Billionaire’s

Eric’s face seemed to pale, his eyes darting from Evelyn to Samantha in stunned disbelief. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but no words came. The revelation seemed to shrink his normally commanding presence.

Claire placed a gentle land on Eric’s arm, her voice soft and encouraging. “Eric, we should go inside and sit down.”

Bat Eric remained frozen, his gaze fixed on Samantha, who was still holding tightly to her grandmother’s hand, her innocent eyes brimming with curiosity and excitement.

Following Evelyn’s introduction, Samantha’s face lit up with a radiant smile. She let go of Claire and, without hesitation, stepped forward, her tiny arms outstretched toward Eric. “Hi, Grandpa! I’m Samantha She said, her voice sweet and unburdened by the tension around them.

For a heartbeat, Erie remained motionless; his brows furrowed deeply as if trying to process everything Belongs to (N)ôvel/Drama.Org.

Although he was still confused and a bit upset, he didn’t want the kid to know about it, so his eyes softened slowly. His posture, once unyielding, relaxed slightly as he took a tentative step closer to Samantha. He leaned down, reaching out his hand toward Samantha.

“Hello, Samantha. It’s nice to meet you,” he said, his voice hoarse but gentle. He glanced up an Evelyn, his eyes questioning full of confusion and unspoken words, “I hope you have a good explanation for this

Seeing the bewilderment and hurt in her father’s expression, Evelyn’s heart ached. “I do. Dad. And I’m sorry, I should’ve told you sooner,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper as she stepped away from the door so they could come in.

Eric straightened, his face hardening as he walked into the house. While Evelyn shut the door behind them, he turned to Claire again. “You knew. didn’t you?” His tone was low, a mix of accusation and disbelief.

Claire sighed, her calm exterior faltering slightly under his intense gaze. “Evelyn wanted to tell you herself, but she needed time to gather the courage. This dinner was her idea

Eric was torn between anger and sorrow as he struggled to find his footing in the whirlwind of emotions. His gaze landed back on Evelyn

As they all walked into the living room, Eric and Claire faltered in their steps when they saw Derek standing there, and Claire looked from Derek to Evelyn

They both recognized Derek from their anniversary party since Michael had introduced him to them. They knew Evelyn was interviewing him, and not only had they seen the way he took Evelyn away after her brush with Sandra, but they also knew that Sandra was in a relationship with him. Seeing Derek there at such an important moment, Claire looked between Derek and Samantha and began to wonder if it was only a coincidence that Samantha had blue eyes like Derek and if she was Imagining things by thinking that Samantha looked like Derek a little now,

Maya came out to greet Evelyn’s parents, Evelyn signaled her to take Samantha to the bedroom for some time since she didn’t want Samantha to hear what was about to be discussed.

After Maya and Samantha left, Evelyn’s father looked at Derek, “What is going on here?” Eric asked harshly, trying to keep his voice down because of the kid in the house.

Before Evelyn could speak, Derek stepped forward and stood beside her. “Hello, Mr. Quinn, Mrs Quinn, he greeted with a polite nod. It’s nice to meet you both again. I’m Derek Stone, Evelyn’s fiancé, and Samantha’s father,” he said, placing his arm around Evelyn’s shoulder.

Evelyn looked up at him, taken aback by his self–introduction, while her parents exchanged surprised and confused glances

“What do you mean you’re her fiance! We are aware that you’re seeing Sandra,” Eric said harshly as he turned from him to Evelyn with a look of disbelief, “did you jump from Michael to his cousin! Is that how I brought you up? To be shameless and irresponsible?”

“Dad..”

Derek cut in before Evelyn could speak. “Please refrain from using that tone and such words on my fiancée. I decided to be present at this meeting because I did not appreciate the way you spoke to my fiancée the last time in public. I wanted to make sure you do not repeat it today. If you want an explanation, you’re going to get it, but do not talk to either of us that way, Derek said firmly, surprising everyone in the room once again.

Evelyn’s heart skipped a beat at his words, and she looked up at him, shaking her head and pleading with her eyes for him not to complicate things. but Derek refused to meet her gaze as he held her father’s gaze, refusing to be stared down.

Evelyn looked at Claire helplessly, but Claire was also looking at her with a confused frown because she couldn’t understand what was going on Evelyn had not told her anything about being in a relationship or having a flance. Last she checked, Evelyn had said Samantha’s father was not in the picture, and she was not ready to introduce a father figure to Samantha. So what was going on! Why was Sandra’s love interest suddenly introducing himself as Evelyn’s fiancé and Samantha’s father‘

After both men had stared at each other for a while, Eric finally looked away from Derek and turned to Evelyn again. “Did you invite him over to be rude to me?”

“Enc. you need to calm down.…”

“I should be calm? How can you ask me to be calm when Evelyn here invited us to her apartment to be insulted by her boyfriend?” Eric cut in, facing Claire, “It’s not enough that she had a child out of wedlock; it had to be with Michael’s cousin. Have you no iota of decency? Did you cancel your wedding with Michael just to be a Babymama?” Eric asked as he turned to look at Evelyn with disapproval once again.

“I always wondered why Evelyn would rather leave than talk to you and tell you all that happened. Now I can understand why your daughter couldn’t say a word to you all these years. With your poor..

“Derek, stop. Please. Let me handle this,” Evelyn said quietly, not wanting her carefully planned dinner to be reduced to such a meaningless exchange of words.

“Evelyn, please explain what is going on,” Claire said softly.

“What’s there to explain

“Dad, can you just keep quiet and listen?” Evelyn snapped at her father, fed up with his criticism. “For once, can you just listen and stop being so critical of everything I do!” Evelyn asked angrily, glaring at her father.

Her father blinked, taken aback by her outburst. And her stepmother looked at her, equally shocked.

Derek on the other hand, smiled as he watched her, glad that she was finally talking instead of just letting her father speak to her that

way.

“You know what! I’m done with this! It was one thing for you to give me that ultimatum six years ago. I let that happen because I wanted to leave. At the anniversary party, you threw me out in front of everyone without asking to know what happened, but I took that. That was your house and you were free to treat me that way there. But this is my ground and I’ll be damned if I let you do this to me under my roof. I spent all day trying to organize my home and put things in order because invited you into my home to explain things to you, yet all you’ve done since you stepped in is condemn and criticize me for things you know nothing about. You know NOTHING about me or my life, Dad! Now, it’s as Derek has said. If you want an explanation and you know you’re going to listen, then you can sit down, and I’ll tell you what you need to know. But if you won’t listen and you’re just going to keep talking to me this way in MY home, then you should leave, and let’s cut ties permanently right now. Because I do not want anything to do with a father who doesn’t listen to me and can’t even give me the benefit of the doubt! If you won’t listen, leave!” Evelyn continued angrily.