Chapter 44 Bruised and Bloodied
Hayden had been sparing no effort at the club all night. Damian left early, and Christian later couldn't take the rowdiness anymore and also left early.
On his way out, Damian was called to a halt by the club manager in the lobby.
"Mr. Hearst, please, a moment."
It was late, approaching 1 a.m. Damian looked pale, but it wasn't due to lack of sleep.
He glanced at the manager, "What's?"
The manager, recognizing his stern expression, got straight to the point, "Miss Astor was at the club today, did you see her?"
No matter how well Ashley disguised herself, she couldn't evade the scrutiny of a manager who's seen it all, an ability that earned him his role under the discerning eyes of a tyrant like Damian.
"And?" replied Damian simply.
He was neither confirming nor denying the sighting.
The manager, unable to draw a conclusion from Damian's tone, continued, "Miss Astor left with friends; she seemed to have had quite a lot to drink and needed to be helped out."
The relationship between Ashley and Damian was not publicly known, and the manager was unaware that they were married. But he recalled Damian was often accompanied by her and also noticed that his buddy, like Hayden was close to Ashley as well, suggesting she was not just an ordinary friend.
After a few years of not crossing paths, their reunion was as sequential as ever, the manager naturally took notice; one trailing the other.
But when later Ashley was seen being carried out by another man, and Damian had yet to show, the manager was baffled.
Damian's tone was icy, "Drunk?"
To be so high and mighty but toppled by just one glass?
The manager confirmed, "Yeah, she was groggy, seemed quite drunk, didn't even notice she'd left something behind."
Finally, Damian sparingly glanced at what was placed in his hand, a driver’s license.
Caught between decisions, the manager hesitated, "Didn't mean to disturb you, sir. I kept it safe for the time being. We don’t have Miss Astor's contact, so, is it convenient for you to provide an address or contact?"
Damian's gaze lingered a second on the thin cover of the license, "I'll take it."
The manager nodded, "Thank you, Mr. Hearst. Miss Astor will surely be delighted to see you."
At least from what he could remember, whenever they were together, Ashley clung to Damian’s arm, with a genuine grin all the time.
Without a word, Damian strode out the door.
Delighted? She claimed she wanted to sever all ties, talking about forgetting each other; she was so arrogant!
Crack!
Damian tossed the license onto the back seat of his car, lost in some corner.
After a light four-hour sleep, he naturally got up at six in the morning.
Exercise, breakfast, change clothes, drive to the office.
Damian's morning routine was crisp and efficient.
If not for an unexpected incident on the road, he'd be in his office by eight sharp.
"Damian, I'm taking you on!!"
As he prepared to enter the company's underground parking, a bucket of red paint fell from above, splattering his black Rolls-Royce completely, the hood drenched as if in spilled blood.
Damian's brow furrowed deep.
The man with the paint canister raged, "Damian, you've gone too far! I won't stand for this! Will not stand for it!!!"
"Freeze! Who are you?"
The security responded with commendable speed, immediately tackling the situation and effortlessly subduing the culprit, who was barely 5'9" tall.
The man's glasses clattered to the ground and shattered underfoot.
His arms flailing in defiance, he kept shouting, "Damian, Come out! You coward!"
The man was dragged away, and the head of security approached with trepidation, "Boss, are you alright?"
Damian rolled down his window a third of the way, the stench of the cheap paint assaulting his nostrils, "You call your job efficient?"
The team leader felt unease, not daring to look at his eyes; even if Damian had pulled out a gun and ended him right there, it wouldn't have seemed too extreme, “I'm sorry, Boss. Will investigate this person right away and present a result to you ASAP."
Damian glanced over with an icily indifferent gaze. The man, whose features were twisted in anger, was not unfamiliar to him. Just a few days ago, he had been standing in the defendant's box at a court hearing, “Detain him until I give further notice."
"Yes, sir!"
It took Thomas ten minutes to receive the news, and upon hearing it, he was dumbstruck. Was there someone foolish enough to mess with Damian, of all people?
"Boss, how would you like to proceed with him?"
The last time Mason's brother-in-law committed arson, he lost a finger, and Mason's business spiraled downward, all by Damian's covert orchestration.
Seated behind the expansive executive desk, Damian declared, "Proceed with legal action."
Thomas nodded, “Understood. I'll contact our legal department."
Damian then asked, "Has he settled his compensation with KM?"
Thomas promptly checked, and the finance department informed him that compensation had not been received, “Still no payment. Looks like he can't cough up the cash and is getting desperate."
Damian was all business, “No payment and a repeat offense; he'll face charges for both."
Thomas cautiously posited, "The same person is behind both incidents. Ashley would know exactly how to handle it. Should I reach out to her?"
Damian snorted dismissively, “She leaves a mess unfinished and expects others to clean up?"
Thomas couldn't fully grasp Damian's intent, but his demeanor didn't seem to oppose involving Ashley, “This offense is grave; your car damage alone exceeds $200,000. It looks like this will land him in jail."
"That's for the law to decide," Damian stated.
Thomas got the hint; his job was to contact Ashley.
But after a series of calls to Ashley with no answer, Thomas grew anxious, “Boss, I can’t reach Ashley. Calls go unanswered, and there's no reply to my messages."
Damian's last signature nearly tore through the paper.
"Tell her she has ten minutes to show up, or she'll return the hundred thousand and face breach-of-contract damages as stipulated in our agreement."
Thomas felt a chill run down his spine. That harsh?
So, when Ashley saw Thomas's message, she blanched.
Thomas: [Mr. Hearst says if you don't make contact soon, KM will initiate legal action to recoup the hundred thousand paid to you and pursue a breach-of-contract lawsuit. Boss is quite upset, and this is serious. Please call me back as soon as you see this message.]
Harold couldn't muster the courage to say it to Amelia’s face; Thomas was a KM man, and anything he let slip, even a single word, was tethered to a massive web of interests he reported directly to Damian.
Ashley stepped out onto the balcony, “Thomas, I just saw your call, sorry about that. I've got the gist of it from your message. Is Damian okay? Did he get hurt?"
There was a world of difference between personal assault and property damage, especially when it came to legal proceedings.
Thomas perked up at the sound of her voice, deliberately raising his volume so the boss could overhear, “Ashley, your phone died, huh? No worries... Mr. Hearst's fine; it's just the car..."
Damian grabbed the phone and said, "Ashley, in your professional opinion, what does 'not fine' mean? Cut, bruised, bloodied?"
