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chapter XXV
Thirty fucking floors, Stefan thought bitterly as he stared at the elevator coming up. Waiting for the slow engine to stop on his floor had been a painful experience. He thought about using the stairs, but he had the misfortune to be on the fiftieth floor and he couldn't waste his energy. Restraining Damon would be a strenuous task. It always required using physical force and being in harm's way.
Stefan could not remember why they decided to live one of the building's highest floor. They lived three floors below the top floor. Right now, it was an inconvenient decision. He impatiently tapped his foot on the floor. At the unexpected sensation of cold under his toes, the young man glanced down and noticed that he had forgotten his shoes in the rush. He sighed with frustration and irritation.
Stefan had no idea why his mother sent him after his brother, but he understood the situation was dire. He touched his back and felt cold metal, just a measure of security. Lily shouting his name so desperately triggered primal instinct. The first thing Stefan learned from his father was never to neglect precautions.
"Finally!" He sighed loudly as the elevator stopped in front of him and the doors opened wide.
His joy was short and he felt his anger grow tenfold. The lift contained enough people to assure his trip would be unnecessary long, due to impromptu stops.
Just my luck. Stefan thought bitterly.
He still entered and kept his head high when a few eyes stared at his bare feet. He could care less about his appearance now. Damon's fits of anger often ended in catastrophe, and some messes were harder to clean than others. Seven minutes, seven fucking minutes. Stefan looked at his watch and started wondering how much damage his brother could do in such little time.
Broken jaw, oh broken ribs, a twisted neck…fuck. When the list of option started to become too long and frightening, Stefan had to stop thinking about those possibilities. He sincerely hoped Damon didn't do anything irreparable but that would be putting too much faith in an angry Salvatore.
Years in the crime world made anyone paranoid, and Stefan wasn't an exception. He began contemplating the worse scenario. What would happen if Damon committed a murder? Giuseppe would not jump in to save him. It isn't fucking Florence, Stefan reminded himself. The family had influences in this town, but it wasn't as strong as in Florence where they could get away with murder. In Mystic Falls and the rest of America, the Salvatore merely had estates for laundering their money.
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When the elevator stopped on the twentieth floor, Stefan felt the need to scream but he held on to his fleeting sanity. The entire thing was surely a joke. A slow elevator wouldn't be what prevented him from saving his brother. The moment was too dire to have everyday life inconveniences turned into deciding factors.
He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. He knew he could not lose his mind over trivial things before he could even reach his older brother. However, fate was extremely taunting. He took a deep breath and pushed psychotic thoughts away. However, Stefan could not keep his countenance when a blonde woman tried to stop the elevator while she waited for her friends to hop in.
The laugh that escaped Stefan's lip was full of cynicism, exasperation, and consternation. The few other people around him looked at him with concern-filled eyes but he didn't care. Stefan glared at the woman holding the door and hoped it would be enough to scare her.
If she had any sense of self-preservation, she might have let go of the elevator door. Instead, she brushed off Stefan's glare as irritation and missed the murderous intent behind the fiery green orbs. Anxiety always propelled Stefan close to the deeper edges. Stress and urgency always unleashed the erratic side of him.
"Everyone out." He spoke slowly and he made his intentions obvious.
His posture might have told a convincing story. Of the five other peoples with him in the elevator, three left without a ruckus. However, the woman who was holding the elevator door did not budge and another man just moved closer to the exit. The blond woman stared back at Stefan. She assumed the pretty boy was all bluff, so she kept her challenging posture.
Any other day, Stefan would not have been eager to attract the wrong attention to himself. However, with each minute, Damon was probably closer to committing the mistake of his life. Now Stefan couldn't draw the energy to care about good neighbour relationships.
He smiled softly and he shook his head. First, he focused on the man who was standing closer to the elevator door.
"Out!" He hissed, but the man refused to look at him.
Stefan coughed to attract the man's attention and bluntly asked him to leave. Every ounce of courage in the poor man left him, and he ran out. After kicking out the man, Stefan menacingly walked toward the blonde woman, but she was a stubborn one, and she didn't give an inch away.
"Are you serious?" she complained but still didn't move.
Just a glance at her and Stefan knew she was the arguing type, but he had no time to argue. He cocked an eyebrow in interrogation but also issued a warning. He sighed as he wished to free all the frustration weighing on his body. His hand went on his back and with a quick motion, he pulled a gun out, and then he once again cocked his eyebrow.
I thought so, he thought as he watched her run away. She would probably go report him. However, he didn't care when his father owned half of the building. He put the gun back and eagerly pressed the lobby button and kept the elevator door closed until he reached his destination.
