindsided by his enemies again. He was careful, calculative, and cunning. He saw all the angles. He was winning. But what he didn’t realize was that his downfall didn’t come from outside forces. It came from someone much closer to home.

Why’d you do it…? Why’d you take my heart just to break it apart?

Damon couldn’t pinpoint exactly what went wrong. Sure, Violet was feeling stressed out and asking questions, but he thought that was normal. She was marrying into one of the biggest crime families in the nation, of course she had her worries. But for a while, it seemed like everything was under control. She said she was going to trust him. He didn’t think that it would ever lead to this.

I should’ve seen the signs. I shouldn’t have let my guard down…

• KNOCK * KNOCK *

The knocking sound at the door broke Damon’s train of thought. He didn’t answer it, but the door creaked open anyway.

“Hey,” Talia appeared, bringing a tray of food with her. She stepped into the room and Damon only turned his face to the side, facing the window this time.

“I brought you some breakfast,” she said again, but he was still not responding. “I’ll put them here, okay?”

Talia put the tray on the table and walked to the window. She pulled the curtains open and light flooded into the room. Damon frowned at the blinding lights and turned his face to the other side.

Talia watched the back of Damon’s head in silence for a moment before letting out a sigh. “Damon, listen, what happened out there—“

“Leave,” he cut her off sharply. “Please,”

“But—“

“Now,”

Talia or anyone else in the estate also didn’t know what exactly happened. All they knew was that they were getting ready for a wedding when a gunshot was heard. They found Damon bleeding to death on the floor of the abandoned church and Violet was gone without a trace. Damon’s men tried looking for her, but they couldn’t find her. Even her apartment was empty. Her mother and brother were also gone.

One minute, I was a powerful king. But now I’m just a man with nothing.

Talia let out another sigh before slowly walking to the door. She was a close friend to Violet, and even she didn’t know anything. She said Violet was acting nervous on that day, but she thought it was just the wedding jitters. No one could’ve seen this one coming. No one.

As the door was closed shut, Damon let out a deep breath and rolled off the bed. With lame steps, he went over to the window and pulled the curtains shut again. He found the darkness in the room comforting, and so he went back to bed, just surrounding himself with the emptiness.

---

More days passed, but Damon stayed in the same place. Dr. Lee went to see him every day to check his vitals. She said that he was doing good, but he’d beg to differ. Sure, he didn’t feel any pain, but he also didn’t feel anything at all. Morphine, drugs, or whiskey had no impact on him. There was nothing but paralyzing numbness inside.

Every day, he lay awake in bed just staring at the ceiling, thinking, wishing, and wondering about her. He wondered if he should’ve done things differently. He wished that he could redo some things. And most of all, he was still hoping that she’d come back somehow.

Wherever you are, my sweet girl, please just come home…

• KNOCK * KNOCK *

The knocking sound broke through his thoughts and he whipped his head up to see, just in case it was her coming in. But when he saw a man’s figure appearing at the door, Damon just rolled his eyes and thrashed his head back.

“Hey,” Adrian said, walking into the room with a file folder in his hand. “How are you feeling?”

Peachy. Never better.

“Skip the pleasantries, will you?” Damon scoffed. He knew that the consigliere wouldn’t come to him without any news. “What do you have?”

“Well, I got the reports from Dr. Lee,” Adrian said as he opened the file, reading some of it. “Honestly, you got lucky. We got to you just in time and the doctor was able to get the bullet out. It was a clean surgery, and it seems like you’re recovering… relatively well,”

“Hm. Yeah, right,” Damon stifled a dry laugh. “I’m very lucky,”

Adrian let out a sigh and closed the folder. Then he walked closer to the bed and sat at the chair next to it.

“We also managed to trace the gun that she used,” he said, pausing for a beat before continuing, “It’s registered to Dylan James Carvey. Her brother,”

Huh.

Damon narrowed his eyes and thought hard. When did Dylan give her the gun? Was it the week before the wedding when he came to see her?

“What about Hugo and the rest of them?” Damon asked. He received plenty of flowers and messages from Hugo and the other families, but everyone had left the estate.

“Well, after the… incident, Hugo and everyone went their separate ways. The wedding got canceled and they know it’s not safe to be here,” Adrian explained. “And we can’t continue with the plan since… you know,”

Since my life was hanging by a thread. Right.

“Don't worry though, no one suspected anything. As far as everyone’s concerned, you’re just a poor bastard who got shot at by your fiancée,” Adrian said with a dry chuckle.

Oh, that was a low blow.

Damon rolled his eyes and turned his head to the other side, refusing to see Adrian’s face.

“Hey,” Adrian said after a while of silence. “We’ll find her,”

Damon didn’t respond and just closed his eyes. Adrian knew that this meant he wanted to rest. Getting up to his feet, the consigliere took one last look at his boss before turning for the door. But once the door was closed, Damon’s eyes were open again.

We better find her.

---

• • • • • ONE MONTH LATER - - - - -

“Damon, it’s been over a month. You can’t keep doing this forever. You gotta get up some time. There are people who are waiting and counting on you!”

Talia was standing in front of the bed, giving Damon her daily dose of encouragement. Although he was almost fully healed, Damon hadn’t left his room at all. Every few days or so, Talia would come in there and try to talk him into getting up, but every day, he would find a reason not to.

“Get out,” he told her and thrashed his head back. “I’m not in the mood for this,”

Talia was about to argue some more, but the door suddenly opened and Adrian appeared.

“Hey,” he said.

“You too, get out,” Damon barked.

Adrian looked at Talia, but she just shrugged. Instead of obeying Damon’s command, Adrian stepped further inside.

“Well, okay, I can leave, but I got a piece of information you might be interested in,” he said.

Damon’s interest was piqued. He lifted his head up and nodded to him.

“Keep talking,”

Adrian let out a smile and pushed the door open further, revealing Liam at the doorway.

“Boss,” Liam said breathlessly like he had been running to get here. “We found her!”

Damon’s eyes jolted open and he got up from the bed almost instantly. He walked over to Liam who was holding onto a file folder, and he grabbed it away briskly. Damon quickly opened the file and scanned the report.

According to the report, Violet flew to Texas with her mom and brother on that very day. She was now residing in a small town in Austin. They got her address and there was even a picture of her taken in secret.

Damon took a moment to study the picture. This was the first time he saw her face in a month. It was hitting him like a brick wall. The picture showed that she was walking through some street with a bag of groceries in her hand.

She seems good, happy, and healthy…

“What do you want us to do, boss?” Liam asked. “We can fly out there right now. The jet’s already waiting at the tarmac,”

Damon took one last look at Violet’s picture. His thumb slowly grazed over her beautiful face. But suddenly, he closed the file shut and shoved it back to Liam.

I used to have it all. A family. A future. A life worth living.

Liam looked at Damon in confusion as he held onto the file. Meanwhile, Damon turned around and went for the nearby mirror. His shirt and signature black suit were hanging next to it. It was always prepared there for him just in case he wanted to wear them today.

“Boss?” Liam asked again.

Damon didn’t say a word as he stood in front of the mirror. He wasn’t wearing anything but slacks and a bandage over his wound. Slowly, he peeled the bandage away and it revealed a scar over his tattoo. It was hauntingly ironic how she shot him right at the tattoo of her name. The tattoo was somewhat ruined now, but he could still make out the letters… V R C.

Yeah. All I have now is just a broken heart and the scar you left behind.

• • • • • To Be Continued - - - - -