The Untouchable Damien Royce

Chapter 2

The Humiliation

The silence that ensued was thick and deafening; it left Damien choked up. He stood, rooted to the floor, his boots with the mud on it left muddy trails on the white carpet, but Damien didn’t notice; his gaze was fixated, locked on Chloe’s protruding stomach. The blue ribbons on the cake now seemed to mock him; the ‘Little Pierce’ banner felt like an insult to him.

His mind didn’t recognize or notice her feet moving.

“Damien?”

Her voice wasn’t filled with relief or with the love she had promised him on that fateful day; rather, it was now filled with anger and resentment.

“What.are.you.doing.here?” she asked through gritted teeth, her eyes narrowed at him. Taking a step forward, she retreated as though his very presence was a communicable disease.

Damien blinked and opened his mouth to speak, but his throat felt like it was filled with glass shards. His gaze moved from Chloe, then to George Pierce, who had a smirk on his face, his hand sliding even more firmly around Chloe’s waist.

“I… I came home, Chloe,” Damien managed to croak out, his voice sounded pathetic, even to his own ears, but it didn’t matter. “I sent the letter informing you.” He swallowed hard and continued, “I-I I thought…thought this party was for me.”

Loud, unmistakable laughter rang through the crowd. It started with a few sneers, and some had blown into full laughter, dressed with disdain and mockery. One laughter rang clear, snorting loudly.

Damien lifted his head just as a woman stepped forward from the side of the room, her arms crossed, her eyebrow raised as she sneered at him. She was no other than Mrs. Eleanor Sterling, his mother-in-law, who conspicuously hated his guts. Damien couldn’t help but notice that she was donned in an expensive, shining gown, and was wearing shiny diamond jewelry, holding a glass of champagne. Eleanor didn’t hide her disgust as she looked at him from head to toe with cold eyes and a sneer that made his skin crawl.

“Look at you,” she mocked with curled lips, waving her hand at his faded hoodie and ungroomed beard.

“You look like you just crawled out of the gutters” she paused dramatically, drawing more attention to herself, as she sprawled her arms, gaining the attention of all attendees, “Scratch that, you look like one who just crawled his way out of prison, which we all know that’s where you’ve been” at her words, the laughter and snorts increased, and it seemed to fuel Eleanor on.

“It’s appalling and insulting that you think we’re throwing you.” her lips pulled back in disgust as she enunciated the word, and went on “You think we’re throwing a party for a thief? A common convict?”

She chuckled unpleasantly, and it was followed by barks of laughter from the interested crowd.

Chloe slowly stepped forward, “Mum, please.” Her tone was flat; she didn’t look offended or sorry for the words her mother threw at him, she wrinkled her nose as she gazed at him coldly. “Damien, you shouldn’t have come here. Not today. Not ever”

Damien’s eyes widened, “Not ever?” he asked, stepping further into the room, his bag long forgotten on the floor. He ignored the sneers, the whispers. He ignored the judging eyes of the elite crowd. He only had eyes for his wife, the woman he had given everything for.

“Chloe, I went to that hellhole for you! I stole that food just to feed you. Remember how I took the fall for your mother’s act, all because I wanted our family to be happy. I took the fall, so your family wouldn't lose everything I sacrificed myself and my time. You said you’ll-“

“No one forced you to!” Chloe’s face flushed a deep red, eyes sneering as she crossed her arms, and continued, “News flash, that was three years ago, Damien! Things change. People grow up.” Still sneering, she let out a loud laugh and shook her head, “Did you really think I was going to waste my youth waiting for a man with prison attachments? A man who has nothing to his name but dirt and criminal records? I never begged nor forced you to do any of that! You chose to risk your life for shit, Damien!” She spread out her arms, glancing widely at the crowd with a calm expression, “No one here believes that I can push a grown man like you to do something he isn’t comfortable with! Stop lying to the world!” she stated, an unkind smile spreading slowly across her face.

Her words were like a catalyst that spurred them on.

“Exactly! How can this criminal think he can tarnish Chloe’s beautiful reputation”?

“Who would even dare to believe an ex-con. Such an unkempt-looking fellow. Trying to reap where he didn’t sow.”

Their sneers, laughter, and backtalks flowed to Damien’s ears; he could gauge their thoughts and words from where he stood, in their eyes, someone like him was always wrong. He was an ex-convict, and no matter what words spilled from his mouth, they wouldn’t hold water. Chloe stood tall, holding her head high as she scowled at him, and went on.

“Please, enlighten us, what exactly have you done for this family that makes you think it’s something that’s never been done before? Would you love an award, boy?”

“My sentiments exactly! Fool, do you want an award or something?” Eleanor raged, standing in solidarity beside her daughter as she cut in, while continually sneering at Damien, “You’ve lived all of these years on the scraps you were fed with in prison, now that you’re out, how do you intend to survive? On our money? Through our family? Not possible!”

