Sleeping With The CEO
Chapter 270: Damage Done

Chapter 270: Damage Done

Despite looking very good for her age, a fact that still got her many a compliment. Cassandra Haven was no spring chicken. She had been around for a long time, and in all her years she had met many different types of gold diggers. Even from an early age. Cassandra had had brushes with gold diggers.

From the young women who used to attend all of the parties that her parents threw. Most of them attempting to bag a rich man. To the ones who had tried to weasel their way into Cassandra’s marriage. Failing to steal away her Jasper( her man too loyal to be swayed).

But she had to admit, in her humble opinion, Emily Molson was one of the most dangerous gold diggers out there. Cassandra had met a few like her, and she knew that out of all the others.

Women like Emily Molson, were the ones that needed to be taken care of fast. A greedy gold digger with their eyes on the money was easy enough. You offer them a bit of cash, and they are on their way. A dumb gold digger who had no idea how they had actually managed to get where they were, was also easy to get rid of. A few threats here and there, and those girls were packing so fast. By the time you blinked. It was almost as though they had never been there.

Power hungry gold diggers were also very easy to get rid of. Just give them a position someplace far, far away. Somewhere where they could rule their own little kingdom, and never feel the need to come back.

That was what it took for most gold diggers. But Emily Molson was a different kind of gold digger.

She was the kind that was so dedicated to her craft. That she had actually convinced herself that her feelings were genuine. That she cared about Cassandra’s son.

"I want you to leave my son alone, break up with him and stop the nonsense that you are doing," Cassandra had told her point blank, and Emily Molson had looked her right in the eyes.

"Mrs Haven, I respect your standing and I also respect the fact that you are Derek’s mother. But you have no right to interfere in his life, nor in mine. I will not be breaking up with your son," Those had been Emily’s exact words when Cassandra had gone straight to the point and had told her to end things with her son.

They had argued for close to an hour, until Cassandra had finally just decided to grab a piece of paper and write a number on it. Which brought them to where they were in that moment.

"Break up with him and this amount will be in your bank account, before you can even finish the conversation," Emily looked at the paper once. No interest in her at all, no widening of the eyes, no shocked gasp. She just glanced briefly, then looked back up at Cassandra.

"I already told you, my feelings for your son are real.

I will not be ending things for any amount of money," She said, her chin tilted stubbornly.

Cassandra had to hand it to her son. He sure knew how to pick them. In another world, she would have liked this girl. She was stubborn and clearly had a good head on her shoulders.

The whole grabbing her in the middle of the street tactic had been something that Cassandra had engineered to make her panic. A way to rattle her, and make her more willing to see reason. But the girl was still fighting back.

With a sigh Cassandra pulled back the paper and looked at the girl.

"Alright, so you are playing hardball. How about this? I triple the money, you take it, settle someplace else, preferably another country, and never contact my son again,"

Emily Molson gave her such a long look that Cassandra was actually starting to believe that they were making progress. That Emily would finally reveal her true colors, and just take the money.

But instead the girl huffed and turned her head to the side.

It was clear that neither of them would be backing down from their stance. During their ’negotiation’ Emily Molson had taken a seat. Doing so in such a slow and deliberate manner, a show for Cassandra that she was only sitting because she wanted to. But now, Emily was standing again.

She turned her back to Cassandra, walked to the patio entrance, and then she spoke.

"Mrs Haven, I would love to say that it has been great meeting you, but that would be a lie. I am going to leave now. Do not bother trying to arrange transport for me. I have no idea how far the city is from here, but I will walk," She said. With that she began her exit, and Cassandra realized that she was very serious.

In another world she really would have loved Emily Molson. It was a pity that their meeting had to be this way. Deciding that the time for play was over.

Cassandra went for the jugular.

She was not one for violence, but when the situation called for it. Cassandra Haven could be violent. Now the thing with most people was that when they thought of violence. They thought of the physical kind.

No one ever really took into account emotional violence. But in her opinion, emotional violence was more damaging than its physical counterpart. You could learn to live with a scar or a disability brought about by physical violence. But emotional damage was very difficult to deal with.

Her voice deceptively soft, Cassandra began to speak.

"Even if you love him, are you truly telling me that you are alright with everything. That you will still continue to be with him after his marriage?" That had Emily freezing in her tracks.

In fact, for a few seconds, Cassandra was actually worried that the girl would faint as she swayed in place. But she managed to right herself, and she turned back slowly.

"What?" Emily asked, her voice a whisper, the confident tone that she had been using the whole time completely gone.

"You are lying," She whispered again. A single tear running down her face. For a moment, Cassandra actually paused. What if she was wrong? What if the girl genuinely loved her son?

There was something about her pain that was so real, so raw. That it made Cassandra doubt herself. But she shook her head and carried on. Grabbing the newspaper that she had been holding earlier. She held it out to Emily, and the other woman moved forward and took it.

"This will be in Friday’s paper. The editor is a friend of mine, so I got an early release,"

"Do you recognise where they are?"

Cassandra gestured to the patio, and she could see realisation sink in as Emily looked around, and then back to the picture.

"They came by a few days ago and we had a lovely meal together," Emily stared at the picture some more. Then she shook her head, wiping away her tears.

"Derek would not do this to me. People can just have dinner together," She said, her voice breaking.

"Haven Heir Engaged. You see that title, don’t you? Derek is getting married. Emily, you’re a good girl. Let him go, move on,"

"You have a bright future ahead of you. You will find somebody, and the two of you will settle down. My son becoming nothing more than a distant memory to you." But Emily was not listening. Instead, she was shaking her head.

"No, no,...I need to call him. Derek would not do this," Cassandra simply nodded.

"If you call him, he might lie to you. But if I call him, he will not know that you are here. And he will answer me honestly. Shall we put that to the test?" Cassandra asked, her voice gentle...motherly. She took out her phone, and dialled her son. Derek picked up on the second ring.

"Yes, mother..."

He sounded distracted. No doubt he had noticed Emily’s absence. So Cassandra decided to just cut to the chase.

"Derek,

I just called to see how my son is doing. Having you and Penelope here for dinner was lovely," She said, and Derek merely hummed.

"Mother did you really just call me to tell me that eating dinner with me and Penelope had been great?" He asked, and Cassandra could have leapt for joy. He was making it too easy.

"Not just that. We need to talk about the engagement party too. The sooner the better. These things are better off handled early," Cassandra said. There was a pause, then Derek answered. Unknowingly burying a knife deep in Emily’s heart and twisting.

"Yes, of course, Mother. The engagement party is very important for the future," Cassandra ignored the pained gasp that came from the younger woman.

"Good night, darling," She told him.

"Good night, Mother," And she hung up after that. Every single thing that she’d said in the call was true.

There had been a meal between her, Penelope and Derek. Plus, there was also an engagement party to be discussed.

But to an outsider, the dinner would have been easily taken as a date. And the engagement party taken to be Derek and Penelope’s.

Hiding her triumph, Cassandra put her phone away and looked over at Emily Molson.

The girl was white as sheet. She looked as though her world had just died.

Cassandra had to give it to her, Emily was an excellent actress.

She should have been in the movies.

There were no words said.

Emily just stood there for a while, and when Cassandra called Alexander to escort her home, the girl went quietly.

There was no fight, no refusal, no nothing.

It just seemed like the soul had left and only a shell was moving around in what used to be Emily Molson.

’Have I made a mistake?’ Cassandra questioned herself again, but then she shook her head.

No.

She had protected her son. There was no way that the fake relationship was surviving this. Shrugging off the last off the last of her doubt, Cassandra made one more call.

"Madeline, how would you feel about a job as PA to Derek Haven?"