Keep Her From Harm(3)

"This girl is not yours," Damian said.

"I don't know you." She tried to pull out of his hands, but he wouldn't let her go.

"Damian, I mean it. I don't want to go to war with you over this. That's the mother of my kid, so fucking move."

She glanced toward Ivan and couldn't help the disgust she felt for him from showing. Damian smirked.

"No, this woman doesn't belong to you. Never has." It was like he had  stopped being drunk and woken up finally. "She's coming with me, and  whatever kid she has." He turned toward the room. "And you're going to  let her go."

No one had ever spoken to Ivan like that and gotten away with it. She  had heard the rumors that he had torn a man apart for disrespecting him.  This guy who held her had a death wish. When Ivan and his men made to  move forward, Damian held a gun straight at Ivan's head. "I will blow  your fucking brains out, do you understand me? Remember who the fuck I  am."                       
       
           



       

Much to her surprise Ivan held his hands out in surrender, and suddenly she was being pulled away from one monster to another.





Chapter Two



Of all the things to fucking find, Damian didn't expect to find his  woman. The moment he had looked at this stranger, he had known.  Everything else had faded away, and all that he could see was her. It  was exactly like his brothers had described and so much more. He was so  fucking angry right now that as he pulled her along, he was shoving  people out of his way.

He'd come to Ivan's pathetic town with the intention of having a fight  to the death. That was what he wanted, to go out fighting, but fate or  whoever was in charge up there had changed his path, and now he was  heading outside, taking this woman with him.

"Can you slow down please? I really needed to talk to Ivan. I don't know who you are."

The moment they were clear of the nightclub, he shoved her against the wall. "Is Ivan your pimp?"

"What? No?"

"He said that you belonged to him." Damian had seen the pain in her  eyes, the disgust on her face. The last thing this woman felt for Ivan  was love or even respect. She hated him, and she was also afraid of him.  "You're the mother of his kid."

"Yes, I am. I don't know who you are, but I'm not important to Ivan. I  just  …  I needed his help to just to tell everyone to back off."

Damian frowned. He wasn't as drunk as he'd pretended to be. Since  telling his father to fuck off three nights ago, he'd been drinking  morning, noon, and night. However, this morning when he woke up he'd not  wanted to go to the bottle. Instead, he'd taken a shower, had a shave,  freshened up, gotten some food, and then decided to come to Ivan's. Now  he was freaked the fuck out, and he'd actually used the Denton name to  remind Ivan of who he was messing with.

The Denton name carried far and wide, getting him out of a few scrapes  over the years. His father had always made sure that he could live up to  the threat.

Damian didn't like the thought of another man touching his woman, and this was his. "What's your name?"

She shook her head.

"Look, I'm not going to harm you, okay? I'm not going to hurt you, or force you to do anything. My name is Damian Denton."

"Am I supposed to know what that means?"

"Usually everyone does."

She frowned. "I don't know you."

"You were hanging out with Ivan."

"Not willingly."

"Ugh! Fine, just know that it's a name that commands respect. I won't  hurt you, and I will take care of you. You've got a kid, right?"

"Yes."

Something was going on between this woman and Ivan, and he had a feeling  he wasn't going to like it. She clearly wasn't in love with the guy.  He'd seen the emotions dancing across her face while dealing with the  bastard.

"Where is he?"

"I, erm, I paid a neighbor to watch him."

"What did you want to go and see Ivan for?"

She frowned. "He's made sure that no one will hire me. I want a job, and I want to take care of my son."

He noticed she said, "my son" and not "our son", meaning Ivan.

"I've got a daughter myself. So fucking cute." He pulled out his wallet,  and stared at the picture of Betty and Martha. The pain was still  there. When it came to Betty he was so filled up with guilt. She had  witnessed his brothers' love with their wives, and she'd known there was  no chance of her ever getting that from him.

This woman in front of him, she was his without a doubt in the world.

"What's her name?" the woman asked.

"Martha."

"Is that your wife?"

"No. She was my girl's mommy."

"Was?"

"She's dead. Killed herself."

"Oh my, I'm so sorry."

He nodded. "What I'm trying to tell you is that I'm not going to hurt  you. I've got a kid, and for the most part I'm a good guy. Nothing bad  is going to happen."

She licked her plump lips, and he saw her take a breath, her shoulders  lifting as she stood tall. "I'm Mia Banks." She smiled. "I really need  to go back in there."

Gritting his teeth, he glared at the door that she had come from, and sighed. "You don't need to. Do you even like the bastard?"

"No, I hate Ivan. I'm doing this for my son. I want to earn a living,  and I'm struggling." She pointed at her tits. "I need money to buy  formula, and to live, and he's taking everything away from me."                       
       
           



       

He saw the stress building up inside her, the tears threatening to spill.

"I can take care of you."

"I don't know you, and I don't  …  I don't go off with strange men, okay?"

Damian couldn't let her leave. Taking hold of her hand, he started to  move down the street. "Take me to your apartment and we'll talk there."

"Wait, this is crazy, and insane. You don't know me, and you can't help me."

"I've got more money than I will ever need. Believe me I can help you  more than you can help me. I promise you. I give you my vow that I will  never hurt you. You're safe with me."

"You keep saying that."

"Do you believe it?"

She sighed. "I think so."

"Then trust me, and believe that you're going to be okay." She had no  idea that he wouldn't ever be able to hurt her. All he wanted to do was  help her. He saw her reaction to Ivan, and knew something wasn't quite  right, but he also knew she wouldn't trust him not right now. Time that  was all he needed. "All I want to do is help."

"No one ever want to help me."

"I'm not a monster, okay? Let's go and get Reese, and leave."

"Why leave?" she asked.

"Because I've got a feeling if Ivan wants you, he'll come and find you, and I want to have a chat with you in privacy."

"Oh, okay." She nodded, and then he started to follow her as they made  their way across a dark street. They passed through a playground to find  a bunch of kids shooting up, and he didn't like it. The entire town was  like a poison that Ivan had personally created. The Dentons had come up  against him before, years ago, and it had ended with Ivan knowing that  he didn't step on their shit.

Damian had one hand on his gun just in case, and when they got to a rundown apartment block, he felt rage.

"Ivan lets you live in this shit."

"The less I have to do with Ivan the better." She ran up three flights  of stairs, and moved down a long corridor. The stench of piss was  overwhelming, and the filth was caked into the floor. Fucking  disgusting.

It had been a long time since Damian had been sickened by a place of  actual living. He'd spent so much time around luxury that he didn't even  know what real trouble or hard living was.

Mia knocked on the door and waited. Seconds passed and finally the door opened, revealing an elderly lady.

"Mia." On her hip was a baby boy.

"Hey, Mary. I'm here to take him."

"Is everything okay?" Mary asked.

"Everything is fine. Honestly, couldn't be better." Mia reached out,  holding Reese close to her body, and taking the bag that was by the  door. She kissed Mary's cheek. "Talk to you soon."

With that, they were already heading out. Damian didn't have a car, but  for him, he didn't need one. Once they were settled in a late-night  diner, he was going to put a call through to his brother to come and  pick him up.

This was not how he intended his fucking night to go. He wanted to go  out in violence as it was the only world he'd ever known. His family  were tired of him moping around, feeling sorry for himself. He didn't  care what they thought, only what he'd known.

No matter what anyone said, he had killed Betty. This curse, being able  to know which woman was yours, had killed her because no matter how much  he stared at her, his feelings hadn't changed.