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After a while when Ayra stopped crying still in Damon’s embrace, he tilted his head down only to see his Amore sleeping all snuggled up in his arms. A soft genuine smile spread on his face and without thinking he pecked her forehead. A sniff caught his attention. When he looked at the person who’s sniff echoed in the cafe', he realised it belonged to Mels, Ayra’s friend, who had mascara running down her cheeks.

Zander raised his eyebrows in a questioning manner seeing Mels, thinking she’s faking it all. Mels wiped her eyes causing more mascara to get smudged and unintentionally yelled, “What?”. All four guys winced at her loud tone and glared at her when Ayra stirred a bit but thankfully she kept sleeping, too tired. Zander walked towards Mels and asked in his authoritative voice, “What is your name? And what do you know about Ayra?”. Mels looked at him, raised her eyebrows and said, “My name is Melanie Andrea Quins and Ayra is my best friend since the last 6 years and if she hears you are trying to find out about her, she won’t talk to you. She hates when anyone asks or snoops at her life or past.” 

Zander clenched his jaw at the tone. No one talks to him like that except his family. Blake, noticing the tension, calls Zander, “Zander come on, she’s right. Even after 7 years, she still hates anyone questioning her to others.” 
Zander glared at Mels and turned away, striding towards his people.
“Bella is tired! Let’s take her to our place so she can rest. She needs to heal”. Zander told Damon. Damon nodded and tucked a strand of her long dark brown hair behind her ears and carefully picked her up in his arms bridal style and quietly mumbled, “I am taking her car. Get her stuff and take care of the CCTV footage. She hates it when anyone sees her crying.”  

When Damon walked out of the cafe', a gust of wind blew causing Ayra to snuggle more in Damon and mumbled something inaudible about dogs. Damon softly chuckled and tightened his hold on her as if she’d disappear again. He settled at the backseat with her while Zander and Aiden settled with them in the same car and Blake in the other with their mens. 

Aiden was driving the car when he broke the silence by saying, “What are we doing with Ella and her daughter Laila?”. Damon, who was staring at his love in his arms, stayed silent lost in his admiration. Zander, who noticed this shaked his head smirking and said, “He won’t answer you Aiden, he is lost somewhere else and for the first time in seven years I don’t mind him being lost”. 

Aiden chuckled and said, “Now he won’t be a grump at least and he won’t get angry everyday because if he does get angry, Ri is going to get upset and then Damon would have to ask for forgiveness. God! I can’t wait to see Damon grovelling”. Damon, who heard all this, shaked his head smiling and said, “You assholes would enjoy seeing all that huh!”. Zander nodded, “Absolutely. We’d die for that shit.”

When they reached their hotel, Damon carefully laid her down in his bed and tucked her in. He kissed her forehead and caressed her soft cheeks. He sighed and lowly mumbled, “You look like mine! I’m going to make you mine soon. You’ll be the Queen you were always supposed to be. And I’ll make sure of that. My sweet little Baby.” He stood up and left the room slowly. 

In the lounge, he saw Aiden, Zander, Blake and the new girl - Ayra’s Bestfriend, Melanie. He raised his eyebrows in question. Blake answered the unasked question, “She wanted to stay with Ayra and she agreed to help us with anything related to Ri”. Damon nodded still sceptical about her and asked, “You said you’ve known her for 6 years, how did you meet her?”. Mels gulped, noticing all the attention on her. She loves attention but this attention was giving her anxiety. 

She replied saying, “I met Ayra at the park. I was playing there when I heard a whimper. I followed the sound and saw a girl my age curled up under a tree. She looked way too malnourished and had bruises on her face, arms and stomach which she was cradling. Some kids were surrounding her, taunting her about the bruises so I went up there and shooed them away. I asked her what happened so she said she was missing her daddy and her Lu. I didn’t know what to do or how to console her so I slapped her head lightly and offered her my gummy bears. She slowly reached out and Gobbled the bears like she was starving. I made her hold my hand and took her to my house to feed her starving belly. Since then we started meeting at the park and then eating at my house. Everyday I would notice some bruise or another and would question her about it but she stayed quiet. After a while when she became comfortable and noticed I wasn’t going to leave her, she told me about the abuse she faces daily from her Aunt. And not just her Aunt, but her aunt’s friends as well especially that asswipe Fernandez who tries to touch her inappropriately but Ayra never lets him and that is why he takes out his frustration on her by beating her up. The bruises from today are from him and Ella. I told her many times to file a complaint but she said Ella is her only family and she doesn't want to go to an orphanage or a foster home. We’ve been together for 6 years and just as I’m her rock, she’s also my rock. She's my only family and I would do anything to protect her from those monsters.”

When she looked up after speaking all that, her mouth fell down. Blake had tears running down his eyes. Aiden had his eyes closed, Zander was glaring at the wall with his fists clenched and Damon! Damon was shaking with fury, his hands clenched, jaw clenched and eyes showing pain and fury. ‘Someone is going to die soon’ was what Mels thought seeing this reaction. After controlling their emotions, Blake asked in a quivering voice, “You said you met 6 years ago. She was taken 7 years ago. What happened to her that year? Do you know?”.

Mels chuckled bitterly and said, “Something happened when she was kidnapped. She didn’t tell me a single thing about that time but she still has nightmares about that. I tried asking her but she goes in her head whenever I mention her nightmares so I stopped. And her nightmares are very bad, they’re almost like  night terrors. So you guys have to be careful”. 

Damon inwardly flinched hearing the word night terrors. Oh God! What has his baby gone through? Was he late? He shaked his head, forcing himself not to think negatively. His baby was strong, he was sure of it. He told everyone to rest as it was almost midnight and ordered Aiden to book a room for Mels, thanking her for telling all this. Zander raised his brows at Damon, as he never thanks anyone. 

Damon walked to his room to check up on Ayra only to find her stirring and crying still sleeping, mumbling, “Please no. Leave me. No…. No no no please.” Damon rushed towards her and started walking her up noticing that she was having a nightmare. Ayra started thrashing more and more when Damon touched her forcing him to stop touching her. She was having a night terror and he was feeling helpless. “Ayra, Mi Amore, wake up. It’s me Your Luca.” Damon kept repeating that close to her ears softly and slightly helped her shoulder when he noticed she was calming down. He slowly and gently encased her in his arms. When Ayra felt his warmth, she leaned on him and jerked awake breathing heavily. Tearing running down her eyes, she looked around and saw Luca sitting besides her, concern dripping in his eyes. A sob made a way out of her and Damon melted there. He slowly gathered her on his lap and hugged her tightly, whispering sweet nothings to her. She snuggled more in his warmth feeling safe and protected after witnessing the horrors of her nightmares. He started cradling her and soon she was out in his arms dozing off peacefully. 

Damon laid down on the bed with Ayra sleeping on him and kept rubbing her back lulling her to sleep. Slowly, Damon’s eyes also closed and for the first time in seven years, he slept. It was like his body also knew that now he can finally sleep peacefully as the souls were once again reunited after seven long years.