A lie gone too far
Book One—(Chapter 9)
(A lie gone too far)
She sighed deeply as she walked into the closed diner, it was past nine and her mother was still at the hospital with Emily, going upstairs to her room was something she didn't want to do at the moment. A glance around the restaurant and an excessive sense of disappointment filled her, the chairs had wool coming out of their torn parts, the tables had scratches all over them and even the sides of the marbled covers were chipped off.
The rotting pipes above the ceiling had a bellowing sound which she found infuriating, the lights had a shaking sensation to them and the counter looked like something shipped from the 1900's. This wasn't the 'Estella's diner's she once knew, a place so widely vibrant, dainty and loved has now become a gloomy shadow of it's own self—it was a wonder how they weren't closed yet from all the violations.
'We're closed'. She blurted out loud at the sound of the bell at the door, raised her head up to see George Purly, Damon's driver walking into the restaurant.
'Sorry to disturb you this late but uhh—'
'Did you boss send you here to gloat and make fun of me??'. She rolled her eyes.
George chuckled softly as he dropped a bag on the table in front of her, 'He wants me to give you this instead...as a token of his appreciation for your acting skills tonight'.
'I don't want it', she refused with pure disdain in her voice, 'Tell your boss that he can keep his bribe to him—'
'It's not a bribe', George frowned, 'It's a token of his appreciation and I promise you that this is the last thing you'll ever get from him Miss Levinson'.
She hesitated for a while and sighed deeply before accepting the bag from the driver, he nodded and turned to leave before she stopped him halfway to the door, 'George??'.
'Ma'am??'.
'Thank you for tonight', she tucked her hair behind her ear, 'I wouldn't have gone through with it, if it wasn't for you I would've called myself a coward'.
He nodded instead with a smile on his face and walked out the door, Ana sighed deeply as she sat back down eyeing the bag that was in front of her. Slowly she opened it, peered inside and gasped loudly the moment she saw the wads of cash inside of it, she looked around checking for any onlookers before locking the front door and taking the bag upstairs into her room like a thief.
It felt illegal, the ten wads of hundred dollar notes, it felt illegal counting every time anointing to ten thousand dollars, she felt like a criminal...a golddigger, happy to see the amount of money in her arms—surely it was a gift she would refuse if given directly by Damon, but since he wasn't present her sense of pride was thrown in the bin and she laughed as she hugged the money right in front of her. Minute by minute, her worries started to fade away and she slept off on her pile of good fortune.
******
'I want you to have my mother's ring when proposing to Anastasia'.
'What?'.
'You heard me Damon', Vivian smiled as she placed a blue velvet box on his work desk in his study room, 'I want you to propose to Anastasia...let me rephrase that, your father and I want you to propose to Anastasia as quickly as possible'.
Damon guffawed nervously, 'Oh wait you're serious??', his laughed died down immediately the moment his mother threw him a death stare.
'This isn't funny Damon', she frowned deeply, 'You told Diana Jenkins about a proposal which means the whole room knows about it too, soon enough it'll spread like wildfire and the whole world would want to get a glimpse of your private life. Anastasia is a good girl and I really do love her, for the sake of her reputation and how she really hates the media...propose and let's plan a small wedding'.
It was all too much for Damon to handle, his blatant lie was spiraling into a whole yarn of mess which he wasn't expecting—of course it was bound to happen! he lied to his father and took the greater length to bring a fake girlfriend to show to everyone at the gala, now he was moments away from getting the CEO position only for this setback to happen.
'Mom I'll propose to Ana when I'm ready', he stood up and placed both hands on his mother's shoulder, 'Things like this takes a lot of time, I'm still a young man and going into a life of commitment is something that—'
'I call that a lie'.Sylvester walked into the room interrupting on the conversation.
'D....Dad??'. Damon stuttered as he certainly wasn't expecting to see his father.
Sylvester nodded as he poured himself a drink, 'I married your mother when I was just twenty five years old and I have been faithful to her beyond measures, I hope you do the same and carry on your duty as my first born son—propose to Anastasia and let's get you married secretly'.
It was all going too far, this was all going too far beyond control, 'I...but....I....what about the CEO position?...we....I....I....I can't—'.
'I'll step down once you get married Damon. We are Wyatts and we don't back down on our words, I have bragged to my peers about how much of a dignified man that you are and not the promiscuous hunk everyone points you to be.....don't mess this up for me Damon. Listen to your mother, take the damn box and bend the knee to Anastasia.....then we can talk about your promotion'.
Damon gulped hard as a lump formed in his throat, he kissed his mother goodnight and the moment his parents were gone he slumped onto the nearest chair—he was done for, his father would never forgive him if he knew the truth about Anastasia, his family would be the jest of every rich household in New York all because of a lie....a damned lie.