Chapter two

Gwenevere smiled in the dim light of Damian's room, kneeling on all fours as Damian plunged in and out of her, screaming his pleasure. She echoed her own pleasure, though it was not as a result of the sex, but something else. She found pleasure in his pleasure, and pleasure in the game she played. Her body was a tool, and she used it every which way.

It was funny how they never saw it coming. Men.

You would think they're a worthy opponent with their machoness, and their belief in their superiority and supremacy, but their fall; it was always too easy.

Gwen craved a challenge. She wanted to know how it felt to be outsmarted. She wanted to feel the rush of a good game and a worthy opponent. But all the men she'd met offered only a fast and quick game. Especially when she was beginning to enjoy herself, they always gave up.

Ludicrous.

That's one word for it.

It was always so sadly amusing that they would bark their orders at her, thinking they were lions that had broken her, without realizing that she liked them noisy and bold before putting them on their knees, and then, sending them to their maker.

"You like that huh? You like me fucking you, don't you?" Damian said, hitting her ass.

Her smile grew.

This wasn't even going to be worth her time. Damian was a dog parading as a lion. He would easily break, no problem.

But first... a little fun.

Damian roared his release, falling on the bed. Gwen laid beside him, kissing all over his face. He turned on his side, dragging her so close to his body, enveloping her in a cuddle she did not protest to.

"I... there's something I want to tell you." He said, his voice shaky, and not just because of the strenuous exercise he'd just done.

"What is it, my love? Tell me."

"I know it's too soon, but I can't imagine my life with anyone else. I'm in love with you. I know it's stupid—"

"No. Don't say that."

Stupid? This wasn't just stupid, it was crazy stupid of him. His third mistake.

"You think? You, you... you don't think it's stupid?"

"Of course not. I love you too. I know we started all wrong, but these past few months have been like a dream. I've grown to love you. And you have no idea how happy it makes me feel to hear you say this. I didn't think you'd ever have feelings for me. I thought I was only your... whore?" Her voice broke.

"Shhhh..." Damian pressed his lips against hers. "Don't ever say that. You're not my whore, you're not a whore. I love you. I really do. You must have had your reasons for killing your parents. We've been together for six months now, you're a wonderful person. I'm the stupid one for ever doubting how good you are."

Damn! This was too easy. Gwen thought.

She frowned. Six months was all the fun she'd had and they'd already gotten here. She sighed, a little sad that the game was almost over.

"Thank you, Damian." She forced a sweet smile on her face again, even though he couldn't see her.

If something was worth doing, it was worth doing right. There was no place for mistakes.

"Heck, the way things are going, I could end up killing my parents for the company." He joked. Gwen laughed softly even though she found his joke revolting. A spineless weasel like him had no business talking about killing somebody.

"Gwen..."

"Yes baby,"

"This may be soon, but, will you make me the luckiest happiest man alive by becoming my wife?"

Damian held his breath afraid of the answer he'd get. He was expecting a 'no' or 'this was too soon'. Imagine his surprise when Gwenever said yes to his proposal. He was beyond elated, smiling from one ear to the other. He hugged her, almost squeezing the life out of her in excitement.

Gwen rolled her eyes. The game was coming to an end. She'd expected the question and his reaction. It was the same with all men she'd been with. As long as you knew what they wanted, trapping them was easy. And Gwen knew what men wanted. She knew how to pull the strings of any man's heart, tugging at it until they fell deeply and madly in love with her. It was such a shame that she had to put on a charade for only six months. She could go so much longer.

But the game had to end sometime, right?

"I love you, Mahal. I love you so much."

Damian blushed. He always loved it when she called him that. The first month of their relationship was all about finding the perfect pet name. Who knew Damian had a thing for foreign languages. She'd called him Mahal; Filipino for my love, the very first time and he'd swooned his approval. Damian had turned out to be such a softy, she didn't know that until they'd started dating, so it became even more easy to break him.

Men wanted to be taken care of like they were children, yet obeyed like they were superior even when they weren't, and Damian wasn't any different. In fact, he was the most typical of all males. Breaking him? pfttt... 

"What do you think about meeting my parents tomorrow. You can say no if it's too soon. I don't want to scare you."

"No. Never. I would love to meet them."

