Father In Law

Chapter 17

Anthony:

My phone almost cracks with the force I grip it with. I always knew there was a little bitch under all that kindness. I scowl at the way she helped Bertha. She's just begging for someone to take advantage of her.

I stare at the empty house and when at other times, I would have felt cold, just like the walls, now, I'm just burning up. In anger.

I check the location of her car and she's still at her boutique. The reason I offered her a car? It's because I already had a GPS tracker fitted underneath it. Partly for safety reasons.

I pour myself a finger of Scotch and resist from drinking it in one go. I check the location of her car again and find it in the exact same location as five minutes ago.

After I've finished about a quarter of the Scotch, Sebastian strolls into the house, whistling.

"Where have you been Sebastian?"

He slows to a stop.
"Out."

"With who?" I look at him dead in the eyes. The same eyes he shares with Della. Hers are completely brown while mine are hazel.

"With myself."

I give him a tight nod and he passes by me. These two think I'm fucking stupid. That I don't know he's still fucking that whore. That I don't know all the lies Charlotte tells me just to cover for Sebastian. After I'm the one who's been nothing but welcoming towards her. Even though Sebastian treats her like trash, her loyalties lay with him.

I sit back against the stairs and close my eyes. The door opens again and I sit up straight to see Charlotte staring at me.

Those fucking tits.

"Get up." She's right in front of me, while I'm on the middle of the staircase.

"I'll be sleeping here. Go to your room."

"And let you roll over and fall to the ground in the middle of the night while you're asleep? Yeah, that's sad, even for you."

I get up and she holds my arm to steady me. It sizzles through my skin and I just want it off.

"Don't fucking touch me." I hiss at her.

I ignore whatever she has to say and go to my room, slamming it shut, louder than necessary.

I fall into bed with only one thought in mind. I don't need anyone. Especially her.
______________________________________

Charlotte :

I greet Sebastian when I enter the room. He smiles at me.

"Good day?" I ask him.

"Amazing." I'll bet. For him, a day with Adeline would sure be amazing. Speaking of, I should probably at least tell Anthony about Adeline wanting me to plan her wedding. When he's not being a raging bastard, of course.

"Hey Seb, does Anthony drink a lot?"

He goes back to his phone.
"Not usually. He only drinks Scotch and that's on the rare occasion."

"Seems like he's very in control of himself."

I hear him scoff without looking up from his phone.
"Yeah. I've never even heard him curse. He only uses whore on the rare occasion when he's really mad."

"He doesn't curse even when he's drunk?"

"He never gets drunk."

"Never?"

"Ever." He says with a finality to his tone.

My eyebrows shoot up. I'm pretty sure he cursed near the stairs, when I touched him.
______________________________________

The next morning, I go down into the kitchen and find Anthony sitting there, sipping on his coffee just like the previous morning.

But there's a difference between the two versions. This one seems more hardened.

"I meant what I said yesterday." He suddenly speaks.

"Which part?"

"The part where you keep your hands to yourself. Don't touch me."

I'm pretty sure my ears are red.
"Do you think I'm waiting around all day to touch you?"

"Is it? Then what about the way you came into my room the other day to 'massage' my shoulders?"

I pinch the bridge of my nose.
"I saw your face scrunched up in pain when you were touching your shoulder. Sebastian didn't offer to help, so I did. That's the nice thing to do." I throw my arms up in disbelief. The sheer audacity.

"What's wrong with you?" I ask him incredulously.

"You assume there's something wrong with me. Why is that?"

"The Anthony I've known from the past few weeks is definitely different from this one."

"I see. Well, this is who I am sunshine. Deal with it. On second thought, deal with your husband, just stay away from me."

"I don't understand Anthony. Did I do something?"

He finally sets his coffee mug down and gives me his full attention. I cross my legs in shame.

"Let me tell you something Charlotte. The world doesn't revolve around you. My actions and words aren't dependent on you."

"I don't get it. I thought we'd established a good relationship."

"You are supposed to establish a good relationship with my son Charlotte. Not me."

"You know what Anthony? You're an even bigger asshole than Sebastian. You weren't like this in the beginning."

"I tried my best to make you feel welcomed Charlotte. But, what did you do? You continue to lie to me, covering up his affair for him. I've decided I don't need to go out of my way to be kind towards you."

My cheeks burn up at that. I thought he didn't know about Sebastian's continuing affair.

So that's why he's like this.

He smiles and I sneer at him.

"Why are you smiling?"

"You finally got the balls to admit Sebastian is an asshole. Where's that girl who acted like everything was fine and dandy?"

"Seb is not as much of an asshole anymore."
He actually still is, but Anthony doesn't need to know that. He'll just gloat about it.

"You sure about that? A man who cheats on his wife is definitely called worse names than an asshole."

"I don't care what he does. Neither of us love each other. Tell me Anthony, do you behave like this with everyone?"

"Why don't you tell me the answer to that?"

"You don't, do you? You don't even behave like this with your own son, isn't it? You've gone too soft on him. No wonder he's turned out like that." The way I see it, he's mostly indifferent to those around him.

He suddenly shoots out of his seat and grips my jaw, glaring at me with those molten hazel eyes.
"Watch your mouth. I didn't see this bitchy behavior when your father was giving you shit."

My eyes widen at that. Sure, I've been lying to his face, but he doesn't have to be so rude about it.
"Yeah? I didn't see this raging asshole at that time either."