The Price of Passion

It felt like there was something wonderful in the air, ah yes, the sweet smell of success. All through Damien's life he never knew failure, never had any alliance with it.

Ok, maybe there was a little obstacle and difficulty here and there, but he always made sure to overcome it by any means necessary.

He made sure that in his life there was no room for failure, not even a slight crack in the door.

So as he stood there with a huge grin plastered on his face, shaking hands with the Governor of California, he just knew that he was on his way to the big leagues.

The reporters surrounded them, witnessing his great accomplishment. Yes, they are all here to mark this day as one of the most memorable days in his career.

This deal he just signed would skyrocket him to the top ten richest men in the world, a dream not even his great grandfather could achieve, and here he was achieving it.

Damien wondered if his great grandfather and grandfather were in heaven looking down at him with a prideful look on their face. He wondered if his parents were watching him run the family's business successfully.

After posing for the cameras, he walked out of the conference room and headed to a secluded part of the building, where his staff were waiting for him.

On opening the door, the sound of champagne popping, and wave of confetti fell on him as a huge shout of congratulations echoed around the room.

He looked at members of his staff, as they all rallied round him to congratulate him. A glass of champagne was passed to him, he held the champagne in his hand as he looked at the members of staff that made his dream come to reality.

He had so much to say, yet he didn't know where to start, instead he just raised his glass of champagne towards them, and said these words:

"I am so grateful for everything you all have done for me. And I look forward to working with you all in the future, cheers!

Cheers! They all chorused after him.

Damien downed the drink at a go. His trusted adviser, Philip Lecox, came to meet him and patted him at his back.

"Congrats on finally sealing the deal."

Damien shrugged. "It was no biggie," he said nonchalantly, but Philip knew that it was as a matter of fact a biggie.

He knew how much time and effort Damien put into trying to make this deal pull through, but him playing it off like it was nothing, was Damien's way of saying that he shouldn't bother himself, since he already got it.

"Is that so. Anyways I have rented out a club in Malibu for you to throw a celebration party, and you can't say no." Philip warned, cause he knew that Damien was not a fan of clubs, parties or any form of social gathering that does not involve his company.

However it seems like Damien was in a party mode today, besides the thought of celebrating this win at home, didn't sound like a good idea to him. "Well it's a good thing you did, cause I was actually planning on going to a club later on today."

Hearing this surprised Philip, but he said nothing. Damien felt a vibration in the pocket of his pants.

It was his phone ringing, he excused himself and went outside to answer the call.

"Hello?"

"Damien, your father and I just heard the news about your deal. Congratulations." His mother's sweet cherry voice came through from the other side of the phone.

"Thank you very much mom."

"You know, your grandfather and your father actually were trying to get that deal, but could never actually seal it. Your father is really proud of you son."

"Thank you so much, speaking of father, can you give the phone to him, I want to tell him something."

"Your father just headed out not quite long ago, he said that he was going to the bar to celebrate with his friends."

"I see, anyways tell him that I said a very big thank you, and I hope he is proud of me."

"Your father is more than proud of you, he always had been, always will be."

Damien smiled, tears almost threatening to roll down his eyes, "anyways I would talk to you later, bye."

"Bye," his mother said before she hung up the call.

Damien kept his phone back into the pocket of his trousers, and then headed back to his members of staff to celebrate and drink some more champagne and eat cake.

Later on that night, he was going to party very hard, and get drunk out of his mind.

Who knows he might even get lucky and take home a girl.

****

The club was one of the hottest clubs in Malibu, where celebrities and people of affluence and status club. And it was rented out for Damien to party and get drunk–only for today.

Damien was currently at the VIP lounge, after many congratulations from many people, he was taking a sip from the drink that was given to him to the bartender.

Philip was no where to be found, so he found himself sitting on a chair, waiting for Philip to return.

When Philip returned he came with a very beautiful woman, her strawberry blonde hair cascaded down her back, and she was dressed in a tight body hug dress that showed off her hour glass figure, the dress stopped at her mid thigh, she also wore heels which increased her height.

Damien stood up, for some reason she looked very familiar, like he had seen her somewhere before.

