The Rise Of A Secret Heir

Chapter 1: The disgusted son-in-law

The door opened suddenly and Derek walked inside the hall. He hesitated as murmurs filled the air around him.

“Isn’t that the live-in son-in-law?” A lady murmured as she looked at Derek.

“Yes,” One of them admitted with sarcasm.

“It’s really him!” Someone laughed. “He’s as miserable as ever!”

Derek released a sigh and eventually walked to an empty seat.

A round of applause sounded suddenly as Ethan stood up. Clad in a black tuxedo suit, he was not only tall but handsome. Everyone's attention turned toward him and they soon forgot about Derek.

Ethan had a wide smile on his face. "I actually didn't think I was going to make it here today. I had an appointment in Dubai," he announced and everyone nodded briefly.

Derek turned away for a moment, with a funny expression on his face. He knew that Ethan was lying. He wasn't in Dubai, in fact, he was in a club till it was midnight.

"Hey!" Ethan called softly and gestured at Derek.

Derek sighed, a bit frustrated but he rushed forward nonetheless. "Yes, Ethan, is there anything you want from me?"

Ethan nodded once, “Derek, our poor son-in-law, you know what I want right? Now just do your work, I don’t want to see you doing nothing here.”

Derek felt embarrassed, he was told that as a son-in-law, he must serve everyone here on the party.

In another word, he was just a waiter here.

It’s normal, because since he married Amelia, everyone treated him like a servant, just because he was a son-in-law.

Derek picked up the bottle on the table, the purple liquid and the label wrote 1982 showed how expensive it was.

Ethan groaned and adjusted his hand so that Derek is forced to move even closer to him.

Ethan had a satisfied smile on his face as Derek poured his glass full. "It's so nice to see everyone," he continued. "including you, Derek, the loyalest servant in our family.”

“Hahahahahaha!” Everyone laughed, they thought Ethan just told a nice joke. But for Derek, it was a worst humiliation.

Just as Derek stepped back, Ethan took a step even closer, hitting his hand against the table intentionally so that he jerked forward and ended up spilling the wine on Derek.

Derek gasped at this and felt a stab of annoyance. Ethan intentionally poured the wine on his white shirt, the one that Amelia, his wife had gotten for him. In fact, it was the only gift she had given him and Derek cherished it so much.

Ethan regarded the mess for a moment, with a cunning expression and a taunt smile. "Sorry about that," he muttered.

Derek felt the insincerity in his voice but said nothing. He tried to suppress the anger in his heart. There was nothing he could do anyways as he had to keep preserving.

"Not enough?" Ethan laughed. "Oh," he said suddenly, as he feigned shock. "You might need to get a new shirt," he teased.

Derek didn't say anything but he was boiling in anger.

"Well, I have something for you," Ethan pretended to be serious for a moment as he dipped into his pocket for something. He pulled out a one-dollar note and put it in Derek's pocket. "That's a compensation for you. You could get a new shirt with it. I bet you will see a low shirt for someone like you," he laughed the more, feeling pleased with himself.

Derek felt even more annoyed. It took him every ounce of his strength to not get back at him for what he had done to him or what he has always done to him. He had been keeping it all in because he knew if he did something, the grandma with a big bias against him would not speak for him. And everything could end up getting even worse.

He grabbed a napkin and tried to wipe the mess off.

Amelia walked inside at this moment and looked at Derek. Their gaze met and locked for a moment before Amelia slowly looked down at the mess on Derek's shirt. She scoffed with disappointment before she moved closer to him.

She actually felt tired of her relationship with Derek already. They have been married for a year but it felt like years. A lot of things had happened and Amelia had concluded that the relationship wasn't at all a good one for her, especially the fact that Derek had been a coward.

Yet, she still had to stand up for her husband, coupled with the fact that she hated Ethan so much. Ethan was the reason why she had to marry Derek in the first place.

Amelia looked at Ethan with loathsomeness. "What did you just do? Derek is my husband and you are supposed to respect him! Why will you mess up his shirt like that at a family party?"

Ethan sneered. "What husband?" He laughed. "Or your ex-husband. Would you say you didn’t know that Grandma had already arranged a rich guy for you? This means that you will be divorcing this poor man very soon," he laughed again.

Derek was shocked. Was Ethan saying the truth? He couldn't believe it.

Truly, it was supposed to be a contract marriage but Derek had gotten so close to Amelia and wanted something very real now. He didn't want a divorce.

"You know about this?" Derek fired at Amelia.

Amelia released a sigh and looked away. Of course, she knew of her grandmother's plan but she had told her that she wouldn’t be marrying anyone. She just wanted to divorce Derek, and she wanted to do it as soon as possible.

"Amelia!" Derek called softly. "Is it true?"

Amelia looked at Derek with an uncared attitude. "We can't be married forever, Derek. I want a divorce but I won't be marrying anyone else."

Ethan huffed at her statement. He opened his mouth to say something but was forced to a stop when the door opened and the grandmother walked inside.

Everyone's gaze followed Grandmother Evelyn as she walked inside. But she wasn't alone. She was with a tall man who was clad in a blue suit. There was a sly smile on his face as his gaze found Derek.

Derek had a slight thought as to who he was, because of what Ethan had said. He couldn't believe that his mother-in-law had been planning such a thing for so long and he didn't even know about it.

Evelyn stopped suddenly in the middle of the room and the young man behind her also stopped beside her. Evelyn smiled at everyone. "So, everyone. There's an announcement today. See this man over here," she gestured briefly to the young man. "He is going to be part of our family soon. Zayn is going to be Amelia's husband," she announced.

Ethan laughed in mockery of Derek.

Derek was dumbfounded.