A/N: I love writing this story and sharing it with so many amazing people. I appreciate the feedback even when it is not positive. I have said on many occasions that Bamon is endgame for this story. I also said that it would take time to get there. I did a helpful Q&A at the beginning of Chapter 43. If there are any new questions feel free to leave them in a review or PM. I will answer them. Thanks and enjoy.
Damon sat alone in the waiting room of Dr. Correa's office. As promised, even the receptionist had already cleared out for the evening. He appreciated the level of privacy that Dr. Correa was providing them. Fortunately, she had experience treating secretive mobsters because Zacharias was once her patient. He glanced at his watch for the third time in as many minutes. The appointment was set to begin in fifteen minutes but Bonnie had not arrived yet. He was worried that she might have changed her mind about seeing Dr. Correa with him. Damon thought that their interaction yesterday had been positive. However, he was beginning to understand that things were never what they appeared where Bonnie was concerned.
He had tried in vain to focus on business in the hours leading up to the appointment. However, his thoughts kept straying to Bonnie. More than anything, he wanted his wife and daughter to move back into the manor. He wanted his family to be whole once more. Yet he couldn't get Giuseppe's dire warning out of his head. His father had called Bonnie dangerous. Part of Damon wanted to dismiss Giuseppe's blatant attempt to manipulate him. On the other hand, he knew in his heart that there was at least a kernel of truth buried within the old man's words. For example, Bonnie was supposed to spend yesterday afternoon helping her cousin look at houses. Instead, she left the OB/GYN appointment and went straight to the Benedetto Sea Carriers' office. The business was ostensibly a legitimate international shipping company based in Sicily. However, the Benedetto family used the company's success to hide their illegal smuggling activities.
Yesterday, Damon learned that Bonnie had conducted a small meeting with the highest-ranking members of the operation. She had informed them of the change in leadership. She put her cousin, Cesare, in charge of the day-to-day operation. Cesare was the obvious choice because he had years of experience of working at the company's headquarters in Sicily. However, Bonnie had assured everyone that from now on every major decision would run through her. Damon still couldn't believe that she had kept her word about taking over the operation. Bonnie hadn't even thought to speak to Damon about it first. She had simply taken what had always belonged to her. The brash move irked Damon because it made him appear weak. However, he was more concerned that he seemed to know very little about Bonnie. His innocent little wife had obviously been planning for this moment for quite some time.
Damon managed to keep his cool about the situation, but Alaric was furious enough for the entire family. He had made a complete ass of himself last night by storming over to Abby's house. He insisted that she must have known what Bonnie was planning since the girl was living under her roof. Abby had snidely reminded him that she was a Benedetto and couldn't care less about the Salvatore family's rise or fall. The two had argued in the middle of the driveway until Cesare put a stop to it. Apparently, Alaric's temper tantrum was making them late for a dinner hosted in Bonnie's honor. Damon thought the entire fiasco was a master class in how not to handle the situation. However, he knew that Alaric and Abby's problems ran much deeper than which family was running the smuggling operation.
Damon raised his arm to look at his watch once more but stopped short when he heard soft footsteps thudding against the slate floor. He stood up from his chair when he saw Bonnie turning the corner with Matt Donovan at her back. His wife looked harried but beautiful as she made her way over to him. Damon's eyes were immediately drawn to her cleavage. Bonnie's hunter green silk blouse had a few buttons undone. He had noticed that Bonnie had been dressing differently since their separation. He didn't like it.
He smiled at her. "Hi, Bunny."
Bonnie stopped in front of Damon and offered a half-smile. "Hi. I am sorry for cutting it so close. I adopted a couple families for Christmas through the church. Father Finn asked me to meet with the families when they came to pick up the boxes."
