Daniel 

"Is this what you want the world to be shown?" She was furious. This woman had stood up just to do that so she might have been one of the hard-working employees who had no idea what their company was the company doing.

"No," not at all," Heath stammered. Turning around he used the remote and ended the projection almost immediately.

"This was not what I had made," Heath looked at everyone puzzled. The two men looked at him with furious eyes.

"I'm going to sue you for this," the woman yelled at him.

"And I will sue your whole company," I warned her standing up from my seat.

"What?" She looked at me with all her anger now turning to me. "You will sue us? We gave you the damn money for this project and you were going to give us this." I laughed at her words making everyone look at me.

"Daniel," Heath called me out signing me to stop.

"Why don't you ask your boss what he gave us," I looked at the two men who saw me as their enemy.

"Daniel, this was my mistake," Heath dared to speak and I gave him a scathing look.

"What is it all about?" the woman looked towards his bosses.

"If you don't want me to call the police right now and have you all arrested, leave right now," I warned them just to get out of here. The two men and I stood there in a staring match until they decided to back down.

"We are leaving," one of them whom I supposed was the head stood up from his seat. The woman looked at him confused. She had no idea what was happening but yet she was able to follow the orders. One by one they left until the boss was only left who stood there staring at Heath.

"If I'm going to burn you should know that you will burn too," he spoke in a dangerous tone looking at me. "Your company is not as clean as you think it is especially your employees," his eyes turned towards Heath and then back to me.

"You don't have to worry about me," my eyes turned to look at Heath. "Unlike you, I already know how to safeguard my company." Heath looked at me furiously.

"You can leave now, or else I won't mind calling the police and having everyone involved in this arrested. Even if involves my employees," I threatened him. He gave me one last glance before leaving and banging the door shut close. I knew well that it wasn't just him that there were a few of them in my company too. I knew that Heath was involved but I knew it was more than that This was not something that could be done with just a single person.

"What was happening here?" One of my employees, Jace, asked looking at all of us. "What was he talking about?"

"Nothing you need to be concerned about," I shut him up because I had no idea who was to be trusted and who wasn't. I knew the news was going to spread but I was going to make sure that I had it all under control.

"I found something fishy about the company from a few of my friends and I thought it was better to be safe than sorry," I added for clarification pinching the bridge of my nose.

"But that presentation-," he started again making me doubt him but with one look from me his words died down.

"I think there might have been a mess up by Heath in it but I'm sure you could be able to correct it and make it worth to be used for another client," I told to Jace before my eyes turned to Heath who looked at me with anger.

"I would like everyone to leave right now," I said in a tone that left nothing more to reason about. The discussion was over with them. My team members started to leave picking up their files. Jace was the last one to leave but Heath just stayed there.

The moment the door clicked shut, I collapsed into my chair, my body heavy with exhaustion. But the anger—the anger was still there, throbbing in my chest. I pulled out my phone, fingers trembling slightly, out of the adrenaline after what I had done, as I typed out the email I knew I had to send. An emergency meeting with the board. I needed them. I needed them to see what Heath had become, what he was doing to the company my father and his ancestors had built. It was time to kick Heath out of it.

But it wouldn't be easy.

My mother would fight me on this. She had been difficult, especially since the accident. More than that getting everyone wouldn't be such an easy task especially when it came to Aunt Becca. She had never liked my mother, she always saw her as an outsider, unworthy. And when my mom brought Heath in to "help," after I fell apart, Becca's grip on the company tightened like a vice. She wouldn't let go of what had happened easily. Heath's doings were going to hurt my mother. It was going to cost me and mom our reputation.

But nothing mattered. Heath had to go. He needed to be taken off the board. After Aunt Cecilia's death, my mother took care of Heath, he was her little sister's son so for her it felt more like an obligation. She was her second son but knowing after what he had done I had no idea how she would react.

"Did you have to do that in front of everyone?" Heath's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. It was low, shaking with barely controlled rage. He stood across from me, fists clenched, his entire body vibrating with anger. I could feel it in his voice.

I didn't look up immediately. I let the silence drag, the tension grew in the room. Slowly, I lifted my gaze from my phone just as I hit the sent button, meeting his eyes with a cold stare. "Would you have preferred if I called the cops? Maybe that would've been more to your liking?" My words were laced with venom.

"You wouldn't have," he said with a smugness in his voice and I hated it. That goddamn confidence. The same look he always wore when he thought he'd won. And the worst part was, he was right. I wouldn't have called the police. Not because I didn't want to but because of the damage it would have done to the company. Having the public image of the company ruined was not on the agenda.

