I want Her Still

Unmasked

Eric stepped into Damien's office and froze. The bitter scent of whiskey hung in the air. Damien sat at his desk, slouched forward, his eyes heavy with exhaustion and grief. A glass dangled loosely from his fingers, nearly empty.

Eric's brows furrowed. ""Sir, what's going on? Our business partners from Puerto Rico and Las Vegas are already on their way here, and you're like this? These people flew in from different parts of the world for this meeting. You know how critical this deal is. We're counting on this bounce-back to stabilize everything, we can't afford to lose it, and you know it. Honestly, I thought you'd pulled yourself together when you made the decision to return to the office,"

Damien didn't respond. His silence was loud.

"You can't let the employees see you like this. This isn't good for the companies reputation, We just lost Mr. Joseph, your father. The family needs you now more than ever. You can't be the one falling apart. How do you want your mom or your younger sister to take all of this"

Eric paused, then added with quiet frustration,

"And I've been meaning to ask, why are you drowning yourself in liquor and obsessed with chasing Tyler when the real problem is Dexter? I mean he's the one who pulled the strings. He's out there stealing the Lopez legacy, taking credit for your work. Shouldn't he be the one you're going after?"

Damien lifted his head slowly, his expression cold and distant. "I'll come for Dexter. Eventually. But I want Tyler first."

"Why?" Eric asked, baffled. "She was his pawn!"

"She stole the codes," Damien said, voice strained. "She gave him access to everything I built. That betrayal is personal. More personal than anything Dexter has ever done."

"But are you really sure there's nothing at all you can do to stop Dexter?" Eric pressed. "Because people may not know the full truth but I do. I know you're the mastermind behind creating that code, not your father. He may have started the project, but you're the one who cracked it wide open. You built it. It's yours."

Damien looked up sharply. "You knew?"

Eric nodded solemnly. "Yes, sir. I've always known. I'm your right hand man. It's my job to know."

He hesitated. "And that's why I don't understand why you're not doing something. You can still fight back. You could lock Dexter out and expose him for what he is."

Damien let out a heavy sigh, refilled his glass, and swallowed it all in one go before finally speaking.

"Do you want to hear the honest truth, Eric?" Damien's voice broke, barely above a whisper. He set the glass down, his eyes hollow yet brimming. "I feel, betrayed. And not just the kind of betrayal you can curse out and move on from. This one, it settled in my bones. It hurts in places I didn't know existed."

He took a shaky breath, staring ahead as if lost in a memory.

"You know, whenever my friends talked about their girlfriends, their wives, their soulmates, I'd smile, nod like I understood. But deep down? I envied them. I wanted that too. I wanted someone who was mine. Someone I could protect, laugh with, grow old with, someone who saw me, not the Lopez legacy, not the empire, but just Damien."

His voice faltered. He rubbed his hands together, as if trying to warm himself from the cold truth.

"And then she came. Tyler. God, I could've sworn she was the one. Everything about her felt so right, so natural. I didn't fall in love, I plunged. Headfirst. I built my world around her without even knowing it. Every plan, every quiet thought, she was in it."

He let out a bitter laugh. "And Tyler , she, she was always scared, Eric. Always walking like she was one step from breaking. She never even tried to hide it. I saw it, I felt it. I knew she was hiding something, it was way too obvious, but then, I kept thinking I'd earn her trust, that some day she'd open up and let me in. But I was too blind to realize the truth."

Damien's eyes glistened now, not from alcohol, but from ache.

"I feel more hurt because the signs were there, from the very beginning I just knew something was wrong. I had this gut feeling that someone was forcing her hand, that she was being blackmailed or threatened. And still, I never imagined that I was the pawn. That I was the price she had to pay."

He shook his head, voice growing more tender, more wounded.

"She once told me her family was in some sort of trouble, that she had to save them. And I, I remember wondering, how a girl like her could carry that kind of weight? She was just, so small, so fragile. But it never even crossed my mind that I was her way out. That I was the tool she had to use to rescue them."

He paused, lips trembling.

"I thought I was saving her, or better still, that I could save her. But all along, she was the one walking into the fire for someone else."

"There were times she'd cry in her sleep," Damien said quietly, his voice low and tired. "She was so restless, tossing and turning like she was being chased in her dreams. I remember lying there beside her, watching her struggle with something I couldn't see, something she wouldn't let me in on."

He paused, shaking his head slowly.

"I was genuinely worried for her, Eric. I told her over and over again, just talk to me, let me help. I would've done anything to take that weight off her shoulders. But she never did. No matter how many times I asked, she kept it all bottled up. And sometimes I wonder, if she had just told me what was going on, maybe I would've given her the code. Maybe I would've helped her take down Dexter."

His tone grew heavier, his face clouded with regret. "But instead, she chose to lie. She chose to keep me in the dark. She chose to betray me"

Damien looked off into the distance, lost in thought.

"I always knew something wasn't right. There was a moment, just one, that I truly felt like she wanted to tell me the truth. Her eyes gave it away. But she was terrified. And now, knowing who was behind it all, I can only imagine what she was dealing with. Dexter isn't just some criminal. He's calculated. Ruthless."

He looked back at Eric, his expression turning serious.

"You probably don't know this, but my father didn't die from a simple heart attack. Dexter was involved. When my father collapsed, Dexter used the opportunity to infiltrate our hospital. One of the doctors mentioned that things didn't add up. I did my own digging. What I found, Dexter had him killed. He wanted full control of the code, and my father was in the way."

He ran a hand down his face, clearly overwhelmed.

"That was who Tyler was up against. That's who was pulling the strings. I can only imagine how scared she must have been."

Damien leaned back, exhaling deeply.

"I want to take everything back from Dexter. I want to block his access to the code, strip him of everything he's stolen. But not yet. Not until I know Tyler's safe. Because if I move too soon, if I take away what he wants most, he'll go after her. And after everything she's been through, I just can't let that happen.

And more importantly, I want to know if this whole thing is really just a game to Tyler, or perhaps she did it because Dexter forced her hand." Damien sharply exhaled the breath he had held in all along. 

""So if I'm not mistaken," Eric said slowly, watching Damien closely, "The reason you haven't fought back against Dexter, is because you're trying to protect Tyler?"

Damien nodded, his voice low but firm. "Yeah. I want Dexter to think he's won for now. But once I find Tyler and make sure she's safe, then he'll get what's coming to him."

Eric blinked in surprise, genuinely taken aback. "Wow. You really loved her that much?"

He shook his head in disbelief. "Gracious, I can't believe this. No offense, sir, but, I never thought I'd see you like this, this broken, so committed.

You've always been so composed, so impenetrable. Honestly, there was a time I wasn't even sure if you had a heart."

Damien gave a faint, humorless chuckle.

Eric continued, more gently this time. "But this? This is, this is too much, in my own opinion too reckless, to lay all of this on the ground just because of a woman? I could never imagine that especially coming from you. But it's fine, I get it now. And knowing the full story, I promise you, we're going to double our efforts. We'll find her. Because I honestly cannot wait to see that Dexter done with once and for all"

"Please I need you to get your self together sir, we still have one hour to the meeting"

Eric then gave a respectable bow and then exited office.