“You can call me a selfish mother; of course, I am a selfish mother; otherwise, why would I take money? and agree to leave you alone for the rest of your life and then show up twenty-three years later trying to claim rights to you as my son,” she broke down, sobbing loudly this time that she covered her face with her hand as her shoulders shook.
“You took money from the chairman?” Ophelia could not help but feel weird as to how this entire thing was going down. How could she take money to abandon him and then show up years later as a stalker seeking to bond with him? “Are you out of money? Is this an elaborate scheme from you just to make money?”
“What?!” Valerie asked, taking her face out of her hand. Her face was all covered in tears from all the ugly crying she was going through. “Are you saying I am trying to reconcile with my son because of money?”
“Yes, that is exactly what I am saying,” Ophelia said, placing her elbow on the table and putting her chin on it as if she were in the middle of sharing some hot gossip she had come across during the week. “How else would you explain this? Cade was finally getting closer to being chairman, and then you appear from nowhere.”
“No, you got it all wrong. I felt unfulfilled in life, and I wanted some sort of fulfilment, and that is why I came back,” she said.
“So you are just really selfish; you did not care about how I would act if I found out? You did not care how I would feel if I found out; all you cared about then and now was yourself,” Cade said, standing up.
“Where are you going?” she asked, standing up as well.
“You walked away from me all those years ago, so now it is my turn to walk away from you. I would never allow you to plot and get what you want. This time around. I have always lived believing that you were dead, and I would continue to live that way.”
“I only did it because Charles Vale asked me to do it and there was nothing more to it.”
“Did Charles Vale ask you to come back?”
“No, I made this decision all by myself.”
“Then that is very weak for you; you should have asked him first since you let others make the decision for you. How come you’ll be back without his permission?” Cade’s tone was now jesting at her.
“I know I deserve all of this but I came to a place where everything began to make no sense for me and I wanted to do what was right and be with you.”
“That sucks,” Cade’s tone was harsh and he began to walk to the door. “Very much sucks but I just want you to know that no matter what you say, I would like to see you ever again and I would press all full charges,” he opened the door and slammed it.
“Ophelia, surely you can talk to him.” Valerie turned to Ophelia, who was still sitting there. Ophelia had stayed put when they both stood up, hoping that Cade would storm out of the room so she could talk with Valerie alone.
“I would do no such thing. I am going to stand by his decision and I would make no deliberate effort to try and change his mind,” she said Her words pierced through, and Valerie fell to her seat with a loud sound and the screeching of the chair against the floor.
“I am not trying to justify any of my actions. They were all very wrong; none of them were right, but I was helpless; I had no one to talk to, and his father was not helping at all. Charles was not about to sabotage his family with some measly mistress, so he had it all planned out, and it worked. No one would ever suspect that Cade is not the legitimate son of the Vale family.”
“He is the legitimate son; Abigail is his mother and he is going to be the chairman of the company, You showing up now is a bad decision for him. He could lose everything he had worked so hard for until this point and it would be all because of you so I beg, please do not show up again. Let this die down.” Ophelia stood up and slid an envelope to her.
“This is just a little money, and my number is written inside; if you need help with money, then reach out to me and not Cade,” she said and walked away without allowing her to say anything in response.
Ophelia walked to the car where Cade was waiting; she could not believe how well he was handling it all. His expression was bland, like he was just living a normal day. She slid into the car and put on her seat belt. He looked at her and gave her a brief nod like they were buddies from the military.
“Are you okay?” Ophelia asked as the car began to move.
“Of course I am; why would you ask me that?”
“Because of…” she trailed off as she tried to point in the direction of the police station they had both stormed out of. “Aren’t you bothered by the interaction you just had?” she blurted out.
“Why would I let that bother me? She is just nothing to me, dead!” He said he was trying his best to convince her of his words. “And I would like this never to come up in conversation anymore.
“Yeah, right, of course, that is the right thing to do,” she said, nodding vigorously.
“Should I turn on the radio?” she asked after they had been driving for a few seconds in silence.
“You can,” he said, not even sparing her a glance. She changed the dial, trying to find the right station until it got to a station where the news was on. She knew that playing those tacky songs was not going to help any of them right now.