Damon felt like kicking himself when he realized that he had broken another promise to Bonnie. Before Thanksgiving, he promised that he would pay for the turkeys and hams that the church passed out around Christmas. He had no doubt that Bonnie had made the arrangements on her own knowing that Damon would forget again. His life had been one disaster after another lately, but that was hardly an excuse. Certainly, Bonnie viewed Damon's forgetfulness as another sign of his disinterest. He said, "There is no need to apologize. You are still early. How are you feeling?"
Matt moved away from the couple to give them a semblance of privacy. Damon and Bonnie were painfully awkward these days. He had no interest in watching their strange two-step. He sat down across the room and picked up a copy of National Geographic.
"I am doing well. How are you?" she asked.
"I am good, too. Do you want to sit down? We still have a few minutes before the appointment starts."
Bonnie tugged at her leather pencil skirt as she sat down. "Thanks."
Damon sat beside her. He asked, "How is Sarah?"
She smiled at the mention of their daughter. "She is happy. Mama is taking Sarah, Cooper, Savannah, and some of my younger cousins to see Frozen On Ice. The show starts at seven o'clock. Sarah is dressed as Elsa tonight. Do you want to see some of the pictures that Mama sent me?"
Damon nodded. "Yeah."
Bonnie pulled the phone out of her purse and pulled up the pictures. Sarah was wearing an Elsa costume including the blond wig. She flipped through the pictures for Damon. "Doesn't she look like a little princess?" Bonnie gushed.
"Yes, she does," Damon said with a smile. "Could you have Sarah call me before bed tonight? I would love to hear about her trip to see Elsa."
She said, "I don't know if Sarah will still be awake when they get home. It will probably be after ten o'clock if you factor in the drive back from Los Angeles. I can have her call you in the morning before you go to work. Would that be okay?"
He nodded. "Yes, I'd like that."
"Okay. Sarah will be excited to tell you about every single second. She goes a mile a minute once you get her started."
"Yeah, she does," he chuckled.
Bonnie asked, "How is your little brother adjusting?"
"Victor is doing well. At least I hope that is the case. He is pretty quiet but Stefan and I have been talking to him in French. He responds more when we do. The kid is an early riser, too. He was up at five o'clock this morning. We watched cartoons in bed before I had to start getting ready for work."
"I think it is great that you are taking care of your brother, Damon."
Damon said, "Well, he needs me. Sabine is recovering and my old man is still in the wind."
Bonnie resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Tuesday morning, Stefan had told her that Giuseppe had someone drop the boy off at the Salvatore Manor. However, she knew the truth. Bonnie was the one that had Giuseppe wrapped in a pretty red bow and dropped on their doorstep. She wasn't sure if Damon would have ever located his father without her intervention. Unfortunately, she couldn't take credit without exposing Senior's allegiance to her family.
"I know that Victor needs you but not everyone in your position would have taken him in without question. I mean you could have just as easily pawned him off on Zacharias. You are a good father and a good brother, Damon," Bonnie said earnestly.
He had never considered giving Victor to his uncle. Zach was a good father but Damon believed that his baby brother was his responsibility. Besides, he had enough family members and nannies to ensure that Victor wanted for nothing. "Thank you."
She said, "I talked to Sarah about Christmas. She was a little confused about why we couldn't spend it together."
Damon wondered if Bonnie was going to renege on the agreement that she had made with Rose. He had been worried that she would have second thoughts about spending Christmas Day without Sarah. He said, "Oh. Is she okay?"
Bonnie nodded. "She's fine. I just explained that I wanted to spend Christmas with my mom and dad. Sarah is excited about spending the night at the manor. She has already started telling me what she wants to pack for her overnight trip."
He relaxed after hearing that Sarah was excited to spend time with him. Being away from his daughter was difficult. Damon had been away for weeks at a time on business in the past but this felt different. He chuckled. "What does she need to pack? Most of her things are still in her room at the Manor."
"My parents have been very generous with gifts for Sarah. They are spoiling her but I haven't had the heart to put a stop to it just yet. I think my dad must have bought out a Halloween store's entire stock of Disney Princess costumes. Sarah wants to pack them so that she can play dress up with Bella."