"And that's exactly why I changed your presentation," I told him my voice sharp and cruel. I wanted to hurt him. I needed to hurt him. "I don't think you should handle another client ever again. Not unless we're actively trying to lose them." I watched as his face twisted in rage, his eyes darkening, his fists tightening until his knuckles turned white.

"Fuck you, Daniel!" Heath roared, his voice trembling with raw fury as he slammed his fist on the table, hard enough to rattle the glass of water sitting near the edge. His eyes were wild, with fuming anger but it didn't matter to me. Nothing but my own feeling mattered to me.

I didn't flinch. I didn't move.

His eyes bore into me, trembling with fury. "I can't understand this behavior of yours."

I leaned back in my chair, arms crossed, staring him down. "Just like I never understood yours," my voice was low and seething.

"You lied to me." My voice was low, dangerous, the kind of quiet that comes before an explosion. "And you are going to get what you deserve," I watched the confusion flash across his face like he couldn't understand why I was seething. It only made the rage boil hotter, faster.

"When the hell did I lie to you?" His voice filled with confusion and anger. He looked almost pathetic standing there acting like he didn't know. Or maybe he did, but he was too much of a coward to admit what he had done.

I stood up, my hands trembling with anger I could no longer contain. "You told me," I snarled, the words ripping from my chest, "that you never slept with her. That she was just after you, but nothing ever happened between you two." My throat tightened with the flash of memories that came rushing back, and I felt my fists clench until my knuckles turned white to not fall to my knees. "You lied to my face, Heath."

Heath's face twisted in confusion, his brow furrowing as if he genuinely had no idea what I was talking about. "What the fuck are you talking about? Have you lost your goddamn mind?" How come he couldn't have any idea when he had destroyed me?

"Amelia," I spat, the name tasting like bile on my tongue. Her name, the name that had bled me from the inside, that had always been in my mind like an open wound. The moment her name was out, I saw it. His eyes widened, just for a second, but it was enough. I saw the guilt wash over his face. He knew. He fucking knew. I saw it the guilt flooding his eyes, the way his face drained of color. He didn't have to say anything. I could see it all over him.

"So this is about her?" His voice dropped heavy with emotions that I didn't care to understand. There was pity in his eyes, maybe even regret, and it made my skin crawl.

"No," I hissed, my voice breaking under my emotions. "This is about how you lied." I took a step forward, my body trembling with the force of my anger. "How you fucking betrayed me."

I watched him, waiting for him to deny it, to fight back. But he just stood there his silence more painful than any words he could have spoken. And I hated him for it. God, how I hated him.

"You swore to me that nothing happened between you two. That she meant nothing. That she was some gold-digging whore chasing after you, but you weren't interested! And I—" My voice cracked just trying to form the words. I felt the anger rising, suffocating me, my vision blurring in all the emotions that had been pent up in me for so long. "I believed you, Heath. I believed every fucking word. I trusted you more than anyone. Goddamn it, I trusted you!"

He stood there with his mouth open and it only made me angrier.

"And when Mom said she was pregnant that night I saw your face. I saw that look of shock. The guilt. Just like I'm seeing it right now!" My words tore out like venom making Heath flinch. He couldn't hide it anymore.

"If she was such a worthless gold-digging whore, like you said she was, why the guilt? Huh? Why the guilt if you never touched her? Because I know now, Heath. I know you lied. You fucked her. You touched what was mine!" The rage in my voice was so raw it tore at my throat, but I didn't care. He needed to hear it.

Heath's eyes darkened, and for a moment, he looked ready to explode. "I didn't fucking lie!" he screamed out but his voice wavered.

"You did!" I shouted, the words echoing inside the room. "You lied to me, Heath! You're not the innocent, hardworking man you've been pretending to be all these years. Everything you've built everything it's a lie. Just like you!"

"Fuck you, Daniel," he exploded and his words made me tighten my fist, my nails bit into my palm. "Yes, I haven't been that great but I'm not a fucking liar."

"Then why the fucking guilt, Heath?!" I demanded, stepping closer, my breath coming in ragged gasps. "Why did I see it then, and why am I seeing it right now?"

"I'm not the fool I was back then. I believed you, Heath. I believed every fucking word you said. I didn't even hear her side. No one let me. No one gave her a chance because you convinced me that what you said was the truth! But you lied! You lied to save your own fucking skin!" The words tore out the old wounds that I have tried to heal for years. I couldn't stop the pain, I couldn't it at all.

"I didn't goddamn touch her," Heath raged out, stepping toward me, his face filled with anger and something more. "I never slept with her. But yeah, I felt guilty when I heard about the child." His words enraged me. They felt like a bomb ticking down to zero and his words exploded the bomb.

