Giuseppe Salvatore died without a will, which meant his wife got everything including the company that Damon was currently running and had been since his father first turned ill.

Like most people, Giuseppe thought that he had years to go before a will would be necessary.

Because as he saw it, he was still in his prime.

At fifty-five, he was still a damn good-looking man and he kept his body in shape.

So there was no need to start planning for his death. But that was life. Here today and gone tomorrow.

And the last person in the world that he would want to be in charge of his legacy was the one who ended up getting everything.

Lilly was the love of Giuseppe's life, but she didn't know the first thing about running an empire. She never went to college. He married her straight out of high school. Lilly liked to put on airs, but she was one generation from trailer park trash. Her beauty raised her status in life.

It was ironic because she absolutely detested Damon's relationship with Bonnie refusing to recognize the fact that she and this young woman had more in common than not.

Behind Damon's back, Lilly referred to Bonnie as that ghetto stripper whore.

In her eyes, her eldest son was blinded by sex and that his relationship with her was just a phase that would quickly frizzle out.

But that assumption was quickly dispelled when she accidentally over heard him telling his brother that he was in love with her.

That was when Lilly realized something needed to be done.

Damon and Bonnie exited Lenox mall, walking to his car with their hands full of shopping bags.

What was supposed to be a quick trip to buy Abby's birthday present turned into a mini shopping spree for Bonnie that was totally unexpected.

It was planned all along to get her mother the Speedy Louis Vuitton bag as a gift because she always wanted one and while they were in the store Damon told Bonnie if she saw something she liked that she could get it as well and she did.

And the same thing happened when they went into Neiman Marcus so that Damon could get a belt and some socks.

"You want to stop and get something to eat?" Damon asked when they were inside of the car.

Bonnie buckled her seat belt. "Yeah, I'm starving. All I had for breakfast was a muffin." It was now two o'clock in the afternoon.

Damon started the car and began to drive.

"There's this really great Thai place nearby that has the best noodle bowls..." Damon began.

Bonnie pulled a face of disgust that he didn't see because she had her head bowed searching her bag for some gum.

"I kinda want some Chick-fil-A...I've been craving it all week."

That was an interesting choice of words Damon thought. "Craving?" He asked briefly glancing in her direction before turning his attention back on the road. "Is there something you need to tell me?"

Bonnie's brows pulled together in a slight frown as she folded a piece of chewing gum into her mouth.

"What do you mean?"

"As far as I know only pregnant women have cravings."

Bonnie's eyes bucked for a second and then she laughed, causing Damon to smile. "Well, that's never going to happen?" She said shaking her head.

Now he was the one frowning in confusion. "What are you talking about... that it's never going to happen?"

"I don't want children." She said simply, turning to look at him.

Silence.

Damon wasn't sure how he felt about that. "Why?" He asked.

Shrugging her shoulders. "Because initially it wasn't apart of my plan. I was going to be a ballerina. It was all I cared about and children didn't factor into the equation. And when I had to give up dancing, I still just never saw myself having a kid...and besides I have Tristan, so it's not like I'm missing out on anything."

Silence.

Even now with Felicia home from rehab, Bonnie was still the primary parental figure in the boy's life. When he was hungry he went to her. When he got hurt, it was her that he ran to first. She was the constant that he could always depend on and that dynamic hadn't changed one bit.

And knowing all of this made Damon choose his words very carefully because he didn't want to upset Bonnie.

"But what happens when the day comes that Felicia decides to move out and take Tristan with her?"

Bonnie shook her head in total denial. "That's not going to happen."

"And why is that?"

"Because first of all Felicia doesn't know how to take care of herself, let alone Tristan because she's always had me and mama as backup. And besides working at McDonald's when she was seventeen, she's never had a real job. She's never lived on her own or had to pay pills. She's twenty-two years old and has never had any real responsibilities. So her having the fortitude to suddenly want to move out is not going to happen and Tristan will remain with me and mama where he belongs."

Digesting this, Damon was quiet for a moment and then he thought of something or rather someone.

"What about Dino?" He asked.

"Well what about him? He's just as bad as Felicia. He only cares about himself. He sees Tristan every now and then, maybe once every few months. He doesn't pay any child support. His name is not even on Tristan's birth certificate, so legally speaking he doesn't have any rights to him. And if he did try to claim him, the fact that he's a convicted felon and has been in and out of jail most of his life won't work in his favor."

It was clear to Damon that Bonnie loved that little boy more than anything and that it would seriously hurt her if he was ever taken away.

Taking Bonnie's hand in his, he brought her slender fingers to his lips kissing them. Praying that the day never came.