"It's good that Sarah is getting to spend time with your parents. She needs grandparents to spoil her a bit. If I have any say in the matter, she will never lay eyes on Lilly and I would never consider allowing Giuseppe around her again," he promised.
Bonnie hoped that Damon would get on with killing the bastard sooner rather than later. However, she understood that he had thirty-one years of repressed anger that he needed to release. She couldn't imagine the kind of damage Damon and his uncles had inflicted on Giuseppe since Monday night. Moreover, he probably wouldn't whack the old man until after Christmas. There was no sense in tainting the holidays for the children. They all loved the demented man. The children would undoubtedly take his death hard. Bonnie was concerned about how Sarah would deal with Giuseppe's death. She had seen the worst of her grandfather but that hadn't erased her love for him.
Across the room, a door opened and out walked an older Latina woman. The gray streaks in her hair suggested that she was at least in her sixties. Her dark brown eyes fell onto the estranged couple. "Good evening, Mr. & Mrs. Salvatore. You can come into my office if you are ready."
Damon looked at Bonnie. "Do you need a minute?"
She shook her head as she stood up. "No, I am ready."
They walked into the room together and sat down on a dark blue 3-seat sofa. Bonnie placed her purse beside her to prevent Damon from sitting too close to her.
"My name is Dr. Marianna Correa. Before we get started, I want to explain a little bit about what I do here. I am a psychologist that specializes in individual therapy and marriage and family therapy. I believe in the eclectic therapeutic approach, which is to say that I don't subscribe to a single philosophy. I take the portions of different philosophies that I find best suited to treating my clients. Have you ever seen a counselor or a psychiatrist before?"
Damon waited impatiently as Dr. Correa went through her introductory spiel for Bonnie. She had recited the same information for him at the beginning of his first session with her. Damon understood why she needed explain everything for Bonnie but he wanted to get started. He had no way of knowing how long Bonnie would cooperate with this. It wasn't as if he had goodwill on his side to compel her to stay.
Bonnie nodded. "I saw a psychologist as a teenager because I was having difficulty sleeping at night. I witnessed something traumatic. I had weekly sessions for about three months."
Damon's eyebrows furrowed in concern. He didn't know that Bonnie had seen a psychiatrist in the past. He wondered what traumatic event could have made Sheila send her to a professional. She had been almost as old-school as Damon's father had been. They didn't make a habit of telling outsiders their problems because it was a sign of weakness.
Marianna asked, "Did you and the psychiatrist reach the termination phase of the therapeutic relationship or…"
She said, "When I first started seeing Dr. Monroe she promised me confidentiality. However, I found out that she was relaying everything I said to my grandmother. I refused to see her after that."
Dr. Correa said, "I am very sorry that your first experience with counseling was negative. However, I will be upfront with you as I was with Damon. Normally, I do not like treating married couples separately. In the rare cases where I make an exception it is with the agreement that there are no secrets. I require an open dialogue between the three of us or it will feel as if there are alliances."
"I don't anticipate having any solo sessions with you but I appreciate your candor."
Dr. Correa found a comfortable position in the chair across from the couple. She balanced a pen and notebook on her knee. She said, "I like to start off each session by posing an open-ended question. Why are we here today?"
Damon licked his lips and glanced at Bonnie. He was worried about upsetting her again. However, he had questions and she was the only one with the answers. He said, "Monday evening Bonnie came to visit me at my office. I wanted to apologize for how I behaved towards her a couple days prior. I felt that apology would carry more weight if I was completely honest with her. I confessed that I had relapsed. I have been using cocaine sporadically for a few weeks now. Bonnie became justifiably angry at that revelation. While we argued about the situation, I became concerned that perhaps I had harmed my wife during one of my earlier binges. I asked Bonnie if that was the case but she left my office very upset."
