“You asshole!” Denise remarked.
“You cannot do this,” Rosalina cried. “That was supposed to be mine!”
“Oh, please, Rosalina. As if you ever truly had a shot at the money! It was supposed to be mine!” Catherine remarked.
The three of them began to bicker like the annoying shits they’d been until I called them out about it. “Take your conversation elsewhere. I don’t have time for you all,” I said.
“Time for us all? You’re practically robbing us!” Denise shot out.
“Just like you all robbed Stella of her self-esteem? She never wanted anything from you ladies except your love. All you ever did, instead was break her down. Out of jealousy, out of spite. I don’t know your reasons, but I do know that all three of you are cruel and unworthy. And I know for a fact that one of you is indeed, my mother, but I truly don’t give a damn. Because if you could be that evil to the love of my life, then I’d rather have nothing to do with you for the remainder of my time on this planet. Good day, ladies.”
They didn’t leave without argument, so I was forced to have security drag them away. The three of them were the least of my concern. All I wanted to do was come up with a way to make sure Stella was okay.
So, once I finished up at work, I headed home.
I went to the ocean. I didn’t know what I was doing or how to talk to it, but I tried. I knew Stella needed some form of healing, and truthfully, I was willing to try any and everything.
I talked to Kevin. I talked to the goddess that Maple mentioned, placing flowers into the water. But mostly, I talked to Sophie.
Stella’s mother never knew me. She never knew my name or the love I had for her daughter. She’d never shake my hand or hold me in an embrace. But if there was a God, and if the ocean really did hold Stella’s mother’s heartbeats, I needed to talk to her. I needed her to fix this, to heal her daughter. To tell me what I needed to do to make this better.
As I walked into the water, I prayed. I was probably shit at it, too, but I begged Sophie to watch over Stella. I begged her not to only be in the ocean with her love but also in the sand and in the air. In Stella’s heartbeats. I begged her to protect her from the other side, to love on her when Stella felt unloved. To never truly leave her side, even during the dark days.
Especially during the dark days.
I stayed in the water for hours. The day transitioned to night as I asked for Sophie’s help.
“Hi, Sophie. I know you don’t know me, but this is for Stella. I just need you to…” I took a deep breath. “Fix her. Fix this. Protect Stella and the baby. Make sure they both are okay. Make sure they both make it out of this. That’s all I’m asking. If you need a soul, take mine. Take me, Sophie. But please…” I whispered, my voice cracking. “Don’t take my girls.”
I immersed myself in the water. I lost myself in the waves. When I came out, I was shocked to see a person standing at the coast, staring my way.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, baffled seeing Denise standing there.
I walked toward her with confusion in her eyes. She looked disheveled and a bit nervous.
“Hi, Damian.”
“I thought I made myself clear today at the office that I wanted nothing to do with you or the others.”
“Yes, I know.” She still stood there, looking batshit crazy.
“Is there an issue?” I asked.
“Yes.” She nodded. “I just wanted to tell you the truth.”
“The truth?” Was this it? Was she confessing to being my mother? Was she telling me that after all this time, she was ready to tell me?
Before she replied, she walked over to me and rubbed her hand against my forearm. My mind was spinning, trying to gasp the news I was about to receive. Then she pulled something out of her purse, and seconds I felt a stab in my arm. I looked down to see a needle in my arm, and confusion hit me.
Did this bitch just stab me?
“What the hell, De—” Before the words could fall from my tongue, I was out cold.
35
Damian
* * *
My eyes felt heavy, and I struggled to open them. I began throwing up violently to my left. My stomach felt as if it was being ripped around from the insides.
“What the fuck is going on?” I asked, shifting in a chair. I felt dizzy. My hands were somehow forced behind my back with metal. My mind was in disarray as I tried to shake off the taste of acid sitting within my throat.
“Oh, he’s up! He’s up! Ladies, get over here,” a voice said in a whisper-shout. A voice that I was certain belonged to Denise.
“How much did you give him, Denise?! He looks like a zombie,” another replied. I was pretty certain it was Catherine.
“Don’t yell at me!” Denise shouted back. “You weren’t the one who had to load this giant into your car. I gave him just enough, okay?”
“Don’t act like I didn’t help you get him in the car,” Rosalina observed.
Holy shit.
Did I die and go to my own personal hell?
As my eyes struggled to open, I found myself staring at the three wicked stepmothers. They were all sitting in a row on three chairs as I sat in the middle of a living room. Tied up. After being stabbed with some fucking needle.
“What’s going on?” I muttered, annoyed by the women in front of me. I glanced behind my back at what was keeping my hands tied up. “And fuzzy handcuffs?”
“Those are designer handcuffs,” Rosalina remarked. “Versace. Extremely exclusive.”
“Oh, please, Rosalina. We know you got those rip-offs from the New York alleyways. That’s not Versace, that’s Versac-no,” Catherine remarked.
“I know fake Malibu Barbie isn’t talking about rip-off products. Seeing how your nose is a rip-off of a Kardashian and your tits are a rip-off of Pamela Anderson,” Rosalina shot back.
Catherine sneered. “You are such a bitch. Do you know—”
“What the actual living fuck is going on?!” I shouted, making the arguments come to a halt. A wave of nausea hit me, but I pushed it down the best I could.
They all sat back in their chairs as if they were surprised by my outburst.
“You don’t have to yell,” Rosalina stated. “And the attitude isn’t really called for.”
“I’m handcuffed to a chair with my ankles tied after being stabbed with God knows what and kidnapped by three psychopaths.”
“You really aren’t a very nice guy,” Denise commented. “Besides, it was just a dose of ketamine. I got it from my doctor under the table. It knocks you right out, doesn’t it?” she said as if she was proud of being batshit insane.
I cocked an eyebrow. I tried to shift myself in the chair as a cramp crept up my arm. “Untie me.”
“We can’t,” Rosalina said. “I mean, we will, obviously, but we can’t now.”
“Why not?”
“Because, if we untie you, you’ll leave. And we can’t have you leaving…at least not yet,” she replied.
“Why not?” I asked.
“Because based on the will, if you and Stella are apart for more than forty-eight hours, the contract is void, and the money is divided between the three of us,” Catherine explained, gesturing toward herself and the other two wicked witches of the west.