Free Web NovelChapter 107: His Son
Wendy knew that Michael would find out the truth about her children sooner or later, and that he would surely ask about their whereabouts when that time came. Since she was back in Lake city where Michael was such an influential figure, it would be impossible to hide the truth from him. However, she could not let him get his way and learn about the truth so easily.
Blinking innocently, she reached out to push Michael away. With a fearful look in her eyes, she said, "Mr. Lucas, your actions are... too inappropriate."
Michaell remained unmoved. Instead, he leaned in more and further closed the distance between them. His breath fanned across her face. "I respect you if you don’t wish to admit your real identity. You claim to not know who I am, and I don’t mind starting over again with you..." said Michael in a serious tone, "But we can’t do this with the child. I hope you can tell me the truth."
Wendy’s heart started pounding as she looked into Michael’s eyes from such proximity. She was not afraid of him, but he was pressuring her in a way that made her feel like she was losing control of the situation. She swallowed dryly.
With a small smile on her face, she said, "Mr. Lucas, you behaved very inappropriately when you mistook me for your wife at the party that night, but I decided to forgive you and move on from that. When I stepped into this company, you relocated your office to the one right beside mine. Indeed, MC Enterprise belongs to you, and you have the freedom to take whichever office you want. But now, you’re asking me such ridiculous questions about a child? Mr. Lucas, are you sure you’re mentally sound?"
Observing Wendy’s persistent refusal to admit her real identity, Michael felt slightly helpless. He knew that he had let her down and that he deserved this. He did not want to force her into anything. However, he had to know the truth about the child. The memory of a boy tugging at his sleeve surfaced in his mind.
"I think I met him at the airport, and that night of the party," said Michael in a straightforward manner, "He should be around four years old, and he looks adorable. Don’t tell me that both of those instances were coincidences."
After thinking about it carefully, Michael realized that the boy looked quite similar to him in appearance. But when they first met at the airport, the same suspicions about the boy’s identity had not existed and Michael had not given it much thought. Now that he was re-examining the situation, everything made sense.
"I don’t know what you’re talking about, Mr. Lucas," said Wendy, still adamant about denying everything.
Michael knew from Wendy’s behavior that she would never admit it. Since that was the case, there was no reason to continue this conversation. He would only end up incurring her wrath, and she might even try to hide the child from him. He figured that since she had returned to Lake City with their child, he would do everything in his power to prevent the both of them from disappearing again.
Bowing his head, he stood up and stepped back, lengthening the distance between them again. Some time passed before his face was devoid of emotions again. Nodding lightly at Wendy, he said apologetically, "I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that." With that, he turned around and left.
Wendy raised her eyebrows as she watched Michael’s back. She felt surprised. She had believed that Michael would persist and harass her until the end. It seemed that he was not that interested in their child after all. She could not help but snort. That sort of behavior was not strange coming from him. After all, he was the one who tried to force her into undergoing an abortion five years ago.
Today, her child was already four years old. Wendy believed that Michael might have been ruthless enough to kill a fetus back then, but it would be impossible for him to do anything to a four-year-old child.
Hence, the more uninterested he remained, the safer Jake was.
...
Naturally, Michael continued thinking about this even after he left the office. Since Wendy refused to admit the truth, he would take matters into his own hands.
It was not difficult for him to find out where she was currently staying in Lake City. He had not tried to approach her when she stayed in the hotel for the first few days because he knew that they would eventually meet as business partners at the company anyway. Moreover, he wished to respect her decision to fake her identity.
But everything was different with their child in the picture. Michael knew he had to find their child and force Wendy to admit who she really was. That was the only way that he could assume responsibility and take care of them.
He immediately instructed Mr. York to find out where Wendy was staying now. freewёbnoνel.com
He headed to Wendy’s apartment before she got off work. Jake was alone at home reading a book. When he heard the doorbell ring, he brought a stool with him so that he could stand on it to look through the peephole.
Michael’s face filled his sight. Jake clenched his fists. It seemed that his father had found them after all.
Jake was not afraid of Michael. They had already met twice. Opening the door, Jake blinked innocently and said, "Hello, mister. Why are you here? Who are you looking for?"
A familiar face greeted Michael the moment the door swung open. Unable to help himself, he looked the boy up and down. Michael inspected his features closely and realized that they really did look alike. They had the same eyes.
Michael squatted so that their faces could be level. However, Jake was too short, and Michael was still a head taller than him even, in this position. He remained quiet. Instead, of speaking, reached out to give Jake a pat on the head. The sudden realization that he was staring right at his son struck him.
He suddenly felt thankful for how hard Wendy had fought to protect this child five years ago, and that he did not commit the sin of mistakenly murdering his own child. He was also glad that Wendy and the boy had remained safe all this while.
