I Dropped The Bidder To Keep My Empire Chapter 09
Derek broke into my estate late one night.
He got past the security guards and climbed up from the terrace.
When I pushed open my door, I saw him kneeling by my bed. He was holding the old coat I’d once given him.
The coat he’d put over my shoulders that snowy night—every single stitch had been sewn by my own hands.
“Sierra, I was wrong. Please. Tear me up too.”
He looked up. His eyes were bloodshot. He’d wasted away to nothing.
He grabbed the hem of my dress, his voice scraping the floor.
“I shipped Ashley off on an offshore fishing trawler. She’s never coming back. I brought the Channing family seal. Just come back to me. I’ll do anything you say.”
I looked at him. Inside, I was as still as a grave.
“Derek, you taught me something. In this world, mercy is the original sin.”
I crouched down and pried his fingers off me one by one.
“You also taught me that the prettiest bow is the one where you put your own face in the mud.”
“You’re doing it so well now. It really is pretty.”
Derek started shaking like a leaf.
He looked at me. The last spark behind his eyes died.
“Is there really… not one chance you’ll give me?”
“I gave you plenty. When you raised that paddle at the auction. When Lucas dislocated my shoulder and you said nothing. At the hospital, when you told me to call off the engagement.”
“Every single time, you killed the chance yourself.”
That’s when Beckett pushed the door open and walked in.
He came to my side, slid an arm around my waist, and put a warm glass of milk in my hand.
Derek looked at Beckett’s arm. Tears rolled down his face.
“Mr. Channing,” Beckett said, his voice cold as a blade, “it’s late. Breaking and entering is a crime.”
Derek stood up, hollow and lost. He looked at the two of us standing there together. Then he let out a laugh.
It was a broken laugh. A crazy laugh.
He stumbled back toward the terrace and disappeared into the dark.
I knew then. He would never crawl out of this.
That regret would gnaw at his insides like a snake. Every day. Every second.
Till the day he died.