Chapter 78 78

Chapter 78 78
GRAYSON
“That’s so fucked up man.” The gold liquid sloshed all over the corners of the glass as Damian poured yet another glass of whiskey absentmindedly.
“I know.” The sigh barely lifted the weight off my chest. I ran my hands through my hair for the umpteenth time, gripping the roots like I was actually trying to rip it all out, the same way I would love to rip Scarlett out of my house. Why now? Why after over five years did she pick the perfect moment to force herself back into my life?!
“Shit, I’m so sorry man, if I knew sh-”
“It wasn’t your fault, Damian, stop that.” I cut him off before he could go down that road. It was my fault. I should have been more careful, I shouldn’t have been so stupid as to make the call when she was just a few steps away. And above all, I sure as hell should not have lied about how I truly felt, the moment I couldn’t let her go, the moment I risked public capturing just to stop a date, I should have known she was more, she had always been more.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid! The harsh drink burned the back of my throat, the only welcomed pain I should have to tolerate. I took another big gulp, emptying the glass in one fell swoop.
“You should slow down on that, I don’t think it would help chase Scarlett out sooner.” Damian tried yanking the glass out of my hand. I shot him a death glare because more than anything I wish I could smash this on the head of the idiot who skipped off with her funds just before their wedding. If only he had gone through, then Scarlett would be his problem and I could actually be suing her ass for tricking me and not signing before collecting the settlement I offered her for it, for going ahead to marry someone else while she was still married to me, and best of all, for trying to scam me anew.
The past years, I had kept an eye on her. I knew the real reason she left our marriage wasn’t because of some dream of a career, I could have given her anything she wanted, any career she wanted, so it made no sense at all then, and it only started to make sense when my PI reported that she had been caught cozying up to some big shot producer and all of it dated back to the period we were still married. She had been cheating on me whilst we were still ‘happily married’, but like the gold digging tramp she was and still is, she liked the security I provided, especially since her producer was still married before she started acting out.
She couldn’t initiate the divorce of course, I’d been in love but I hadn’t been stupid. She signed an agreement and that was my own undoing. It all made sense, the sudden late night shoots, her new ‘manager’, the sudden need to wear slutty outfits, the lack of excitement when I expected she would want to jump my bones, it all began to make sense and I felt like shit. Heck, at the time, I was shit.
I chased revenge for the longest time, waited for the perfect moment to ruin her, focused on gathering as much evidence as I could till there was no way she could escape the web I had weaved around her entire life. The only thing I hadn’t accounted for was falling in love with Adeline. This was supposed to be the perfect time to weave her deeper in. The only problem, was I didn’t want her anywhere near me and most especially, I didn’t want her anywhere near Adeline. Well that, and the fact that I had no fucking idea that she actually didn’t sign the damn divorce papers to begin with!
“Why didn’t I go to confirm?! Why did I just take her word for it?! Even after finding out she was…”
“Because you still couldn’t wrap your head around the fact that it was all a lie. And at the time, it was the last thing you could hold actually hold onto, her dedication to her hunt for more money and status. You can’t possibly blame yourself for that, anyone could have made the same mistake.”
“I’m not just anyone, Damian.” I hissed. I wasn’t even pissed at him, I was just frustrated. “I am the business mogul who built a business from ground up without touching a cent of his money or connections when I could easily have, I should be able to see basic things like these!”
“Well, you underestimate the power of love then.” He sighed and eased into the sofa opposite mine, taking careful sips from his almost full glass.
Now would have been the time to bait Scarlett, get her to ask for more money, without any knowledge that I knew all too well that she was ‘married’ to another man who was stealing her funds right under her nose, I should be winning and happy right now, watching gleefully as her life caved and fell apart, crumbled around her, before her eyes without her being able to do anything to stop it or save herself. It was supposed to be my moment. It still could be, but that meant sacrificing Adeline, what I felt for her and what we could be.
“It sucks you in and make you create this pedestal of a person in your head. They could be the most heartless of persons and still you can’t see a single wrong in their actions or words because you somehow convince yourself that they could and would never do that to you. It’s the fog of all fogs, I tell you.” He pushed another glass down his throat, shaking his head like he was still processing the words he just let out.
He had a point. It wasn’t like Scarlett was all that great at hiding anyways, with how quick it had been for my private investigator to get her information and track her movements after I got fed up with her ass and filed for a divorce, it just meant if I really entertained my curiosity before that, even a little bit, I would have found out everything I needed to know without stress, but I didn’t. Like the lovesick puppy I was for her then, I didn’t want to see her any other way. Stupid.
“Well, it’s dead now, but she isn’t.” I scoffed, trying and failing to hold back the aggression I felt when she was involved. “What’s the plan now?”
“Well, you can’t play along with her games anymore now, can you?” I could almost see his smirk through the glass. Teasing remarks about how he had been right about my feelings for Adeline laid just on the tip of his tongue, but he was holding back.
“This is not the time, Damian.” I grunted. Any other day I would shrug off his jabs, but I wasn’t in the mood for any of that. Not with war brewing in my house. Knowing Adeline, she had enough self respect to pack her things and leave any moment, it was one of the things, amongst many, that I loved about her. However, that also meant I was at risk of losing her because Scarlett’s self respect took a one trip flight to Bermuda’s triangle. How I even let my guard down enough to fall for her would always remain a mystery to me.
Damian lifted his free hand in surrender, “Just saying.” He tilted his head to the side, “You side Adeline and Scarlett walks. You play house with Scarlett and Adeline walks, for good this time. You can’t have both.”
I already gave up one revenge, was I really ready to let another hideous human being go scot-free, because of the same woman?! I mean Adeline was worth every bit of it, just the thought of her was enough to make everything else insignificant, but Scarlett ruined me, took almost half of my net worth and didn’t even spend a second to reconsider, she played me.
Dahlia I could let go of because really, it wasn’t even my revenge to begin with and she’s still Adeline’s…it was just all a jumbled mess, it would definitely mess things up, but Scarlett? She had no connections with Adeline whatsoever, her I could ruin without roping in Adeline into the mix, but now?
Now? Well now, Adeline was the only person in years that I could even entertain the thought of being married to, but Scarlett wouldn’t let that happen, not
until she was out of the picture, for good.