Hate That I Love You

1

Damian

This has to be a fucking joke. I hope to God, He's just playing an untimely trick on me. "Baby... it's me. Damian? Damie? Your fiancé."

She shakes her head as if she still doesn't know who I am. "My f-fiancé?" She looks down at her left hand and spots the diamond ring. "Oh my God."

"Yes, Lei. Don't you remember?" I desperately asked.

"I'm sorry, I just- I don't.... I can't remember anything."

I turned to Lorenzo who looks just as lost as the rest of us. "She must be suffering from amnesia."

"Amnesia??!?!" I shouted. "Partially? Or... completely?"

"I'm not sure. Sweetheart, are you able to remember a single thing prior to the accident?"

"I... vaguely. I remember umm." Leila rests her hand on her face. "I know my name is Leila Campbell. I have a sister and a best friend. I'm from Jersey. I....think... I'm a dancer?" Is that it??

"Anything else?" He asked. She looks lost. "Does this man feel or look familiar to you at all?" Lorenzo points to me.

My heart pounds hoping she says yes, but it breaks when she says no. I rushed to her bedside and she lightly retreats back. I tried to pretend like I didn't see it but it was hard to avoid. "Baby, we grew up together. Since we were kids. Remember all the things we used to tell each o-." My cousin quickly cuts me off by grabbing my arm.

"No, Damian!" He pulls me out the room. "She has to remember on her own. If you bombard her she'll just have a psychotic meltdown. It's a miracle she still has very little or half of her memory left."

"But the other half I'm not in it?!!" I yelled.

"We don't know that for sure. It's just gonna have to take some time... well that's if she's able to fully remember again..."

"The fuck you mean "if"? If??"

"Cugino, I'm sorry."

"No. Don't give me that. I've known this girl my whole life... there's no fuckin way she just..." my blood begins to boil. My head feels like it's about to burst into flames. "FUUUUCK!!" I punched the wall repeatedly behind me, leaving a large dent. "FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!!!"

A security guard rounds the corner with his hand on his holster. Lorenzo stops him from approaching me. "We're fine, officer. He's family." The security guard nods and disappears back to his original position.

"What the fuck am I gonna do?"

"For now, we're gonna have to hold her for a few more days. It's best that you go home, Damian. When the time comes for her release, we'll call you. That's if she wants to leave with you, but if she doesn't... we're gonna have to find an alternative."

"An alternative..." I weakly repeated back, brushing my hands through my hair. No. No. No. This can't be happening. This can't be fucking happening. This is all that bitch's fault! Just when I thought I was finally free from those demons, they managed to find their way back. But how? How???

I started thinking real hard. Trying to put pieces together. Joseph said Milani was a waitress at one of the restaurants downtown. I didn't even know she lived in New York. What the fuck is she doing here? Tryna ruin my life? She's done that enough when we were kids. It's fucking with me the more I can't gather my thoughts and figure out what the hell is going on.

"Cugino..."

"I gotta go." Before I walked off, I took a glimpse of Leila from the doorway who sat completely calm yet terrified on her bed. Her eyes locked with mine but quickly shift away to the window in her room. Fuck. She can't even look at me. I shook my head and walked away. I felt this large emotional blockade the farther I was out of the hospital. There's no way I can accept this.

When I got in my car, I pulled my phone out to call Joseph. I gave him the good news that his daughter was awake, but I also told the bad news. He was just as stunned as I was. He says he's on his way here now. I'll just have to fill everyone else in later. "Hey, uh, Joseph before you go. What was that restaurant you said you and Leila went to again?"

..........

I pulled up to Rosetta's Kitchen and asked a couple waiters and waitresses about if a girl by the name of Milani Lombardi ever worked here. "I've never seen her before." One waitress said.

"Did you say Milani? Like Millie? Is she in trouble?" Another waitress tapped me.

"No." I lied. "She's... my sister. I've been looking for her, we fell out of contact a couple years ago and I just need to know if she's okay. I was told she worked here. You know her?"

"Yeah, I knew her. A long time ago when she first started here." The waitress motioned for me to take a seat in the booth. "I'm Trish by the way."

"Nice to meet you, Trish. Alejandro." I shook her hand.

"Umm, I don't know if I should be saying this." She looked around.

Lady. Come the fuck on. I placed my hand on top of hers and spoke in a smooth tone. "This is a safe place isn't it?"

She giggled. "Yeah, you're right. It's just... your sister was different." No shit.

"How so?"

"No offense but..." Trust, sweetheart. Non taken. "Millie was really weird. I mean talking to herself, saying the most outlandish things like, "I can't wait. I just can't wait." She would repeat it almost every shift."

"Was she excited about something?"

"I don't know if I would use that word. More like delusional or demented? The look in her eyes was... and that creepy ass smile? She made a lot of our customers uncomfortable. She received too many complaints so our boss had no choice but to fire her. Millie lasted but only three weeks."

"Yeah... that is weird. Did you notice anything else weird about her? Or anything out of the unordinary?"

"Besides her personality?"

I cleared my throat. "See I'm really worried about my sister..." I caressed Trish's hand. "And I'd really appreciate it if I got more intel on her. I just wanna find her."

Trish giggles once more. "Okay. Well... the night she was fired... I was on a smoke break and I saw her get in the car with this older man. I heard they were having a screaming match and that's when he kicked her out the car and pulled off." Sounds like Emilio.

"Were you able to hear anything?"

Not from him, but when Millie hopped out the car she yelled something like, "I don't need you. I will handle it on my own"? I believe?"

"Is that right?" I whispered to myself. "You remember what the car looked like?"

"Yeah a.... a black Range Rover. One of the newer ones." Get the fuck outta here. Last time I remembered, Emilio didn't have that kind of money. This shit ain't adding up.

"Mm. Thank you, Trish. That's all I needed to know." I handed her a Frank as her tip. I put my finger up to my lips letting her know not to speak a word of this conversation to anyone. She understood, winked, and I walked out of the restaurant.

I pressed for Dom's number on my phone. He answers, "Fratello."

"Incontriamoci alla stazione di polizia. Ora." I hung up. (Meet me at the police station. Now.)