Love Aint Always Pretty

Valiant

- acting or showing courage; very brave

Origin: Middle English

88

I couldn't find anything straight to think on how to say to Damon that it's not true because I couldn't fake it. My emotion on my face right now is probably obvious. I couldn't speak or say anything about it because I don't know how to lie about this matter.

"I didn't know you two were college lovebirds with Nick cos if I did I would've stopped you earlier from working on Devaloines." He states.

I gulped.

How did he know such information?

"Good thing I had a reliable source. Penny Houston? Yeah, your colleague. She works for me in New York. Kurt spilled it out too, he needed money, so I forced him. That gay." He adds.

I gaped.

My blood boils hearing that bitch's name again and until now she's still ruining my life. Even after college life. I think she really does envy me. Penny, I hate you so much that I couldn't explain how much I hate you. And I hated how Damon causally called Kurt gay to think the three of us have been great friends in college. Kurt even helped him a lot too. The nerve of this guy is too much!

"You may be wondering how'd I know about the father to your baby?" He asked me.

I hate that tone on him.

I couldn't answer him back because he caught me off guard. I'm standing before him with my mouth shut close. Damon is always a genius and I hate it that he's too intelligent, his mind thinks of way I couldn't believe he could even do nor think. I even wondered why he didn't pursue on criminology. He could've been a good investigator or detective.

He smirks and points to his temple.

"I'm a genius Savannah. I love solving things and you know that." He tells me.

I feel my tears gathering in my eyes because I'm getting so mad at him. He's saying things that are true and I hate it that he's rubbing it on my face.

"It was pretty simple. The bartender at the hotel on your bachelorette's party. That bar?" He snapped.

Oh god. Oh my goodness no. I'm sure he paid the bartender to say anything he needs to know about that night. Shit, I could still vaguely remember what I said that time. Jesus.

"Counted the months back when you had your first trimester and it all led to that party. I knew it had to be on that party. Caught you on CCTV again with Nick entering another hotel room. And you fucked each other all fucking night." He says and my heart breaks into billions of pieces.

My lips are trembling and I'm too embarrassed of what he found out. It's true. Yes it is but hearing it coming from Damon makes me worst of a wife than what he has been doing to me. He's physically hurting me but I'm emotionally hurting him.

"I'm right on everything, right? Or did I miss out something from the juicy details?" He asked me.

I shake my head in disbelief of what he said to me. I couldn't dare look into his eyes. It's too much. This is too much.

"You know, it was pretty hard on my part during the Stag party cos all I ever thought of was you so I tried to stop myself from getting tempted of the naked women before me. But you." He walks closer to me. "You simply fucked a guy days before your wedding and got yourself pregnant. What a bitch." He adds and looks at me disgustingly.

"Shut up." I spit.

I quickly wiped my tears away and I feel so tiny of myself. But Nick and I made the baby with love and I don't blame myself that Damon couldn't get me pregnant. I didn't expect Nick would get me pregnant that night. I don't regret that night anyway, it was the best of all nights after being away from him. But you couldn't stop me from feeling so guilty of what I've done behind Damon's back and guilty for not telling Nick the truth about our child.

"Now let's see, I have this marvelous deal with you." He says.

I try to keep my composure together.

He smiles. "Your company is on the brink of closing."

My eyes widened and my tears fall.

"Your father has sold his share from the company, a few of your properties too and I think your family is on bankruptcy. You're poor now Savannah because your father wasted it all in casino." He tells me. "They're doctors. Licensed doctors. You don't know what you're saying." I said.

He grins. "They aren't practicing their field anymore and they have expired license because they're too focus on their companies. To be honest, your brother has sold some of his belongings as well to pay up your parents debts."

"You're lying. They have millions of savings!" I say with fists curled into a ball.

"Wasn't enough to pay your debts. I didn't know your father had been having secret problems on his addiction to casinos." He clicks his tongue.

I'm so mad at Damon that I regretted the day I married him. I'm so mad that I want to pull out this IV from me and drag it down to his throat. He is undeniably being a dickass jerk and wipes it to my face that my family is having financial crisis. He is seriously rubbing it on my face, making it look like karma has got me after what I did behind his back.

"Now to clear it out, I am willing to help your father though I hate that guy to the bones because he only wants me to marry you cos of my money." He adds.

Even though it's true, I'm still mad at him for saying it.

