Keep Her From Harm (The Denton Family Legacy 4)

“Damian, you are a problem. For the longest time you’ve been locked in some kind of downward spiral. The Dentons work on being a united front. Now a bunch of us are locked in jail, and I’m here taking care of your asses. When your father and brothers leave, I need to know that everyone is a unit.”

“Why don’t you talk to Gabriel?” he asked.

“Gabriel didn’t go looking for a fight. He has done everything he could to prove himself. So have his other siblings. The problem with Gabriel is deep rooted in everyone else, and I will deal with that. Now you, on the other hand, you and I both know what you were trying to do when you went to that shitty town, and you made a scene.”

Damian swallowed as the lump began to form in his throat. He would not fucking cry, not now, not in front of his uncle.

“And it all started because of that girl.” Rick pointed into the cemetery, and then pulled a picture out of his jacket pocket.

Damian stared at the photo and recognized it. The picture was one he’d taken at the hospital within minutes of Betty giving birth. On her chest was Martha, and she was smiling into the camera. It was one of the happiest moments of his life, and he’d been gutted that no feelings had awakened for him when it came to her.

Gritting his teeth, he stared at the picture, and then at his uncle.

“She was a beautiful girl.”

“Exactly, she was a lot of things.”

“What were you doing, Damian?”

Clenching his teeth, he stared at the picture. “Why the fuck do you have this picture?” he asked.

“I have many ways of finding shit, Damian. I’ve proven it to you time and again. Stop underestimating me. Answer the question.”

“You know the answer anyway.”

“I don’t care what I know. I want to know what you were going to do. I want you to tell me the fucking truth.”

There was no reason to keep the truth from him, and until he said it out loud there was no way that Rick was going to let him get back home to Mia.

“I went there looking for a fight. I knew Ivan would provide me that, and I wanted a fight to the death. I didn’t want to feel the way that I’d been feeling since Betty took her own life. I have hated my last name and everything that the Denton name stands for. I know that I’m one of the big reasons we’re in this situation because I just gave up.” He looked at Rick. “Is that what you wanted to hear?”

“I want the truth, and even if I wanted to hear it or not, it doesn’t matter.”

“I saw Mia, and I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t have a fight.” He laughed. “I actually warned him against it because of the fact I’m a Denton.”

“Damian, Betty’s death is not your fault. It’s not anyone’s fault.”

“She killed herself because I would never love her the way she wanted to be loved. How the fuck is that not my fault? She died because I couldn’t love her.”

“You told her the truth, Damian. You told her straight away that you couldn’t be more than a best friend to her. What more could you offer? Tell her that you love her, and then one day you would have met Mia. What then? You’re going to do what Stuart did? Break a woman’s heart.”

“No, of course not.”

“You want to take the blame, and you can’t. What you need to do is accept that there was nothing you could do. There was nothing anyone could do.” Rick climbed out of the car. “Come on.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“It’s time for you to make peace.”

Damian climbed out of the car finding this entire journey pointless.

“I thought you were supposed to be here to help deal with the problem?” Damian asked. “Dad and the others are getting out soon, and you should be gone.”

“Aw, baby, you’re breaking my heart that you want me gone. I’m fixing everything, and I’m not leaving until Westbrook is dead, like totally dead, completely dead. I will even bury him in the earth myself.”

Damian rolled his eyes. “You’re a freak. You know that right?”

“Yep, I do, and I embrace it.”