Stefan looked at his watch once he made it to the building's lobby. Thirteen minutes only. He had felt like more time was lost in the elevator, but thirteen minutes was manageable. His eyes flew around as they searched for Damon but there was not a sign of his older brother.
Damon's absence prompted a moment of panic. Stefan prayed that nothing too harsh happened. However, the silent words directed to any entity above died on his lips when he saw a little pool of blood on the lobby's marble floor. The red abnormally stood out in a delicate contrast with the greyish marble. Stefan felt sick at the sight of blood.
The idiot really ruined his life. What the fuck I'm supposed to do now? Stefan thought angrily.
He looked around, hoping to find a lifeline. Sweat was accumulating on his forehead, saliva pooling in his mouth, and the desire to vomit grew. Stefan passed his shaking hand through his hair. His skin was pale and he was trying to contemplate viable scenarios. However, he knew Damon and it was safe to assume he went overboard.
Stefan still remembered the day after Damon discovered Rose and Enzo. A few bones had been broken and worse would have happened to Enzo if Giuseppe hadn't ordered one of his soldiers to knock out his eldest son. Now there was no Giuseppe to help contain the situation.
Damon was nowhere in sight. Stefan could not decide if it was a good thing or if he needed to be extremely worried. The young man decided to go with worried. Why did Damon have to act so stupidly when he had a family? Would he have to call their father? Stefan started to think fast as he continued looking for Damon around the lobby. The entire room was almost empty apart from few men dressed in black. Stefan looked at them for a second in confusion.
He had to do a double take, but he recognized few faces. Before he could approach them, his attention was stolen away by a very familiar voice. He quickly looked around and spotted distinctive, jet-black hair. The grave velvet voice coated by strong Italian accent brought warm comfort to Stefan.
The young man finally looked at the lobby with interest. The men in black were keeping the place closed and the building was on lockdown. Stefan returned his attention to the man with jet-black hair, the man who also happened to be his father, Giuseppe Salvatore. Stefan was baffled because he didn't expect his father to be here so early, but he came right in time.
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He can deal with his son's mess. If Damon crossed the line, then Papa is his best option. He frowned at his own thought because the Salvatore sons always tried to be independent. However, every time the situation became unmanageable, they always sought their father's help.
"Now you work here, right?" The voice was quiet and full of confidence.
Giuseppe towered over the building's doorman. He was the only witness of what happened earlier and right now, he was under duress. The young man answered the question with a shaky nod. He couldn't speak, he was still shocked after witnessing one of the building's resident attack a man, and then the rest went so fast.
"Your name, young man." The voice was stoic and exigent. Giuseppe placed a strong hand on the young man's shoulder and squeezed to help bring him back to reality.
The gateman did not want to speak but he felt compelled to do so. There were at least six men dressed in black around the lobby, and each of them obeyed the man questioning him. In addition, the man in front of him had a charismatic and frightening aura. The young man swallowed hard and he took a minute to reply.
"Joshua Parker," he stuttered a bit and pearl of sweat covered his upper lip.
Poor Joshua was having an awful day. He gripped his phone and prayed nothing bad happened to him. In the past minutes, he saw an unconscious man being carried away and didn't want to be the next one. Joshua glanced back for a second but against his will, his eyes returned on Giuseppe Salvatore.
"Well I own the place, so you work for me and you look like you need the money. I can be generous but that won't stop you from snitching. Self-preservation is a better incentive." Steel blue eyes stared deep into the shaking young man's soul.
"Here." Joshua put his phone in Giuseppe's hand.
The older man looked through it until he found the right video. He hated this new generation and their need to record everything, but at least Joshua Parker had been so busy recording that he didn't call the police.
"Good, you might get a promotion. What job do you want around here?" he said with a frightening nonchalance. His tone didn't mask the underlying threat.
"I don't know," the young gateman said dumbly.
Why do I have this rotten luck? Really, I thought it was just a silly fight, which could have gone viral and now this, he thought bitterly and once again, he glanced back toward the place where they moved the bloody body and the other man fighting.
"Now you look smart." His tone wasn't convincing, but Giuseppe was a jetlag.
"I hope you understand what someone like me can do with just your name. You have family…friends…and a girlfriend?" Giuseppe observed the young man and decided to revisit his statement.
"You have a family… maybe a friend." Sep gained the young man's undivided attention and Joshua quickly nodded. He had watched enough television and movies to understand what the older man meant.
"Take this back and get someone to clean that floor. Think about the job you want and I will send someone to check on you tomorrow." The Salvatore patriarch put a hand on the young man shoulder and he squeezed encouragingly.
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"Papa?" Stefan said, completely surprised by his father's presence.
