Chapter 16 #2
His face flushes red. “Get over yourself and get in the car. The board is breathing down my neck because you sabotaged everything before you left. They want answers, and they want them now.”
I stare at him, genuinely confused. “Sabotaged what? I didn’t sabotage anything.”
“Don’t play innocent. All your projects are crashing. The systems you were working on have been failing left and right since you disappeared.” His voice rises with each word. “Nobody can figure out how to fix them.”
Despite everything, I laugh. I actually laugh, the sound carrying across the street where neighbors are probably starting to notice the commotion.
“Are you serious right now? Derek, I was updating those systems daily. They’re crashing because I’m not there to maintain them.
That’s not sabotage—that’s incompetence on your part for not having backup procedures. ”
“This isn’t funny!” His hand shoots up, and my blood boils. The audacity of standing in my home town and raising his hand on me. I grab his wrist mid-swing and drive my knee hard into his stomach. He doubles over, wheezing, and the sound triggers a flood of memories I’ve been trying to suppress.
I remember walking into his office three weeks ago, looking for a file I needed for a client presentation. I remember finding him with Jessica pressed up against his desk, her skirt hiked up around her waist. But worse than catching him cheating was what I overheard him saying to her.
“Don’t worry about Hazel,” he’d been murmuring against Jessica’s neck. “I’ll find a way to demote her and give you her position. She’s getting too comfortable, thinking she runs the place.”
I’d confronted them both right there. Derek had recovered quickly, straightening his tie and claiming it was just a moment of weakness. But I’d seen the calculation in his eyes, the way he was already spinning the narrative in his head.
The fight that followed was epic. I’d called him out for his lies, his manipulation, his complete lack of integrity. And his response? He fired me on the spot, claiming my KPIs had fallen behind company standards.
Then he’d thrown a stack of reports at me—reports I realized later had been doctored, my numbers artificially lowered to justify his decision. But he was my manager, and his word carried weight with HR.
The humiliation didn’t end there. He’d called security to escort me to my desk while he stood there with Jessica, watching me pack my personal belongings under the eyes of my former colleagues.
As if that wasn’t enough, he’d then accused me of stealing company property and made security search through every item in my box, holding up each personal photo and coffee mug like evidence of some crime.
When they finally let me leave, walking me out of the building like a criminal, Derek had followed me home.
That’s when I discovered the final betrayal—the condo I’d paid for in full was somehow entirely in his name.
I’d bought the place with my own money, but he’d manipulated the paperwork to make himself the sole owner.
He’d given me twenty-four hours to get out of my own home, and Jessica had been there for that humiliation too, standing behind him with that same fake-sympathetic expression she’s wearing now.
Derek straightens up, still clutching his stomach, his face twisted with rage. “You little bitch. You’re going to pay for that.”
“I already paid for it,” I say coldly. “I paid for it with three years of believing you were someone worth loving.”
Jessica steps forward then, her voice soft and concerned. “Hazel, please. Derek only wants to help you. The company really is in trouble without you there. Maybe if you just come back and talk to them—”
“Stay out of this, Jessica.” I don’t even look at her. “This doesn’t concern you.”
“Of course it concerns me,” she says, and there’s something different in her tone now. Something sharper. “Derek and I are together now. We’re planning a future. Your little disappearing act is threatening that.”
Derek holds up a hand, apparently recovering from my knee to his stomach.
“Let me handle this.” He turns back to me, his expression calculating.
“Look, I’ll make you a deal. Come back, help clean up the mess you made, and I’ll let bygones be bygones.
I’ll even let you move back into the spare bedroom. ”
I stare at him. “The spare bedroom?”
“It’s a good offer,” he continues, apparently oblivious to how insane he sounds. “We can work things out between us. I’ll even take you back.”
Jessica’s head snaps toward him, her carefully maintained composure cracking. “Derek, what are you saying?”
“I’m saying I’m willing to give her another chance,” Derek says, not taking his eyes off me. “She can learn to share.”
“Share?” I repeat, incredulous.
“I love Jessica,” Derek says, like he’s explaining something to a particularly slow child. “But you and I have history. There’s room for both of you in my life, if you can be mature about it.”
I blink at him, trying to process the sheer audacity of what he just said. “Are you actually suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?”
