The Secret Obsession of the CEO
Chapter 123: Another Secret

Chapter 123: Another Secret

Rory noticed that Derick is looking behind as they walked to the garden. There was no one around and she saw him getting relaxed.

"Do you think someone might be watching us?" Rory asked.

"Sidney..." Derick whispered. "She is... acting weird. Have you noticed?"

"Wasn’t she always..." Rory paused as she remembered the very awkward conversation she had with Sidney in the hospital. "Maybe... I had a feeling that she was not happy in her marriage. What did you notice?"

"...same..." Derick said after a short pause. His eyes once again ended at the front porch. Rory turned to see Sidney standing there with her phone in her hand.

Rory thought Derick would talk further but he didn’t.

"Liam thinks that his assistant, Jake, might be...Wait, did you guys know about his-"

"Conviction?" Derick nodded. "We knew. But he was not the one... Those cuts, Rory... The knife work was perfect, like a butcher or a trained chef... "

"So it can’t be Jake?" Rory asked.

"He has the perfect alibi. He is not even on the suspect list. At least as far as I know...in Laura Brown’s case," Derick was in deep thoughts and spoke after pausing a lot.

"Derick, what if he is working with someone else? With someone else who knows Liam well? Someone who is a psychopath like him?"

"Possible...But...If they are thinking that both cases are connected... Liam has no reason to murder Laura Brown, right? We didn’t find anything then. That’s why he was let go... Unless..." Derick looked at Rory.

And then he looked some more.

"What?" Rory asked not understanding why Derick was staring at her.

"I think I hear your baby..." Derick said.

Rory did not think so, but then she heard Ellie crying. She ran inside the house. Derick watched Rory running inside. Sidney watched her getting inside and then her eyes ended up on Derick.

Derick walked to her and stood at the bottom stair. Sidney was standing on the porch near the stairs. The light was behind her head and he could not see her expression. "You said you have something important to say to me," he said, putting his hands inside his pockets.

He suddenly had a doubt. Rather than to Liam, everything is connected to Rory. Rory had problems with Allison, and Laura Brown had problems with Rory. He remembered the pictures he found under his bed a very long time ago; nasty pictures of Rory.

He still remembered the grin on Lennon’s face as he walked out of his room with that envelope in his hand. At that moment, he thought that maybe it was Lennon who took those pictures.

He never liked Lennon. Lennon hated his guts and he never failed to show him that. He had a feeling that Lennon had some nasty intentions toward Rory and that was why he hated him. But there never was any proof for that even when he tried hard to find out. That guy always was around Liam than Rory and he could not get any possessive feelings toward her.

He was more interested in Liam than in Rory. And he never hid it. He took the role of his father and made sure Liam has succeeded in life just like him.

Plus he is well connected as he is having a lot of money. A guy who became a billionaire on his own accord is bound to have some skeletons in his closet. He tried to find out anything about him with the resources available to him as a federal agent.

But he could not find anything very incriminating.

He was not a saint. But he was involved in white-collar crimes that anyone doing business will commit. And those are not even illegal although they would be considered immoral. That guy moves in the grey areas of the law well and that’s how he is in this position.

And he never got himself involved in affairs or other stuff men of his status do. He was always loyal. Although he had a lot of traits of a psychopath, there was no confirmation.

But he was good with a knife. Even that day, when they skinned that hog, he showed his skills very frankly. He even boasted about it, slightly discomforting their grandma. He teased her that he got these skills from his father. And that made grandma’s mood sour.

Derick did find him weird. But as he was taught, he did not want to jump to conclusions without having proof. Just because someone can skin an animal or hunt them really well, that does not mean that they will do the same to humans.

But sometimes, there won’t be enough proof. The truth won’t be glaring. One will have to look closely.

But what if his intuition was right? What if Lennon is hiding secrets? What if Sidney knows something? What if that is why she is acting weird to protect herself?

Sidney clasped her hands over her belly. "I do have something..." her voice trailed off as her phone blinked.

In those short flashes of light falling on her face, Derick saw her smiling. She looked so happy to look at her phone.

"I’m sorry, I have to answer this call," she said and walked inside.

Derick watched Sidney walking with a skip to her steps. She answered the call and he could not hear her as she was whispering. As the call proceeded, she started giggling and playing with her hair.

She looked like she was talking to someone she was falling in love with.

And suddenly he felt a sinking feeling in his heart. He felt bad for Lennon.

He walked to his room to lie on Julia’s lap. She always gives him the space to think and she could somehow make him feel better. He needed to feel better.

As he got on the stairs, he saw Lennon standing at the end of the hallway with his phone in his hand. He appeared to be on a call with someone, but Derick did not realize why he was using the speaker mode.

He stood there, like a lone tree, silent and unmoving.

As he got closer, Derick realized that Lennon was not in the call, and rather he was listening to a recorded call or...

He froze as he recognized the voice.

"...just a few weeks, babe... I will leave him. He can have Skyla. I already made all the preparations... I need compensation for pretending to be his wife for this long... Don’t be angry... Before our baby is born, we will be a couple..."

It was Sidney’s voice and from the other side was a male voice he did not recognize. Derick took a peek at Lennon’s hand and it appeared that he had cloned his wife’s phone and is listening to the conversation his wife is currently having with her lover.

Although Lennon’s back was to him, he could see that his shoulders were drooped and he looked defeated.

Which man is strong enough to handle this situation, right? What could a man do when he learns that his wife is cheating on him and planning on running away with her lover leaving the child she had with him?

Derick carefully retreated back. He did not want to let Lennon know that he caught him at the lowest point of his life. He does not deserve another blow. He understood Lennon would not want to share his troubles with others. He was in Lennon’s place not so long ago. He related with him.

He felt sorry for him.

But just as he took a step back, Lennon stopped listening to the call and turned. His eyes met with Derick’s and Derick waved his hand.

Lennon’s eyes were red along with his nose. He looked like he was crying for a while. His lips were trembling.

But he took in a deep breath. "Care to join me?" Lennon pointed at his room.

Derick nodded and entered his room. Lennon locked the room behind him and lunged at him.

"If you dare mock me, or speak of this to others, I will..." Lennon gritted his teeth. His entire face trembled and a tear drop rolled down his cheek.

"Please..." Lennon’s voice shook and he let go of Derick’s collar. He even fixed his shirt for him.

"How long have you known?" Derick asked leaning on the door.

Lennon did not answer him and walked to the window. With his hands inside his pockets, he stared through the window for a while in silence. He then walked to the table and lighted a cigar. Blowing the smoke through the open window, he stared at the sky.

Derick let him sulk in silence. He did not leave the room either. He could see his hand holding the cigar was shaking and he even scalded his other hand accidentally. He has never seen Lennon this vulnerable before.

"Why?" he turned at Derick. "I gave her everything she wanted. Why would she..." he rubbed his face and let out a sigh.

"I was happy to have another baby and...I didn’t want to believe... I trusted her..."

Lennon sat on the bed. "If she wanted more money, I would have gladly given her. If she wanted a divorce...I..." he choked on the smoke and coughed.

"Why?"