"Damien I would like you to meet, Stella Knightley, one of America's top models. Stella, this is my boss and CEO to West Enterprises, Damien West."

It was them Damien realized why she looked familiar to him, she was a popular model and also a part-time actress too, he has watched some of her movies during his free time.

"It's nice to meet you Stella." He said shaking her hand delicately, it felt soft to his touch, as opposed to his calloused hands.

"It's nice to meet you, Mr Damien." Her voice sounded flirty, and Damien couldn't help but feel a tingle around his body hearing it.

"You know, the camera doesn't do justice to your beauty." Stella looked at the ground shyly, her cheeks tainted pink with a smile on her face.

"Well, I would leave you two to get acquainted with each other. If you need me I am at the bar, getting drunk off my ass." Philip said with a slight chuckle, which also caused Damien to let out a small laugh. Philip then took his leave, leaving both Stella and Damien alone.

"Care for a drink?" Damien asked.

"I don't mind," She replied back.

They both sat on the chair, Damien reach for a glass cup and poured the content in the bottle in it. He handed it over to her, she took it and told him thank you.

They both talked and chatted with each other, Damien realized that despite how she looked, she was quite a very eloquent person, and she answered his questions quite well.

It was getting deeper into the night, and Damien was also getting slightly tipsy, he leaned in and whispered into Stella's ear, "do you want to leave this place and go somewhere private?"

Stella for some reason felt goosebumps erupt on her skin, his voiced sounded low and velvety.

She looked at him in the dim light of the club, despite the fact that he was slightly drunk he still looked very ravishing, who in their right senses would say no to him.

"Sure I don't mind. But, we are going to my place, ok."

Damien had this look like she was the only person in the entire world and no one else mattered to him.

"Anything you say sweetheart."

Trying to open the door when you are drunk with no lights on, is a very difficult task to pull off. Stella was rummaging through her purse, looking for the key to her house, while Damien just stood there awkwardly.

Stella was starting to feel a wave of embarrassment, as she felt him staring at her from behind, that was until she felt it, the cold metal against her hand, she brought it out of her purse and inserted it inside the key hole.

She pushed the door open and told Damien to come in, he stepped inside her house as Stella closed the door behind her.

Stella took off her heels as she let out a sigh of relief, she looked at Damien as his eyes looked around her apartment, observing everything around him, he almost looked like a child at an amusement park.

"Damien," she said softly and his gaze landed on hers, she slowly approached him and Damien eyes looked at her approaching figure.

She made sure that there was no space between them as she wrapped her arms around his neck–she didn't need to stand on her tip toes, cause they were just some few inches apart–and kissed him like it would be the last time that they would ever kiss each other.

Damien also kissed her with the same passion as well, his hands placed on her waist drawing her closer to him. Stella's hands were on his hair as she gently tugged on it which caused a groan to come out of him.

Stella broke the kiss, their breath was labored, she removed his hands from her waist and held onto his left hand, as she led him towards the direction of her room.

She opened the door, and she kissed him once again with the same passion as earlier, the kiss became rougher and deeper as Stella let out a soft moan, as Damien softly bit her bottom lip.

She felt Damien's hand find its way to her inner thigh, his fingers pushed away her panties as they found their way to her folds.

A soft gasp escaped her lips as she removed her lips his and stared at him, wanting him, craving him, and needing him in every way.

She released herself onto his fingers, her breath a bit labored, he removed his fingers from her folds, and proceeded to put them in his mouth, licking off her essence from it.

Seeing this made Stella kissed him again, she took off his clothes and threw them on the floor of her bedroom.

Damien removed her dress and toss it to the floor as well, he then lay her on the bed, peppering kisses down her neck and collar bone.

He was about to align his hardened member with her, when she stopped him.

"Wait! Do you have a condom with you?"

Damien shook his head, and Stella cussed underneath her breath, cause she doesn't have one with her either.

Damien told her that she shouldn't worry that when he is about to cum, that he would make sure that he pulls out. Stella was weary about the idea, but she agreed–mainly because she was pretty much very horny.

He inserted himself inside her and she let out a gasp, he began thrusting into her. Her fingers gripped the bedsheets as the bed rocked back and forth.

