ACCIDENTALLY MARRIED TO THE BILLIONAIRE SINGLE DAD (Gabrielle and Damon) novel Chapter 6

DAMON’S POV

The driver parked the car in the driveway and turned to me. “Anything else, sir?”

“No.”

He nodded and got out of the car.

I turned to Rhys beside me in the back passenger seat. “Don’t go through the front door. I don’t want my kids to see blood all over their uncle.”

Rhys barely reacted. “Yes, brother.”

“And while you’re at it, stop murdering people everywhere you go,” I said, struggling to keep my calm as anger coursed through me. “What the fuck, Rhys?”

He called me a few hours ago to pick him up from a club where he murdered a man in front of everyone.

And obviously not in a clean way with the amount of blood he had on him.

“I know,” he responded, staring out the window. “I fucked up. I’ll have Vani handle it.”

I looked away from him. “No, you won’t. I’ll handle it, as usual. However, I shouldn't be cleaning up your mess. How hard is it not to kill?”

“Well maybe they shouldn’t be doing things that incur death,” he snapped. “How about that? How about people just stop being so killable and deserving of it?”

I turned my head and looked at him fully, my expression hardening.

“That is not how this works and you know it,” I said, my voice low but firm. “You do not get to decide who deserves to die every time you lose control.”

His jaw tightened, but he did not look at me.

“They tried to touch what was mine,” he muttered. “I warned them as their Don but they refused to listen. A scapegoat needed to pay the price.”

“And now you have turned an entire club into witnesses,” I replied. “Do you understand what that means, or are you too busy justifying yourself?”

Silence followed.

Rhys had a lot of anger.

I could see it clearly, and I understood it more than I ever wanted to admit because I had felt that same kind of rage the moment I regained my emotions.

It had been overwhelming, consuming, and dangerously easy to act on without thinking about anything else.

But I had learned how to hold it back and decide when it was necessary to let it out, no matter how difficult it was.

Rhys had never learned that, and worse, he had never cared to.

He always killed without a second thought.

No restraint whatsoever.

And that was a problem.

I broke the silence. “I know how it feels to let go of your restraint and be violent without thinking about what comes after.”

“So why do you want me to hold on to my restraint?” he asked. “Why do I have to adjust for everyone else?”

God, it felt like I was talking to a wall.

“Because it’s the right thing to do, even if it doesn’t feel like it in the moment,” I answered. “I don’t want to have this conversation again. You’ll start being less impulsive.”

He stared at me like I’d grown horns. “If you’re going to try to therapize me, start with that and I might listen, just so you can stop.”

“I’m serious, Rhys,” I returned.

My tone gave no room for argument.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

“Fine, I’ve heard you,” he murmured, a frown on his face. “I won’t murder anyone again in public.”

I almost sighed in relief, except I didn’t fully believe him.

Rhys opened the door and got out of the car.

“Next time,” he said, leaning down to look at me. “I’ll be sure to kill them in private.”

Then he shut the door and disappeared towards the back of the house.

My brows furrowed into a frown.

I knew it was too good to be true.

I pushed the thought down and got out of the car a few minutes later, before reaching for the bouquets on the car seat.

Two smaller flowers rested against one arm and in the other was the bigger one I had picked for Gabrielle.

I walked inside, my heart already warming up as I pictured their smiles in my mind.

“Daddy!”

Or without informing me.

The longer I stood there, the more that detail settled in a way I did not like.

And now that I thought about it, she hadn’t responded to my text from hours ago.

Before I could ask anything else, movement on the stairs caught my attention.

Fiorella stepped down, her expression neutral until her eyes met mine.

“Have you seen Gabrielle?” I asked immediately.

Her brows pulled together slightly. “I thought she was with you.”

My frown deepened. “No. Didn’t you spend the day together?”

“We did,” Fiorella replied, walking closer. “We went out together, but she disappeared before I came back out. I assumed she left to see you or something.”

She paused, her tone tightening just slightly.

“She hasn’t been picking up my calls,” she added. “I’m beginning to get worried about her.”

Something cold settled in my chest.

“Daddy,” Lila said softly, tugging on my hand as she glanced between both of us “Is Mummy Gabby missing?”

I crouched down in front of them.

“No,” I said, keeping my voice steady even though I was not. “She’s fine. She probably got caught up with something at work.”

They both watched me closely.

“I need you two to go brush your teeth and get ready for bed,” I continued, brushing Lila’s hair back from her face. “I’ll come and tuck you in myself.”

That seemed to reassure them enough.

“Okay,” Lila said, taking Aria’s hand.

“Brush teeth,” Aria repeated excitedly, already waddling toward the hallway.

I watched them until they disappeared from view, then stood slowly, my attention shifting back to Fiorella.

My expression hardened. “What do you mean she disappeared?”