Bonnie went all out the day of her mother's birthday, making Abby her favorite meal of oxtails, collard green, white rice and blueberry cornbread. She bought a cake from Kroger and some ice cream, really trying hard to make it special for her.

Felicia walked around the apartment with her face all scrunched up as if she smelled something bad.

She was in her feelings because she wasn't able to buy her mother a gift and the fact that Bonnie had made her this big dinner and Damon got her a purse from Louis Vuitton just made her feel like shit and the only way to cope was to act like none of it mattered, that it was all stupid.

"Bonnie, can I have some ice cream?"

Busy checking the rice to make sure it didn't over cook, she answered him. "Yes you can...after dinner."

"With two scoops?" He asked hopefully because he only ever got one.

Bonnie laughed. "We'll see, okay...but you have to eat everything on your plate including the collard greens."

The boy pulled a face with his tongue sticking out, having a strong aversion for the green vegetable.

"Well it's up to you little man, if you want the two scoops of ice cream then you have to eat every last bit of greens on your plate."

He sighed dramatically. "Okay fine, I'll do it." And he walked out of kitchen.

"That boy, that boy." She chuckled to herself.

Her house used to be a home and then her husband died.

What Lilly Salvatore hated most was the quietness and how empty she felt inside whenever she was alone, which was quite often these days.

Stefan had practically moved out, staying with friends and Damon was always slumming in the hood with that gold digging slut of his.

She came to the house a few times. Damon even had the nerve to bring her to Stefan's college graduation party.

Lilly was so pissed at his audacity.

What on earth made him bring her? Everyone they knew was there and here her son was parading this black bitch around as if she was some ultimate prize he'd won.

It was utterly humiliating!

So what if she was poised and beautiful. It was all an act! She was from the ghetto for heaven's sake!

But her pussy whipped son mistakenly thought that if he dressed her up in something very expensive that she could be one of them.

Not on her watch, Lilly thought.

What was he thinking?

Lilly just knew that everyone was laughing and talking about her behind her back. How could Damon do this to her?

He was so fucking selfish and ungrateful. He only cared about himself.

He didn't give damn that she was heart-broken and felt alone. That's why she drank. Why couldn't he see that?

No one else mattered to him. All Damon cared about was fucking that slut.

Lilly was rudely pulled from her thoughts as the son in question entered the living room, not even sparing her a glance as he grabbed his car keys from off the end table.

"I'm having dinner at Bonnie's...I probably won't be back tonight." He then turned to leave.

"Not so fast, we need to talk." She said speaking up.

"Can this hold until tomorrow? Bonnie's waiting on me. It's her mother's birthday."

A mixture of emotions consumed Lilly whole. Anger, jealousy, hurt. She tried to disguise it. "I don't care. This is important." Her tone clipped.

Damon's blue eyes sharped upon his mother's face.

If he didn't know any better, he would swear she sounded sober.

His eyes searched for any signs she'd been drinking. Disheveled appearance, flushed skin, red eyes from crying.

He spotted none of those things.

She looked like herself. Like she did before his father got ill.

Lilly now had his full attention. "Fine. What is it...what's so important?"

"The future." She answered calmly.

"Excuse me?" His head tilting slightly to one side, not understanding her.

"It's time for you to get serious about the future of this family and your father's legacy."

"Are you being serious right now?" Because this was so out of left field to Damon.

She nodded solemnly. "I am."

Damon didn't know what to say. He was stumped. So he decided to humor her for a moment to see where this actually went. "Okay, so let's hear it then."

"Before your father's stroke, we discussed you marrying Caroline Forbes."

It was a lie.

No such conversation had ever occurred between Giuseppe and Lilly. She only said it because Damon always followed his father's wishes.

Caroline was the daughter of Lilly's best friend. She and Damon grew up together.

This marriage was something the two mothers cooked up between themselves. Each for her own reason of course.

Lilly's being to get Bonnie Bennett out of her son's life for good.

She continued. "He wanted you to settle down with a girl of your breeding."

The whole conversation felt surreal. Was his mother punking him? She had to be.

Damon laughed incredulously. "A girl of my breeding? Mother, you do realize that we are not the royal family? We're far from it, in fact both of your parents grew up in a trailer park. We're not that removed from being poor white trash if being honest."

Lilly did not like to be reminded of that. It was something she constantly tried to erase from her mind.

"Is that why you run around with that project whore...because you feel on her level? Is that why you're with her?" She asked in disdain.

That wiped the smile clean off Damon's face. But that's all it did.

"You're wrong as usual mother. I'm with Bonnie because I love her. And her living in the projects doesn't have a damn thing to do with who she is as a person. And for the record, as far as her being a whore is concerned, let's just put it like this...between the two of you...you've had more men between your legs than she ever has."