He looked at the man whom Damon resembled so much. Giuseppe Salvatore had dark black hair, he was taller than both his sons and his eyes would put Damon's to shame. Overall, the man had aged beautifully and he had an exterior grace that fascinated most people around him. However, much like his first son, his temper was dangerous and he could be ruthless when dealing with people he considered a threat.
"Stefano, aren't you a bit late?" he said with a softness in his voice that he reserved only to his sons.
He walked toward his son and quickly hugged him. Stefan hugged him back and quickly broke the embrace. The young man had few questions to ask his father. During his first hour in America, Giuseppe was already threatening people and surely covering an ignoble act committed by his elder son. Stefan was thrown back into his teenage days.
Giuseppe graciously sat on the leather sofa that furnished the building lobby. He elegantly crossed his left ankle on his right knee and waited for his youngest son to take a seat close to him, but Stefan just stood on the side.
"Well, Damon…" Stefan didn't even know how to pursue his inquiry. Giuseppe continued to bore holes into his son.
Stefan issued an incomprehensible statement a mixed between confusing words and an even more ambiguous question. The young man was too agitated to sit.
"Damon and his antics. The Bambino doesn't know how to behave." His father laughed goodheartedly and Stefan still didn't relax.
Giuseppe laughing was not an indication of how precarious a situation could be. The man found humour in everything and nothing. The Salvatore patriarch only answered a question when it was clearly asked, so he waited for his son to choose his words correctly. Stefan rolled his eyes but he took a deep breath until his mind was sharp and freed of all confusing thoughts.
"Where is Damon?" Stefan asked and waited for a clear answer.
"Rectifying his mistake. You see, I walked into this building and found your brother acting like a savage. I have raised you better, haven't I?" he truthfully seemed appalled at the thought that his children lacked decorum.
However, it wasn't the prospect of Damon violently beating someone that appalled him. Giuseppe was simply disappointed that his son did it in front of a witness, which Stefan already understood. The young man grew up with his father's mantra; witnessed make life complicated.
"Papa?" his youngest son grew tired of his shenanigans. He sighed and finally took a seat by his side.
If Giuseppe Salvatore didn't want to be helpful, no one could force him to be. Everyone always had to play by his rules. If Stefan wanted answers, he would sit and obey Giuseppe's silent request. The Salvatore patriarch discarded his suit jacket and uncrossed his leg. The man regained his seriousness and slightly turned to the side so he could face his son. He looked at Stefan with concern and spoke with a grave expression.
"I really hope I did raise you better than that." The smirk sitting on his lips was very similar to Damon's.
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Stefan understood his father was unfazed by the situation. The young man looked around as he tried to temper his frustration. The young gateman who was previously talking to Giuseppe now cleaned the floor adamantly. Giuseppe followed his son's eyes and he stared at the cleaning young man intimidatingly.
"Now he is complicit. He won't run to the police." The older Salvatore said quietly.
Giuseppe closed his eyes while he let his head fall back; he needed to rest after his long flight. Stefan didn't like the way his father sounded. For now, he could assume Kol was dead.
"Papa, where is Damon?" There was more urgency in Stefan's voice.
Giuseppe sighed with exasperation and opened his eyes. Why does he have to be so dramatic? he thought regretfully as he looked at the concern expression on his son features. The man checked his watch and he estimated that Damon had enough time to do what was necessary.
"In that office…talking to the man, he was beating up. Hopefully passing the right message." He punctuated his sentence with a finger pointing at a door leading to the back of the building.
"Papa, this is not Florence. You can't just let Damon do whatever he wants," Stefan said, though he was slightly relieved.
"Obviously this is not Florence; the young man is still breathing and will continue to do so once your brother is done with him. How are you, bambino?" he said casually as he pulled a cigarette out and offered one to Stefan. The younger Salvatore graciously said no and answered the question his father asked.
"I'm fine, Papa." He relaxed into his seat and occasionally glanced at the door leading to the office where Damon was locked with Kol. The father and son duo stayed in a comfortable silence for few minutes. They were both gauging what was the right time to interrupt Damon.
"That is great, but you look thinner, Stefano, while your brother looks healthy. Perhaps you should find a good woman too. Your momma told me Damon is in love, and she is a sweet girl. Is your mama home, by the way, I wanted to surprise her?" Giuseppe broke the silence. The casualty of the conversation surprised Stefan. The young man eyed his father and wonder if he had all his head.
"Do you really want to have a trivial conversation while your son is in the other room savagely attacking another man?" He asked incredulously.
"Do you have a better idea on how to pass the time?" Giuseppe countered and Stefan didn't propose a better option. "I thought so."
