One Night in Santiago/Football Under Flashing Lights (Neymar Jr. Fan Fiction)

64.

-Katerina POV-

I sat on the beach taking in the sweet, salty smell of the ocean filled my nostrils as I took in a deep breath. Coming to Barbados this month was the best possible way to end Anada's and my year. I finally felt whole again and nothing like my old self. I had come to terms with my previous relationship with Damon and I never wanted to lose my progress.

Anada kept me accountable for my growth and I opened up to her a lot. I told her basically everything and she didn't judge me for any of it. "Hey, you okay?" she said as she sat on the sand beside me.

"Mhm," I nodded. "It feels so good to be free," I sighed, "Not to be accused of anything anymore. Not to have to lie or hide anything."

"But you are hiding," she said with pure nonchalance. I turned to her wide eyed. She looked at me with pure disgust and anger. "You are lying to everyone, aren't you?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, Rina, aren't you?" Damon smirked, suddenly appearing on the other side of me.

.

My eyes shot open to reveal a dark room. It had been two nights in a row of the same nightmare. Not even wrapping myself in Neymar's sleeping body helped clear my head from the demon that was Damon Salvez. As much as I tried, I couldn't seem to ignore his attempts at ruining my life. I let out a sharp breath as I turned to see the time was only 3:22am, meaning I had to be up in about 30 minutes for hair and makeup for press day. I knew if I closed my eyes again, I would be late so with the last amount of willpower I had, I untangled myself from Neymar's warmth and got up for the fully packed 20 hour day ahead of me. I kissed Neymar's cheek and covered him with the blanket.

Quietly, I brushed my teeth and splashed cold water on my face to attempt to wake myself up. After having 3 back-to-back photoshoots yesterday and not sleeping through the night, it was visible that my glam team would have their work cut out for them under my eyes. I yawned nonstop as I got dressed in a pair of leggings and one of Neymar's Barca hoodies. I grabbed my essentials and tossed them into my black Birkin before I checked my phone.

'11. In the park. -D' was all the text message said.

I drew in a sharp breath and made a mental note to set up a meeting with Lucas to retrieve his usual 300,000. Lucas had proven integral to my plan and he maintained my confidentiality. I met with him once a week after bank business hours to withdraw money and make transfers into a new account. Jose had advised me of the best accounts to use for large sums of money which was precisely what I needed. I thought about Clara's words over and over and I knew she genuinely meant to help me by advising me to protect my money. I didn't trust Damon whatsoever which meant I needed a plan b in case anything happened to me. I worked with Lucas to set up a dummy account where I could deposit 300,000 weekly for Damon to keep Isabella here and when she left, all of the money in the account would be rerouted to to my personal account. However, I did add a final safety measure but I prayed I wouldn't have to use it. My assistant, Lily, closely monitored the movements of my money for business purposes so I timed it all perfectly to correspond to the lease of the new Vera store downtown. If I could get proof of Damon using my bank information, I could build a case for fraud and finally be rid of him for good. It might've been a long con, but it was the only way out.

My phone buzzed again and brought me back to reality. 'Let me know when you're on your way' Anada wrote. I texted her back instantly and grabbed my keys. I got in the car and arrived at Alexis' house a few minutes later. She appeared in the passenger seat looking almost as dead as I did but I knew it was for an entirely different reason. "Too much phone sex with Raf," I teased.

"More like too much actual sex," she admitted, "I think we were getting it all out our system for the month."

"Okay- thank you for that visual," I groaned as I started driving to my mother's house. It was only 4:15 and she had killed my appetite for the rest of the day.