Damon didn't know for how long he had eavesdropped on Bonnie and Abby's conversation. However, it was long enough to learn that his wife planned to move into the beach house with their daughter. It wasn't until that moment that he finally understood what was happening. Bonnie spoke of distance and space but she was essentially divorcing Damon without the paperwork. That stunning revelation shook the mobster to his very core. He wasn't ashamed to admit that he had fled Ric and Abby's house as if he were on fire. Damon knew that he could not face Bonnie when he was this close to the edge. He didn't want his temper to push her further away from him—if that was even possible.
He struggled to understand how his marriage had devolved to this point. The simple answer was that he had neglected his wife since the day they exchanged their vows. Foolishly, Damon had believed that he was successfully hiding his extracurricular activities from her. However, it seemed more likely that Bonnie had given Damon enough rope to hang himself. He could only assume that his actions after Giuseppe's attack on Bonnie had sealed his fate. In retrospect, he saw that Bonnie had given him an opportunity to get himself right. While they were in Shadow Hills, she admitted to knowing about his affair with Katherine. Furthermore, Bonnie had confessed that she had fallen in love with him against all odds. A good man, or even a marginally better man, would have heeded his wife's words. However, he had been too stubborn and arrogant to recognize the warning signs.
Damon had been shocked to learn when and how Bonnie had fallen in love with him. He had wrongly assumed that the girl's crush had started a few years later. The memories from his 23rd birthday were more than a little hazy. He was practically mainlining cocaine and bourbon that entire trip. He had been blitzed out of his skull that night. It was the only logical way to explain why he had thought it wise to beat a man nearly to death in front of an impressionable 13-year-old girl. He could have emotionally scarred her for life. Although, it seemed more likely that Bonnie had been desensitized to violence long before that fateful night.
He did not have to imagine the violent acts the girl had witnessed his father committing against Sheila. He knew from experience that challenging the abusive alcoholic only enraged him more. However, the alternative was curling up in a ball and allowing Giuseppe to wail on them until he grew tired. Damon had abandoned that strategy by the time he was a teenager. He had preferred to go down swinging rather than to take a beating like a good little punching bag. The sickest part of it all was that Giuseppe respected him more for fighting back. Damon wondered if that was why his father had loved Sheila and despised Lilly.
Damon drove around aimlessly after leaving Ric and Abby's house. He couldn't go home. The manor would be too much of a reminder of what he was losing. Furthermore, he ran the risk of Bonnie returning to discuss the details of their separation. He realized that the move was cowardly. He was only delaying the inevitable. However, he needed a plan before speaking to Bonnie. He couldn't let her catch him off guard again. Moreover, he needed to be in complete control of his emotions. He had never hit a woman and didn't have any plans to start now. However, getting into a screaming match with his pregnant wife wasn't wise. Damon had no doubt that he would blow his brains out if he caused Bonnie to miscarry their twins.
He knew that convincing Bonnie to give him another chance was going to be next to impossible in the immediate future. She was not only moving out of the manor but she was building a familial support system around herself. She had Abby and Lucy that would certainly support her decision to kick him to the curb. Furthermore, Damon figured that her Benedetto cousins from Milazzo would be of the same mindset. However, Rudy coming into town was perhaps the biggest wildcard of all. The older man had the appearance of a mild mannered accountant but he was as lethal as they came in their business. He had rightfully earned the moniker 'The Butcher'. It spoke to just how terrifying Sheila had to be in order to force a man of his caliber to abandon his daughter and his country without as much as a token fight.
Ultimately, Damon decided that he was not going to think of a brilliant solution on his own. His way of thinking was what had landed him in this position. He needed help from people that could be more rational than he was being right now. His best idea was throwing Bonnie over his shoulder and carrying her as far away from everyone else as possible. However, he knew that it was naive to pretend as if outside forces were responsible for their marital problems. Reluctantly, he sent texts to Zach, Ric, and Stefan asking them to meet him at the Claiborne Hotel. He wasn't looking forward to his uncles and brother's self-righteous lectures but he was desperate. He also sent several texts to Rose giving her a heads up about the situation. Damon was certain that Rose would bitch at him, too. They had all warned him but he had ignored them. Damon had believed that he knew best because Bonnie never complained.