"Mama is home and worried because Damon just ran out of the apartment. She sent me after him and what are you doing here?" the young Salvatore replied reluctantly.
"If your mother sent you after your brother then go get him. Why are you asking me stupid questions?" His father said with a hint of annoyance.
"What happened to have a small talk?" he countered sarcastically.
Giuseppe rolled his eyes, unimpressed by his son antics. In addition, he was not ready to go through a long lecture; Lily would have a lot to say if Damon went overboard.
"Do you want to explain everything to your mother? Because I know I don't want to. Go tell your brother to stop and if he doesn't listen, knock him out. Gianluigi is in the room with him, he might help you carry him. You know how he gets when he is furious." His voice was serious and he meant every word. Stefan just shook his head at his eccentric father.
Ten, twenty, or thirty minutes. Bonnie was trying to estimate how long Damon had been gone. She could hardly think with Leila's cry breaking the deafening silence. Therefore, Bonnie chose to focus on her child. She had to keep all her bad thoughts away, but she was failing utterly.
"Shush baby, mommy is here. Leila. everything is fine." Her soothing words did little good.
Leila's cries were destabilizing Bonnie. With each cry, she assumed her incompetence as a mother was thrown in her face. She tried to draw a deep breath and it was useless. She was quickly panicking, which Leila felt. The young Bennett was doing her best to stay in the moment. However, she revisited the moment when Kol's convinced her to abandon her daughter. Kol, why must this horrible man make her doubt herself as a mother?
I couldn't protect her against him before, how can I do it now? She wondered.
"Here, look at mama." Bonnie tried to move her daughter so the little girl could look at her, but it was impossible.
Leila's cries grew louder and her face had to be pried away from Bonnie's shoulder. Bonnie did a herculean effort to fight the strong flow of tears threatening to undo her. Her daughter was latching onto her hips, her small legs strongly wrapped around Bonnie's waist, and Leila's little finger dug inside the tender flesh of her mother's shoulder.
Any effort to dislodge the child ended in failure and deep scratches in Bonnie's shoulder. Leila would thrash if Lily even just came closer to her or she would scream louder. Leila had never thrown a tantrum of this magnitude but it seemed the interaction with Kol had been impactful. The little girl had been able to sense every emotion in the air. She was expressing the fear her mother was trying to hide.
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Bonnie sighed desperately and she cleaned some rogue tears with her free hand. Her arms were tiring. After thirty minutes, she started to find her little girl heavy. In addition, she suddenly became drained emotionally. The young woman continued pacing back and forth with her daughter attached to her hips. She glanced at Leila and her worries grew, as did her guilt.
She wrongfully believed she brought Kol into her child's life. She refused to see the situation reasonably, the heavy baggage of her dark days was toppling inside the new life she fought to build. A second considering who Kol was would have cleared her confusion on who was to blame. She would have understood his unhealthy obsession with her and his devilish greed.
Bonnie looked at the door with desperation. That man always had to destroy my life, she thought bitterly. Her head started pounding, her eyes were bright red, and her anxiety made her nauseous. She needed her boyfriend to walk back into the room. Bonnie continued pacing back and forth, her arm strongly holding her daughter as she stared at the entrance door.
"It's okay bambina. I'm sure Stefan stopped him before he could do anything stupid," Lily said as she placed a comforting hand on Bonnie's back.
The Salvatore matriarch had noticed Bonnie's constant stares at the door. She shared the young woman's anxiety, she had witnessed other events when her son lost his temper. Now, she prayed he did nothing that would be irreparable.
Bonnie just wanted Damon's support.
"I will go make some tea. We need something to calm everyone's nerves," Sheila said as she stood from the sofa.
The women pacing back and forth in front of her were giving her vertigo. As the matriarch of the family, she seemed to be the only one to have her emotions in check.
"Baby come help your Grams." She took Leila in her arms. Her intentions were purely to help but it seemed to have the opposite effect.
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The little girl instantly protested and she immediately extended her arm toward her mother so Bonnie could take her back. Leila's shenanigans didn't deter Sheila. The older woman understood Bonnie was in no state to help Leila. Mother and child fed on each other's stress. It was a vicious emotional circle and she had the best intentions in the word as she tried to break it.
Bonnie would panic and Leila would sense it, which would lead to the little girl tightly holding on her mother. When Leila would panic, then Bonnie would feel guilty and incompetent. The best thing to do was to put some space between them, and that was what Sheila intended to do. However, her granddaughter misinterpreted the older woman's intentions.
"Grams, it's fine. I will take her." Bonnie could not stand her daughter's cries.
