Sleeping With The CEO
Chapter 226: Of Insomnia And Gold Diggers

Chapter 226: Of Insomnia And Gold Diggers

Derek’s second week without Emily, was no laughing matter. It was one thing to stay awake at night, knowing that he had no other options.

That insomnia was it for him.

And it was quiet another to be wide awake when he could have been asleep. Emily in his arms.

Staying awake when everybody else was fast asleep was harder than Derek was used to it being. And that, he had come to realize, was mostly due to the fact that after a sleepless night. When he saw Emily in the morning at work. There was none of the blissful ignorance that used to be there before. Where he did not notice that she too was exhausted.

Derek was tired and he was hurting. And now he knew that Emily was tired and hurting too.

Somehow that just made the pain amplify for him. Knowing that she was going through a tough time made it even worse for him. Things should not have been like that. They should have been able to sleep.

But thanks to his uncle, they were suffering again. And the man, as usual, had no idea just how much damage he had done. He was once again gallivanting through life. Enjoying every day, as though he had done nothing wrong.

If getting regular sleep with Emily had made Derek almost immune to his uncle’s taunts. Then having that sleep taken away, even if it was only temporarily. Made Derek feel as though with every encounter that he had with his uncle. He was about to snap at any moment.

It did not help matters that after their encounter at the store. His uncle seemed to take it as some sort of permission. Trying to be friendly with Derek, the fakeness of it clear to see.

But as always, Derek had to endure, to pretend like he did not know that his uncle was up to no good. All the while wanting nothing more than to grab the man and shake him.

"Nephew, lovely morning we are having. But I must say you look exhausted. Any vixen keeping you awake at night?" That had been Sebastian’s greeting for Derek on Monday morning. Succeeding in both making Derek feel annoyed, and also in ramping up his paranoia. Making him think for a brief second that his uncle was on to something.

But even with his mind craving sleep. Derek had quickly been able to piece together the fact that his uncle was trying to go for the unusual route of using flattery as a way of fishing. Still searching for information.

Rather than answer, he had merely walked right past his uncle. To the casual observer, and most likely to his uncle as well. It might have looked as though Derek were ignoring him. But in truth, Derek had been running away.

Knowing that if he had stayed in his uncle’s presence for a second longer. Security would have had to tear them apart. Derek’s hands on the man’s throat. As the week passed, there were many such encounters. With Derek doing his best to keep his uncle at arm’s length.

Despite the man trying to get close to him at any opportunity.

It helped that Emily, who knew exactly what Derek was going through. Often served as either a shield or a distraction. Playing the same role that Derek had been in that night at the store. Sometimes even stepping into Sebastian’s path, and allowing Derek to make his escape.

If there was someone at the company who disliked Sebastian almost as much as Derek did. Then it was Emily, so he was very grateful for everything she sacrificed each time she saved him.

She willingly placed herself in a situation where she had to talk with his uncle, time and time again for him.

But there was one other person that Derek did not wish to talk to when he was low on sleep. But for some reason, that week she too seemed to constantly be wanting to be in touch with Derek.

And that person was none other than his mother.

Unlike with his uncle, Emily could not act as a barrier between Derek and his mother. She was a problem that Derek had to face on his own, and with each encounter, he kept getting the niggling suspicion that just like his uncle, his mother was phishing. She was looking for something.

"I am shocked that you were able to come this Thursday. After all, these past few months, every time I have so much as mentioned Thursdays. You have clammed up, and have found some place else to be. Are you sure that you are not going wherever it is, that you normally go on Thursdays?" His mother had asked when Derek had stopped by the manor on Thursday evening.

He had spent the better part of that evening dodging questions left, right and centre. Every single thing out of his mother’s mouth, feeling as though it were a trap. His intent had been to spend Thursday all the way to Sunday at the manor. But come Friday morning, Derek had left for work knowing that he was not coming back.

His mother was no longer a safe haven. Instead, she had turned into a labyrinth. But his attempt to flee from the manor turned out to be wasted effort.

On Friday morning his mother showed up at the penthouse with the energy of a whirlwind. She lifted cushions. She opened the fridge. She checked the plates, and Derek was pretty certain that when he had been in the shower. She had also come into his bedroom.

The only reason that he had not panicked was that he had noticed that his study had been left alone, which meant that she had not seen Emily’s coat. Which he still sometimes kept there, especially now that Emily was not spending nights with him. But what Derek did not know was that

It was not his mother’s first snooping session at the penthouse. And what his mother did not know was that even though she had left thinking that she had not found anything just like the last time, this time she had come across something, but she just had not known what she had.

When she had gone into Derek’s room, desperate for any signs of the gold digger that she was certain had latched herself onto her son. She had found nothing that could be taken to belong to a woman.

Instead, all that she had found was

an embroidery piece. She had not picked it up simply staring at it in confusion. Had Derek picked up embroidery or was he going through a phase of buying half finished products like some of her friends at the country club were currently doing?

With a shrug Cassandra Haven had left the artwork as it was. Dismissing it as unimportant, not knowing just how close to the truth she had gotten.