“I’m suggesting that the kind of woman you are—harsh, uncompromising, difficult—isn’t going to find someone else willing to put up with you.” His voice takes on a cruel edge. “I’m offering you a chance to be part of something, rather than ending up alone and bitter.”
I roll my eyes. “Oh yes, because that’s every woman’s goal in life—to be wanted by a man. Any man. Even one who’s a lying, cheating piece of garbage.”
Derek’s face darkens. “You ungrateful—”
“You know what, Derek?” I cut him off, feeling three years of suppressed anger finally bubbling to the surface. “I wasn’t going to pursue getting my condo back. I was willing to write off my own property just to never have to deal with you again. But congratulations—you’ve just changed my mind.”
Derek laughs, but it sounds forced. “You don’t have a case. I have legal ownership now. Consider it you compensating me for having to put up with you for so many years.”
“We’ll see about that.” I smile at him, and I know it’s not a nice smile.
“My lawyer will be in touch with you very soon. And Derek? I have documentation of everything. Every forged signature, every fraudulent transfer, every lie you told to steal my property. I have them all in my email, messages. You’re going to look great in prison orange.
I’ll make sure to write you at least once a year. ”
The words feel incredible leaving my lips.
For three years, Derek chipped away at my confidence, made me question my own abilities, convinced me that I was lucky to have someone like him.
Standing here now, seeing him for what he really is, I feel like I’m finally breathing clearly for the first time in months.
Derek’s face goes white, then red. “You’re lying. You don’t have anything.”
“Try me,” I say softly.
That’s when he loses it completely. He lunges at me, hands reaching for my throat, his face twisted with rage. But I’m ready for him. I grab him by the shoulders, drive my knee up hard between his legs, and watch him crumple to the ground with a satisfying thud.
“Derek!” Jessica cries out, rushing toward me with her hands raised like claws. “You bitch! How dare you—”
I catch her wrist before she can scratch my face, then grab a handful of her perfectly styled blonde hair. “Oh, you want to play too?” I drag her stumbling toward their car and shove her hard. She goes down in a tangle of white sundress and outrage, hitting the pavement beside the sedan.
“Stay down,” I warn her, my voice cold.
The distraction gives Derek just enough time to recover. He struggles to his feet, his face murderous, and lunges at me again. “You’re going to pay for that, you crazy—”
But that’s when Luke appears out of nowhere.
I don’t even see where he comes from—one moment Derek is running toward me, his hand curling into a fist, the next moment Luke’s fist connects with his jaw in a solid, satisfying crack.
Derek goes down hard, hitting the pavement with his shoulder.
The sight of Luke defending me, moving with that calm, controlled fury, sends a fierce thrill through me even in the middle of this chaos.
“Don’t touch her,” Luke says, his voice deadly calm as he stands over Derek. There’s something almost predatory in the way he moves, like he’s been waiting for an excuse to do exactly this.
Derek spits blood and glares up at him. “This has nothing to do with you. I’m dealing with my ex-girlfriend.”
Luke’s expression doesn’t change, but something shifts in his stance. There’s a possessive edge to his voice that makes my heart race. “That’s funny,” he says conversationally, “because Hazel is my current girlfriend. So I’d say this has everything to do with me.”
The words send a warm flutter through my chest even in the middle of this chaos. Hearing him claim me so publicly feels like a promise.
Derek struggles to his feet, swaying slightly. “You don’t know what you’re getting into, man. She’s a nightmare. High-maintenance, ungrateful, thinks she’s smarter than everyone else—”
“She is smarter than everyone else,” Luke says matter-of-factly, and punches Derek again. This time Derek stays down.
“Want to keep talking?” Luke asks pleasantly.
Derek wipes blood from his nose, his eyes darting between Luke and me. “You’ll regret this. Both of you. When she shows her true colors, when she gets bored of playing small-town sweetheart and decides to destroy your life too—”
Sam’s truck roars into the driveway, cutting off Derek’s threats. My brother jumps out, takes one look at the scene—Derek bleeding on the ground, Luke standing over him with bloodied knuckles, Jessica cowering by the car—and grins.
“Did I miss the fun?” Sam asks, cracking his knuckles. “These fuckers rented a car from me. If Derek hadn’t forgotten his ID with me, I wouldn’t even have made it in time.”