Jake did not like it when anyone besides Wendy touched his head. In fact, he did not even like his mother to do that. Believing himself to be a big boy, he found the gesture demeaning. For Michael to be the one patting his head was even worse, since he hated Michael very much.
He took two steps back to avoid Michael’s hand.
"Mister, what do you want from me?" said Jake with a sullen look on his face. "It’s rude to touch somebody else’s head without asking for permission."
Michael’s face grew much more affable as he listened to Jake lecture him. This was the first time that anyone had called him rude to his face.
On top of that, it was his own son saying it to him.
"What is your name?" asked Michael as he stood up and entered the apartment.
Jake followed behind Michael as quickly as he could with his short legs. "My name is Jake Stewart," he said.
"Jake Stewart?" Michael raised his eyebrows, realizing that the boy had taken Wendy’s last name. However, that made perfect sense to him when he recalled how he had tried to force her into an abortion five years ago. There was no way that she would have allowed her son to take his last name.
He turned around, stared at Jake, and said, "Your last name is Stewart?"
"Yes, it is," said Jake honestly.
Following that, Michael’s gaze landed on a book on the couch. He picked it up and saw that it was a book about business management.
Feeling surprised, he flipped it over before looking at Jake again. "Are you reading this?" he said.
Wendy was still at work, and there was no one else in the apartment besides Jake. There was a possibility that this book belonged to Wendy, and that she had forgotten to put it away after reading it last night. However, Michael didn’t find that option too likely. He knew that Wendy had found and moved into this apartment just yesterday, and there were still boxes around the apartment that were unpacked. It was unlikely that she would have had the time to read on the couch. Even if she did, it made more sense for the book to be on her bed.
"Yes," said Jake, nodding. However, the truth was that he already felt extremely impatient about this situation.
He did not understand why Michael had suddenly shown up at their apartment or why was asking him so many random questions. It was a waste of his time. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
"Can you understand the content in this book?" asked Michael, who was surprised to hear Jake’s answer. "I know a lot of the terms they use are not easy to comprehend."
The boy was only four years old, and he was already capable of reading nonfiction books about business management. Michael thought of his own childhood and recalled how playful he had been at that age.
If his ten-year-old self had not found out about his father’s affair and the existence of his half brother, he might never have worked hard on his studies. It was likely that he would have turned out a completely different person, one who was completely dependent on his family’s wealth.
Jake no longer wished to entertain Michael’s questions. He gave Michael a dazzling grin, showing off his teeth. "Mister, you’re here for my mummy, aren’t you? She’s still at work now. Why don’t you sit here and wait, I’ll get you some water," he said. He ran off to the kitchen to do as he had promised.
Soon, he emerged with two glasses of water in his hands. He handed the first glass to Michael, saying, "Mister, we just moved in yesterday so there’s nothing else to drink at home. I hope you don’t mind plain water."
"Of course not," said Michael. A smile slowly grew on his face when he saw how sensible and obedient Jake was. There was nothing else he wanted to do more than tell the boy that he was his father. However, he was afraid that he might end up frightening him. After all, he had not fulfilled any of his responsibilities as a father in the last five years.
When Jake saw Michael just staring at him, he raised the glass in his hand for a toast. "Mister, let’s knock glasses," he said.
Michael felt a surge of warmth in his heart because of how adorable and naive Jake looked.
He could hardly believe that this was his son. This was the product of his relationship with Wendy.
"Cheers..." said Michael as he leaned down to knock his glass against Jake’s. Their glasses clinked, the sound resonating throughout the room.
After gulping down the water in his glass, Jake started urging Michael, "Mister, it’s your turn now."
Smiling, Michael tilted his head back and started drinking the water without hesitation.
Then, he started choking.
Lowering his head, he looked at the glass in his hand and realized that was completely saturated with salt.
When Jake saw the bewildered look on Michael’s face, he immediately said in a concerned voice, "Mister, what’s wrong?"
Michael tightened his grip around the glass of water. He had not seen the salt in the water when he first took the glass from the boy. And when Jake had initiated a toast, Michael had attributed that to his childish enthusiasm and not thought too much about it.
He coughed a few more times but still felt extremely thirsty.
His mouth was slightly agape as he inhaled deeply.
"Mister, you look terrible. What’s wrong with you?" said Jake. He looked extremely concerned, but internally, he was filled with glee.
Michael was still so shocked about the situation that he did not answer Jake’s question. Instead, he went straight to the bathroom. He turned on the tap, thinking that everything would be fine once he rinsed his mouth.
However, the water that ran from the tap was extremely hot.
When Jake saw Michael step away from the sink after getting burnt, he covered his mouth to muffle his laughter. He had intentionally turned off the cold water supply to the bathroom while preparing the glass of water for Michael earlier in the kitchen. Hence, it was hot water that flowed from the tap.
Michael immediately turned around to look at Jake when he heard his muffled giggles. However, all he found was a look of concern on the boy’s face.