Bonnie looked at Damon and said, "Stefan told me how broken up you were after we fought Monday. I am sorry for leaving you with the impression that you might have physically harmed me in some way. You have dozens of faults that I can name off the top of my head but being physically or sexually abusive is not one of them. Never once have I feared that you would hurt me that way."
After much soul-searching, Damon had come to the same conclusion a few days ago. Yet he was still grateful to hear his wife exonerate him in her own words. Unfortunately, they were at an awkward place where Bonnie still needed to address the root of her emotional outburst. Telling her about his relapse with cocaine had opened a festering wound that Damon never knew existed.
"Thank you for clearing that up. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I had hurt you, or any woman, that way. I have tried so hard to avoid becoming that cruel or monstrous."
Bonnie hated looking into his expressive blue eyes. The old adage about the eyes being windows to the soul was true for Damon. Rage was the only emotion that he displayed freely. There was space for rage and anger in the overly masculine world of the mafia. He tried to mask the hurt, pain, and disappointment that he so often felt. However, Bonnie knew him well and he couldn't hide from her. She had always been able to see through his mask.
She said, "I know, Damon. It is one of the reasons that I agreed to this counseling session. You didn't deserve to doubt yourself in that way. I know how hard you have struggled to be the antithesis of Giuseppe. Even in your worst moments, you could never come close to his vileness."
Dr. Correa sat across from the couple in silence. She scribbled a few pointed notes on the notepad. Seeing Damon first had provided her with crucial background information. She knew enough about his father that interrupting for clarification was not necessary.
Damon took Bonnie's hand because he was afraid that she would flee the room after his question. Monday evening she had run from his office as if her life had depended on it. He had never seen Bonnie so afraid or unraveled. She had accidentally allowed a secret to slip out in the heat of the moment. "Did someone else hurt you that way, Bunny?"
Marianna watched the young woman closely and made note of her body language. It looked as if Bonnie wanted to fold in on herself as a means of protection. She would have to mediate this conversation carefully or Bonnie would shut down completely. She knew that wouldn't be an easy feat because Damon was anxious. He had been starving for answers since Monday. While she understood his position, Bonnie's welfare took precedence in this situation.
The young woman swallowed thickly and looked down at their joined hands. She realized for the first time that Damon was still wearing his wedding band. Bonnie knew that it was ridiculous but she was afraid to tell him the truth. Even though she was ready to move on with her life, she still feared that Damon would see her as dirty and damaged. She saw herself that way no matter how much Abby and Tyler tried to convince her otherwise. Bonnie didn't know how to heal or move on from what Klaus did to her. Her only option was to bury the pain as deep as possible so that she could function. She had a business and a family that required her strength.
She nodded. "Yes."
Since the fight in his office, Damon had hoped with all of his heart that he had misunderstood Bonnie. The idea of anyone laying a finger on her was maddening. He loved Bonnie. Damon loved her long before they were married. She was his family and he should have protected her. Unfortunately, he hadn't known that she needed protecting from anything. His first suspect had been Giuseppe. Everyone knew about the man's sexual proclivities. However, Damon had cleared his father of any wrongdoing after days of mental and physical torture. Giuseppe had trained his brothers and Damon too well to resist their technical skill for any length of time. He had already spilled invaluable information that would help Damon steward their organization once Giuseppe's death was announced to the public.
The older woman jotted down a few notes. She looked at Bonnie and asked, "Do you feel comfortable discussing this topic, Bonnie?"
Damon glared at Marianna. He was worried that he would never get another chance at honest answers from Bonnie. He had learned the hard way that the girl he married was like Fort Knox. Damon had a limited time before she locked the vault again.
Bonnie huffed out a bitter laugh. "I am not sure that comfortable is the word that I would use in this situation. However, I am willing to discuss this topic under one condition."
He heard the bitterness in her voice but her dewy eyes told the real story. He asked, "What is your condition?"
"My pain and suffering belong to me and no else. I don't owe you anything. I will talk about this situation once and I will never speak of it again. Not ever, Damon. I will only share what I am comfortable telling you," she swore in an unwavering voice.
