Chapter 22: Waiting for Jace

Richard glanced at her and couldn’t answer her question. He is confused at the moment. He had thought Chase Hudson was the man. He had always suspected him to be Eli’s father.

He didn’t know that he wasn’t. Jace Hudson is not friendly like his brother Chase. Of course he sees him on TV, newspapers and on social media.

But he is highly a private person. There is no history of him being in chains of relationships like his brother. He never knew he was the man that fathered Arianna’s son.

“I’ll ask for a day off while we go in search of Arianna” Richard informed. Genesis couldn’t bring herself to stop sobbing quietly. She nods vigorously.

For the next two hours, Richard and Genesis were searching for Arianna anywhere possible. First, they went to her house but she’s not there, her apartment is under lock.

Next they went to the Hudson’s cooperation but were told none of the two brothers came to work. Definitely Arianna can’t be there, so they didn’t bother going in.

They called her cell phone number, but she wouldn’t answer the phone. Richard urged Genesis but she wouldn’t. They decided to go back to her apartment and wait. She would eventually come home for the night.

Arianna waited for hours. She was hungry but remained seated, waiting for Jace Hudson to come around.

But he didn’t. She remained in the Hudson’s holding until the employees closed from work. Mr Ryan saw her and sneered.

She made him lose his position and she didn’t last long in that position. She was only his boss for a few hours and that was all. Someone else has been employed and now does her work.

He stood before her and chuckled aloud. He looked at her irritatingly and went away. Arianna pretended not to see him. It was getting dark and the security told her to leave.

Arianna nodded and stood up. She felt like she was going to faint but she held on. She got a taxi and went home. When she arrived home, she wasn’t surprised when she saw her friends waiting by her door.

“Aria” Genesis called and went to hold her. She didn’t reply and kept walking towards her apartment. She looked thin and pale. Her face had patches of dry tears and her lips were dry.

She wasn’t looking good at all. She seemed to be out of strength and Richard wondered if she was able to get a proper meal. He would order a meal once they got into the apartment.

“Arianna” Richard called as well. But the latter neither replied to the both of them until she got to her door. She unlocked the door and got in.

As soon as she got into her apartment, she shut the door violently and bolted it. It was so quick that Genesis’ fingers would’ve been trapped in between.

She jerked backwards narrowly avoiding the door’s jam on her fingers. Richard came over quickly and pulled Genesis unto himself and took her fingers giving it a soft squeeze.

He was doing it so affectionately that he wasn’t paying attention to what he was doing. But his actions caught Genesis unawares and she squinted.

When he raised his head to look at her, their eyes met and for some seconds, they glued their gaze on each other, none willing to look away first.

“I think we should leave Arianna alone for a while” Genesis stated. “Yeah, sure,” Richard replied.

On their way home, Richard told Genesis to leave Arianna alone. He would find a way to communicate with her.

That night, Eli was taken into the kids room. His room to be precise. The little boy was more than excited when he saw how decorated his room was.

There were different toys and playthings. His bed was made with railing. On the wall was a large portrait of himself. He saw his dad leaning against the wall and smiling at him.

“Daddy” Eli chimed, going over to Jace and the latter squatted and hugged him, kissing his temple.

“Will I be living with you now?” Eli asked. The beauty of the house was much more than what his little mind could fathom. He had never lived in such a big beautiful house with his mummy before. He likes this place more than his mother’s place.

“Yes. You are my son. It only means we will be living together henceforth, isn’t that right?” Jace replied and Eli nodded.

“What about mummy, will she be living with us too?” Eli asked and Jace couldn’t answer. He forced a smile and kissed Eli. “Let’s talk about ourselves and be happy. Your mommy is fine as well”

Little Eli doesn’t perceive that there might be an underlying meaning to his dad’s word. For now, he is happy. He has found his daddy and they are both living in a big house.

Genesis was restless that entire night. She sighed, she couldn’t sleep and laid with her back staring at the ceiling. Everything gets tangled, it’s difficult to separate the cords now.

According to Arianna, she had a one night stand with a gigolo and then became pregnant. She doesn’t know who the identity of her son’s father is, but became a single mom.

Previous evening, she and Richard suspected and almost concluded that Chase Hudson was Eli’s father and the real shock came when it wasn’t Chase but his elder brother Jace Hudson that is Eli’s father.

What is happening? So much twist involved. Now, Arianna wouldn’t be able to get her son off that scary looking man. How did they both end up together? Was Arianna lying or did Jace Hudson condescend so low to becoming a gigolo, just to satisfy his sexual desires?

She was worried for her friend. Arianna has gone through a lot in this life. This cannot be happening to her, she might go into depression. This is too difficult to be handled by her innocent mind.

But what hurts her the most is that Jace and Eli had to meet each other after she took him out. How she wished, it was through Arianna herself that the father, son pair met with each other, why should it be through her?

Arianna would be upset with her. Will she ever be able to forgive her for this? Genesis was troubled when Richard’s text came in “sleeping already?”

Genesis smiled and replied,”awake, worried about Arianna” . It was quite a minute after she sent the text that Richard’s call came in, a video call.

“Hi” Richard said, smiling and Genesis waved at him with a broad smile. The two friends talked about Arianna and Genesis voiced out her worries and afraid that Arianna might not forgive her.

Richard said they can only hope for the best to happen between Jace and Arianna. That’s the only way Arianna can have access to her son. Jace Hudson is a hard person to deal with.

As for forgiveness, it wasn’t her fault. He was to be blamed because he asked her to bring Eli to Meet him. She only helped him in bringing the boy, the real person that Arianna should be furious with is him, not her.

Soon, the two friends said good night and hung up. Richard sighed, there’s a lot for him to do.

The next morning, Jace Hudson arrived at the office when his secretary came to inform him that Miss Jason was there to see him: