Chapter 3
"What's your deal today? First you throw a fit, then you get our folks involved, hoping I'll take you back?" Derek sneered.
He looked at me like my feelings for him were his badge of honor, like loving him somehow made him better than me.
I laughed through my anger, even as tears rolled down my cheeks.
"Don't you get it?" I cried, tears streaming down my face.
"All they care about is profit. They're not trying to save my marriage. They just want to protect your business partnership. It's all about what's in it for them," I said.
My whole body trembled as years of bottled-up resentment finally exploded out of me.
I snapped, "I've always just been their pawn. Always!
"Just a pawn for their business deals. Did they ever care what I wanted? Not even once.
"I was born just to prop up Antonio and you, never for myself. I'm a tool with no personal worth."
I sobbed hysterically, my makeup smeared, my pride shattered, but I couldn't stop myself from falling apart.
Derek was frozen in place, like he had never seen me break down like this before.
He instinctively asked, "Wh-What are you doing?"
I scrubbed the tears off my face, rubbing so hard my skin burned.
That was right.
Why was I even saying all this to him?
He would never understand and probably think I'm being dramatic.
I took a deep breath, trying to steady myself, but my voice was still ragged from crying.
I said, "Don't worry.
"I promise, I'm ending this marriage.
"This is between you and me. As long as we both insist on getting divorced once the paperwork is done, no matter how hard they try to keep us tied, it won't work."
A flicker of surprise crossed Derek's face.
"You don't have to worry. You won't be stuck with me anymore," I said.
With that, I turned and fled from the suffocating, gilded opulence.
The noise from the party was still ringing in my ears as I nearly stumbled out, wanting to escape as fast as possible.
My vision was blurred with tears, and before I knew it, I ran straight into a solid chest.
"Holly?" a deep voice called out, laced with surprise.
I looked up. It was Carlos, Derek's older brother.
He caught my shaking shoulders. "What happened? Did you and Derek get into it again?"
I nodded weakly; any mask of strength I had completely shattered.
Carlos let out a sigh. "Come on, I'll get you home."
Physically and emotionally drained, I didn't have it in me to turn down this unexpected kindness, even if it might not be the smartest idea.
But I seriously underestimated how many eyes were lurking in the shadows.
The next day, a tabloid cover set the entire social circle ablaze.
Paparazzi had snapped photos of me and Carlos in a supposed "embrace" last night, splashing them across the front page with a sensational headline:
[Mrs. Garrett's Love Life Exposed? Secret Late-Night Meeting with the Older Brother—What's Tearing the Brothers Apart?]
Derek burst into my bedroom, kicking the door open and waving the magazine like a weapon.
He smacked the magazine right into my face, hard enough to make my cheek sting.
"Holly! Can't you stand being alone for even a minute? I look away for one second, and you're already throwing yourself at my brother?" Derek's eyes were bloodshot, and he looked ready to tear the whole place apart.
I tried to explain, "It's not what you think. I bumped into him, and he saw I was a mess."
"Oh, so just because you're falling apart, you need him to drive you home? You need him to comfort you in his arms?" Derek snapped, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Derek ignored everything I tried to say. He seized my wrist, yanking me downstairs without a second thought.
The living room was thick with tension, the air so heavy it felt like it could suffocate me.
Derek's father, Francis, had a livid face with a family discipline cane clutched in his hand.
Carlos knelt there, his back ramrod straight, saying nothing.
"Don't you have any shame? Don't you know your place?" Francis yelled, the cane slicing through the air as he lashed it across Carlos's back.
Smack! Streaks of blood soaked through Carlos's expensive shirt in seconds.