Now, it was all too much and Bonnie did not know what to do. She felt sick with anxiety, inadequacy, and an overload of negative feelings. Having Sheila take her child from her arms just reinforced those feelings. Bonnie saw it as an attempt to undermine her ability as a mother. Perhaps her grandmother believed she was unable to take care of her own daughter, and she started projecting her own feelings onto Sheila. Kol's presence had definitely opened old wounds and some emotions which still needed to be dealt with, resurfaced.
"Grams, give me back my daughter!" she insisted after Sheila did not cooperate the first time she asked. The only reason the young woman was not shouting was her frightened daughter.
However, her grandmother just nestled a crying Leila on her hips. Grams interpreted Bonnie's agitation as a signal to intervene, but she missed the fact that the young woman grew more agitated as soon as her child was out of her arms.
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"Bambina, why don't you sit for a second? We are just trying to help here. Clearly, both my granddaughter and you are shaken by recent events and it will be..." A furious Bonnie cut Lily before her words could take their intended meaning.
"Don't tell me that I can't protect my daughter. I am not a helpless teenager and I can take care of my child." The tears, which she tried so hard to avoid just started falling.
Her interaction with Kol brought to the surface insecurities that she hadn't felt in a year. Bonnie was finally in the mental space where she felt she was a capable mother, and small doubts on how to raise Leila could be sometime present but every time she could easily overcome those. However, now, her world and confidence seemed to be unable to sustain this new attack.
"No one is implying anything. Baby, we just want you to feel better and we're trying to help." Sheila tried to appease her granddaughter.
However, every little thing antagonized Bonnie. Damon storming out, Leila incessant crying, and the perpetual replay of her argument with Kol. She could not bottle up such emotions. She needed a focal point for her anger. Sheila was simply the unfortunate victim.
"Here, no one is taking you away from mommy." The petite woman suddenly snatched Leila from her grandmother's arm.
The matriarch Bennett wanted to say something but Lily put a hand on her shoulder. There was a moment of silence, a quick nonverbal conversation between the older women, and it seemed enough to diffuse the building tension between the Bennett women.
The Salvatore matriarch easily understood Bonnie's reaction, but she similarly understood where Sheila was coming from. The Bennett matriarch wanted genuinely to help, but sometimes being a bystander could be helpful. Bonnie was presently battling old demons, and even if she shared Sheila's eagerness to help, Lily understood it would only poison the situation.
"Mommy will always be here. No one, I promise no one will ever take you away from me again." She furiously wiped some tears and she walked out of the room.
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Grams was beginning to follow her when Lily stopped her. Sheila sighed with exasperation and looked at Lily grudgingly. It didn't scare the younger woman. The Italian woman had become familiar with the reasonable side of the Bennett matriarch.
"I am just trying to help her. I can't just look at her while she is falling apart," Sheila insisted as she tried to bypass Lily but the brunette woman intercepted her one more time.
"No one is asking you to do that. We all want to help her but she might not be in the state to take that help," Lily said softly as she walked Sheila away from the staircase leading to Bonnie's room.
"Do you have any idea what that boy did to her before? I can't just look at her and wait for her to be able to figure herself out. Sometimes you have to force her," Sheila argued.
"You can't be pushy every time, Sheila. It is her child, her past, and her battle. Right now, she is defensive and full of self-doubt. Anything you'd do might just make her feel bad. I want to help her too, but in the past days, I have learned to take a back seat on some issues. You saw her reaction. She needs to succeed; no talk or speech will convince her that she can take care of her child until she calms Leila," the Italian woman said firmly.
Sheila hesitated for a second, but she eventually sat back on the sofa. She turned her attention to the door and she sighed deeply.
"Is it bad that I wish Damon could kill that bastard?" She said after few minutes.
"Was it that bad? Was he that cruel?" At Bonnie's reaction after seeing the man, Lily had a clear idea about the answer and it took all of her to ask those questions.
"He forced her to give Leila away and mentally abused her for a year. He harassed her the next years and he always pops into her life when everything is perfect. I can't just sit here while she is going through all of this, I can't be a bystander again." Sheila stood up.
"But you will have to. Some trauma needs to be overcome alone. She needs that victory over him. Have some faith in her; she is no longer a fragile teenager. She is a capable mother and she needs to convince herself of that fact." The Italian matriarch tried to call upon reason.
"Do you want some tea, I need to be busy." Sheila yielded.
"I'm right behind you but I think once Damon comes back we might all need stronger stuff."
Stefan walked into the office and he didn't attract Damon's attention. The elder Salvatore focused on Kol. The man who was appointed as Damon's security, Gianluigi, nodded a silent hello to Stefan, and then returned his focus to the scene in front of him. Stefan had a strong stomach and now he was thankful for that. Trust Damon to behave like Giuseppe, Stefan thought as he approached his brother.
