The Heiress

10- Making him jealous

Mercedes walked alongside Alona as they entered the funeral home. The second everyone saw her walk in, the attendees quietly talked amongst themselves and discreetly pointed in her direction. Only it wasn't so discreet as Mercedes saw it all.

She walked over to her grandfather's casket, looked at him, and when tears started falling from her eyes, Alona left, then came back with tissues. "Here," she whispered.

Mercedes grabbed the tissues, cleaned up the tears and any mascara that had streaked her cheeks. She reached into the casket, rested her hand over his, and whispered to him. "I'm so sorry, grandfather. I'm so sorry for acting the way I did, for taking off the way I did, and for thinking you wanted to hurt me. What I thought and did was wrong and very selfish of myself. I don't understand why you left me everything, and I thank you for your generosity, but because of what you did, my family hates me more than they already did. I will, however, make you a promise. And that promise is to make you proud of me. Prouder than you've ever felt, and I will assure you, Sterling Bradley will never get his hands on anything of yours."

She bent down, kissed her grandfather's cheek, and when she heard a man behind her mockingly laugh, she stood quickly, and both her and Alona spun around.

"Hello, Mercedes," Sterling winked. He stepped closer to her and grinned while reaching his hands up and cupping either side of her face. "You can make all the promises you want. But those promises will soon be broken, right after I give you an offer you can't refuse." He leaned forward, kissed her forehead, and smiled while standing straight.

Mercedes felt disgusted that his lips touched her skin. She angrily shoved his hands off her, then rubbed her forehead hard, trying to rid any saliva he left off. "Don't you ever touch me again," she snapped. "And how dare you show your face at my grandfather's funeral? He hated you... and if he knew you were here, he'd have you thrown out."

Sterling smiled, looked at his son Kaiden standing beside him, then he looked back at Mercedes. "My son and I came to pay our respects. Plus, we were invited."

"By who," she scowled.

"Bentley."

Mercedes felt her blood start to boil and shot her eyes over to Bentley. Bentley grinned, winked, then mouthed, you're welcome, before turning the opposite way.

"Pay your respects, then get the hell out of here," she hissed. She looked over his shoulder, then she looked around the room, looking for another person who wasn't welcome at the funeral. "From my understanding, you have two sons. Is he here too?"

"Do you mean Hudson?"

"Whatever his name is, yes. Is he here to harass my family and me also?"

"Unfortunately, no. Hudson had a prior engagement to attend to. Although, he would have loved to be here. He also wanted me to let you know that he's sorry about Elon and that he'll miss trying to work with him. I will also return the favor and will let him know you were looking for him and that you said hello," Sterling happily said.

"Please, don't. I couldn't care less about any of your family members."

He laughed. "Of course. Whatever you say."

"Just do what you came to do, and then I want you to get the hell out of here."

"As you wish."

Mercedes stormed over to Bentley, and not caring who was surrounding them. She shoved him. "Have you lost your mind?"

Bentley wobbled, then he stood his ground and smirked. "No. But I did just lose my grandfather and all the inheritance I was supposed to receive to a spoiled rotten brat."