He made a beeline for the bar when he arrived at the Claiborne. He needed a drink or ten before he had to face his disapproving brother and uncles. Fortunately, the bartender knew him well and immediately dug out the best bottle of bourbon they had on the premises. She was walking towards Damon before he had even motioned for her.
"Good evening, Mr. Salvatore," the young woman said. She placed a glass in front of him and filled it almost to the brim.
He pulled out his wallet and dropped his credit card on the bar. He said, "Leave the bottle."
"Yes, sir. Will you be staying with us this evening?" she asked.
Damon looked down at his wedding band before downing the glass of bourbon in three large gulps. He took a deep breath and nodded. "Yes, I believe that I will, sweetheart. I'd like my usual suite and a properly stocked bar."
She nodded in understanding. "I will be sure to stock your bar personally, Mr. Salvatore. I'll go notify Mr. Lawrence of your arrival now."
"Thank you," he muttered and refilled his glass.
The bartender motioned to someone else to cover her place behind the bar before she scurried off to find the general manager.
Damon finished his second glass of bourbon as quickly as he had finished the first. He hoped that the liquor would do something to soothe the pain in his chest. At the very least, he hoped that it would numb him somewhat. Damon didn't know what he would do if he continued to feel this broken while left to his own devices. His wife didn't believe that he loved her but she couldn't have been more wrong. Bonnie was the air in his lungs. She was the very blood pumping through his veins. Bonnie had said earlier that Stefan kept Damon sane and she was right about that. However, Bonnie and Sarah were equally important. His wife and daughter made him happy. Damon had never felt true happiness before them. He used to confuse his hedonistic life of drugs, booze, and women for happiness. He knew better now.
A gray-haired Black man walked up to the bar. "Good evening, Mr. Salvatore. We are happy to have you staying with us this evening. Your preferred suite will be ready in approximately thirty minutes. I am sorry for the delay."
He reached out and took the keycard that the older man was extending to him. He smiled wryly. "It's not as if I gave you any advance warning. I am not sure how long I will be staying here. I may stay for a few days or it may be more than that. You have my card on file, right?"
"Yes, we do. We will be delighted to have you here for as long as you would like, Mr. Salvatore. Do you have any special requests?" He added, "Aside from the upgrade to the suite's selection of spirits?"
Damon shook his head. "No, that will be all."
Mr. Lawrence said, "I will notify you when the suite is ready. In the meantime, I will be at the front desk if you have any questions or requests."
"Thank you," Damon replied.
The older man nodded in acknowledgement and returned to his post at the front desk.
Damon refilled his glass again and then eyed the barrel aged liquid. It looked as if he was contemplating not drinking it. However, he quickly dispelled the idea and emptied the contents of the glass down his gullet. Damon replayed the day's events in his mind on a loop. He was thunderstruck by how meticulously Bonnie had planned this ambush. She had not left a single detail to chance. It was conniving, calculating, manipulative, and somewhat sexy. Damon didn't know if Bonnie had always been this way or if this was a new development. He was reminded of the many times Zacharias had implored him to get to know Bonnie. If he had taken his uncle's advice perhaps, he wouldn't have been blindsided by this. Better yet, maybe they would have never gotten to this point. However, he had hurt Bonnie too much and far too often.
The blue-eyed mobster refilled his glass and put it to his lips. However, he stopped short of drinking when he felt someone's hand resting on his shoulder. Damon looked up and saw that it was Zach. There was something steadying about the older man's presence. "Thanks for coming, Zio."
Zach sat down beside his nephew and placed an overnight bag on the barstool beside him. He had planned to spend the evening with his family. However, the possibility of Damon spiraling out of control took precedence. Fortunately, Meredith understood that his nephew was a ticking time bomb. Zach needed to be there to defuse him.
