Love in disguise
(Dean)
I'm seated at my office, flipping through a document, I tried to stay focused but I'm really not feeling it.
I've instructed Humphrey to call my PR team to clean this up immediately and luckily they've been able to hold things down for now.
Hopefully we don't draw more attention to the situation, the gossip will die down with time too.
And as for Eric, we'll meet again.
All in all, I should be a lot calmer right?
But heck I'm not. I still have a bigger fish to fry.
Bella, the twins, their paternity, the reason why she's been hiding them, the pills, my sudden confliction, all of it.
Surely, I'll get to the root of this.
As I shuffle nonchalantly through the pages of the document Humphrey had brought in earlier, a woman's angry voice cuts through the silence. "Where is Dean?"
I recognize that voice instantly. It's Mom.
She must've seen the news, such things doesn't get past her.
I shrug back to my chair, waiting for her to stride in.
The door burst open and Mom storms in angrily with Humphrey striding behind her, unable to stop her.
Actually no one dared stop Judy Brennan when she's this furious.
I look at Humphrey and his face falls flat.
"It's fine. I will take it up from here," I said gently, avoiding Mom's heated gaze.
Humphrey gives a polite nod and leaves.
As soon as Humphrey closes the door after him, Mom turns sharply, she narrows her eyes and snapped. "What in heaven's name is this? How could you be so careless?" She retorts, flashing her phone on my face, her voice seething with anger.
I take a deep breath, steeling my mind. I get that she's angry, concerned even.
No one is happy with scandals.
I look up at her, my expression softens. "Can you at least sit down?" I say, forcing my voice to stay calm.
She cuts me off cold, cutting straight to the heart of the matter, "No, Dean," she lets out an exasperated sigh, taking a step closer.
"Do you even realize how much of a mess this is? How could you let that silly girl drag you down like this? To think I had my doubt when you said it was strictly business between you both," She fumes.
I take a deep breath, skipping right past her tirade. "Look, Mom. If it's about that picture, the blogs. I have handled it," I say, hoping that'd make her calm down a bit.
But it doesn't, instead she flares up. "This is not just about the news Dean!" She spat, her voice trembling with barely contained fury. "You shouldn't be entangled or seen with that whore,"
My chest tightens and for some reason I was very teed off hearing her call her that. I clench my fist hard, an attempt to mask my fury.
I don't say anything, I just stare at her.
Mom doesn't look like she's backing down anytime soon, she glares at me in return, her eyes darting in disbelief. "Don't let that gold-digging skunk crawl her way back into your life, she's trash, Dean. Move the fuck on!"
That did it for me.
I gave her a sharp look, feeling the anger creasing slightly in my temples. "Move on?" I repeat, a chuckle slipping out of my mouth. "If I could, then I would have done that a long time ago. I clearly can't."
Mom rolls her eyes. "Pathetic!" She blurted out, standing up straighter. "Get over it, those are pure lust, darling. Don't go fighting over someone that doesn't want you, someone that's beneath you, that'd be such a mess, don't you think?" she gives an acid smile.
My whole body trembles with anger as I glare at her, meeting her gaze with a hard look.
And before I know it, I snap back at her. "This is my life, mother. I've never let you interfere with it, and you won't be doing that now," I retorted, forcing my voice to be steady. "Like I said, my PR team has handled the media outburst earlier. Would that be all? I've got work to do," I deadpanned, gesturing to the piles of documents on my desk.
I hope she gets the hint and leave me be.
Mom looks taken aback for a moment, but then her face hardens, twisted in disbelief, I see the disappointment there, the air thick with the sting of my words.
And then finally she speaks up. "Fine. I'll leave," she says flatly, taking a calculated step forward. "But just so you know, I'd never sit back and watch that bitch ruin your life again," she has a subtle smile when she says this, one that doesn't reach her eyes.
Without another word to me, she turns on her heels and begin to stride towards the door.
And almost the same time, the door cracks open and in walks Ethan.
Sure enough, he notices the hanging tension as Mom brushed past him, ignoring his greeting as she strides out angrily.
Ethan looks at the door and then back at me, eyebrows raised.
I shrug back into my chair, trying to steel myself from the impact of the heated argument with Mom.
Phew. She's just a little too much.
Ethan sits down, just across me and holds my gaze for a second. "Let me guess. It's about the media outburst, isn't it?" He asks, giving me a knowing look.
I let out a deep breath. "Yeah, but she's more agitated seeing me with Bella than the impact of the scandal," I divulged. "I'm sorry for not returning your calls between."
Ethan runs his hand through his hair, he goes silent for a while, his eyes on me the entire time.
He tilts his head, sitting up straighter. "Dean?" He calls me, his voice serious as he looks straight into my eyes. "Are you still in love with Bella?" He studies my reaction.
His question throws me off a little and for the first time I didn't try to refute.
His voice comes through again. "If you're still in love with your ex—-," he trails off, his voice thick with a seriousness I haven't seen before.
"If you're still in love with your wife, I suggest you act on it before you loose her to someone else,"