Claimed by the Billionaire, Rejected by His Memory

Damien Blackwood leaned against the hood of his sleek white Mercedes GLE, his sharp jawline and perfectly tailored navy suit catching the eye of every passerby in the mall parking lot. But his piercing gaze remained fixed on the glass doors of the shopping mall, growing more impatient by the second. “Ariella,” he muttered under his breath, checking his watch for the third time. “You said five minutes.” He tapped his foot, then raised his voice just enough to be heard across the lot. “Honey, please be fast I’ve got a meeting to catch.” Inside the mall, Ariella Hart, his stunning young wife with soft golden curls and piercing blue eyes was struggling with two oversized grocery bags, her heels clicking across the tiles. Dressed in a white sundress that clung to her curves, she looked like a goddess in a mundane battle against household chores. As she stepped out of the automatic doors, one heel caught a groove in the concrete. Crack. Her ankle twisted. One of her stilettos snapped in half. She stumbled forward with a gasp, groceries teetering in her grip. A nearby security guard leapt into action, catching her just before she hit the ground. Their faces came alarmingly close. Her lips were mere inches from his. They both froze. Damien looked up from his phone, his expression unreadable, just a mix of anger and surprise. Ariella pulled away quickly, cheeks flushed. “Dami,” she snapped, breathless, “can’t you see I need help?” Damien didn't make any attempt to respond or even make a move to check if she was wounded at first. Then, slowly, he slipped the phone into his pocket and walked over to Ariella, his facial expression cool but his eyes burning with anger and Ariella could see it clearly in his eyes . Get into the car now! Damien thundered at her, while he bent over to pick some of the groceries that fell out of the bags. After making sure everything is well packed inside the bag. He stood up while holding the two bags with both hands on each side to face the security man. Damien took a few steps to leave but turned back again to the security man, this time moving closer to him, which made the security a bit frightened, Damien reached for his ear. Be Careful with my wife, he whispered into his ears just like an ice dropped into a water. “Touch her again …. even by accident or intentional… and you will not only lose your job but also your life . Watch your back “. “Y- yes sir!. I- I won't, I swear”. He stammered with a cracking voice, while moving backwards “Better for you”, Damien said with a cold, evil and dangerous smile and started walking back to his car. Damien, “why threaten an innocent man”, Ariella asked her husband with a calm sweet voice trying not to make him angrier. “He was only trying to help me, that's all “. He shouldn't have touched you,” you are my wife and for that reason you are not allowed to be touched by another man,” Damien replied. Seeing that Damien was still angry and to avoid any ugly incident, Ariella with tears trickling down her cheeks , quietly removed her shoes which were already damaged and slipped into the car on bare foot, and slammed the door silently . Damien was busy whistling while packing the groceries into their care trunk, feeling undisturbed with his wife's reaction. Damien entered and turned on the ignition and brought the car to life , after making sure the groceries were properly packed into the car trunk. Damien zooms into the highway in a way that any passerby will think of whoever is driving that car was drunk. Ariella didn't even care if they were over speeding, she was busy crying silently, while many questions were going through her mind. “ Is this how this marriage will continue”?, “This is not the man I agreed to marry, what changed ?" She thought to herself. Then the memory of how it all started flashed back. ~FLASH BACK ~ Ariella had lost her parents to illness when she was fifteen, since then she has been the one taking of herself and survival has been really tough for her She dropped out of school due to her inability to pay for school fees, and later took a cleaning job in one of the well known restaurants called “five star restaurant California” for survival. “ You dirty i***t, what are you still doing there, can't you come and clean up this place?” one customer yielded at Ariella. “P- please sir,” I am coming, let me finish up here, she pleaded with the customer. Before she could finish up the place she was cleaning before the customer shouted at her, the customer had already started calling the manager. “ Manager,” manager “ please I need someone to clean my table, " he shouted with a loud voice. The manager immediately rushed out of her office on hearing the shout, because the voice sounds familiar , on reaching the spot, she realised it was one of her long-time customers “Mr Bernard “. “Mr Bernard how are you doing, she asked”, her face beeping with a smile, I didn't know you came around. Well I just came in now but it seems everywhere is messed up here, He complained with an angry tone. “ I'm so sorry about that, let me get someone to fix the table for you. “Ariella”, Ariella”. Where is this foolish girl that calls herself Ariella, she murmured softly to herself. Ariella on the other hand heard her name, and immediately rushed to where her manager was standing. Am so ….., before she could finish the statement, madam Lin landed a hot slap on her cheek. The sound of the slap was so loud some of the customers there turned to see where the sound was coming from. “You disgrace” Don't you know how to attend to a customer, she snapped. “Will you clean up this mess? What are you doing that took you so long to answer me?” Ariella immediately started cleaning the table without saying a word, she was trying so hard to hold the tears that were already forming in her eyes from falling. She will fix everything for you, madam Lin said to Mr Bernard and left for her office. Mr Bernard turned to Ariella , immediately Madam Lin left for her office. “Are you okay,” Mr Bernard asked Ariella. “Am fine sir”, she replied, trying hard not to let the pain show in her voice. Am so sorry for that, I didn't know she would react that way, it's all my fault, he pleaded. “It's fine sir, i'm just doing my job”, she said and left for the restroom to ease off the pain and tears in her eyes. “Why is everything going against me”, “am I cursed” Ariella kept on asking herself while weeping in the restroom. After a few minutes of crying, she mistakenly dozed off due to many late nights. ( Continues banging on the restroom door) Ariella was immediately jolted up from her sleep due to the loud banging on the door. “A-Am coming”, "A minute please”. while she was trying to clean up her face, to avoid being noticed that she was sleeping. She quickly opened the door only to be greeted with another hot slap by Madam Lin who was standing in front of the door. “What are you doing inside the restroom for the past an hour”? Ariella was shocked, “how did I spend such time inside here?” she thought to herself. “Go pack your things and leave my restaurant.” “You are fired” she yelled at her, “I can't condole such a lazy fool like you” “Please ma, I need this job, don't fire me please”, Ariella held her legs while crying and begging. Madam Lin kicked Ariella's hands off her feet and left for her office. Ariella with tears trickling down face like the ocean dusted herself and left for the locker room to get her stuff. She picked all her stuff and quietly bid some of her friends good bye and left the restaurant into a void world that holds nothing for her. It was already late in the night, so everywhere was quiet, all that could be heard was the sound of her old snickers on the tarred road. “Hey young lady”. “Hey, h- hey” the voice continue shouting Ariella first thought to herself, “ could this be a thief or just a passerby?”. While she was still battling with her thoughts on what to do next, whether to turn back to know who the person is or run. She decided to check who the person is, since she doesn't even have any valuables on her, only her old clothes in her bag.