Stella felt herself teetering at the edge, each of his thrust taking her to cloud nine, she heard him whisper sweet nothings into her ear, but she wasn't paying attention to any word that he said, what was on her mind was on each thrust that was hammered onto her.

Stella could feel that she was almost close, her stomach tightened as she buckled her hips forward, her back was arched as she felt herself release. Her breath was heavy and bated as she went limp.

However Damien wasn't done yet, he kept on thrusting inside her, until he felt his stomach tightened as well. He pulled out and released it on her stomach.

Damien fell next to her, they were both tired and exhausted from the whole thing.

Stella looked at the white sticky substance on her stomach, she reached out for a roll of tissue paper that was sitting on her bedside table.

She cleaned herself off and threw the used tissue into the waste bin.

She turned to her side to see that Damien was fast asleep, probably exhausted from the day's activities. She turn her back against him and her eyes slowly drift off to a peaceful slumber.

The next day, Damien left Stella's house and headed for his house. He headed straight into the bathroom and took a very much needed shower, washing off the sweat from the previous day.

Damien didn't have the intention of even seeing Stella ever again. Yes she was a very beautiful woman, but he genuinely didn't have time for any sort of relationship. No matter how pretty the woman was.

What happened the day before was never going to repeat itself ever again.

****

Damien sat behind his desk, sorting out some paperwork, when his secretary, Hilda, called him up on the office telephone.

"Hello?"

"Um, sir someone is here to see you."

"Who?" He asked wondering if he was meant to see someone today.

"Her name is Stella Knightley."

Damien had confusion etch on his face, he wondered exactly what she wanted from him all of a sudden.

He concluded that it was nothing of importance, "tell her that she should come back later, that I am busy right now."

He dropped the call on the receiver and went back to what he was doing. His secretary called again, and Damien was already starting to get pissed.

"What?!" His voice was an octave higher then usual and he very much sure that he scared Hilda a little bit.

"Sir, she said that she is not planning on leaving, that it is something very important."

Realizing that this whole situation was probably giving his secretary more stress than usual, he decided that maybe he would hear what Stella has to say.

"Fine. Send her up here." He placed the call back to the receive once more.

He sure hopes that what she wants to talk about was important and not something that would waste his time, if not he wasn't going to be a happy person.

After some minutes, the door to the office opened and in came Stella looking very fine and chic with a sundress and high heels, her hair was packed up into a ponytail.

She walked towards him, like she was walking down a runway with long strides, till she finally reach his desk.

"Whatever it is you want to talk about, it better be important."

"Oh, it's important alright, very important." She reach for something inside her handbag, and brought out what seemed to be a piece of paper, dropping it on Damien's desk.

Damien picked it up and stared at the paper in confusion, he couldn't seem to make out what exactly was written on the paper, probably because he didn't want to believe what was written on it.

"What is this?" He asked, which made Stella to let out a short laugh.

"What do you think it is?"

"I see a bunch of words, that I don't really care about."

"Well, incase you don't know, what you have there on your hands is a pregnancy report."

Damien face became pale, he looked at the report, and looked at her.

"Damien, I am three weeks pregnant"

"Damien, I'm three weeks pregnant."

"That's a lie, I made sure that I pulled out..."

"Well, I guess your pull out game wasn't good enough."

"That baby isn't mine, go and find whoever is the father of that child."

"Oh, the baby is yours sweetheart. Cause I for one haven't had sex in a long time, until I met you at the club."

Damien didn't want to believe what she said, getting a girl pregnant wasn't on his list of things to accomplish this year, it was something he planned on doing in the future, but not at this instant.

Alas it seems that it was his carelessness that brought him to this point. But what surprised him the most was that, he actually made sure that he pulled out, so how was she pregnant?

"Ok fine, what exactly do you want me to do?"

"Nothing, I just came to tell you about the fact that I am pregnant."

"So, you are planning on taking care of the baby yourself?"

"Oh no, hell no, look I am planning on getting rid of this thing growing in my stomach ok."

A look of terror appeared on his face. "Wait, don't tell me, that you are planning on aborting the baby?"

"Well yes, yes I am. This thing is a hindrance to my career, and I cannot afford to let it grow in me."

