Love Like This

Truth Or Dare

Damien's POV

I watched Chloe lose her mind all night, and that made me feel helpless; not being able to help her was torture, and with that torture came the painful memory of the man I was when I came to her.

After what she suffered from her husband, I knew that she wouldn't want to be with a man like me. I was going to risk it all and tell her the truth last night, but when I saw how worried she was, I couldn't tell her.

I want her to get to know me, but I don't know if I can hide my past from her. If I am going to be with her, she needs to know the kind of man I am, but before that, I had to know if there was a chance for us to be together.

I took a leap of faith and told her that I wanted to be with her. I couldn't stall it any longer. She had to know how I felt about her, I just didn't think that she would explode a huge bomb on me. She just told me that she's pregnant.

Now this changes things. This is no longer just about her but about the little child she's carrying. The world I want to bring her to is dangerous. She wouldn't want her child around that.

My family is complicated; I come from a long line of Mafia bosses. I have always known my place in the family, that I was to take over after my father, but that wasn't given.

I have a brother and a sister, my sister doesn't want anything to do with the family, and my twin brother wants nothing more than to take over my place in the family business. When my father died last year, I had to prove myself to my uncles that I was ready to take after my father.

When the time came, I was appointed the leader of my family. It is no secret that my brother didn't like the decision taken by my uncle, even though deep down inside, he knew that I was the right person for this.

My brother is nothing like me; he is impulsive, does things without asking, and is too quick to pull the trigger; a man like that cannot lead our family; still, as my brother, I kept him close.

I am beginning to think that he didn't like that either; it would explain what happened, the plane crash, and why they haven't been able to find me. Still, I have to go back to my family; I am just not going back alone.

" How far along are you?" I asked her.

" About fourteen weeks, that is why I left," she said to me.

" You said that you found a reason to live; you were talking about this, weren't you?" I asked her.

" Yes, this is what I meant, " she said to me.

" Still doesn't change how I feel about you," I said to her. I meant every word; fine, I was a bit blindsided by the pregnancy issue, but if she gives me a chance, I will love that baby like my own, not to mention that it somehow works in my favor.

" Come on, D, are you going to tell me that you are not bothered by the fact that I am going to have another man's baby?" she said to me.

" No, I am not. The fact of the matter is that I am developing strong feelings for you, I will take care of you and that baby, and I will protect you both with my life, whatever life I had before I met you doesn't matter, I want a future with you in it," I said to her.

I took her hand and pulled her gently towards me. I looked deep into her eyes, she didn't say anything; she didn't need to. I could feel it, too, the feeling of wanting to kiss her. I leaned in enough to feel her breath but didn't touch her lips.

She didn't say anything; she stood on her tip toes, put her arms on my neck, and looked at me deep into my eyes; she kissed me, and I kissed her back. She broke the kiss and put her head on my chest.

" What are we doing, D?" she said to me.

" Getting to know each other," I said to her.

" I need to find Gabby," she said to me.

" I know..." I said to her.

" I am so tired of all of this, Derrick is a monster," she said to me.

I didn't say anything because I knew I wouldn't be able to hold back my anger and rage towards that man. Still, I have a more pressing issue on my hands.

I need to tell Chloe the truth about me; I remember everything now; I can't keep on lying to her, and yet I fear that I would lose her just as I had found her.

" So pretty lady, are we doing this thing or not?" I said to her.

" I guess we are, but I need us to take our time, at least until I get my divorce from Derrick," she said to me.

" Does this mean that he got the divorce papers?" I asked her.

" Yes, I decided to do things your way, I asked Tessa to file an emergency junction to get them ready ASAP. He should have received it by now. It would explain why I can't find Gabby," she said to me.

Her phone rang on the table; she went to see who it was, her eyes lit up, and she answered it. I excused her and went to the living room, for the first time since I was here, the TV was working perfectly.

As for the WiFi network, let's just say that it has been offline for some time now. I want to be the one to tell Chloe about my life; I don't want her to read about it in some article on the web because then she would also be afraid of me.

