Chapter 79 A Bad Guy, A Fool
They were done for.
Griffin darted into the house in a flash, inwardly wishing his mother good luck.
Cecily bit her lip, forcing a smile as she faced Darian and shamelessly asked, "How did you find out?"
"Just whose tricks do you think could go unnoticed by me?" Darian coldly retorted.
Cecily cursed inwardly. Darian had seen right through her, revealing how well he knew her.
"Do you want to leave on your own, or should I throw you out?" Darian's voice was cold as ice as he stared at her.
Cecily didn't respond, but the air around them turned icy and grim. She felt like she was completely cornered under Darian's gaze.
Being discovered by Darian made the idea of taking her child and leaving impossible.
Just as Cecily was at a loss, her cell phone rang at the perfect time.
She checked her phone; it was a message from Griffin.
Griffin: "Mommy, just go. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. Take care."
Cecily turned off her phone, pondered for a moment, then lifted her head and looked at Darian with resignation. "I'll leave on my own."
With that, Cecily started to walk away slowly. However, after a short distance, she turned back, only to meet Darian's gaze once again.
Feeling awkward, Cecily quickly averted her eyes and walked away with a heavy heart.
Darian gave Cecily a deep look before turning around to go back inside the house. He walked into Griffin's room.
Griffin was still perched at the window, watching the back of Cecily as she walked away. Suddenly, the door opened, and the next thing he knew, he was being hoisted up like a little chick and placed firmly in a chair. Darian sat down across from him, an unreadable expression on his face.
Under Darian's scrutinizing gaze, Griffin blinked nervously.
"Thinking about running off with her again?" Darian coldly asked.
Griffin nodded, then hurriedly shook his head.
The situation was telling him he should express disinterest, so Griffin glanced at Darian's face and asked, "Dad, do you hate me?"
Darian looked at Griffin for a moment before replying indifferently, "I don't."
"Can I ask you a few questions then?"
Griffin had many questions he wanted to ask, but he was afraid to do so. He was worried his father might get upset, and if he got upset, who knew if he might lash out.
He should've asked his brother if their dad was the type to hit someone.
"Go ahead."
Griffin moved a little closer to Darian and asked, "I'm not your biological son, and everyone else in the family seems to dislike me. Why don't you hate me, and why didn't you let Mom take me away? If she had taken me, couldn't you and Auntie Ophelia have been happy together?"
Griffin knew that Darian was his biological father, but Darian held a different belief. Therefore, Griffin framed his questions based on Darian's assumption.
Darian's brow furrowed slightly and a chill seemed to emanate from him. "Did Cecily tell you to ask me this?"
Griffin shook his head quickly. "I wanted to ask on my own."
Darian observed the little guy's curious eyes before him, yet he didn't immediately respond. It was difficult to articulate why he didn't harbor any resentment toward him. Despite knowing he wasn't his biological child, Darian simply couldn't bring himself to dislike him.
Maybe it all started with a sense of guilt.
The night Cecily was forced to end her pregnancy, he was just furious and wanted to teach Cecily a lesson. When he found out about the death of Cecily and another child, he felt guilty, as if his heart had a void in it. The only way to mend it was to be kinder to the child who survived.
Regarding his refusal to let her take the child away... Firstly, after five years of raising the child, he had developed affection for them. Secondly, allowing her to take the child would sever the last ties between them, causing Cecily to drift even further away from him. These thoughts were accompanied by irritation, impulsiveness, and a short temper.
Therefore, he was determined not to let them leave.
"Daddy? Daddy?" Noticing Darian didn't answer, Griffin called out to his dad twice as a reminder.
Darian sighed, replying calmly, "Because I don't want to."
"Is that really the only reason?" Griffin was clearly dissatisfied with that answer.
He had thought about it for so long, only for his dad to give him those four words as a response.
Darian, watching his son's expression, casually raised an eyebrow and asked, "What else? Kids shouldn't ask so many questions."