He nodded. "I understand. I don't want to poke and prod at something that is obviously painful for you. I promise that I will never bring this up again, Bunny. I just…I want to understand what happened."
Bonnie took a deep breath. She had spent most of the day deciding how much of the truth to give Damon. Bonnie knew that her husband wouldn't be able to handle the whole truth with any sort of grace. While she feared that he would think less of her, Bonnie knew that he would want to kill Niklaus. His pride wouldn't allow him to sit idle. Niklaus' actions weren't just a violation of Bonnie, it would be perceived as an obvious sign of disrespect towards Damon. The two men struggled to be civil now with all of Klaus' skeletons safely tucked into the closet. Mason had told her about the two idiots engaging in a physical altercation the night John died.
"Something happened to me when I was 16-years-old. A much older family friend took advantage of me but it was more than that. For a long time, I didn't really know how to classify it. He never penetrated my vagina with his penis. He preferred oral sex and digital penetration. I never asked him not to touch me. I never asked him to stop. He never threatened me."
Damon grew more tense with each word she spoke. He couldn't believe that Bonnie had hidden something like this from him. Even if he wasn't a good husband, Damon thought that Bonnie had at least trusted him as a teenager.
Marianna asked, "Did this man ever use physical violence against you?"
"I was afraid of him because he had a notorious temper. He could be lethal to his adversaries, but there was only one occasion where he was physically violent with me. He was so out of it at the time. He had spent days binging on cocaine, prescription pills, and alcohol. He was in a really bad place emotionally. He begged for my forgiveness the next day when he realized that he had gone too far. It was all so confusing to me. I couldn't tell anyone. I was afraid of so many things at the time. The only person I trusted was my priest. I went to him to ask for forgiveness and guidance. He told me that God wouldn't punish me because of what this man was doing to me. I didn't believe him because I would orgasm when this older man was assaulting me. I thought it meant that on some level I was enjoying what he was doing. I know better now," she explained as tears slid down her cheeks.
Dr. Correa picked up a box of tissues passed it to Bonnie. Then she hurriedly scribbled down details and stray observations. She hadn't known what to expect when Zacharias explained the situation but her imagination hadn't done this justice. She noted how the young woman seemingly made excuses for the man's violence. "Are you still in contact with this person? You mentioned that he was a family friend."
Bonnie knew that lying was the only option at this point. "No, I haven't seen him in a few years."
Damon's mind devoured each of Bonnie's painstakingly spoken words. Her revelation split him in two. On the one hand, seeing Bonnie in so much obvious pain broke his heart. He wanted to comfort her and make it better somehow, but their relationship was in such a strange place. On the other hand, he wanted to learn this 'man's' identity so that he could introduce him to the true meaning of suffering. Damon would make what they did to Giuseppe look like a spa day. He tightened his hold on Bonnie's hand because he didn't know what else to do in that moment.
Bonnie blotted away her tears with a tissue. She felt nauseous.
Damon struggled to find the right thing to say. "I'm sorry that someone hurt you that way, Bunny."
Marianna could see that Damon was ready to pounce on the emotional young woman. She decided to steer the conversation to smoother waters. She asked, "How long did this abuse occur?"
"It happened over a two month period. It wasn't frequent because getting me alone wasn't exactly an easy feat," she replied.
Damon's mind raced as he tried to think of someone that would have had that sort of access to Bonnie. Sheila was incredibly protective of her granddaughter. She didn't often let the girl out of her sight without a trusted chaperone. He personally knew the men that used to serve as Bonnie's bodyguards. Damon would have known if their tastes skewed young. "Why didn't you ever tell me? I would have protected you! I would have made that son of a bitch pay!"