He said, "You need your family at a time like this. Rose is worried about you. I am, too."
"You spoke to Rose?" he asked curiously.
The older man nodded as he motioned for the bartender to bring over another glass. "She called me after receiving your flurry of text messages."
She placed the glass in front of Zach and asked, "Can I get anything else for you, sir?"
Zach looked at his nephew and asked, "When is the last time you've eaten?"
Damon shrugged. "On the plane, I guess…"
He refrained from rolling his eyes. Instead, he asked, "Do you happen to have a room service menu handy, hon?"
She nodded, "Yes, sir." She grabbed two menus from a stack and handed them to Zach.
"I'm not hungry," Damon muttered once the bartender had moved away from them.
"I didn't ask if you were hungry," was Zach's stern retort. "You are guzzling bourbon as if it were water. You need something to soak up some of the booze. I don't plan to spend my night watching you die from alcohol poisoning."
He snapped, "I didn't ask you here to play mother hen."
Zach didn't bother commenting on his nephew's petulant attitude. Damon could be an annoying little asshole even when he wasn't on the brink of an emotional breakdown. He said, "Pour a glass for me. I'll be back."
Damon watched as his uncle took the menu and left the bar area. He filled the empty glass and then refreshed his own drink. He would pass out after finishing most of the bottle if he was lucky. Maybe tomorrow he would feel more equipped to deal with the shit show that was his life.
Zach returned a few minutes later and sat down. "Ric will be here soon."
He asked, "Have you heard from Stef?"
The older man took a sip of his drink. "No, I haven't heard from him but Ric has. Stefan stopped over there to check on Bonnie first but he will be here."
Damon scoffed. "Of course Saint Stefan would go see Bonnie first."
"Don't be a child, Damon. You know the two of them have always been close. Besides, he is concerned about how Bonnie is coping since she's pregnant."
"She has high blood pressure," he muttered.
Zach lowered his glass slowly. "Really?"
He nodded. "If I remember correctly, she has nausea, high blood pressure, and insomnia. I am at fault for at least a couple of those."
"Is she okay? What did Dr. Huerta have to say?"
"I don't know. She didn't tell me any of that until this afternoon. Bonnie said that she was feeling a little better because of time away from me. I guess that's good, right?"
Zach winced in sympathy. He was sure that Bonnie was right about time away from Damon being good for her. Nevertheless, it was still a cold thing to say to him. Zach was too mature to point out that he had repeatedly warned his nephew of this eventuality. Moreover, Damon didn't need to be chastised right now. He needed support even if this was a hell of his own making.
"I'll text Meri and see what she can get out of Dr. Huerta. When we were on the way to Shadow Hills, Bonnie gave Dr. Huerta authorization to share her medical information with Meredith and Jo. Hopefully, she hasn't rescinded that authorization."
"Thank you," he replied.
He quickly composed a text for his wife. He hoped that Meredith would be able to give them some information to reassure Damon of Bonnie's health. Afterwards, he put away his phone and ran a hand over his hair. It felt as if all the wheels were coming off at once. Stefan still wasn't himself but Ric and Damon didn't take the younger boy seriously. However, Zach was truly worried that Stefan might whack Ric because of his childhood nightmares. Perhaps the most unsettling part was that Zach suspected Lilly was telling the truth. Now Damon required his attention, too. Zach knew that he felt more responsible for his nephews than he should. He wasn't their father but it wasn't as if Giuseppe would have been helpful in a situation of this nature even if he wasn't persona non grata.
The hotel's general manager walked over to them. "Mr. Salvatore, your suite is ready now."
Damon slowly stood up and grabbed the bottle of bourbon. "Thank you."
He turned to look at Zach and handed him a keycard. "Your suite is across the hall and it will be ready in about twenty minutes."
Zach said, "Thanks." He waited until Mr. Lawrence walked away before looking at his nephew. He lowered his voice and said, "You will not walk through this hotel drinking from a bottle of bourbon as if you were Axl Rose."
