That Cliche Waitress

60

KIARA

"No."

"Lucas, accompany Dana to her room. She's under your surveillance 24/7 for now." Damien instructed.

"Damien. Please." Dana held on to Damien's arm, pleading.

"Kiara, we should leave. We have some things that need to be done." Damien held my hand, tugging me outside.

We both got into the car and quickly pulled out of the driveway. I looked down at my phone to text Dina to let her know we were on our way.

"Kiara. You're not going to like this..." Damien started, trailing between words. There was no sign of the Damien who spoke every word with confidence.

"What?"

"I have to tell you everything. And we need to get married."

"Are you out of your mind? You already know there's no way in hell I'm marrying you." I laughed.

"You have no choice." Damien blurted. 

"You know what Damien? I'm sick and tired of you-- a man I barely know--  dragging me into shit I don't know." 

"He knows you."

"Who knows me? What are you even talking about? What kind of hell did you drag me into? I have the right to know, Damien!"

Damien pulled to the right, stopping the car. I turned to him, stunned at our abrupt stop on the highway.

"Well?" 

"When I was 20, I made the only mistake in my life." Damien started explaining. I scoffed at his arrogance.

He continued, "I made a business deal with a man I barely knew."

"Hey, I know this story from somewhere... Sounds familiar," I interrupted. He led me into making the same mistake he had done once. Great. Speaks volume on his reliability. 

"He was involved in many illegal activities and used me to make easy money -- illegal money. Of course, I had no knowledge of this at the time. If I had, I would never have agreed upon this deal. And as soon as I figured out what was going on behind my back, I terminated the agreement. But, there was a time frame on our deal. So, I paid them a hefty amount of money to get rid of all my bonds with them. At this time, Dana was an intern. She was frequently in contact with this man...

Kiara, the baby is his. HIS BLOOD! Can you believe this shit? My sister continued to meet up with this man after I had broken all ties with him. I caught them once and warned her. That's why I said this had happened before."

"And that's why you were furious with her upon learning the baby was his." I connected the dots.

"You understand now?" Damien sighed in relief.

"Yeah, I mean I get it. But, how does it connect to me?" I asked.

"That man, Angelo, he doesn't love my sister. He uses her. I know what love is and what they have is not it. But now, she's carrying his blood and nothing else could be more important to him right now. He won't let go of my sister, Kiara. I've never felt this helpless."

"Oh, Damien." I caressed his shoulder, giving him a heartfelt smile. He truly loved his sister.

But, of course, I had to consider that this story was biased. I would have to listen from Dana's perspective as well.

"He told me he'd hurt you if I didn't allow Dana to come to him with her own consent."

"Me? What kind of leverage is that? I'm nothing to you."

"He knows you as my fiancee, the woman I'm going to marry. I can't let you get hurt from this stupid agreement."

"Oh my God. Are you serious? What the fuck, what the fuck..." I left the car and paced around. 

"Kiara, calm down." Damien stepped out and stopped me.

"I'm sorry, Damien. When you have no family, marriage isn't something you can take this lightly. I can't marry you."

"It won't be a real marriage."

"I.. me and you... it's dangerous Damien. I don't trust you--or myself-- in that situation." I gulped.

"More dangerous than Angelo and what he could do to you? I can protect you, Kiara."

"I don't know."

"Look, I'm not head over heels for you. I wasn't dying to get married anytime soon, either. But, I know this man. I know what he can do."

"I'll go to the police. Get under some sort of Witness Protection Program. I don't know. There must be ways around this man."

"Kiara, if anything happens to you because of me, I won't forgive myself."

"Why do we have to get married? Why can't we just stay engaged?"

"You've met my family. Once they bring someone home it means official business. And we'll also legally be bonded."

"Ugh, Damien. I don't know, alright? When are we getting married? For how long? What about Dina? What's going to happen to Dana? I have so many questions."

"Okay, no stress. I'll answer all your questions. Let's get in the car." 

Damien was so soft-spoken. This man had a thousand different sides to him. Red flag. He could be manipulating me.

"We'll get married within this week. The sooner the better. And we'll stay married for about a year. Until the baby is born and we can figure the rest out from there." Damien explained, "What else?"

"Dina. She's the only family I have in this world. I want her to be safe, too."

"So when we get married, we're going to have to live with my parents. I know you don't like the idea but it's the only way I can keep us all together and safe. We can invite Dina to live with us as well. You can let her know of the situation but she cannot know of this marriage. No one can know about this."

"What do I have to do? What kind of a marriage would this be?"

"Just what we've been doing."

What we've been doing... I definitely need to set restrictions on the things we'd be doing.

"And Dana?" I asked my final question.

"She'll have the baby. I'll have to do everything to keep in contact with her while she's with Angelo. But after that... well, don't worry about the rest. So? What do you say?"

"Let's just get this over with."