Damian's heart did a backflip. If only he knew what Gwen was planning.

The deviousness of her mind was unparalleled.

"That's wonderful to hear." He briefly pressed her tightly against himself.

***

"It's so nice to see you home again. What's the occasion?"

"Barbara, that's enough of that. Why make him feel like he's someone special." Damian's father spat venomously when he walked into the room. He sat a few seats away from Damian, Gwen and Barbara, focusing on the tablet he held.

Sigurd Vice was burly, tall, old, but still looked yummy enough to be wanted.

With that attitude, he was lucky he was handsome, Gwen thought.

"Oh c'mon Sigurd, our son hasn't been home for decades. Please, try to be more receptive. Besides, look, he's brought a guest." Barbara smiled at Gwen.

Barbara Vice was a beautiful woman in her mid Forties. Having been forced into marriage at age seventeen and given birth at age eighteen, she'd learnt to appreciate life the hard way. But what wasn't there to like? She had billions of dollars to her name, and a husband who listened to her and adored her. Though Sigurd Vice was fifteen years older than her, he respected his wife like she was his mother. He hated that he'd been forced into marrying a child, but now, he couldn't imagine his life without Barbara. He was appreciative of everything that led them to this point.

"And who's this lovely lady you have on you?"

"Honey, that's Gwenevere Welch of Welch Enterprises."

"Honey, you know I don't know any of your business people." Barbara turned to Sigurd, looking offended.

"That's alright, Mrs Vice. I'm no celebrity, so there's really no reason why you should know who I am. I mean, if anyone was a celebrity, it's you. Those photos on the internet did not do you justice at all."

Barbara blushed. Gwen had so easily charmed Damian's mother, bursting her way through the walls of her heart. Now all that was left was his father.

"Oh sweetheart," Barbara took Gwen's hand from the smiling Damian's hands, keeping her in hers, "I'm no celebrity."

"It is truly an honor to meet you. The work you do... my God! And the humility... it's incredible how humble you are."

"Stop. I can't stop smiling because of you."

"I see you brought home a kiss ass." Sigurd smirked.

"Sigurd, stop being so rude. If you don't want to be in our company, you can leave. No ones forcing you to be here." Barbara reprimanded.

Sigurd raised his hands in surrender as Barbara scowled at him.

Barabara finally dragged her eyes away from her husband, and nudged Gwen to seat beside her.

Gwen smirked inwardly. As expected, the mighty Lion was a mere cat in his home. It was such an irony that a man like Sigurd, accomplished in so many ways, could give birth to such a weakling.

She had been insulted by his father and all he did was stay mouth shut, watching, while his mother defended her. His mother did his job, like Gwen was sure, did every other thing for him too.

The audacity of this child. He thought he was man enough to threaten her, to step into her world. How unprepared he was amused her. How lacking she'd always known him to be, made her feel shame on his behalf. How ignorant he was...

"Is this a new habit? why aren't you saying anything?"

"How are you mom?" He finally said.

"I'm good my darling. I've missed you. You no longer visit or call, the least you could do is take your worried mother's calls?" She scowled at him , "you and your brother, you're both the same. Sometimes I wish I'd given birth to girls instead of you boys."

He hugged her, "c'mon mom, not this again. I'll do better, I promise."

"Yeah, that's what you said the last time. Your promises mean nothing. Sigurd, tell him."

"I think he heard you the first time, honey..."

Barabara shot daggers out of her eyes as she stared at her husband.

"...but there's no harm in me repeating it. Don't worry, I'll have a good talk with him before he leaves."

"What are you watching over there, Mr Vice?"

"It's not something you'll like very much, or at all."

"Try me."

"Well it's a kind of statistics and analysis on why the twenty twenty one Ballon d'Or was rightly given to Lionel Messi. You won't understand, it's soccer."

"Actually, and I mean no disrespect, but I think Lewandowski deserved that award more. Again, I mean no disrespect. Messi is great and all, I mean, I love the guy, but his performance since his move from Barcelona to Paris Saint-German hasn't been all that impressive."

Sigurd put down his tab, his attention now focused on Gwen.

"First of all, you watch soccer?"

"Of course. It's an interesting sport. There's nothing I'd rather do with my free time than catch up on all the games I've missed."

