Dating Mr. CEO - Chapter 46: Chapter 46

ELROY
"Wow, two brothers in one day," Cade said, pulling the door widely so I could come in. when I got in, he closed the door, "are we here to kick off the apocalypse?" He asked.
As soon as I got into the small house, I was immediately engulfed with warmth, due to the fireplace at a corner in his sitting room. His house smelled like burning wood mixed with his infamous apple cologne.
It felt warm and really homely.
Cade's house was the smallest in all of the Chesterfields properties. I still wondered why he decided to get an apartment made only for himself. He had no bodyguards, no maids, no neighbors around the corner, not even a chef in sight.
I knew he didn't do too well with company, but- he was supposed to make an effort. Locking himself up in a cage wasn't going to change anything for him.
My gaze swept towards Damien who was seated on Cade's couch with his legs crossed on the table in front of him. When he noticed me, he smirked. "Well, isn't this the ideal family reunion?"
I narrowed my eyes at him, sitting on the couch opposite him. While Cade just stood, staring at the both of us. "What are you both even doing here?"
"Before I answer your question, do you have one of those beers? I could use one right now." I said, sounding exhausted.
"Yeah, me too." Damien chipped in.
Cade groaned, his brows coming together to form a light frown. "Tell me you both aren't spending the night."
"Get the freaking beers, Cade." I said without much strength.
Reluctantly, Cade strolled to the kitchen which wasn't very far from his sitting room.
Damien eyed me stylishly, taking a short glance towards the direction Cade had gone to, before sweeping his gaze back to me. "Are you spending the night?" He asked.
I cocked a brow at him in question. "Are you spending the night?" I replied with a question of my own.
His chest heaved up heavily before relaxing with a smooth sigh. He raked his fingers through his hair. "I think so."
I nodded. "Then I'm spending the night." I muttered. "Fay's at her mother's."
Cade took that time to stroll into the sitting room. He dropped three opened beers on the table, grabbing one and taking his seat too. Not before hitting Damien slightly on his foot. Gesturing him to get his feet off his table.
"You guys should have called, maybe to inform me about your visit before visiting. I heard that's what normal people do these days." He said, taking a swig of his beer.
I stretched forward, picking up a bottle. "Stop whining about it, I know deep down you're glad we're here." I smirked, bringing the bottle to my lips.
Damien placed his feet down, picking  up the last bottle from the table. "I wanted to call, Cade. But then I thought I might just surprise you."
A scowl made it's way to Cade's face, displaying his irritation towards Damien's remark. "I hate surprises."
"You hate everything." I cut in, earning a glare. "Can I get a glass and three ice-"
"No Ice." The both of them shot at the same time, shocking me.
"What? Why can't I get ice?"
"Dr. Xavier advised against it," Damien said, "you'll have to stay away from anything cold, smokey or dusty to avoid another attack."
What? First Fay, now them?
"Are you guys shitting me? Since when did you start thinking that I would listen to whatever a doctor said?"
"Since now." Cade muttered, taking a swig of his own beer.
"This is ridiculous. It was just one attack... Just one." I said.
"Yeah, it was just one, but if we let you disobey the doctors orders, we'd be having mini heart attacks every now and then. So let's go with the popular saying," Damien said, "Prevention is better than cure."
I rolled my eyes. "Whatever." I muttered.
"So, now that we're together, why don't we renew the bond?" Damien suggested with a smile.
Cade raised his brows in question. "Bond? What bond?"
"You know, the brothers bond, we can talk about things that has been bothering us, try to offer advice and other shit like that." Damien said.
I gave a light laugh. "Mom should have named you Moses," I said, "you love bringing people together."
Damien frowned. "Is that wrong?" He asked, "when was the last time we got together like this? This wasn't just a coincidence, you know."
Cade had that uninterested look in his eyes as he drank his beer in silence.
"So, who wants to go first?"
Cade etched his brows in a frown. "What is this? A rehabilitation center?"
I laughed, earning a glare from Damien. "What? It's funny." I said.
"You guys don't ever take anything serious, I am making the most of this time we're spending together, and I believe we all could use some friendly ears right now... A lot has happened."
The sitting room went silent.
A lot indeed has happened. Ever since the brunch... It changed a lot of things for me, for Fay, and by the looks of it, for every one of us.
"So, I'll start." Damien said, sitting up. "I have a daughter."
Cade choked on his beer.
"You have a what?" I asked, extremely shocked.
"A daughter." Damien repeated.
Cade made a whistling sound. "I was so not expecting that."
Damien sighed.
I was confused. "When? with whom? How?" I asked.
"Amy was pregnant with my child before we got divorced." Damien cleared up.
"Whoa, so you have a daughter who's five years old now?" Cade asked.
"Yup. I saw Amy at a board meeting. After years and years of searching for her... I guess she didn't know I was gonna be attending it. One thing led to another, I found out she had a daughter, Hayley. My own flesh and blood." He said, a distant look glazing his eyes. "I can't believe she didn't tell me... All these years of being apart."
"Wow." Was all I could say.
"That's a lot." Cade said, "what are you gonna do now?"
"Get my daughter, obviously?" Damien said.
"Amy's a crazy woman, she'd never let her go." I pointed out the obvious fact.
Damien and Amy got married during college days, they started dating all through highschool, down to college, they couldn't wait till they finished college, so they decided to get married... They were both madly in love at that time.
When the divorce issue came up, it was like a shock to everyone... I knew it was just a mere misunderstanding, but Amy was so blinded by the lies she had been told. She broke my brother to pieces with the divorce, and ever since then, he vowed never to get married.