Bonnie recoiled at Damon's anger. She tugged her hand out off his tightening grip. She said, "Why would I tell you? You called me a slut and whore because I was out at a club wearing a dress you didn't like. I know how men are. You fuck anything that moves but your wife has to be innocent, pure, and pious. If I told you the truth…you would have looked at me differently. Maybe you wouldn't have even agreed to marry me because I had been sullied. Not that marrying you turned out to be anything but fucking heartbreak. Sarah and twins are the only good things I will take away from this experience."
Marianna said, "It might be a good idea to take a few deep breaths to calm down. I understand that this is a highly emotional situation. However, this is supposed to be a conversation and not an argument."
Damon barreled right through her warning. He demanded, "What the fuck are you talking about? Sullied? Is that what you really think of me? Do you really think that I am such a Neanderthal that I would blame you? You think that I would judge you?"
Bonnie scoffed at his indignant tone. She asked, "What have you shown me to the contrary? Short of slapping me around you are just like most of the men in this life. You screw around and humiliate me. Everyone knows that you are cheating on me. You completely ignore me unless you want or need something. You cared so little about my needs that you didn't even realize that I used to be petrified when you would come home high. You reeked of booze and your pupils were blown to all hell. You reminded me of him, Damon. I used to keep my eyes open while we made love because I was terrified that my mind would play tricks on me. That's the real reason I asked you to stop using cocaine."
Bonnie's words cut into Damon like knives, but that seemed to be the case whenever she spoke the truth about their relationship. For the last four years, he truly thought that he was being a moderately good husband. He tried to be good to Bonnie but now he realized that she had only suffered in silence. Damon felt physically ill as she spoke about the early days of their marriage. He remembered Bonnie being nervous when they made love. Damon had just chalked her nervousness up to inexperience. He couldn't focus on his own failures because he couldn't fix them right now. However, he could right one wrong. He could find the sick fuck that raped Bonnie.
"What's his name?" Damon demanded.
"Damon, be mindful of the conditions that Bonnie laid out beforehand. She may not feel comfortable identifying her abuser right now," Marianna said.
He said, "You can't tell me that someone raped you and think that I wouldn't want to get justice for you!"
Bonnie huffed. "I am not telling you that, Damon. You'll only go and do something stupid."
"Stupid? Some pervert raped my wife. I am going to do what any red-blooded man would do in my position. Why are you protecting him?" he snapped.
"Damon…" Marianna tried to intervene. She had completely lost control of the situation.
Damon nearly growled. "Stay out of this, Doc!"
Bonnie was incensed when Damon accused her of protecting her attacker. "I don't need you to save me, Damon. Sixteen-year-old Bonnie needed someone to save her. She needed just one fucking person to notice that she wasn't okay. She needed one person to see how she trembled when a man nearly ten years older than her got too near. She needed someone to notice that she was swiping her grandmother's pain medication so that she could sleep without nightmares. Seventeen-year-old Bonnie needed someone to love and support her through her grandmother's death. Nineteen-year-old Bonnie needed to be reassured that there wasn't anything wrong with her just because she hadn't gotten pregnant yet. I am 21-years-old now. I do not need you. I do not want you. I want a divorce. Because I want to be with someone that loves me and that doesn't want to own me. I want to be with someone that has taken the time to get to know and I are strangers, Damon."
Damon looked at Dr. Correa. He said, "Give us the room. Now!"
Marianna realized immediately that this wasn't the same man that came to her for her help saving his marriage. He was behaving like the angry young man that his uncle had once spent sessions lamenting. Zach had feared that this side of Damon would make an appearance. He had put safeguards in place for such an occasion. Marianna quickly exited the office.
Bonnie stood up and said, "Coming here and opening up to you was a mistake."
He walked up to Bonnie and said, "We are not getting a divorce. You are my wife! I will protect you whether you want me to or not."
"You don't own me, Damon. I don't need your brand of protection. I certainly don't want to be married to you anymore. Why would I? I am the worst version of myself with you. Can't you see that?"
Damon studied her for a moment. "Are you fucking someone else?"