The oldest Salvatore son concentrated his effort on the man on the ground. Kol curled up around protectively as Damon's designer leather loafer connected repeatedly with his rib cage. Stefan silently gave an order to Gianluigi and a second later, the man removed Damon from Kol.
"Alright, slow down," Stefan said in a very contained tone.
He bent down and held Kol's chin between his forefinger and thumbs. Stefan carefully observed the young man's face, turning it left and right. It was as bad as he expected. There were shallow and deep cuts everywhere. Judging by the amount of bleeding around the nose, it was broken. The bleeding was so strong, Stefan estimated it could lead to suffocation, so he tilted Kol's head to free his airways.
"Mind your business, Stefano," Damon spat with anger as he tried to escape Gianluigi's iron grip. However, it was a waste of energy.
"If you think about it, once you're in jail for murder, I'll have to take care of your daughter and girlfriend. I don't really want to do that, so this is my business." His voice was full of sarcasm.
He quickly helped Kol on his feet and unceremoniously threw him on the closest chair. Stefan carefully avoided the pool of blood on the floor and then he examined his feet with interest hoping that they didn't touch the blood.
"Don't be dramatic. I'm not planning to kill him." Once again, Damon tried to escape Gianluigi. At his statement, both Salvatore man glanced at Kol's broken form. Stefan's eyebrows flew up in disbelief. Damon's murderous intent was clear just from Kol's face.
"I am just trying to make the young man understand that he should stay away from my family." Damon was trying to sound calm.
Now he just wanted to be freed so he could continue where he was stopped. Damon stared viciously at the whimpering Kol. The anger was not yet out of Damon's system and he felt as if nothing could sooth it. Attacking Kol had freed so many impulses in him, and now he was having a hard time controlling them. He needed the Mikealson to pay for everything he did and what he probably intended to do.
"Is he unconscious?" Stefan inquired loudly when the whimpers and wincing ceased at once.
He quickly tapped on Kol's cheek. Kol's skin was extremely warm and it calmed Stefan. The young man took a deep breath and he once again slapped Kol.
"I didn't go too hard on him. The bastard is still conscious," Damon said with exasperation.
He was tired of fighting against Gianluigi's grip and beating Kol had drained his energy. He could feel his knuckles throbbing and he cursed silently because now he was feeling the pain. The consistent sharp pain in his forefinger was enough to tell him that he broke it while hitting the other man's nose repeatedly.
"That's great!" Stefan clapped with fake excitement. He rolled his eyes at the absurdity of the moment. "Gianluigi can finish him for you, and then he will drop him in front of a hospital or just get one of our doctors to make sure that he stays alive." His casual tone just made the statement more ludicrous to his ears. However, until a year ago, these types of situations were common occurrences in Stefan's life.
"I'm not done yet. The bastard deserves more than a broken nose and few broken ribs." Damon groaned.
"You're done if the goal is not to kill him. He is barely breathing." Stefan countered with a tone that prevented a future argument.
He nodded in Damon's general direction and Gianluigi carefully placed Damon back on the floor. The Salvatore henchman advanced toward Kol, admiring Damon's handy work. He didn't have much to do because Kol was delirious and at the edge of unconsciousness.
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"I said I wasn't done." Damon hissed furiously as he tried to bypass Stefan to get to Kol.
Damon didn't hesitate and shoved Stefan out his way. Gianluigi was clever enough to take two steps away from Kol. Before Stefan could recover from the shove and stop him, Damon hit Kol across the jaw with all the strength he could muster. He felt the bone on his already painful finger move out of place. However, he didn't care and he used the same hand to punch again.
"I'm allowed to knock you out. Look, you need to calm down and think rationally." Stefan finally grabbed him and moved him away from the Mikealson. However, Damon used his long legs to kick violently on Kol's chest while his younger brother dragged him away.
"He threatened Leila and I am being very rational," he shouted furiously as he pushed once again to escape his brother's paralyzing grip.
He shoved Stefan multiple times but the young man did not budge. Damon shouted his bottled rage and strong frustration. He hated when Saint Stefan was in his way. He glared at his brother and shoved him away with as much strength he could.
"No, you're angry and you aren't thinking about the consequences. Someone saw you when you first attacked him, so you need to chill, or I will have to calm you. Bonnie is already worried and I don't think she would take it well if I bring you back unconscious." The younger Salvatore matched his brother angry tone.
He was tired of this mess. His feet were in a pool of blood and his designer pants were tainted with filth. Stefan grabbed Damon by the elbow and pulled him away from Kol.
"That is low even coming from you." He did not want to agree with his younger brother, but Stefan's words felt like a cold shower. He couldn't lose Bonnie and Leila.