Damien stood, speechless; he could feel anger coursing through his veins. Contempt rapidly growing within him.

Chloe reached onto a side table and pulled out a thick envelope, and immediately tossed it at his feet, it slid across the floor and hit his boot.

“Sign them!” she said coldly. “They’ve been ready for months. I just didn’t know where to send it because I stopped checking the mail from that prison ages ago.”

Damien glanced down at the papers: Divorce Proceedings.

Slowly lifting his head, he gaped at Chloe, “You’re pregnant, Chloe,” he whispered, his voice trembling with a mix of heartbreak and rage.

“We’ve been married for five years. I’ve been gone for three. How could you do this while I’m still alive? While I was suffering for your sake?”

“She did it because she found a real man, Damien. Someone who can actually provide a life for her, not someone who has to rob my family just to put bread on the table,” Nicholas finally spoke up, his voice arrogant.

He walked closer and stood in front of Damien, pursing his lips as he shook his head and let out an unpleasant chuckle.

“Take a look at these muscles,” he stated, poking Damien’s shoulder. Following his words, laughter ensued from all around. “What did you do in there, Damien? Sit around and grew big for nothing? You’re still just a dog. A stray that Chloe decided to pick up and has also decided to kick out. You’re trash, and in this house, we dispose of trash by throwing it out.”

“He really does look like a thug, doesn’t he?” Eleanor piped up, “Probably spent his time bullying other inmates to feel powerful. It's pathetic. A grown man with no job, no money, and no shame.”

Damien didn’t spare her a glance, he looked to Chloe, “Is this what you really want? You’re really going to choose the man who put me in jail?”

Chloe looked at Nicholas, then back at Damien. There wasn’t a hint of regret in her eyes, “Nicholas gave me a life. He gave me a future. He helped this family in ways you can never do, you’re lucky father, and Frank are away on a business trip, your dirty ass would have been thrown out ages ago! You destroyed my name and that of my family. Sign the damn papers and get out, Damien. You’re ruining my baby shower!”

Nicholas took Damien’s silence as weakness and decided to put on a show for the guests, to further humiliate Damien and prove his dominance over him.

“You heard her, loser! Get out before I have security drag you out like the animal you are.” Alternately flexing and curling his fingers into a fist, Nicholas raised his hand, his face twisting into a sneer, “Maybe, a slap will wake you up.”

The hand swung fast, aimed right at Damien’s face. The crowd gasped, some even leaning in to see the humiliation.

But the slap never landed.

As fast as his hand moved, Damien reacted the same way that no one in the room could follow. Damien’s hand shot up, his fingers clamped around Nicholas’ wrist in a very tight grip.

The sound of Nicholas’ bones grinding together was audible in the silent room. Nicholas’ face went from arrogant to pale in a split second.

"D-Damien! Let go!" Nicholas whimpered, dropping to his knees as the pressure increased.

Damien leaned in, his gaze turning stone cold, and the air around him seemed to drop ten degrees.

"I didn't steal for myself, Nicholas," he whispered, his voice a low, terrifying rumble that only Nicholas could hear. "And I didn't survive that prison by being a victim."

"Leave him be you bastard!"

"Somebody call the police, do something!"

Damien could hear the panicked voice of Chloe and Eleanor simultaneously.

Damien stared into Nicholas’ eyes until he saw the man’s pupils dilate with pure terror, then, with a flick of his wrist, he tossed Nicholas’ hand aside as if it were a piece of garbage.

"You cursed fellow!"

"Damien, how dare you ruin my baby shower you fool"

Their shouts fell on deaf ears.

He turned his back on the crowd, on the cake, and on the woman he had once loved more than his own life.

"Keep the papers, Chloe," Damien said, his voice now calm—a deadly, unnatural calm. "I don't need to sign them to know you’re dead to me."

He picked up his duffel bag and walked out the front door without looking back.

"Damien! Don't you dare walk away from me!" Chloe’s voice shrieked behind him, echoing through the hallway. "You’re a nobody! Do you hear me? You’re a loser! You were always just a dog to this family! Don't you ever come back to Oakhaven!"

Damien stepped out into the pouring rain. The cold water soaked through his thin hoodie instantly, but he didn't feel it.

He stopped at the end of the driveway and reached into his pocket, pulling out a picture of both of them that he always had with him, throughout his years in prison. He looked at Chloe's face and his happy own, both of them hugging each other in the garden, laughing.

Damien sighed, ripping the picture apart and throwing it on the ground. He looked up at the grey sky, his jaw set.

"You're right about one thing, Chloe," he muttered to the wind. "I'm not coming back as the man you knew."