"Come in.” Damien said as a knock resounded at his office door. Without waiting to see who was walking into his office, he resumed his typing on the computer, sighing when he came across some errors on the document. He had been so caught up in other things this week that he was unable to concentrate on work, hence all these errors. For the first time since this whole Madison saga started, he felt disappointed in himself for misplacing most of his priorities. Now though, he was determined to focus more on work and let everything else be, at-least for the time being. When he finally looked up from the computer, he saw that Alvarez was the one who walked in, and instantly the atmosphere became tense. The memory of their unresolved tiff from the last time flashing through his head, Damien kept a straight face, choosing not to say anything as he was equally annoyed about the way Alvarez had spoken to him the last time. "Yes?" He snapped adding, "I'm quite busy so whatever you want to say, make it quick." Alvarez stared at him for a few moments, and then with an emotion in his eyes Damien could not decipher, he dipped his hands into his trouser pockets and procured an envelope. He dropped the envelope on the table in front of Damien. "That's the money for your girlfriend's dress. Now the both of you don't have to keep having sleepless nights, over some mere two thousand dollars.” Alvarez remarked cuttingly, and Damien could feel the sarcasm drip from every word. Damien’s face flushed and he felt anger flow through him, “You're speaking to me this way because of everything that happened, aren't you?" He asked. Alvarez shrugged, "I don't know what you mean. Everything that happened was because of the dress. So now you have the money back, maybe you'd be satisfied." Damien felt a need to snap back at him but he held himself back, "Hand it over to Kathrine and not to me. It's her dress, have you forgotten? You know where to find her.” He snapped, and with that he concentrated on his work again, but his ears were still drumming from the initial anger. He heard Alvarez scoff as he picked the envelope back up and placed it back in his pocket, "Of course, why did I even bother? I almost forgot how great you were at diverting your responsibilities. I'll take my leave now."Damien could not hold back the anger at this point. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" He asked, glaring at Alvarez, who quickly turned back to face him as if he had some speech prepared for him. "It's not the first time, nor the second, or the third. You always do this. At this point, I wonder why I'm still surprised. It's the exact same way you treated Madison, not even bothering to hear her side of the story, diverting your responsibility and not even thinking of the proper thing to do back then at the event. You just cast her aside like she didn't matter, disgracing her in front of everyone, ruining a bit of your reputation to if I might add. Well, you should also be satisfied now, she’s gone. She has left for London, and out of your life for good." Damien looked startled at this piece of information, all his anger suddenly forgotten, as a feeling of angst cut through him, "She's gone? When?" Alvarez glared at him, "Why does it matter when? After everything you did to her she obviously couldn't take it anymore that's why she left. Besides she has a life over there, and away from you if I remember vividly.” As Alvarez said those words, he looked Damien over, "You know, I still don't get how it's possible for you to do everything you did to Madison. A woman you claimed to love in the past for that matter. I mean, I have evidences, and I still recalled how you treated her like she was the one who gave you life. People change, I shouldn’t be surprised. That doesn’t change the fact, that you have no right whatsoever to treat her the way you did." "I've told you a million times that I don't want to talk about her!" Damien half yelled, even though he was the one that had asked about her. Hearing her name distracted him, messed up his head, and the fact that Alvarez was questioning the love he had for her in the past upset him deeply. He had loved her so much, even more than his life, but he could never forget the deep cut betrayal she’d given him, prior to his leave. She had treated him like trash, throwing their relationship in the gutter, so what did it matter. He didn’t want to think about it, he didn’t! "Why not? You had no problem making more than three weeks of her life here miserable, so why shouldn’t I talk about her? And all this because of a silly misunderstanding, you don't even know the full story about? There's so much more to this story, and if you had been kinder towards her, maybe she would have explained. You and I know that pretty Maddie wasn’t only like that. Whatever she must have done to you, something must have warranted it." The full story? Damien frowned, confused at the same time. Pretty Maddie, not like that? He wondered, his mind spinning, as he tried to grasp what Alvarez was trying to say. "What did she tell you? Tell me everything you know, I want to know." Alvarez shook his head, “I don’t know too. She was adamant, she wouldn't tell me. But I could tell it was something huge, by the worried look that was always on her face. Something happened! Back then In Kettlesworth, while we were trying to move on with our lives here in New York, Madison was going through hell…" Damien felt curiosity and guilt poke at his heart. Hearing that she had left, made him feel like he really had gone too far. For her to go all the way to London to escape all of this, she must have felt quite terrible. It was to sudden, to soon, and coupled with the fact that there were so many things he didn’t know, he was beginning to regret his actions. All through her stay here, he hadn’t for one day thought of talking to her. No matter what had happened in the past, at least for good times sake, he should have talked to her, asked questions and… “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” "Don't curse and bang your hands on the table, like you care now, Damien. The deed has been done, and she’s gone.” Alvarez spat as he watched Damien get lost in his thoughts, "You know what I've realized from all of this huh?” Damien didn’t say anything, his brain awash, and he heard Alvarez said the worst words that were never true. “In all these, I came to realize that you never really loved that poor girl." Damien glared at him in shock, his fingers tightening over the edge of his desk. He wanted to stand up, grip Alvarez by the chest and warn him never to question his relationship with Madison. It wouldn’t matter if he stood up now, and told Alvarez that Madison was the only woman he had ever loved. Yes, he had been in relationships here and there, but most of them ladies were just after his money, or his looks, or his prowess in bed and nothing more. None of them had ever loved him the way his Maddie did. None of them ever gave him that spark he got whenever he was with Maddie! Even that night, while looking into her eyes, recognizing that strawberry blonde curls from time past, he had felt the spark again but he had tamped it down due to the rage he was feeling. "As usual you are saying nothing, which just proves my theory all the more.” Alvarez continued again, “If you did love Madison, you would never have done all this. All you did was use her like a pawn in your plot of revenge, against the Connors. You knew how terribly it would hurt her family, bruise their ego if they saw how Madison was being humiliated in public for the whole world to see. That's why you pulled that shit you did at the club, and the exact same way you had used her back then. You knew Mr Connor hated you and your father with passion, and that's why you dated his daughter just to spite him! Makes me wonder, if the gossips back when we were younger were all true. Why Mason resented you not only for sleeping with his ex girlfriend, but also dating his sister.” Alvarez shook his head, "I thought you were better than this, Damien. But apparently I was wrong.” Damien stood rigidly, his hands shaking with anger as he faced Alvarez. "I have never been so disappointed in anyone like I am in you at the moment. I expected better from—" "ENOUGH!” Damien yelled, striking the desk with an open palm as he glared at Alvarez, his heart pounding, "They're lies! All of it! Everything you are thinking about my relationship with Maddie are all lies…” Finally he said her name, and his heart squeezing, he continued, “How dare you question what Madison and I shared? How would you believe that I could use Madison that time? Didn’t you see the way I treated her? How could you say I pretended to love her? Is that how low you think of me?” His heart pumped with anger and hurt as he stared at his best friend, “Why would you even say that? I did love Madison, more than anything else. I have never, ever loved any woman the way I loved her. She was everything to me, Alvarez! I loved her so—" The sound of his office door swinging open cut him off, and left him gaping in shock at the figure walking in. Annoyed, he faced the door to dismiss whoever it was but nearly reeled back in shock when he saw Katherine storm in, a furious look on her face.