Damon took a deep breath. He stared at Kol, who was back on the ground after Damon's kick toppled the chair he was sitting on. Just looking at Kol made Damon boil with fury; if he stayed around then he would give into temptation. He walked out of the room because he needed to control his emotions. The eldest Salvatore son took five minutes to breathe and came back in the room.
"Better?" Stefan asked.
Damon didn't answer. He just passed Stefan and walked straight toward Kol. He crouched and took the man's chin in his hand. He forced the Mikealson to look at him. Kol's eyes were swollen, his eyelid almost fully closed. Damon didn't care if Kol could not see him. He wanted to look into the man's eyes when he issued a warning.
"Hey focus." He tapped on Kol's cheek and continued speaking when a whimper escaped Kol's mouth. "The next time you even breathe close to anyone from my family, I will hurt you worse than this. I will kill you and get away with it."
"Fuck you and your pretty family…" Kol coughed. Even through his exhaustion, the young man found the energy to chuckle.
"Don't tempt me," Damon hissed as he walked away, remembering what he had to lose.
"Clean this up and make sure he lives," Stefan barked orders to Gianluigi and followed Damon.
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"So can anyone explain to me what is going on?" the Salvatore patriarch asked when he saw his sons reentered the lobby.
Giuseppe stood up from the lobby's sofa and he met Damon and Stefan midway. He looked at his eldest son and refrained from commenting. He redirected his focus to Stefan and waited for the answer to his question.
"You didn't recognize him?" Stefan asked in surprise.
"The man's face was swollen and Damon was on top of him when I stumbled upon the mess," Giuseppe answered casually and glanced at Damon.
His son seemed to be in between emotions. He was no longer angry but he had not recovered his sanity. Damon didn't care about the conversation around him. Now that he had unleashed his anger on Kol, he still didn't feel content. He just believed the type of man that Kol was, never gave up. He will come back, he thought darkly.
"Remember Leila's surrogate mother? That was the man who brought her to us," Stefan explained to his father and Giuseppe was silent for a minute.
Stefan's words caught Damon's attention and he decided to listen to his father and brother's conversation. He obviously knew learning more about the misery Kol brought in Bonnie's life would infuriate him. However, there was a morbid need to listen.
"The man was a nasty manipulator," Giuseppe said with strong disdain as he remembered Kol and his antics. Unaware of the relationship between Bonnie and his son, Giuseppe didn't hesitate to share sensible details.
"He initially wanted to sell her sexual services. Imagine associating me with sex trafficking." His tone carried the disgust that he felt just thinking about it.
It was the first time anyone attempted to pay a debt by offering him a girl, and Giuseppe almost had Kol killed for it. The last thing Giuseppe wanted his family to be associated with was human trafficking and prostitution. The Salvatores never expanded their crime empire in that direction. It was always weapons and money laundering through their casino and real estate investments. Children and women were left untouched. The empire survived by respecting few values. Therefore, when Kol wanted to sell Bonnie so he could repay a debt, Giuseppe was appalled.
"I do have values, not a lot, but I do have some. He ended up offering her passport to me instead after I refused more sordid offers. The young woman was lucky you needed a surrogate mother at the time, or I'm sure he would have found someone with fewer scruples. The young man was desperate and reckless," The Salvatore patriarch continued to narrate. He was now speaking directly to his older son.
He had no idea of the effect his words had on Damon. Stefan glanced at Damon and it was clear that the anger was back. The eldest Salvatore son abruptly stopped and glanced at the door leading to the office where he left Kol.
I'm going to kill this piece of shit.
"Fuck… Damon!" Stefan shouted when his elder brother took off running. He had no choice but to follow.
"Bambinos… behave," Giuseppe said, completely unbothered by the sudden agitation around him.
"The bastard is gone," Damon said when Stefan reached him. He stared at the empty office and he regretted being too late.
"Can you calm down for a second? Let's get you clean up and please try to control yourself because your child and girlfriend need you." Stefan placed a hand on Damon's shoulder and forced his brother to move away from the door and the office.
"Can the both of you stop running around?" Giuseppe said when once again his sons caught up with him.
"Papa, Leila's surrogate mother is the sweet girl mama can't stop talking about," Stefan whispered afraid another misused word could trigger Damon's anger.
"Get your brother to clean himself." His look implied more than what he said.
After years learning under his father tutelage, Stefan always knew what every look meant. Giuseppe pulled a phone and he walked away to place a call.
"Leila, mommy is here. Please calm down." Bonnie tried to put her daughter on the bed, but Leila clung to her.