"Okay, okay. How did you come to the conclusion that Lewandowski was the better man? I support your claims, but the rest of the world doesn't see it like we do. It's like they're blinded by Messi's legacy."

How easy it was for her to go from the girl who is a "kiss ass", to being called "we" by her fiancés father.

"That's exactly it. Messi's Legacy precedes his current performance. I watch his matches these days and I'm offended at his play and spirit. Don't get me wrong, he's still the greatest of all time, but the twenty twenty slash twenty twenty-one Ballon d'Or award should have been Lewandowski's. He scored more goals in the season. Fuck every statistics, I don't buy it. He was the best striker." Gwen said with passion in her voice and body language.

"Exactly—"

"That's enough about soccer, Sigurd. Don't you care to know why our son brought home his girlfriend?" Barabara cut in. She smiled at Gwen, combing her hand through her hair.

"I'm sorry my darling wife." Sigurd got up from where he sat, walked over to the group, he kissed his wife on the cheeks, and then settled on a seat in front of his wife. He looked at Gwen and whispered, "we'll talk more later."

Gwen smiled, nodding.

She looked at a grateful Damian, his smile radiating all through his features.

She blinked at him, her face folding together as she teased him. He shook his head at her, smiling ever so friskily. She did the same, winking at him.

"Honey, do you remember when we first fell in love? I miss those days, you know? When you'd wink at me and think no one was looking..." Barbara said, eyeing Gwen who blushed upon realizing they'd been caught.

"Of course, honey. It was such a good time." Sigurd smirked. He too had noticed the two.

"I'm sorry."

"Nonsense. You have no reason to apologize. You have no idea how seeing Ian so happy makes me feel. Meeting you, I'm at peace with his choice."

"Thank you. Thank you so much, Mrs Vice. It means a lot coming from you."

"Call me, Barbara."

"Thanks a lot, Barabara."

"And on that note, I'd like to announce that Gwen and I are getting married. I asked her and she said yes."

Barbara squealed. "Oh my God! Congratulations. I'm so happy. This is the best news I've heard all year." She hugged Damian and Gwen, lingering longer on Gwen.

Even Sigurd smiled at the news.

"Congrats son. Best decision you ever made. This ones a keeper." He shook hands with Damian.

Damian beamed and Gwen noticed.

Like the little girl he was inside, he was desperate for his fathers approval and she'd just made that possible. Now the love he had in his heart for her would only continue to grow. She became all excited. The higher his joy, the more amusing his fall would be. Destroying him might be more satisfying than she thought. She could hardly wait.

"So when's the wedding?"

"We... ah... we haven't decided yet. Actually, you're the first people we've told. But, we want it as soon as possible."

"How about a month from now? What do you think?" Barbara grinned. She was so excited for the wedding, she couldn't wait. She held Gwen's hands, her question directed at her.

"Totally fine with me."

This means your son's death day is a month from now. Yippee! Gwen thought.

She leered for a brief second at Damian who was too busy reveling in his father's one praise to notice, immediately changing into a smile when Barabara released her from their hug.

"Ohhh... I have so much planning to do and so little time. Where do I begin?"

"Relax, honey. Take a deep breath. Now try to remember, it's their wedding, their day, not yours."

"I'm sorry. I'm just so excited."

"Don't be sorry. You know in a way, it's your day too. You gave birth to this amazing person I'm about to marry, and now you're going to watch him start his life with someone else. I know he's not leaving you, but as a mother, I'm sure you feel he is, in some ways. I mean he's no longer your little boy who belonged to you alone. Now you have to share his attention and his love with someone else. I don't care what anyone thinks or says, it's as much your day as it is mine." She smiled at Barbara whose eyes had already started to water.

"Oh honey, you're so wise. Thank you so much. Hearing this from you means a lot to me. Thank you."

"There's no need to thank me. Someday I'm gonna be a mother too and I'll be more than grateful if you helped me get through that phase. It's not as easy as people think, and you did such a fine job." Gwen said shyly.

"Enough with the praises, Gwenevere. You're going to make my wife cry." Sigurd was smiling very widely.

"Who's crying? There's just something in my eye."

Sigurd's smile turned to laugher. "Of course there is." He took his wife in his arms, hugging her tightly.