"You are keeping that baby." He said with a serious tone in his voice.

Stella shook her head. "No, I'm not."

Damien let out a sigh, "look since I am also the father, I also have a say as well."

"I have heard things that happened to some after they give birth, and I don't want any of that to happen to me." She said, completely ignoring Damien's statement.

"Things like what?" Damien asked.

"After you give birth, you lose your former body shape..."

"Which can gotten back with intensive work out."

"You would have stretch marks..."

"I am pretty sure that there are some creams that can clear stretch marks from the body."

She pressed her lips together, "I just can't keep the baby, what if the paparazzi finds out and then post it on social media?"

"Why don't you live in my house?" Damien suggested.

Stella looked at him for a while, then she said, "but, you are also a popular personality, won't paparazzi also be at your side as well?"

"I would pay them off, none of them would come to my side. Just so you know, I have a huge number of maids and cooks, they are very efficient too, so your stay at my place would be smooth."

"But, what about my career? I don't think I would have deals like the way I use to."

"I am sure that won't be a problem either, I mean even if you take a break from work, and comeback many brands would still want to work with you."

Damien saw that she was still reluctant about the whole thing, he then decided to throw in something that would make her agree.

"Would an all expense paid trip to the Bahamas make you change your mind?"

"Bahamas?" She said softly, she has never been there before, mostly due to her being busy with so many things. But since Damien said that he would pay for it, it definitely doesn't look like it would be a bad idea to carry Damien's child, after she gives birth he can keep the baby and she can go on with her life afterwards.

"Fine, I would keep the child." She finally concluded.

"Good. So you should go and get your things ready by tomorrow, my driver would come pick you up."

Stella nodded her head. "No problem."

****

Stella told her manager and long time friend Linda, that she is taking a nine months hiatus, that she should post it on all her social media accounts.

"Well, of course I can do that for you. It's just that the brands that you work with would start calling almost instantly." Linda whined.

"How is that a problem?"

"What exactly should I tell them is causing you to take the hiatus?"

Stella never thought this far, it's easy telling the public that she is going on an hiatus without telling them reason for it, but the brands she works with would definitely want to know the reason behind the hiatus.

"Just tell them that it's a health related issue." It wasn't too far from the truth after all.

Linda nodded her head, taking out Stella's work phone, she wrote exactly what Stella told her and posted it on all her social media pages.

It didn't even take two minutes since Linda made the post, instantly Stella's work phone started vibrating with incoming calls from the brands that she had contracts with.

Linda looked at Stella, and Stella shrugged. "Just tell them what I told you. Anyways, I am off, I need to pack my bags, and prepare myself to head out tomorrow."

Stella stood up, with Linda also standing up alongside her.

"Remember to always call me whenever there is trouble, or just need sisterly advice on something ok," she said wrapping her arms around Stella for a warm embrace. Stella returned it back with a smile on her face.

"Of course I would," they stood hugging each other for while, then removed themselves from the hug.

"I would miss you so much, the agency won't be the same without you."

"Speaking of agency, Charles would most definitely throw a fit when he realizes that I am going." Stella let out a wry laughter.

"Don't worry, I would handle him the best way I can."

With that Stella left the building, only to step outside and see a swarm of paparazzi, taking pictures of her, and asking her random questions about why she was taking a hiatus.

They are fast, Stella said in her mind.

Her bodyguards tried their best in making a way for her to pass and get into her car, which was a very long time.

Stella let out a breath of relief when she was finally inside the confines of her car. She just hoped that Damien would make sure that none of those bastards are at his place during her stay there.

She picked up her private phone, as the car started driving towards the direction of his house. She was scrolling through her social media feeds and seeing that many people were already making up stories as to why she decided to go on a hiatus.

Many of them said that she was nurturing a disease, and other people went against what that user said, that she didn't look like someone that was sick.

Another user said that she probably had a fall out with her agency, Stella smiled. That would never happen, she thought in her mind.

One of the users said that she is probably pregnant, another user asked why would she need to hide her pregnancy, another replied that most agencies treat their models that got pregnant as a liability and Stella's fans would probably go into a frenzy as well.