She rolled her eyes. "What if I am? What business is it of yours, Damon? We are separated. I told you to have at Katherine. We're getting divorced now. You can screw any slut your heart desires."
"Who is it, huh? Is it Tyler?" he practically roared at her.
Bonnie gave her husband an unimpressed look. "I am done with this and you. I came here because I didn't want you to think that you were a rapist. I was even willing to work on our friendship so that we can be decent co-parents. However, I have zero interest in trying to fix our dysfunctional marriage, Damon."
"I am going to kill that little bastard. Do you hear me? He's dead, Bonnie!"
Bonnie's entire expression changed from exasperation to rage. She spoke in a quiet voice, "I get that you are angry. You aren't used to me saying no to you. Therefore, I am going to give you a pass on this little temper tantrum. You are right. Tyler is the man that I would like to date. He is my best friend and he loves me. He builds me up, instead of tearing me down. I need him in my life. If you harm a hair on his head, I will fucking ruin you. I will start by having your slutty baby mama hacked into little bitty pieces. That goes for Enzo, too. I have never liked him. Then I will sit back as I watch all the king's horses and all the king's men try to put them back together again. Maybe a few of your former mistresses will go missing, too. What would Velocita's board of directors do if their CEO were mired in multiple homicide investigations? Stock prices would tumble as reporters lined the sidewalk outside the building. And they would vote you out with the quickness."
A chill ran up Damon's spine because he believed her threat. His father's words came back to him like a boomerang. He licked his lips and said, "Bunny…"
She laughed coldly. "No more yelling at me? No more making threats?"
Damon stared into her hardened eyes and cupped her cheek. "Do you think that I give a damn about Katherine or any other woman I have ever fucked? Even Enzo is can be boiled down to collateral damage. I won't have to kill Tyler or send him away because I know something that you don't."
She rolled her eyes. "What do you think you know, Damon?"
"You are settling for Tyler. You really want me. You have always wanted me. If I had broken up with Katherine as I promised, you wouldn't even give him a second look. He would still be firmly in the friendzone."
Bonnie folded her arms across her chest. She snapped, "You know nothing. We wanted to date when we were younger but it wasn't allowed. We love each other."
Damon smiled because he could see that Bonnie was flustered. He stroked her cheek lovingly. "I love Rose, too. But she and I were never meant to be anything more than friends. You and I are going to be together until death parts us. Go ahead…sow your wild oats. You'll come running back to me sooner or later. I am the only man for you, Bunny. You hate me but you love me just as deeply. I am patient enough to wait you out."
Bonnie was livid. She shoved Damon out of her way and marched out of the office just as Zacharias was about to enter. She glared. "You'll be hearing from my lawyers, Damon!"
Damon grinned like a mad man as Bonnie left.
Zacharias scowled at his nephew. "What the fuck did you do?"
He yelled after her. "I love you, Bunny. I'll be seeing you again soon!"
"Fuck you!" she yelled.
Damon clapped his hands together with a smile. He said, "Find Father Kieran for me."
"Why?" Zach asked.
He said, "My sweet little bunny got so mad that she said too much again. Do you remember when Giuseppe accused me of stealing Sheila's medication?"
Zacharias nodded. "I remember. The two of you came to blows over it. What does that have to do with anything?"
"Bonnie admitted that she was the culprit. It means that she was here in California when this coward violated her. Bonnie told me that she confessed to a priest. Father Kieran was the head man over there at the time."
Zacharias frowned. "Even if I find Father Kieran he won't break the seal of confession, Damon."
"You let me worry about the details, Zio."
"Why do you look so happy, Damon? Bonnie is going to divorce you."
Damon shook his head. "No, she won't. This is her version of Rumspringa. She married me at 17 and I have been a disappointment. Bonnie thinks that she is going to find something better out there."
"Won't she?"
He smiled at his uncle. "Not a chance. I saw my love's true face today and it is beautiful. She is going to learn the hard way that I am her other half."