Pulling the door back open, I stared at Derek, standing in the glow of my porch light. His normally clean-cut face was unshaven, his hair scraggly and uneven.
“What?” I shook my head, knowing there was no way he could have said what I thought he had.
“You heard me.” His eyes were wild again.
“Why are you doing this? What do you want?”
I stepped outside and closed the door behind me in case Matson woke up. I didn’t want him to see or hear Derek, especially not after seeing his drawing from earlier. Plus, whatever Derek wanted to say or do would have to be done out in the open. There I could scream bloody murder, if I needed to, and have a better chance that one of my neighbors would hear and come running.
“I need to have Matson in my life.” He ran his hands down his face, his fingers raking his jaw.
“Need?” I pulled my head back at his word choice. Derek didn’t say that he wanted Matson in his life . . . he said that he needed him. There had to be some ulterior motive behind his behavior, and I wanted to know what it was.
“Yes, Sofia. Need.”
“Why?” I crossed my arms and stood on the porch step above him, making us almost eye level with each other.
“You really want to know?”
“You show up here after eight years, demanding to be a part of Matson’s life, acting crazy and threatening my boyfriend. Of course I want to know.”
“My father’s been trying to get me to make amends with you for years.”
At his disgusted tone, any part of my body that had relaxed instantly tensed again. “He has? Why?”
“Because you gave me an heir.”
I swayed a little, feeling light-headed. Derek seriously considered Matson his heir?
“And he says I’ve shamed the Huntington name.”
“An heir? You can’t be serious.” I scoffed at him with as much disdain as I could summon. My head spun as I tried to wrap my mind around how asinine this all sounded.
Derek glared at me. “One day Matson will be the rightful CEO of the Huntington firm. You know that all the men in the family work in the company. My father took over for his father. I’ll take over for mine. And one day, Matson will take over for me.”
I stopped myself from spitting in his face. “Matson will never be a part of that world.”
“He won’t have a choice.”
“My son will always have a choice,” I cried out, feeling my insides burn with the fierce protectiveness only a mother could feel.
“No, he won’t. And he’s my son too.”
“Since when?”
“Since my dad said that I can’t have the company if I don’t fix this shit between us,” Derek said, the confession spilling from his lips without apology.
My mouth dropped open. “So this is all about the company?”
“It’s about mone
y, Sofia. Money and power.”
“You don’t really care about getting to know Matson?”
My stomach twisted as the sound of his sick laughter filled the night air.
“Care about getting to know him? No. I never want to know him.”