No Love for the Unworthy

Beverly spun on her heels and scowled at me as though I had committed an unforgivable crime.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Ashton has been taking care of Celeste while you were out doing God knows what for over a month! What's with you now? Does either of us owe you something? If you came back just to cause trouble, then don't bother coming back at all!"

Her words were cruel, but my emotions had already been drained.

I nodded numbly and replied, "Once you sign the divorce papers, I'll disappear and stop interfering with your lives. You won't even need to come up with excuses to spend time with him anymore."

Beverly's fury erupted. She grabbed a glass from the table and hurled it to the floor, roaring, "How many times do I have to repeat myself? How long are you going to keep spewing this nonsense?

"You're the one who disappeared for a month! I didn't even say anything about it, yet you're asking for a divorce right when Celeste is starting school. Do you even care about this family, Mateo? What are we to you? When will you stop this madness?

"I'm already overwhelmed with managing the company and taking care of Celeste. Why do you have to come back and make things harder for me?"

I watched expressionlessly and felt nothing but a hollow amusement.

Meanwhile, Ashton feigned helplessness and casually placed an arm around Beverly's shoulder. He said, "Ms. Mitchell, don't be upset. Even though the footage shows it was a woman, Mr. Lane deserves a chance to explain himself."

Then, he turned to me and added with mock patience, "Mr. Lane, how could you give your credit card to a woman you barely know? Those transaction alerts all went straight to Ms. Mitchell. It put me in such an awkward position…"

I despised Ashton. He always pretended to defend me while subtly painting me as the bad guy.

The next second, my fist collided with his face. Ashton let out a pained cry and stumbled back.

In the scuffle, my scarf shifted slightly, exposing a hint of the stitches on my neck.

Beverly's eyes were immediately filled with rage. My heart sank, and I quickly adjusted the scarf to cover the glaring wound.

Beverly stormed toward me and grabbed my wrist in a crushing grip, yelling, "What's on your neck, Mateo? I can't believe you'd stoop this low!

"Sneaking around with some tramp and then coming home with evidence of it. You're disgusting! You even wanted to snatch Celeste from me. Have you no shame?"

Then, she shoved my wrist away with such force that my arm slammed into my face, and blood instantly gushed from my nose.

Ashton rushed out and returned with a tissue, holding it out to me.

"Get lost!" I snarled as I glared at him through the pain on my face. "Drop your stupid act!"

Ashton had investigated the license plate of the car involved in my accident. He must've known it belonged to the perpetrator, yet he chose to hide the truth and smear me instead.

Wiping the blood off my face in frustration, I felt my anger burn hotter.

The commotion must've woken Celeste, who appeared in the hallway.

"Mom, Dad, what's going on?"

When she saw Ashton pretentiously bowing his head and wiping his tears, Celeste hurried over to console him. "Don't cry, Mr. Larsen… Dad's mean. He's bullying you. He's the worst!"

My heart broke at her words. I tried to explain myself, but Beverly's sharp voice cut me off.

"Mateo, look at you! Acting like a lunatic in front of Celeste. Do you want the whole world to know my husband's a cheating, lying scumbag?"

Celeste burst into tears, terrified. I hastily reached out to comfort her, but she turned away and ran straight into Ashton's arms, clinging to him like I was some kind of monster.

"Mr. Lane, I know you're upset, but Celeste is just a child. She doesn't understand what's happening. You can't take your anger out on her."

I couldn't take it anymore and bellowed, "Shut up! She couldn't even bear to be apart from me a month ago. If someone hadn't filled her head with lies, she wouldn't be acting this way now!"