"For me to save your dying company, I want you to never tell Nick he's the father of your baby. You'll stop seeing him. You'll totally forget about him. It's as easy as that." He continues on saying his proposition. It's not as easy as how he said it.

"You want me to lie to Nick?" I asked.

"Yes." He says so proudly.

I shake my head in disagreement.

"He's the father to my child Damon. He has the right to know." I spit.

"Never ever tell him he's the father to your child or I won't help your family. Maybe, I'll learn to love her." He adds.

Why do I need to sacrifice a lot of things for the people that are close to me and hurt myself?

I look at him and I know Damon is serious about this. Of course he is serious. He's using my family's financial crisis problem against me. But I'm scared of what's gonna happen in the future for me and my child. Damon has changed his attitude and he's always gonna be jealous over little things I do with other guys. He will definitely guard me 24/7 now, every second of every day and he'll be much stricter for

sure.

I don't want him to hurt my child. I don't want him to lay a finger on her skin and definitely not on her hair. If he would do that, I would want him to do that to me instead.

"You know I'm not a bad man Savannah." He holds my arms.

Screw you.

"Lets start a new life." He says.

My tears are still building behind my eyes because I'm so mad at him and that u can't do anything about it. He is indeed blackmailing me but what can I do? I have no choice. I have to help my family. I didn't know dad was addicted to casino. No wonder he wants me to marry a rich man so badly because he's been having this huge debt since before. I'm so angry at everything related to my dad cos he always ruin my life. I want to punch these walls that are around me but I'm too weak.

I'm so mad at myself because I know I couldn't do anything. I have no choice on what to do but to agree to Damon and even though I'll ask Nick for help and he could help me on this, I know his wife won't ever mind about us. I think Nick is mad at me too after what Damon fed her thoughts about lies between me and Aries. He'll be more mad once he'll know I lied to him about Melissa.

Aries could help me too, but his money won't be enough to save my family and he has done too much for me. Damon is filthy richer than Aries and he is the only one who can help me, aside from Nick's undeniably huge wealth. It would be too shameful to ask for Nick's help after what my father did to him. I know he wouldn't help. He would even be happy about this matter.

"I will be a good husband to you." He says.

My heart is still beating fast and I don't trust him but I need to stay by his side because I need money for my baby and for my family.

"Savannah... What do you say?" He asks.

I nod weakly because I have nothing else to do. He opened his arms and hugged me. I let him hold me even if I don't want to. My life with Damon feels like I'm living inside a prison that I can't escape and I can't come out because it's either I'm too weak to fight him or I'm too scared to find out things that will happen once I step out from my shell.

"So, what did you name the baby?" He asked while pulling himself away from me.

I took a deep breath in and exhaled, "Melissa Nicholeen." I say confidently to piss him off.

His eyes looked at me intently and I know he's mad but I try so hard not to smile at him.

"Why that name?" He asked.

"Melissa is the name of Nick's mother. Nicholeen is the combination of Nick's name and my second name." I narrated as I see irritation from his eyes.

"I love it." I added.

I see him curling his fist into a ball but then releases it. "I don't like it."

"Well, you can control my life by manipulating me and blackmailing me Damon. But I'm not gonna let you change my daughter's name just because you don't like it. Nick has the right to name her, she's our child. Not yours." I breathe.

He inhales deeply and holds it in for a few seconds then exhaled it all out. Damon's green eyes is full of anger, jealousy, and hatred. I am scared of him but I know I shouldn't be. I have to be strong for Melissa. I have to be strong for myself. I have to be song for my family as well.

"Fine. I won't touch her name but she won't be carrying my last name." He says.

I try not to throw myself at him. I try to keep my composure together.

"She's not mine." He spits.

"I wouldn't want her to become a Patricks anyway." I say back.

.....

Since Melissa was a pre-mature baby cos I gave birth to her when she was only eight months old, she stayed in the hospital for about a week before we finally took her home. Damon paid for every expenses from the bill and as promised he will help my dad's business bloom again.

As much as I want to say I'm happy for my family that he's helping them, I can't fully say I am really happy for myself and where I am stuck now because I couldn't feel happiness at all.

After a few months have past since my delivery and Damon changed his attitude a lot He has become even much more worst than before. Every move I make, whether I am inside or outside the house, he's guarding me almost 24/7 and it's choking me. He's worst than my dad. Believe it or not, I have three bodyguards following me everywhere I go when I leave the house. He's being ridiculous and very possessive of me. I hate it.