Griffin puffed out his cheeks, feeling puzzled by Darian's remark. Furthermore, he noted that his mom often expressed similar sentiments. However, he reminded himself that he was already five years old, no longer a small child but growing older and more independent.
"Then tell me, where is my real dad?" Griffin leaned in close to Darian, throwing out another sudden question.
Darian glanced at him with a hint of displeasure. "Why bring him up?
"I'm just curious, do you think my real dad knows about me? If he knew about me, what would happen? Shouldn't I go back to my real dad?"
Darian frowned, even more annoyed now and retorted, "Who said you're allowed to go back to that jerk?"
"Jerk? Dad, is my real dad a jerk?"
Darian answered seriously, "He is."
Griffin almost laughed out loud and climbed up onto a chair, looking straight at Darian, pressing him further, "Why do you say that?"
Because he lacked shame, he exploited someone who was vulnerable. Cecily was drugged, which led him to question if he, too, had been drugged. Exploiting vulnerability was simply shameless. Naturally, Darian wouldn't utter these sentiments in front of a child. In a hushed tone, he stated, "Because he's shameless."
Griffin burst out laughing, "Because he's the bad guy, the biggest bad guy in the world, and a fool, right?"
Though it might not have been entirely proper to teach a child like that, it was the truth, and Darian raised an eyebrow in agreement. "Exactly."
Darian felt pretty good hearing that man being insulted.
Griffin laughed even harder. If Darian hadn't been there, he would have had to roll around on the bed with glee.
"All right, Daddy, I understand," said Griffin contentedly, his mood significantly improved.
However, Darian seemed to sense something was off and suddenly exclaimed, "Rowan!"
"What?" Griffin's smile faded a bit as he noticed Darian's suddenly serious tone. "What's wrong?"
"When did you start asking so many questions?" Darian's voice carried a hint of suspicion. The Rowan he knew would simply respond to any question asked of him without much fuss, making him wonder when had Rowan started to ask so many questions of his own.
Griffin's smile froze completely on his face. He realized he might be in trouble. His spirited behavior made him wonder if he had been found out.
Darian, observing Griffin's unusual expression, deepened his suspicions.
Griffin swallowed hard and slowly sat back down in his chair, regaining his usual cool and calm demeanor as he responded, "I've been wanting to ask these questions for a while now. Since you were talking to me today, Daddy, I thought I would ask all at once. Is that not okay? If it's not, I just won't ask anymore."
With a blink of his innocent eyes which masked a touch of melancholy, Griffin looked up at Darian.
Seeing the little guy's expression, Darian's brow relaxed slightly. He patted Griffin's head and said, "You can ask questions. It's good to be curious."
He actually hoped the kid would be livelier.
Darian stood up and said, "Get some sleep soon, and another thing..." He paused briefly. "Those people who hurt you, I'll look into it. You'll have an explanation by tomorrow morning."
Griffin was slightly puzzled by his father's statement and recalled about his time pretending to be his brother in the household, how Ophelia had mistreated him, and those servants who had deliberately turned a blind eye.
At the time, Griffin had suspected many of the household employees were bribed by Ophelia.
He knew it was time to dig deeper, to get justice for his brother.
Griffin nodded firmly and simply uttered, "Mmmm."
After watching Darian leave, Griffin quickly sent several messages to Cecily.
When Darian came out of the room, Larkin approached and handed a tablet to Darian, saying, "Mr. Fitzgerald, here are the surveillance footage and a list of the maids."
Darian flipped through the information.
Back at the hospital, he harbored suspicions after witnessing a maid's disrespectful attitude toward Rowan. If one maid dared insult Rowan, he wondered if others might do the same.
Expanding on that, there were the things Cecily had mentioned about the alleged punishment he had supposedly imposed on Rowan.
He had done no such thing, which meant someone else in the household was to blame. He could roughly guess—it was either Ophelia or Sandra. If they dared to treat Rowan that way, the maids naturally felt they could disregard him as well.
"Have Ophelia stay tonight."
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