Bonnie sat down on the bed. She mentally talked herself down and she stared at her daughter. Perhaps, it was wiser to let Leila express her anguish. She rocked her baby back and forth, as the little cried relentlessly on her arm. Eventually Bonnie sensed that Leila was ready to calm down because she felt calmer too. However, she continued rocking back and forth until Leila was lulled into some type of comfort. Her little fingers closed around Bonnie's shirt and she nestled her head in her mother's shoulder.
The entire episode was heartbreaking. In a year spent with her daughter, never Bonnie had witnessed Leila cried with such angst. The moment weighed on her. It felt similar to seven years ago when she was unable to stop anything due to her lack of agency. However, her self-conceived insecurity stopped her from being the good mother she had become to be. She took a deep breath and decided to be natural about it.
Sniff…sniff. Leila sobs turned into quiet sniffles, but she refused to leave her mother's arms.
"You were so small and now you're this big. I'm really sorry for what I did before but I swear I'm never leaving again." Her words were the result of strong impulse. She understood her words wouldn't resonate with her daughter, but she deserved to know.
"Look at me, baby." She lovingly took Leila's face in her hands and she cleaned the tears away.
"No one will do anything to you. I am here forever and I am sorry. I was so young and stupid." She insisted on explaining her action.
"Mommy loves you more than anything… you're my everything now and you were my everything then too." Her words took no meaning in Leila's mind, but the emotion behind them reached her. The little girl understood the solemnity of the moment, she sat straighter, and she accepted her mother confession.
"It's okay mama… it's okay if you're not leaving," Leila offered timidly and she placed her arm around Bonnie's waist. She simply wanted her mother to feel well.
"Never again. I will be forever here until you grow old," Bonnie promised with all her heart and she intended it to be unbreakable.
"I'm so sorry… I'm so sorry princess." She could no longer hold her tears back.
"I forgive you, mama, you can stop crying," Leila automatically replied. She wiped a tear and moved closer to Bonnie.
"You know I love you so much and I want you to know it," Bonnie insisted.
"I know." The little girl offered her brightest smile to punctuate words that had been said with the strongest conviction. Leila nestled her head on Bonnie's chest and she yawned. The tears had ceased and suddenly the little girl was peaceful. She still held onto Bonnie, but it was no longer due to anxiety. Leila yawned again and it made Bonnie laugh.
"You tired, baby?" Bonnie asked with a warm smile.
"I'm not…" Leila replied, offended, but her eyes were already closing.
"Okay, you aren't. Mommy loves you." Bonnie kissed her baby's forehead.
….
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Bonnie spent an entire hour staring at her daughter's sleeping frame. The fear of losing her was too strong to allow her to look somewhere else. Kol's presence tainted her entire view of the situation. Bonnie needed a grip on the present but now she was haunted by the past. Talking to Leila was liberating. Receiving her daughter's forgiveness soothed her, even if the little girl did not understand the situation. Bonnie tried to clean her puffy eyes.
She muttered some encouraging words and found the strength to leave the room where Leila was sleeping. She needed time to herself and she felt it was only right to apologize to Sheila. As she came closer to the living room, growing noise caught her attention. She heard Stefan's voice and few others but it was enough to make her walk faster. Bonnie needed to be in his arms and she needed his protective embrace.
"She is in the room with Leila and I think she really needs you." She heard as she stepped into the room.
Sheila was quietly talking to Damon. Her words were fitting. Bonnie quickly tried to clean the remaining tears and she quietly made her way into the room. The young woman practically ignored everyone. She was exhausted; she had held her pain and anguish too long. She knew Damon could make it all better because he understood her insecurity. She walked in a straight line and she silently stood in front of him. The young woman just helplessly stood in front of him and he knew what to do.
"Hey babe," Damon fiercely hugged her. The contact with Bonnie seemed to have cleared his own anxious state. He placed a tender kiss on the crown of her head and tightly hugged her.
"Is it going to be alright?" she whispered against his chest and she strengthened her hug. She asked her question with a voice filled with shy hope. However, she was convinced he was the only one able to have the right answer to this question.
"I will make sure it is," he answered with conviction.
After this long day filled with anguish, she felt strong. She broke her hug and she turned to face Sheila. She wanted to apologize but the words died on her lips when her eyes met a ghost from her past.
"What is he doing here?" Bonnie's voice was shaky and she drew closer to Damon. Her eyes never left the man who was the spitting image of her boyfriend. One glance at Giuseppe Salvatore and she was back in Florence, accepting the offer which would set in motion a series of painful events.
"Giuseppe Salvatore, Damon's father," The Italian man extended his hand toward Bonnie and he was identical to her memories.
"You ruined my life so I can hardly forget who you're." She slapped his extended hand away.
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