Lilly stood up in outrage. "How dare you?!"

"Oh I dare because you will NOT disrespect her."

Lilly composed herself, her voice no longer enraged. "I see now that you are so far gone that there's no saving you, but I refuse to allow you to destroy what my husband has built. So you have a choice to make my dear boy..."

Damon's brows drew together in a straight line, not liking where this conversation was headed.

"Either marry Caroline or you walk away...from EVERYTHING. I mean it Damon. You'll have nothing, but the Salvatore last name. That's the one thing I can't take away from you."

Damon was shook.

He showed up at her apartment around one o'clock in the morning.

Bonnie quietly let him in, not wanting to wake everyone up and they walked to her bedroom, closing the door.

"You missed dinner and my mother opening up her gift. Where were you? Why didn't you answer any of my calls?"

Damon reached out, caressing her soft cheek. "I'm sorry. Something came up and I just couldn't make it."

Bonnie leaned into his touch and his jaw tensed. She could tell something was wrong. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine...I'm just...I'm just...I just had to see you." And before Bonnie could respond, his mouth was ravenous upon hers like he was trying to get a taste of her soul.

His other hand reached underneath her nightgown, between her legs.

And a second later he tore off her panties.

"Damon wait, stop." Said Bonnie, trying to pull away because he'd never been this forceful with her.

He stopped, pressing his forehead against hers. Not wanting to frighten her.

"Shhh, it's okay Bonnie. I promise."

And then he knelt down in front of her.

"What are you doing?"

He didn't say anything, burying his face against her flat belly and not knowing what else to do, Bonnie placed her arms around him.

"Damon, you're scaring me...what's wrong? Talk to me, please."

He shook his head and Bonnie thought she heard him say that he couldn't do it. But it was so low that she wasn't for sure.

Being this close to her, Damon could smell the soap Bonnie used to shower with before going to bed. She always smelled so good.

It was a clean, fresh scent. Pure. Almost virginal. Like her.

Bonnie could feel it when his head lowered and she released him, not understanding what he was doing.

And then he placed her leg over his shoulder and within seconds he was tasting her with his mouth.

Bonnie inhaled sharply, her hand grabbing the back of his hair.

"Oh my god." She gasped for breath.

The way he was eating her pussy was like how he kissed her in the mouth with his tongue.

Bonnie had to bite into her lower lip to keep from crying out.

Never in life had anything felt so good to her.

It was earth shattering. Mind blowing. And anything else used to describe something so utterly amazing.

She began to shake with an orgasm.

And when he was done with Bonnie, Damon pulled her petite body against him and devoured her mouth once again, kissing her like neither of them needed air to breathe.

Gently lowering her to the floor, he pulled off her gown and then his shirt followed.

His hands shook as he tried to undo his pants, but within moments he was pushing them down and entering her wet heat in one fluid motion.

Bonnie buried her face against him, trying to be quiet. Her legs hugging his waist as he thrust into her.

"Oh god, Damon!" She whispered harshly into his ear, holding on to him tightly.

It was beyond belief how he was making her feel.

When she came, it was even better.

Never having felt anything like that in her entire life, in that very open and vulnerable moment Bonnie spoke aloud what was in her heart, telling Damon that she loved him.

The following morning when she woke up, she was alone in bed.

Damon sat in the chair by the window looking as if he'd been watching her sleep. And he had.

"What time is it?" She asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"A little after ten, your mom, Felicia and Tristan left for church about twenty minutes ago."

Standing to his feet already dressed in his pants, Damon pulled on his shirt and then grabbed his socks and shoes from off the floor.

Bonnie sat up, covering her breasts with the sheet. "Wait, you're leaving now...we haven't even talked about what happened last night."

"There's nothing to talk about." He said quietly, sitting at the foot of the bed and slipping on his socks.

"What do you mean there's nothing to talk about? Something happened to you last night. Why won't you tell me?"

"Because there's nothing to tell."

Bonnie had never seen Damon act like this before. So closed off and distant. Something was terribly wrong and she couldn't take it anymore.

"Stop it...stop lying to me and tell me what's going on!"

"I'm getting married!" He yelled angrily, standing to his feet to face her.

"What?" She gasped.

"I said I'm getting married." He repeated this time without the anger in his voice. "If I don't, I lose everything Bonnie, including my father's business."

Stunned to her very core, all she could do was stare at him. The devastation on her face heart-wrenching.

"We can't be together anymore." He said wanting to look away from her, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it.

With every word that came out of his mouth, Bonnie drew a little bit further into herself.

"It's over." He said quietly.

And just like that her worst fear came true.