"If I remember correctly, I'm the CEO, not you," he said. At this point, the dining room became dead silent, and no one dared to make a sound, talk more, breathe.
Mr. Hawthorne glared at Darien. "Always with the sharp tongue, I see. Your father is already dead, but whenever I look at you, you remind me of him." He didn't sound like someone who was having a sweet memory of his brother—more like Darien's presence in his life haunted him.
"I'm glad I'm able to make you feel that way, uncle," Darien replied with a smile on his face that didn't touch his eyes at all.
They were cold and calculating and Mr. Hawthorne snorted in response.
Darien simply cut his steak and put it in his mouth.
"When I hear Adeline's proposal, I'll decide if it's worthy enough to partner with the Donovans."
"Did you forget that our families aren't on good terms with each other anymore?" Eric, Darien's cousin questioned, his face etched with rage. "Have you forgotten what those people did to us?!!" He yelled.
"Use your inner voice, Eric. You're older than me and yet, you still haven't figured out a way to do that. Tsk tsk tsk…such a shame," Darien said. A grin stretched on his lips when he saw Eric clench his fork so hard it seemed he was holding himself back from stabbing Darien who was sitting across from him.
"Enough, the two of you. I didn't call everyone for tonight just so you could kill each other," Mr. Hawthorne immediately interjected.
"But father…" Eric was about to say something when he immediately received a hard glare from his father that made him shrink back.
Of course, he would. He held no power. Everything belonged to Darien.
After Darien's father and grandfather died in a car accident years ago, he inherited almost everything, making him the most powerful Hawthorne before the age of thirty.
Eric was older by five years and didn't even own a company in his name, yet, here he was, being silenced by a kid.
"You'd better watch your thoughts, Eric. If anything happens to me, you'll be my first suspect," Darien sang once again
He took his napkin and wiped his lips.
"I'll be leaving now," he said, standing up and kissing his mother on the cheeks. "Thanks for the food, mother."
The woman smiled warmly at him. She and his sister were the only one he had left of a proper family that was forcefully snatched away from him.
"Anytime son," she said with a smile.
Darien gave the rest of his family a regarded look before he left the dining room.
**
Theodore returned home that night to find his mansion quiet, too quiet.
Usually, Adeline would already be waiting for him with a big smile on her face.
She must be outside, bawling her eyes out with her crying.
The servants must have retired to their quarters since it was already late.
"Do you need me to grab you a cup of water?" Lina, his secretary, asked.
Without waiting for his responses, she walked into the kitchen to get him a glass of water. Theodore followed right behind her, this uneasy feeling settling in his chest.
The kitchen was clean, too clean and there was no birthday cake as Adeline had promised. He cocked up his eyebrow at this scene.
He checked the trash and found everything in there.
He couldn't help but scoff.
"I'm going upstairs to Adeline. You can stay in one of the guest rooms," he said, and left without waiting for her response.
Lina was about to say something, but her finger hung in the air.
Theodore reached upstairs but didn't see any sign of Adeline or Ian. He was confused. He checked the closet and found some pieces of her clothes littered everywhere as if she was packing in haste.
He went down to the servant's chamber and questioned them. Unfortunately, Adeline didn't tell them where she was going either.
Theodore wasn't pleased at this.
Adeline dared to leave the mansion without informing him first.
He left for Mr. Donovan's estate as it was the only place he could think she'd gone off to.
Lina insisted on following him.
Reaching the estate, Theodore stormed right into the mansion where he found Adeline having dinner with Ian.
Without thinking, he yanked her forward with force and she yelped in surprise.
"What are you doing here?!!" He yelled, saliva landing on her face.
Adeline was in too much shock to speak immediately. After finally being able to calm down, she came down for dinner although it was already late.
Thankfully, Ian was already taken care of but he insisted on keeping his mother company.
"Answer me!!" Theodore demanded.
Those two words brought Adeline back to her senses.
Without thinking twice, she grabbed her glass of red wine and splashed it all over his face.
"What sort of level of idiocracy are you high in to think you can talk to me like that?!" She yelled back, anger surging through her body. "Did you suddenly forget what you did to me?!" She questioned back, then her eyes landed on Lina. "So you brought her here to rub it in I see."
Theodore wiped the wine off his face as he grabbed Adeline's hand once more, this time even harder.
"You're coming back with me, no matter what!" Theodore pulled Adeline out of her seat. She fell to the ground but that didn't stop him, he continued to drag her while she struggled to be free.
The scene was unbearable to watch while Ian screamed for his parents to stop fighting with tears in his eyes.
The butler witnessed this and quickly left.
"Let me go, you bastard!! You can never take me back there. I'm going to divorce you so you can finally be with your little excuse of a mistress," Adeline yelled as she tried to fight back her tears, but her words passed him like the wind.
"And what's going on here?" Both of them heard that commanding voice and time froze as they turned their heads to find Mr. Donovan with a not so pleasant look in his eyes.