Until This Lie Do Us Part

Chapter 19

Elena's eyes widened. Derrick knew about her marriage to Stefan. The whole thing had been pretty hush hush, so that meant that Derrick had been watching her and probably for quite some time. "I've changed, Elena" he spoke in a calm, almost eerily soothing way. "I got help. I'm not that guy anymore. I don't want to hurt you anymore" he told her, his eyes almost pleading with her to believe him.

Elena took a subtle, slow breath so that she would have enough air to speak. She wanted to tell him to go to hell, that she didn't believe that he changed because he was too much of a monster to do so. But she thought better of it. "I'm married now" she reminded him, feeling her voice catch in her throat some.

Derrick smiled softly, again in a creepy, soothing way. "Your marriage may be real on paper, but you and I both know the only reason you married him was so that he could gain access to his trust fund" he said. Elena felt herself stop breathing. He knew too much. He was going to ruin everything. And Stefan would blame her. He would hate her. Just like Bonnie and Jeremy hated her. And then she would truly have no one. She would be alone. "Twelve million, was it?" Derrick asked, pretending to think hard about it. "Well, eleven after he gives you your million" he corrected.

Elena felt herself force a breath, just to get oxygen running through her again. "Your information is wrong" she told him, less confidently than she would have liked. "I'm in love with him." It wasn't so much a lie, either. Not anymore.

"But he's not in love with you, is he?" Derrick asked, tilting his head to the side. "He wants his money. He doesn't care about you unless his money is at stake. But you know that, don't you?" he asked her. Elena quickly looked down at her feet, telling herself to stop listening to him. Telling herself that Derrick was wrong. Stefan did care about her. Right? "He doesn't love you, Elena. No one does, except for me" he added, taking a step closer to her. Elena felt her heartbeat increase, though her whole body froze. "I was there for you, Elena. When your parents died. I took care of you. And I loved you. No one else will ever love you the way I did. The way I still do" he spoke softly.

Elena closed her eyes and shook her head. "No. You don't love me" she said, pushing herself closer to the dumpster in her attempt to put as much distance between them as possible.

"Yes, I do Elena" he said, refusing to let her think otherwise. "Stefan doesn't love you, Elena" he said, repeating what he had said before. He could see Elena breaking down, falling apart. And that is what he wanted to see. To reduce her to nothing so she would believe his every word. So she would become dependent on him once again. "Stefan doesn't want you. He wants his money and once he gets that, he is going to throw you out of his house like he would a bag of trash" he continued. "You're not good enough for him" he told her, pounding those words into her head.

Elena felt herself struggle to breathe. "No" she whispered. "No" she repeated to herself. "He cares about me. He wants me. I am good enough" she said, forcing her tears back.

"You're just some waitress from a small town. You're not pretty enough, Elena. Or smart enough" he continued. "You're just a body to keep him warm at night, that's all you are to him."

"You're wrong!" she yelled, opening up her eyes and staring him down. "You don't know Stefan and you know nothing about us!" she yelled again. When Stefan kissed her, she knew he felt something for her. When he touched her, it was real. What she had with Stefan was no longer a business deal. What they had may not be perfect, but it was raw and intriguing. And she loved that. "So go, go back to wherever you came from and leave me alone!" She felt herself shaking as she yelled at him. But she stood up straight and faced him, showing him that she was not afraid, even though she was scared to death.

Derrick just laughed. "You sure are defensive for someone who is so sure" he told her. "I told you how I feel, Elena. And I told you the truth about your situation with Stefan" he said. "By the way, where is Stefan right now?" he asked, pretending to look around for him.