Damon's POV
"You were out for quite a while." I said to Adrian as he re-entered.
It was about twelve minutes past midnight, the party had changed, from a masked ball, to a near orgy. Just the tone I wanted to set, before I fished HER out.
"Yeah," He replied lazily, looking away, "I needed to catch my breath."
"Are you sure you can do this?" I asked him, uncertain, because he didn't look too enthusiastic.
"Yeah, sure, why not. Just do your thing, and I'll do mine." Adrian said and tapped my back.
"And what would that be? Sulk around and drink up everything the bar has to offer?" I joked.
"Yeah, that, and not tell your wife what you've been up to. Can't believe you led the poor lady to believe this was a business trip." He shot back at me.
"That's unfair." I said and walked off. He was obviously in a bad mood, and I wasn't gonna let him ruin mine.
I hung my suit jacket on my shoulder and walked off in no particular direction.
"Hello." I greeted everyone as I walked by
I'd invited all the fun people I knew. Acquaintances, business associates, and gave them a chance to bring along any other two.
We handed out about fifty invitations, because I wanted to keep the ball as secret as possible, and ended up with over a thousand guests, far more than we prepared, but a lot of them were pretty ladies, daunting. I gave an order to let them in.
The more the merrier.
I cautiously looked into all the faces I walked past.
After about thirty minutes of peeking like a thief, I gave up, temporarily, and sat at the bar.
"Hey." I called the guy I flew in from Crestview. He speedily left the ladies he was attending to and came to me.
"Get me something strong." I said to him,
"Sure." he replied obediently and ran along to do my bidding.
A few minutes later, he came back with a bottle, one I didn't exactly recognise, set the shot cups down, and poured out into them.
"One other thing, sir." He said.
I wasn't expecting that, did he have news?
"What is it?"I asked, a bit set off that he interrupted my chance to escape reality for a moment.
"Alpha Adrian just spoke to the lady in red over there." To him, he was whispering, but his voice was just as loud as it was supposed to be. If not for the loud music which drowned every other sound out, whatever lady he was referring to would've heard.
I gave him a death stare, and he shut his lips tight.
"Which?" I asked again, looking at the ladies I thought he was referring to. They were all pretty, no doubt, just the type who kept me company in the afternoon's back at home, but they weren't her.
"After this crowd, the last ladies on the left." He said. And that gave me a little hope.
"Did you catch a name?"I asked him.
"No." He answered meekly.
I gave him a very disappointed look, and he slithered off to attend to other guests, clumsily.
For what it was worth, I took all my shots at once, and kicked the chair I'd been sitting on away.
It hit a few drunk couples behind me, but no one dared complain.
"Let's see if he knows what he's saying." I wiped my mouth and said to myself,
I swear, I did not need a soothsayer to confirm she was the one.
The gentleness of how the line ran down the middle of her back was glaring evidence.
"Set off the fire alarm." I made a call to a team I'd brought along from Crestview.
In a heartbeat, the sweet sensual party erupted to be a commotion, people running left and right in search of an exit.
I made a calculated dash to her, and held her back by the waist.
"Who are you?!" She kept screaming and clawing at me with her nails.
"There's no fire. I want to see you." I whispered in her ear.
I felt her blood run cold in my hands. Her body froze, and she no longer fought me.
"Did you plan this?" She asked, calmly.
"Yes." I replied, there was no need to lie.
"Why?" Emily asked.
"I said it already. I want to see you." I whispered in her ear.
Emily, frozen and still in my hands reminded me of the beautiful time we spent together. I wished I'd made smarter choices.
"I want to go home." She said, her voice breaking.
"Please let's talk."I whipped her gently to face myself.
Her pretty face almost made my muscles relax, but I knew I was gonna pay for it, cause she'd flee.
The lights turned white as soon as the alarm went off, so we were seeing quite clearly.
"I don't want to see you." She said, looking away, and biting her lower lip.
"I get that, Emily. I do, but please. Let's just talk. You won't reply to my letters, you won't pick my calls." I begged.
"That's because I don't want to see you." She said,
"Emily, we were mates." I added.
"Please don't give me that bullcrap!" She yelled and fought my hands off her body.
"I promise I'm not." I begged.
"How did you know my address?" She asked, looking in my eye for the first time.
"I would be implicating a lot of people." I confessed. "Emily, don't you feel anything when you look at me?" I asked, pleading with my eyes.
"I do." she replied, "A lot. I felt a lot of things. I feel hate, disgust, anger, annoyance, and more hate!" She said and spat at my face.
Instinctively, I raised my hand, and before I could stop myself, I'd slapped her across the cheek.
"Damn!" I yelled when I realised what I'd done.
By then, the other lady next to her had seen past the fire alarm foolery and was back in the building in search of her. Since it was empty, we weren't hard to spot,
She walked right into us, picked Emily's bag, held her by the hand, and brushed me aside as they made their way out.
I deserved the worst. I hated myself for failing to realise that it was Emily I was dealing with, not Zyna. I'd commit an atrocity I doubt I could come back from.