Damon rolled his eyes but he knew that Zach was right. There was too great a chance that another guest might snap a photo and sell it to a tabloid. Velocita's board would have a field day with that. He put the cap on the bottle and handed it to Zach. "Happy?"
Zach stuffed the bottle in his overnight bag and said, "Yes, I am elated. Let's go."
The two men walked out of the bar and headed to the bank of elevators.
"Wait up," a voice called out from behind them.
Zach looked over his shoulder because he recognized the voice as belonging to his older brother.
The younger men patiently waited for Alaric to catch up with them.
Damon said, "I figured that you would be at home with Abby."
He chuckled as he pressed the call button for the elevator. "Where else would I be when my nephew is in need?"
The younger man raised an eyebrow to indicate his skepticism.
They all stepped onto the elevator when the doors opened.
Zach pressed the button for their floor.
Alaric chuckled, "She kicked me out of my house—again. I will not be welcome in my house until Bonnie moves into the beach house. Oh, I also have to get a STD test before Abby will come within 50 feet of my cock because of your little detour to Tenerife. Thanks for that by the way."
Damon shook his head. "How the hell did they know we stopped in Tenerife? Not that it matters in the scheme of things."
"Abby said that she looked into where the jet landed after we didn't arrive in Milazzo on schedule," he explained.
Damon muttered, "Can't you do more to control your girlfriend?"
Zach chuckled. "Abby has his balls in a velvet bag. You think your 21-year-old wife is fucking up your life right now…imagine what Abby could do to Ric."
Damon and Alaric scowled at Zach simultaneously as the elevator doors slid open. Neither found their predicaments to be the least bit entertaining. All three men exited the elevator and walked down the hall to Damon's suite.
Once inside the younger man went straight for the wet bar. He was pleased with the selection of liquors he found. Damon would have to be sure to tip the bartender before he checked out of the hotel. He grabbed a bottle of his favorite bourbon and then plopped down into a leather club chair.
Zach took off his suit jacket and dug a RF signal detector from his bag. He did a slow sweep of the entire suite to ensure there weren't any listening devices. They had never had a problem with the Claiborne. However, now was not the time to become sloppy. He said, "We're clean."
Damon said, "Good."
He sat down on the couch and kicked off his shoes. "What exactly do we know about this situation? What's the damage?"
Damon was mid gulp. He quickly swallowed the liquid down and said, "I already told you everything that I knew. Bonnie wants a separation. She is planning to move into the beach house with Sarah to get away from me. She is going to allow me to continue seeing Katherine. She may or may not know that I have been seeing Andie Starr. However, she obviously knows that Katherine is not the only person that I have been seeing. She threatened me with a messy divorce if she finds out that I am still seeing anyone else. Oh, and she probably told Big John what was about to go down since he's sending four blood relatives to help me run the Benedettos' operation after the old man is gone. That is looking more like a subtle takeover rather than any sort of assistance."
Zach hummed and said, "Well, we suspected that Big John wasn't simply offering his assistance to be helpful. We just have a fuller picture now."
"I almost forgot." He turned to look at Alaric at the wet bar. "Did Abby mention that her ex-husband is in California right now?"
Ric's shoulders tensed at the mention of Rudy. "Why the fuck is he in California? Abby and Bonnie hate him."
Damon chuckled wryly. "Apparently, Abby hates me more than she hates Rudy. I overheard her tell Bonnie that she had reached out to him. He's up north right now but he'll be in Los Angeles soon."
"Did Bonnie seem receptive to that?" Zach asked.
He nodded.
"That's a complication that we don't fucking need. Rudy hates our family," Ric complained as he sat down.
"I can't imagine why, Zio," Damon replied drolly.
"What else do we know?" Zach asked. He didn't want his brother and nephew to start arguing. Both men were too similar for their own good. It wouldn't take much to spark a fistfight.
Damon's eyebrows furrowed with concern. He said, "Bonnie is sick."
"I've got Meri working to find out the details on that situation. She'll call when she knows something."
He shrugged. "I don't know anything else. We were supposed to talk after dinner but I came here instead."
