Chapter 15: The Switch
"What do you want, Adrien?"
Damien knew Adrien was attempting to get Layla by herself. He wasn't sure why, though.
"Sit." Adrien demanded. "We have much to talk about."
"I'd rather stand. Just say whatever you want to say."
Adrien stomped up to Damien, all 6 feet of his slender form dwarfing Adrien's measly 5 foot 6 inches.
Adrien slapped Damien across the face so hard he fell into the seat behind him.
"Know your place, boy! If I say sit, you sit your ass down!" Adrien's face turned a bright shade of purple as he screamed down at his fake son. "You have a choice to make, and I promise you it won't be easy.
"I've seen your smiles shared with that girl. If I had known you'd actually like her I wouldn't have chosen her.
"You've been defiant ever since I saw you two in the study together."
Damien cut him off. "Yeah, I'm happy so now you have to ruin it. Same old song and dance we've done for the past 12 years. What are you taking this time?"
"That depends on you."
"What?" Fear had lept into his stomach. If it was a choice, it was going to be a hard one.
"Layla or Josephine?"
Damien's eyes widened in shock and disbelief. He stared into the ice blue orbs that held daggers.
"Why is it so important to you for me to be unhappy?! Did I have say in my existence?! I do what you tell me to even though it isn't my fault you aren't my father! Why do you do this?!"
"Choose, boy. Or I'll take them both!" Adrien's hands smashed down onto the table, thunder ringing from the force.
Damien stared down in defeat. His voice was barely a whisper when he said, "can I have a day?"
"You can have an hour," With that Adrien left the study calling back "and you'll spend that hour in here."
The car had just started to depart when Layla got a call from Damien.
"Oh, love. We've just begun to leave but we can turn back to come get-"
"I'm sorry."
"Sorry for what, dear?" Layla's voice quivered slightly.
"It's been 12 years. I had to choose her." She heard the anguish and hurt in his voice. Anger clouded her every move and thought.
"I understand. Damien?"
"Yes, Layla?"
"I love you. I'm not mad at you. But I will kill him. I'll do it for both of us." Then she directed her voice to Romanov. "Turn the car around, we're going back."
"I love you, too." She could hear the tears in his throat being choked on before the line went silent.
Layla walked into the manor, again. People were still in the dining area enjoying their time as she passed to get to the study.
Arms enveloped her as she entered the door.
An anguished voice rang in her ears. "I love you so much. I'm so sorry."
"Hey," Layla said in a soothing voice. "Enjoy your mom's company as much as you can. I will be fine. I can handle this."
"Enough. Take Josephine and leave, boy."
Damien kissed her with all he had until a searing pain pulled at her skull.
"Ah!"
Adrien held a clump of her hair still connected to her scalp.
"Leave! Before I change my mind!"
Damien ushered Josephine out of the study but not before she could see a lone tear fall down his cheek as he turned.
"What do you want you evil devil?! What does he have to do for you to let him be?!"
"Because the best way to hurt Josephine for her betrayal was to make sure her bastard son would never smile a day in his life without paying for it."
"That's terrible!"
Felici walked in just then and grabbed hold of Layla's arm. "What are you going to do with me?"
"I'm not sure, yet. I hadn't expected you to look like this. The timid little dame turning into a bold and angry temptress. I have to say, I think I see why he has an interest in you."
Layla stared in horror at the implication he had left from his words. A shiver ran down her spine.
"I will make you hate him. I will make you want to kill him. And then, and only then, will I let you go. When you heart burns and yearns to rid this planet of his existence just as mine does."
"I will never hate him! You don't have the power to make that happen!"
"You have no idea how much power I have. but you'll find out. Felici, take her to her quarters. Don't worry Layla Darling, that's what he called you, right? Your room will be much better than Josephine's."
Felici grabbed her by her waist, placing a wet cloth over her mouth. Everything went black and her body went limp. Anger and sadness turning into darkness as her consciousness left her.
"My sweet boy, I'm so sorry."
"With everything I have been through for the last 12 years I deserve one piece of decency. Tell me who my father is."
"I can't."
"He has ruined my life for over a decade, stolen my own mother, and now has taken the only woman I have loved in my entire life! Because of your infidelity! Yet you can't even tell me who I share my DNA with?!"
Damien punched the wall in the foyer leaving a hole, anger filled his every pore and molecule.
He stomped off to the study shooting a glare towards his mother before turning to Romanov.
"She is not to enter this room under any circumstances. Have I made myself clear?"
"Yes sir, of course sir."
"Show her to the room Layla had to hide in because of her. I still don't want to know where it is."
"Damien! Why did you choose me if I were going to be treated like this? Why did you send her with him?"
"Because although I hate you, mother, I still love you. Because even though your mistake has ruined any chance I'll ever have at happiness, you are still my mother. But I am angry. Angry at my life, angry at how I have no choice in it."
With that he slammed the door shut.
"This way, ma'am. You'll enjoy the room. Layla made it her own because she thought she would be spending more time in there under short notice. You would have liked her."
"Romanov, is she really that wonderful?"
"Miss Josie, she is absolutely amazing. I never thought I'd see any other side of young master. It only took her a few days to thaw out his frozen heart." Romanov sighed inwardly. "But Adrien knows how to freeze it within a day no matter what kind of warmth she brought him."
"Oh my sweet boy. Thank you for keeping our secret. I know it can't have been easy."
"Of course, ma'am. But I don't think it's necessary anymore. You were only protecting Adrien. What's the point in the now?"
"He is still my husband. I still love him. I understand his anger at me. I can take it. If he finds out who Damien's father is and how, Adrien will never be able to live it down."
"You're more worried about your husbands emotions than your sons?"
"I love my husband, Romanov."
"Yes, and Damien loves his wife, yet he chose you."
"What are you saying, Romanov?"
"Layla doesn't deserve to be where she is right now. And if Damien knew the truth, I promise you he would have chosen Layla. I respect you, ma'am. But I respect Damien more.
"He could have chosen to hate the world but instead he chose to hate himself. He finally let himself feel a glimmer of happiness, but your selfishness has made him give it up.
"I don't know who is worse. You or Adrien. You deserve each other."
Romanov shut the door to the study, locking it with a soft click.
"I hope you know what you've done." He spoke from the other side of the door. "The only reason I'm keeping quiet is because I don't go back on my promises. I will take my punishment for keeping this from Damien, but you should know, the truth will always come out."
Romanov left her alone in the study Layla had decorated so happily with Damon the day before the horrid ball. Josephine would figure out just how great of a person the girl she condemned was by living with her ghost.
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