Page 55 of De Luca: The Saint

“I know,” I whisper.

The fact that Damian blames himself for this breaks my heart but also doesn’t entirely surprise me. He’s a tough guy with a heart of gold. He doesn’t see it but I do. I always have. Damian De Luca is the King of Consent. There is no way he’d ever rape a woman if he had another choice. We both know if Wolf or any of the Bianchi’s had raped me, it would’ve been violent, degrading and might have cost me my life. My heart bleeds for the torture I know he’s putting himself through. Sometimes we are our own worst enemy.

Domenic takes my hand in his, “I need to ask you a favor.”

I glance up at him, “What is it?”

He smiles softly, “This may be impossible, but I need you to save him from himself. There’s no one else that can.”

“How would I do that when he won’t talk to me?”

Domenic sighs, “I’ll give you a key to his house. Go to him and don’t leave until you make progress. No matter how much he tells you to get out, don’t.”

I narrow my eyes at him, “Are you trying to get me killed?”

He chuckles, “No. He may yell, maybe even throw things but I guarantee you, he’d never hurt you. Me? Possibly, after he finds out I gave you the key but I’m fine with that.”

Do I want to do this? Can I? If Domenic says Damian needs help, I believe him, I’m just not sure how I can help when he can’t stand looking at me.

“I’ll do it.”

He fishes his keys from his pocket and removes a key from his ring and hands it to me. Then he pulls out his wallet, and hands me a keycard for the elevator.

“Go now, please. My driver will take you.”

We both rise from the sofa at the same time, and I nod, “Okay.”

“Katherina?”

I glance into his eyes, holding my head back because he’s so tall, “He will probably be an asshole. Don’t let him chase you away. I’m losing my brother to some darkness I haven’t seen since my father took his own life. If I could get through to him, I would. I’ve tried but I think you can. Only you understand what he went through because you went through it too.”

Taking a deep cleansing breath, I say, “I’ll try.”

We walk out together. He places a call to his driver, instructing him to take me to Damian’s.

Going back into the rain, Domenic’s driver stands with the back door open, and I climb inside.

As I sit staring out the window, as we drive, the anxiety claws at my chest. He’s not going to be happy about this, to say the least. Then my internal voice decides to be a bitch, ‘What if he has a woman there,’ I hate my brain. Now, I’m convinced that will be the case, but regardless, I have to do this, no matter how much it hurts.

Mia helped me, and now I have to help Damian.

I only hope Domenic is right, that I can. What if he’s so far gone that nobody can reach him? I attempt to take a few deep breaths, but the anxiety is so unreal I can barely take a breath at all. Once we pull up to the building, it only gets worse. Time to put on my big girl panties and do this. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Damian

I sit in my chair, my gun on my desk, calling to me. This is how I make things right. A woman feels relief when her rapist is dead, right?

Kat didn’t deserve what I did to her. She’s beautiful and kind.

The man she once loved raped her in front of an audience, cheering, rejoicing in her fucking pain. My brother says she’ll forgive me. It doesn’t matter. I’ll never forgive myself. There’s only one thing you can do when you can’t live with your choices. I pick up the gun, like father like son, this is the end.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Kat

I take the elevator to his Penthouse and step inside. I’m not honestly sure what the key is for. You only need the card to access his apartment. I giggle inwardly at the word apartment. How can you call his castle an apartment? Shaking my head, I brush off my silly thoughts that don’t matter. It’s eerily quiet as I walk through the great room. There’s no sign of Damian, so I begin to wonder if he’s even here. I make my way upstairs to his bedroom, but he’s not there either. His bed is neatly made, as always.

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