Zach said, "You did the right thing, Damon. The worst thing you can do is react poorly to this situation. You don't need to give Bonnie more ammunition. You'll talk to her when you are calm."
"And have a strategy. She caught you with your pants around your ankles this afternoon. You can't let her get the best of you again," Alaric added.
Zach rolled his eyes. "That's your advice to him? Don't be helpful."
Ric said, "I hate to be the practical one but there is more at stake here than just Damon's marriage. We need the alliance with the Benedetto family. Moreover, we can't afford the hit our reputation would take if they essentially repossess the operation from us! We will appear weakened and will have to fight twice as hard to fend off all comers."
Damon's jaw tightened as he glared at his uncle. "Do you really think that I give a fuck about any of that right now? My wife is leaving me! She plans to take our daughter, too. There is a chance that when our babies are born they will be going to the beach house instead of the manor. Do you understand what I am losing right now?"
"It's fucked up. I understand that, Damon. Nevertheless, you want to be the boss, right? That is what the fuck we have all been working towards for months. I barely see my kids because I have been pulling double duty. The same goes for Zacharias. We have made a lot sacrifices to put you in this position. You don't get to throw your hands up now because of difficulties in your personal life."
The younger man ground his teeth in anger and he threw his empty glass against the wall. "Fuck you!"
Alaric chuckled. "You are still a spoiled child sometimes."
Zach said, "That's enough out of both of you. You're both right."
Damon lifted an eyebrow at his uncle. "What?"
"Alaric has a point, Damon. We can't afford to appear weak to our enemies or to the soldiers in our own organization. John Gilbert would love to swoop in as a dark horse candidate to succeed Giuseppe. Your marital problems causing us to lose the smuggling operation would be used as evidence of your inability to lead this family. People will say that if you can't manage your own marriage then you can't be trusted to manage the business. It is bullshit but it makes for a compelling argument when the organization will be hemorrhaging millions of dollars if we lose our cut of the operation."
Damon opened his mouth to argue with Zach.
The older man cut him off with a sharp look. "However, the success of our business and the wellbeing of your marriage are not mutually exclusive. In fact, I would suggest that there are intertwined. We could avoid all of the doomsday scenarios if Damon is able to repair the damage in his marriage. I think he should be focusing on that right now. You and I will concentrate our efforts on the business. Top of the list has to be getting rid of Giuseppe. We don't need any outside agitation in the situation."
Damon asked, "Do you think that we will be able to convince the old man to come back home willingly? I'd rather whack him here in the States where we can control everything."
Alaric frowned. "He has to know that his number is up. He is not stupid. There is no way he will walk into a trap that we set for him. He wouldn't even stick his neck into the trap that the uncles set for him in Milazzo. Zach is right. We need to take care of Giuseppe now. He won't stay holed up at Sabine's place forever. The last thing we want is to lose track of him again."
"Then we need to send more guys over to help Kai and Luke kidnap him. It wouldn't be too difficult to smuggle him back into the country," Damon decided.
Ric nodded. "I'll have Mason get into it tonight. He can put a team together in less than a day."
Zach said, "Now onto how to handle Bonnie. My advice is to acquiesce to her demands."
"What?" Damon asked. His face showed his disbelief. "You can't be serious right now."
Even Ric looked skeptical of his brother's suggestion.
"Hear me out, kid. I know that you want to fight Bonnie tooth and nail on this. But antagonizing her will only make the situation worse. If she is anything like her mother, she will put up even more of a fight. Sometimes there is wisdom in losing a battle to win the war. A separation is always better than a divorce."
Damon frowned but took a minute to consider what Zach was saying. "What stops her from divorcing me the moment she gives birth to the twins? You said yourself that Bonnie won't need me once she gives birth to a healthy heir. You were right."
"First, you don't know that Bonnie is pregnant with a boy yet. She could be having two girls, which means the two of you would need to try again for a boy. Second, she is about 17 or 18 weeks pregnant. That gives you at least twenty weeks to make some headway with her. Show Bonnie that you aren't a heartless asshole. Prove to her that you can change for her."