Aries would still call me and when Damon would know about it, he would sometimes fight with me. We fight a lot because he's becoming too jealous over everyone around me. One time he even got jealous of that bodyguard he hired, so he fired him. Now talk about becoming obsessive.

Damon wouldn't take care of Lissa too. He wouldn't mind if her diaper is full or Lissa's starving and he wouldn't ask her nanny to put her to sleep. I hate Damon and how he became such a jerk. His own jealousy is eating him and I am so mad that I couldn't even go out alone where no one is following me.

He would still physically hurt me, he

wouldn't stop until he's satisfied. There wouldn't be a day where he won't hurt me. One time he brought me to the emergency room because my stitch after giving birth was

bleeding because he kept pul no

me around the furnitures. Sometimes he would lock me up our room when he's intensely mad and he wouldn't let me out for two days or three. I know I should do something about it but I just couldn't. I'm too scared of how

capable he is.

There was one time when I was about to tell Aries that Damon keeps on hurting me, little did I know that he was behind my back and he heard it. He beat me up till I became violet as plum. He had to hide me inside the room until my bruises were gone so the maids won't know about it.

The other incident was when I tried

to call Aries again and I didn't know that he was secretly recording my every call from the phones at home after that incident when he caught me talking to Aries about it. He hit me hard after that too. Sometimes I think he forgets Im a woman and that I am still his wife. I know how he does it but every move I make in this house feels like a trap.

A bomb that's about to explode with

one touch.

There were several nights when he would come home late, he is drunk as hell. He would force me to have sex with him even if I don't want to. He would hurt me if I wouldn't let him and then he would hit me hard on my stomach till I feel nauseated, he'd tie me on the bed so I won't be able to move away from him and he would fuck me till he's satisfied.

There were nights when I would always end up pitying myself for what he has done. I would take a look at myself in front of a mirror and ask how did I have a life like this?

I couldn't tell anyone about what I'm going through because Damon had taunted me that he would hurt Melissa if I would inform anyone from anybody that I know. I wouldn't want him to do that. Melissa is still so young and she's not involve in any of this mess.

I hate the kind of life my dad had chosen for me. I'm always the one who is suffering.

"Happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday dear Lissa!" Everyone was singing her a happy birthday song.

"Blow your candles Lissa!" One called out.

I smiled at my beautiful five year old daughter with her brownish-blond wavy hair, that she got from Nick, all in a pretty ponytail. She grew up really quickly. She looks so happy wearing her pink dress too and smiled at me the second she finally blew her candles out. I bend down close to her and kissed her forehead. Everyone was clapping and wishing her a happy birthday while she politely says her thank you. Five years have gone by, it felt like a blink of an eye, since I heard from Nick nor heard or seen my friends. Can you even believe it? Nick could stand five years without seeing and calling me back or even to check up on me on how I have been after giving birth. But I received nothing.

Damon had cut my ties from my friends and I couldn't do anything about it at all. I haven't seen anybody from my college years. I feel so hopeless at this huge mansion.

Sometimes I pity Melissa because she would try so hard to please Damon but Damon would shut her out all the time. Damon wouldn't give her a chance. But I am thankful that my daughter is as wonderful as her real father. She's as patient and as kind hearted like Nick.

Every time I look at Melissa, I remember and see Nick in her. She resembles a lot like Nick. Her blue eyes with the same hue as Nick's. The color of her hair. And almost everything. They would even ask me if Damon is the father of Lissa but I wouldn't want to answer them.

I think Damon hated Melissa because he knows too that he sees Nick in her.

I start looking for where Damon was since the guests were looking for him and it would look bad if he won't show up. He does it all the time when it's Lissa's birthday. I would always find him inside his office,

drinking.

As I was about to push the opened door wider, a voice stopped me from entering.

"Hide it like the rest." It's Damon.

What is he talking about?

"Sir, your wife will find out about this sooner or later." I hear Mr. John talking.

"Damn it John!" He yells. "I'm the one who's paying you, so you follow what I say!"

There was silence.

"Hide it before Savannah sees it!" He yells.

I barged inside the room and both of them flinched when they saw me.

"Hide what?" I spit.

SFTC:

Let Her Go - Passenger