chapter seventeen

Dermot's pov

I laid in bed staring at the white ceiling, it was boring but I could see the whole new world I built up painted on that like it was a mural, I simply wanted to believe that everything is finally working out for my good but I didn't want to be delusional.

It seems that Carter is having some sort of silly affection for me, he has been sending me flowers and chocolate to make up for what he did. But as the first apology came in, I realized that I wasn't mad about that, I just wasn't prepared and I wanted our first time to be when I am not mourning my useless ex.

I was embarrassed because of the situation, he came to comfort me probably thinking that I was sad over something so serious, if he knew I was crying over another man while he kissed me, his reaction would be different. The flowers might be on my graveside instead of my office.

I have been avoiding him, I didn't know what to say to him even though we lived together in the same house. I get tongue-tied anytime I think about facing him with the mental image of the kiss stuck in my head. I was getting tired of the awkwardness around the house.

We don't even eat dinner anymore, why did I have to overreact like that? It was just a kiss for damn sakes.

I wonder what was going through his mind when I ran into the bathroom, was he sick of himself for taking advantage of me? I didn't want him thinking kike that because he didn't take advantage of me. I wanted him to kiss me, it just made me realize that I looked like a mess and I freaked out.

I had no makeup on, it was my armor in Devlin's life, and I felt naked when he kissed me without the makeup. I thought he was going to figure out the truth right there but he proved me wrong. He kissed me knowing that I looked bare without my makeup.

I sighed to myself, I have studied everything there is to know about Devlin, I spent nights awake doing research and stalking her tagged friends on Instagram. They all looked fake to me, I listened in on conversations in the bathroom at work when they talked about her. She was lazy and spent all her time shopping instead of working, so I was a bit surprised when I started being hardworking even to the point of signing a deal with some clients.

I even spoke to her one too many bedmates, and it seems they never chatted for long. Just wham bam, thank you, ma'am. This makes me wonder, she and Carter have this no physical touch marriage as I saw in the contract I found in his study. It means he didn't like Devlin either, that she was just a means to an end.

It made me sad for her that she led this kind of life because she was lucky enough to get a rich man like Carter, the reason why she abandoned me and my mother, and she couldn't even take good care of it as well. She acted anyhow like she was the queen of her world.

Judging from the conversations with her friends, she was always the one inviting them out for drinks, she was desperate enough to hang on to them, even when they didn't like her. Since then, nobody has texted her to see how she is doing or even to invite her out for drinks. And from their current picture, they have been going for drinks in different bars. So sad.

She was cruel to her employees, which is why everyone seems to be on their toes around me, she cheated on her husband with different men as I can see from her phone. She was more like the wicked witch of the west. I guess I was her Dorothy. Sometimes, I wonder if we were indeed cut out from the same cloth because while I got this cruelty because of the things she did in the past, we were different.

She left her family just to end up being friends with people that couldn't stand her, I was almost tempted to laugh at her. She must be miserable down there, knowing that I have taken over her life and I am doing so much better than she was when she had it all. I should invite her friends over for drinks and dismiss them for something better.

That would be cruel of me, right?

I did it anyway, I texted them the address of the bar I found online and when they all agreed to meet up for drinks tomorrow, I laughed because I deserved to have the last laugh, and I was victorious in every sense of it. I hummed a tune under my breath, smiling to myself over my victory.

The first step was to become her,

The second step was to take her husband as she took my man,

The third step is to erase her memory of her the ones she loved.

As I am looking at it, Henry was dead. Who else loved her if not him? Why else would he be sneaking around with her?

And her husband on paper doesn't even like her to begin with,

I hummed even louder as my smile got bigger.

Her precious friends' texted back saying they were in for drinks, and she was the one paying. Hmmm, I guess they would have to clean the bar when they are done drinking more than they could pay because that is exactly what I am going to teach her. I couldn't erase her memory from their minds because she was not as important to them as she thinks.

Well, I am judging from how they act. I have completed the first step.

I grinned even wider.

Payback is a bitch.