Chapter 4 - The Final Confrontation
Derek found us.
He didn't know where we were staying, but he found the hotel because he still had access to one of our joint credit cards that hadn't been deactivated yet. He showed up in the lobby, looking disheveled, his expensive suit wrinkled, his eyes bloodshot.
He saw me, Caleb, and my father sitting in the lobby.
He ran over, his face twisted in rage. “You did this! You old bastard, you destroyed my life!”
He lunged for my father, but a security guard stepped in, pinning Derek against a pillar. Derek struggled, his face purple with fury.
“I made that company!” he screamed. “I worked for it!”
“You stole from it,” William said, standing up slowly. He looked so calm it infuriated Derek more. “You stole from your employees. You stole from your wife. And worst of all, you stole from your son. You thought you were buying power, but all you were buying was a stage for your own vanity.”
Derek looked at me, his expression shifting from rage to a pathetic, manipulative plea. “Emily, tell him. Tell him I’m a good father. Tell him I loved you.”
I looked at him. I really looked at him. I didn't see the man I had married—the man who claimed to be a provider. I saw a small, insecure boy who had spent his life trying to fill a hole in his soul with things he didn't earn.
“You never loved Caleb,” I said quietly. “You loved the idea of having someone you could control. You loved the feeling of being superior. You didn't love us. You possessed us.”
Caleb didn't look up from his toy car. He didn't flinch. That was when I knew he was going to be okay. He wasn't afraid of Derek anymore. He didn't care what Derek said. The connection was severed.
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“Security,” William said. “Escort him out. If he comes back, call the police. He’s trespassing on private property.”
As they dragged Derek out, he didn't stop screaming. He threatened lawsuits, he threatened violence, he threatened everything. But it sounded like noise. It sounded like the wind outside. It had no power.