"It can't be that easy, the Amy I once knew would do anything to keep what she thought was hers... This matter is gonna take you to court, are you ready for all that mess?" Cade asked him.
Damien ran his hands through his hair. "I'm ready to do anything, as long as Hayley remains with me... I don't care about whatever length Amy's willing to go." He said, "she hid the truth from me, she separated me from my daughter, I'm never gonna forgive her for that." He said.
Cade and I exchanged a quick look.
"What?" Damien asked.
I took another swig of my beer, leaving the talk to Cade.
"Damien, you have to be careful. Amy might use your feelings against you."
Damien looked confused. "Feelings? What feelings?" He asked.
"Your feelings for her, we know you Damien, we know how you searched heaven and Earth for her, you were losing your mind over her, it can be really easy to slip back into that, if you're not careful." I said.
"I don't have feelings for her anymore, it's been five freaking years." He said, sounding like he was trying to convince himself.
"And you've what, loved her for all your life? It's not that easy to forget someone, Damien... It's not." Cade said, obviously giving a reference to his own past.
Damien sighed. "Getting back with Amy isn't the first thing on my mind, I don't want her. All I want is my daughter, and my daughter, is all I'll get." He said, relaxing back on the couch.
"Does grandma know about this?" Cade asked.
"No... I can't tell her yet, she'd want me to bring Amy to her and I don't want that- I don't want Amy to have anything to do with our family." He said.
A lot has happened to him these last few days. How did he manage to bottle everything in for that long.
The same way you manage to bottle up all your pending feelings. A small voice shot at me.
Damien sighed. "Now that I've said my piece, who's next?"
After a small pause, Cade sat up. "Well, Mabel's back." He said.
My eyes widened.
"Hold on... The same Mabel? As in, Mabel Holland's Mabel?" Damien asked
"In simpler words, the alter ditcher?" I asked.
Cade nodded. "The same one who left me standing in the alter two years ago." He said.
"What the hell does she want?" Damien asked.
"Money, what else?" Cade said, "Her brother got into another debt with that cartel nonsense, she needs money to bail him out of it."
"Hope you weren't foolish enough to give her?" I asked.
"No, but I offered her a deal." Cade said.
Of course he would, Cade the big softie.
"What deal?" Damien asked.
"I'll give her the money, only if she works for me for a whole year, without salary. She'd work until the loan is completed."
"Harsh." Damien said.
"What's harsh about it? Mabel did not only embarrass him two years ago, she stole from him. She deserves more than she's getting, if you ask me." I said
Cade sighed. "Whatever, as long as she pays for everything she did to me." He said, taking another gulp of his beer.
"Elroy, your turn." Damien said.
Where do I even begin?
"You have to say something." Damien spoke into the silence.
I exhaled, sitting up.
Okay, here we go. "I think I'm starting to like Fay."
Damien had that unbelievable look on his face, while Cade looked annoyed.
"The same Fay who placed your life in danger?" Cade asked.
I narrowed my eyes at him. "That wasn't her fault, Cade."
"Sure, it wasn't." Cade muttered.
Damien grinned. "That's actually good news, I'm glad you're starting to see things the way they appear."
"No, he's not... Fay doesn't like him, she's only with him to get him in trouble," Cade said, "I know the way both of you started out with this relationship, you were once an asshole to her and now that you're actually being all nice and stuff to her, she's taking that to her advantage, she wants to use it against you."
Damien frowned. "Cade, stop planting things in his head. We should be glad, at least one of us has good news." He said.
I scoffed. "Good news? What if I told you someone else knows about that night? About the truth... About the woman and her son."
I watched the way color drained from both their faces.
"What?" Cade asked.
"Someone knows? Are you kidding me? How's that possible?" Damien asked.
I shrugged. "I have no idea. I was as shocked as the both of you."
"Who? I mean, who's the person?" Cade asked, fully alert now.
"Lucas. An employee of mine."
"Lucas Frod? Your head photographer?" Damien asked.
"Aka, Fay's bestie." Cade spat out. "What the hell does he want?"
"I don't know," I said. "He's in love with Fay and he told me to my face that he'd take her from me, and when I tried to fire him, he threatened to reveal everything to the press."
"Mon Dieu." Damien whispered.
"The only thing stopping me from ruining him, is his leverage over me." I said.
"There's a solution." Cade said.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Break up with Fay. That way, he'd give up everything. He wouldn't tell the press anything." He said.
Break up with Fay?
"Didn't you hear me the first time? I can't just let her go because that asshole has leverage over me. I can't hurt her like that."
"And how do you know Fay isn't working with him?" Cade asked.
"Why would you even think that? Fay doesn't have the heart to manipulate anyone. If anything, Lucas is only using her to get to me. He loves her, but he wants to see me suffer when he makes her pull away from me slowly."
"Sounds like he holds a grudge. Did you maybe do something to him?" Damien.
"Not that I know of." I said.
"Then we need to get him out of the picture. Fast." Cade said.
"How?" I asked.
"We have to think first." Damien said.
Think? I had an easy way to put him out of the picture for good, but if there's one thing I learnt these past few days, it's that, you can't fight deceit with deceit... I'd only be using Fay too. I'd be no better than Lucas.
I'd have to solve this the honest but not honest way.
To get Lucas, I'd have to be Lucas. That way, I could make Fay see him for who he really was.
I noticed the changes in me, ever since the brunch. Things that usually gave me reasons to worry or reasons to be angry, didn't really matter to me anymore.
I do get angry sometimes, but I knew I had dropped some of my characters in order to be the new Elroy.
But I guess I'd have to bring some of it back. If I wanted to beat Lucas at his own game, I'd have to pull back the side of me that started this stupid thing in the first place.