She came back into the room, and she didn't look too good.

" What's wrong?" I asked her.

" My mother is out of the hospital, which is good; Tessa has organized for her to leave town," she said and sat down.

" And?" I asked her.

" She went to Gabby's house to check on her, and she found the burner phone, she said that it looked like Gabby hadn't been home in days, I don't know if I will be able to forgive myself if anything happened to her, all because she chose to help me," she said to me.

" Look, I don't think Derrick will hurt his mother," I said to her.

" You don't know that man," she said.

" Bang! Bang! Bang!" A loud knock came from the door.

"It's him! It's Derrick! He found me!" Chloe said she was shaking like a leaf.

" Hey, I'm here, okay? He won't hurt you, I promise," I said to her.

" Bang! Bang Bang!" Another loud knock came.

" Oh God, we need to hide. We need to hide now!" she said.

" Chloe, relax. I will go and get the door," I said to her. She got up from the couch and followed me to the door. She stood behind me as I opened the door.

" Oh, thank God! Boss, you're alive!" Sergio said to me.

" s**t!" I cursed under my breath a little.

" D, do you know him? Can you remember who he is?" Chloe asked me.

Now it was at this moment that I realized that my plan to keep my life away might have just gone up in smoke.

" Yes, I remember him, are you alone?" I said to him.

" No, we have a whole team in the area searching for you. Your mother insisted on it, we knew it wasn't you from the first day," he said to me.

" What do you mean you knew it wasn't me, Sergio?" I said to him.

" It's your brother, Domenico. He has taken over everything," he said to me.

" Impossible, my mother would never let him take over. She would rather let it all go to Issa," I said to him.

" She would if she thought it was you. He has taken over your identity; the whole team out there thinks that they are searching for him; your brother stole your identity," he said to me.

" Sergio, how did you get here?" I asked him.

" There's a chopper inbound. They can come here," he said to me.

" Good, tell them to come," I said to him.

" Excuse me, gentlemen. You!" Chloe said, looking at me like she was about to slap the living lights out of me.

" You told me that you didn't have your memories, he shows up and you suddenly remember everything?" she said to me.

" Chloe, it's not like that," I said to her.

" Well, what is it like then?" she asked me.

" I'll explain later, grab what you can, we are leaving," I said to her.

" Wait a minute now! We are leaving? I am not going anywhere with you!" she said to me.

" Chloe, you need to listen to me, okay? This place is no longer safe, not for me or you; I know where we can be safe. We need to go, now!" I said to her.

" Like hell we are! These people came for you, not me!" she said to me.

" Chloe, I don't have time for this, now you can grab what you are going to need, or we will just have to buy everything in New York!" I said to her.

" We are going to New York?" she asked me.

" Yes, that's my home," I said to her.

" Sir, the chopper will be here in five minutes," Sergio said.

" Look, I know that all of this is confusing right now, but I promise you, I'll tell you everything later, okay? I need you to trust me," I said to her.

" I will come with you, only because I don't know what you might have dragged me into, but what we spoke about before that knock, it's done, I can't trust you," she said and went upstairs.

" Where is my uncle? Where is Guiseppe?" I asked him.

" Guiseppe has taken over operations on the east side. It looks like he wants to take over everything," he said to me.

" And that i***t Domenico let him? His twin brother didn't trust him to take over. That is why he left me in charge! I fall out of the grid for one week, and everything falls apart?" I said to him.

" Sir, they believe that Domenico is you. He has managed to fool everyone, everyone but your mother, he doesn't even know that we are here," he said to me.

" And the plane?" I asked him.

" Frozen in a lake, about two hours south of here," he said to me.

I knew my twin was cunning, but even I didn't see this. Those men who attacked me on the plane were sent by him. The necklace that I was wearing was a gift my father gave to me; Domenico wanted it, so I gave it to him; those men had that necklace with them. The only way they could have it was if my brother gave it to them.