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“Eliza wanted to get a large share of her fortune out of the country through an investment in Red Lion Aviation and, together with Carter, she tried to enlist me to her cause. I tried to stop them, but … but I couldn’t. I’ve already contacted the IRS and the Department of Treasury, and now this matter will be investigated through official channels.” He gives one more passing glance over the crowd and then just purses his lips. “That’s all,” he says abruptly, and then the room seems to explode, every single one the journalists in there trying to scream out a question.
Without even bothering to listen to them, Derek just turns on his heels and allows himself to be escorted out of the room by his security personnel.
Oh fuck, what the hell just happened? I must be fucking dreaming. After everything that happened between the three of us, I simply can’t comprehend why Derek would do something like this. This is fucking insanity.
I pace around my living room without knowing what to do (or even what to think). Two glasses of whisky later, there’s something that brings me down to Earth: someone’s knocking at my door.
Loosening my tie, I make my way toward the door and open it, already knowing who’s on the other side.
“I don’t understand,” Eliza says, her words frail and quivering. There’s a sad glint in her eyes, and her makeup is smeared: she was crying on the way to my place.
I don’t even say a word: I just wrap my arms around her and pull her inside, holding her tightly as a violent sob takes over her. She buries her face against my chest and I stroke her hair softly, laying a gentle kiss on her head.
“I don’t understand,” she repeats, pulling back from me. There are tears streaming down her face and, fuck, seeing her like this is enough to break my heart. Derek’s lucky he isn’t here, or else I’d give him the beating of his life. “Why? Why would he do something like this…?”
I simply shake my head, not knowing what to say. She bites on her lower lip, looking at me as if she hopes I know what to do.
“It must’ve been Wanda,” I whisper and, the moment my ex-wife’s name falls from between my lips, I realize there’s no other way to explain this. She was already pulling Derek’s strings before all this and, somehow, she’s still doing it right now.
“She … she came to me. She told me she would do anything … she wants my money and she … God, I never thought she’d do such a thing. And Derek!” She falls into my arms again, and I hug her tightly, breathing in deeply and allowing the scent of her body to calm me down. Somehow, having her in my arms has erased all the stress that ran through my veins like poison. As long as she’s with me, I know that everything will be alright.
“I promise you…” I find myself saying, the words blossoming in my mouth. “I’ll always look after you, Eliza. Always.” She looks into my eyes for a long moment, and then she just nods.
“I believe you…” she whispers, resting her delicate hands on my chest. “I believe you. But Derek… I don’t understand. I thought I could trust him too.”
“I know, Eliza, I know… but Wanda is a dangerous woman and she has dug her claws into him. You know… before I met Wanda, Derek and I used to be friends,” I say, sighing as I remember what happened so long ago, how that monster of a woman destroyed a friendship I thought was eternal.
“Friends? I didn’t know. What happened?” she asks me, wiping the tears from her face with the back of her hand.
“Me and Derek, we met at college… Hit it off right from the start, and we even started working as interns for Carter Jeffries together. But then Derek started making serious money, and that drew Wanda’s attention. The moment she laid her hands on him, it was over. He stopped taking my calls and, next thing I knew, we had become strangers.”
“Just like that…?”
“Just like that,” I nod. “And I think that was exactly part of her plan. Because one year later I met Wanda at a party… And, fuck, I hate to say it, but she cheated on Derek with me. We were friends, and she turned us into enemies…” I offer Eliza a sad smile, remembering how much of a fool I was. “She played us, and she took quite a chunk of both our fortunes as she left us.”
She looks at me, surprised, and I caress her cheek with the back of my hand, brushing my thumb over her lips. “I just thought that… that things could be like they were before Wanda showed up. All these years, I missed Derek. And now he’s gone again…”
