Beauty in Cinders

CHAPTER 19

"Is that true?" Debra cried, looking at her husband. Derek went and helped his mother up to her feet. She stared at Gregory with hurt in her eyes. "Answer me! Is it true?"

"Of course it's true!" Derek said breathlessly, "Look at him, he can't even answer your question."

"So here we are," Gregory said laughing, "All of you judging me. Doesn't matter that I've busted my butt all these years to get us ahead. It doesn't matter that I had to swallow my pride after being executive director of a company only to go and be in a lower position when I started working at Heath's company. Everything I've done I've done it for you all!"

"You're not making any sense," Derek shook his head, "That's no excuse for beating on my mother or cheating on her. Any decent man would have worked hard to provide for his family, by doing it the right way! Not by making his son try and seduce the daughters of his boss, not by cheating on his wife with his dead boss's wife. You're pathetic, dad. Absolutely pathetic."

Gregory stepped forward to hit his son but stopped when Derek didn't flinch. Derek stared at him, daring him to hit him.

"I want you to leave," Derek told him, "Get out of here."

"That's not going to happen," Gregory spat and punched his own chest, "This is my house. If the both of you are so disgusted by my presence then you leave."

"Fine," Derek said and turned to his mother, "Come on mom, let's go pack up our things."

Debra looked at Gregory one last time, tears in her eyes before letting Derek lead her out of the room. Gregory looked on after them hatefully. He flipped the coffee table, sending a loud crash throughout the room. He was seething with anger. How dare they behave this way? All the money he got out of that company, out of Beatrice, it had all been so they could live comfortably. So what if he hadn't gone about it in an honest way? Nobody succeeds in life playing by the rules. One had to do what one had to do. Gregory's blood boiled when he thought about Derek punching him, the way he confronted him, the way he stood up to him. Ungrateful little bastard.

Then he thought about how he found out about kissing Beatrice. He remembered Heather walking in on them. That had to be it. What else could it be? She went and told Derek about it. Gregory's upper lip quivered in anger. How could Beatrice not have done anything to prevent this? All this was her fault. She could've said something to Heather to make all this go away.

But oh, was Beatrice going to get it ...

Wades Mansion

Heather walked into the house after parting with Katia and went upstairs. As she walked down the corridor, she suddenly stopped and pulled out her cellphone. She pulled up Derek's contact information and started to text him. She couldn't stop thinking about the way he looked when she told him about his father and Beatrice. The pained look nearly broke her heart. She stopped herself, realizing what she was feeling towards him went a lot deeper than she would like. Heather frowned, wishing she could just forget about him. How could she feel so deeply for him when she had all these doubts about him floating in her head? All these things that Beatrice said about him going after them for their money ... yes, she doubted most of it but she still couldn't help but think about the accusations. How could she ever be with someone when she would always wonder about his true intentions?

I'll just ask how he is holding up, Heather thought and proceeded to start her text.

"Who are you writing to?" a voice asked from behind. Heather jumped and shut off her phone. She turned around to see Gina leaning up against the wall. She hadn't heard her appear at all.