Chapter Twenty Seven

Alex walked out and Damian was left on his own to face Annabelle. He sighed because he didn’t have anything to say to her and he knew she was going to blame him or worse, blame herself. It wasn’t her fault. She didn’t have a choice in this situation but she wasn’t going to believe that. She wasn’t going to accept that she was powerless in this situation. She was going to blame herself and let the guilt eat her up. He walked up to the balcony and stood there

“I still don’t want to talk to anybody” she said her voice cracking with every word
“C’mon, you’ve been at this for hours now. Do you I tend on stopping and getting something to eat or you just want to stay here and cry the entire day?” Damian asked her.
“Just leave me alone Damian!” she said
“I can’t do that. I can’t leave you alone and watch you do this to yourself. You barely even knew this man so stop all this” he said
“How can you say that? Yes I barely knew him. He was my father Damian! In m entire life, I have had none. I was supposed to save him! I couldn’t! How would I avenge my mother’s death if I can’t even save my father?” she asked him
“Annabelle, it is not your duty to save anybody! You are not responsible for your family, dead or alive. If anybody should be doing the saving, it’s them and not you. You are their responsibility, not the other way around. You are the one that needs protecting. I know part of this is my fault and I understand if you want to hate me for not believing that my father is a monster. I know he is, I always knew he was but I didn’t think he was a murderer. He made sure to keep that part of him hidden from me and he did a good job but I need time to process all of this. I still need proof that he killed your mother and when I do find that proof, I will kill him!” Damian said
“Thatvis the issue Damian! I don’t want you to kill him! I want to kill him myself. I want to be the one that rips out his heart. I want to be the last face he ever sees as he leaves this world” She said
“This isn’t even you!” Damian yelled at her
“Do not tell me what I am and what I am not! If you have listened to me in the beginning, things wouldn’t have turned out this way. If you have believed me when I told you father was a monster, we would not be here by now and my father would be very much alive so don’t tell me what I am and what I am not!” she screamed at him.
“You can’t seriously be blaming me for this!” he said
“Well, I am! I blame you! I told you that a time would come where you would have to pick between your father and I. That time is fast approaching. Make up your mind and let me know where you stand!” she said to him
“And if I don’t?” Damian asked
“I will make that choice for you, Damian. You are either on my side or you’re not. You can’t sit on the fence on this one. You are either with me or your father. I will not have you stand in the way of my plans” she warned him
“And if I stand by my father? What the hell would you do?” he yelled at her
“I will do everything I have to do!” she said
“And you will fight me?” Damian asked her
“if it comes to that, I will not hesitate!” she said
“Can you stop it? The both of you!” Damian’s mother said to the both of them as she walked into Damian’s room
“This is not on me, mother! It is on her!” Damian said to his mother
“Obviously! It is never your fault! Nothing is ever your fault even when it is. You suck, Damian and I hate you!” she said

She grabbed her jacket and sped off. Damian sighed and rubbed his forehead

“Why doesn’t she ever listen to me?” he asked his mother
“Maybe you don’t listen to her enough. She does have a good point. She lost her father for the second time. You grew in a complete family Damian. Annabelle and her brother didn’t have the luxury of growing up like that or having a family. They didn’t grow up as royalty even though they are. It is really a lot to take in sometimes. She knew her father was alive and for the past few weeks, she has been doing everything she could to find her father and you were not here Damian” his mother said
“I couldn’t be there for her. I had to be away. I almost killed her mom! She would have died if Alex hadn’t interfered!” he said
“But she was willing to have you here even if her life was at risk. Damian, she needed you and you were away. This isn’t the first time that your father is attempting to abuse your girlfriend and all this happened because you were not in the house. She needed you Damian and you were not there for her. That is your fault Damian not hers and she had every right to be upset!” his mother said
“ I would have been here if I could mother!” he said to her
“Well, you weren’t here for her and that is on you Damian, not on her. Look, I know it can be difficult. Being caught up between your father and your girlfriend but you have to be open minded about this. People aren’t always what they seem to be and your father is not who you think he is. A lot changed while you were away and there is still so much you have no idea of. There is still so much you don’t know about so don’t be blinded. If you do, you would lose Annabelle and whether you like it or not, you will lose your father because the price of murder is death. Your father has killed too many people for you to think that he would ever get out of this alive, he wouldn’t because the blood of those people he killed would always keep crying out for vengeance and they wouldn’t rest until your father is dead!” His mother told him
“How can you stand here and say all these things? How can you speak against your own husband?”
“I speak against no one Damian!”
“Yes you do mother, yes you do!” he said
“No, I don’t! But I am supposed to be a ruler. I am supposed to be impartial. I have held Cordina on my own, the east and the west. I have heard the north and the south all together and that is because your father has killed almost all of them! Your father killed that girl's parents!”
“Just her father!” he yelled at his mother’s, not wanting to believe the worst about his father
“You can tell yourself that all you want Damian but we both know that carol died because of your father. I mean, wasn’t that why she left in the first place? Your father pulled her and her daughter from their family, from their home and then he killed her father and he took him from her for the second time. There is nothing else to do. I have protected your father from the consequences of his actions so much that I started to bear those consequences, not anymore. Now, Sally thinks your father killed her mother, tell me! How am I supposed to convince her that he didn’t ? All evidence proves that he killed her, all! I know it’s hard but it is the truth and I am tired of protecting your father. From now on, whatever he does is on him and that is something he has to deal with. This morning was the last straw that broke the camel’s back. I will not have a murderer in my own house!” his mom said to him
“So you want to kick him out of the house?” Damian asked his mom in disbelief
“What choice do I have? Nobody is safe with your father in the house! Nobody! Your father has too many enemies and I am not going to let them come here because if they do, it would ruin everything. My own people already doubt my abilities to rule even though I have led them for years and that is just because I am aiding and abetting a criminal. I am giving him a place to stay and that can’t go on. It is only a matter of time before the death of Darius gets out. What happens then?” she asked him