He said sulkily, "I did change and it wasn't enough."
Zach said, "You stopped doing coke every day and you scaled back your drinking. You are still a shitty husband and you can do better as a father. I know that you are hurting right now. I hate it for you because you are my nephew. I love ya, kid. I think Bonnie has been a positive force in your life. If she means as much to you as you claim then you need to show her. The time for talk has passed. It's all going to sound like bullshit to her."
Damon scrubbed his hands over his five o'clock shadow. "I don't even know where to start."
"Go to counseling."
Alaric laughed.
Zach knew that would be his brother's reaction but he pushed forward anyway. "I went to counseling a few years into my marriage to Meredith. One night, we got into this huge argument about living at the manor. I was already frustrated with Giuseppe. He was riding my ass about something—as usual. Then Meri threatened to leave me and I snapped."
Damon's eyes widened. He couldn't picture his uncle being a wife batterer.
"Every instinct was telling me to punch my wife in the face. It was a split second decision. I ended up punching a hole into the wall beside her head. I can still hear the way she screamed because she thought I was going to punch her, too. I dropped to the floor and cried like a baby. Meredith should have taken Lucian and run back home to her parents. Instead, she sat on the floor next to me and held me while I cried. The next day I found a counselor and made an appointment. I was in therapy for about 16 months because I had dark shit in my past that I needed to confront. You need to deal with some things, too. Family history isn't on your side, kid. The men in our family haven't met an addiction that we didn't like: booze, drugs, women, and gambling. Of course, your father is some brand of psychotic that I won't even begin to diagnosis. Lilly is bipolar. Then there are the years of soul crushing child abuse. We're lucky that you didn't turn into fucking Hannibal Lecter. Maybe you will never get to the point where you are a split second away from hitting your wife. But there is more than one way to victimize a woman, Damon. Emotional abuse is a real thing."
Damon swallowed thickly and asked, "Do you think that I've been emotionally abusing Bonnie?"
Zach said, "I can't speak for Bonnie. I don't know what's in her heart. I do know that you don't treat her very well. I know that if she were my daughter that I would kick your ass. I probably should have kicked your ass for treating Bonnie the way that you have anyway. She is a good kid and doesn't deserve all the shit you've put her through."
"Okay. I'll do it. How do I even start looking for a counselor or whatever?"
"The woman I went to ten years ago is still working in the area. I actually talked to her a few days ago about setting something up for Stefan."
Alaric frowned because that was news to him. Usually, he and Zach discussed anything big that was happening with their nephews. However, Zach had been keeping things close to the vest since Stefan's little breakdown in Tenerife. He asked, "What for?"
Zach said, "I think our nephew should get a psychological evaluation. You can inherit bipolar disorder. I can't be the only one that has noticed a change in Stefan lately."
The older man had to concede his brother's point. Stefan was different. However, he blamed all of that on Lilly. Stefan was fine before he went to Paris to visit her. She had filled the boy's head with nonsense because she was a vindictive bitch.
Damon groaned and scrubbed at his face. "What the hell would I even talk about with a counselor?"
Zach lifted and eyebrow as he looked at his nephew. He said, "I don't know...maybe you can talk to Dr. Correa about the hole in your chest that you've been trying to fill with liquor and women since you were a tennager. I am sure that she would love to hear about how you distrust women because Lilly abdicated her role as your protector. You can tell her how Giuseppe abused you emotionally and physically for years. On the other hand, maybe you would want to tell Dr. Correa how Alaric and I abandoned you the moment we were old enough to go to college. Whereas, when your time came to escape you stuck around to keep Stefan safe. However, I think probably the most important thing you should tell the doc is how you have used Katherine as a shield your entire marriage because you are terrified of letting Bonnie get too close."
The younger man scowled because apparently it was Everyone-Be-Brutally-Honest-With-Damon-Day. However, he would swallow it all if it meant convincing Bonnie to give him another chance.