"Then why?" I shouted. "Why the fucking guilt? Why would you feel guilty if you hadn't done anything wrong? Why guilt for a woman you hated, a woman who was a gold digger whore, you said that she had destroyed me and ruined our family? WHY?!" I was losing control, and I knew it. The questions clawed at me from the inside, ripping me apart piece by piece. I needed answers, or I was going to explode.

"Tell me, you fucking bastard—"

"Because she was innocent!" Heath snapped, his voice breaking as he looked at me with wide, haunted eyes. "I've been drowning in guilt ever since that night. Amelia...," he paused. "Amelia was the innocent one."

Everything inside me stopped. The room, the rage, the sound of my own breathing—it all stopped. That one word innocent hung in the air I stared at him, my heart pounding in my chest, not wanting to believe what I had just heard. The world seemed to stop. My breathing hitched, and the room around me faded into silence. His words echoed in my head, louder and louder, until it was all I could hear innocent. I stood there frozen, staring at him, unable to believe what I had just heard.

"Innocent?" I repeated my voice barely a whisper, shaking with disbelief. "What do you mean, innocent?" My voice shaky. No, I was hearing it wrong. Something was wrong.

Heath looked away, his jaw tight, his hands shaking as he ran them through his hair. He took in deep breaths and it scared me. What did he have to say that had him acting like this?

"Amelia never made a move on me, Daniel," he heaved his voice raw. "She never tried to get between us. She never... wanted me." His voice cracked, and I saw the guilt washing over his face. "It was me. I'm the one who crossed the line, Daniel."

I felt like the ground had been ripped out from under me. The world was spinning, and I couldn't fucking breathe. My chest tightened, and I felt a scream rising in my throat, but nothing came out. My legs gave way, and I stumbled back into the nearest chair, the weight of it all crashing down on me I couldn't process what I was hearing.

"You?" I whispered, my throat tightening as the walls of the room seemed to close in around me. "You made the move? You tried to... with her?" I was choking on my own words.

Heath nodded, unable to meet my eyes. His voice was thick with shame. "I... I tried to make something happen. But she wouldn't. She didn't want me. She was... she was in love with you." His voice was barely above a whisper now, like he could hardly stand the weight of what he was telling.

"She always pushed me away. She told me she loved you, Daniel. That she would never betray you not until her last breath," his voice broke as he looked away from me.

My heart shattered into a thousand pieces. I felt the cracks forming my heart was breaking. Amelia had been innocent. She had loved me, and I had thrown her away because of him. My soul shattered, breaking into pieces that I didn't know how to put back together. Amelia... she had loved me. She had never lied. She had been faithful to me, and I had abandoned her. I had turned my back on her because of him because of Heath's lies.

"And I was in shock because I knew that baby," Heath's voice heavy, "was yours, Daniel." his words made my chest ache. "She was pregnant with your child."

His words crushed me. I felt the air leave my lungs, my head hurt, my vision blurring as the tears welled up. I had lost everything. I had abandoned her. God I had abandoned our child because I believed him. I had thrown away the woman I loved and our unborn child because of him.

"Oh my God..." I whispered, the pain too much to bear. My hands trembled as I covered my face, the sobs shaking my body uncontrollably. "What have I done? What have I..."

The pain was destroying me from the inside. It was overwhelming. I couldn't breathe God I didn't want to breathe not after knowing what I had done. I had been wrong. So, so wrong. I had destroyed everything. I had let Heath destroy me and in doing so, I had destroyed her.

Heath stood there, watching me while I was falling apart on the inside. My heart and soul were breaking into pieces. It hurt to even breathe. Heath stood there with guilt and regret on his face but none of it mattered now. None of it could fix anything now.

"Why?" I choked out between sobs, my voice filled with agony. "Why did you do this, Heath? Why did you ruin everything?" I looked up at him, my eyes unable to see him between the tears that rolled down my face. My body burned in agony.

"Why would you do this to me?" I asked my words trembling as I burned in agony deep down.

Heath didn't answer. He stood there with his fists clenched and his jaw tight, but he said nothing. The silence between us was suffocating. It pressed down on me, and I couldn't take it. It was killing me. I stood up, grabbing him by the collar, and shaking him violently.

"ANSWER ME!" I screamed, my voice hoarse and broken. "Why did you do this to me?!" I wanted to know how could he do this to me. Why would he do this to me? Why me? 

Fingers crossed!  I will be waiting for your replies sitting on the edge. 

And also a small request can you please share the stories or help me with book promotions. Don't laugh but I know nothing about promotion and fail miserably at it. I just wish someone could help me with it. I'm sorry for asking this. 

Thank you for reading. Sorry for one day delay and really hope you like it.