Chapter 30

30 30. Fathers’ Talk

“Will, Felix is ??here,” Danica said on the phone.

“Fifteen minutes early?” William asked.

“Yes. Umm, Do you want to see Felix now or later?” Danica asked, flatly. Usually, her boss would ask the early guests to wait. Even so, Danica still asked William about it. Who knew this time the guest would be lucky?

It turned out that Danica’s decision was not wrong. Her boss did something different this time. William seemed very excited to meet Felix, the private investigator that Danica had hired to do a deeper investigation on Lea.

“Send him in. Please prepare some tea and refreshments!” William ordered. He immediately stopped everything he was doing and greeted his guest.

Danica invited Felix to enter William’s room. Felix, who looked a little less friendly, was happy because he didn’t have to wait any longer. As it turned out, his client knew how to treat him well.

The investigation showed that that night, Lea was drinking at the Dynasty Hotel’s rooftop bar and did not return home. That meant, Lea spent the night at the hotel. However, Lea’s name was not on the hotel guest list.

“The witness said that the man who took Lea away from the bar was tall, huge, dark-haired, and wore glasses. It’s close to Dave’s features although we couldn’t confirm his eye color,” Felix said in a severe tone.

William was sure that Dave was indeed the man who spent the night with Lea. But, of course, he didn’t want to come to Dave with accusations without solid evidence.

.....

“Are you sure there weren’t any other men with Lea at the time?” William asked reassuringly.

“That’s how it is.”

William nodded as Felix explained in detail what had happened to Lea that night. Lea and Dave had wanted to go home. However, Lea gave up and chose to go have a drink at the rooftop bar. The two of them then drank together.

It was natural that Lea was so afraid to reveal this. Dave was already engaged to Clara, a beautiful young doctor, the daughter of Dave’s business partner. Soon they would be married. If Dave’s family and his fiancée find out about this incident, the relationship between the two families could be destroyed. As far as William knew, Lea was a good and innocent girl who would not sacrifice such a big thing for her own sake.

William gulped. He wondered if his desire to reveal this dark secret was a selfish wish or not. However, his doubts were quickly dispelled again. All fathers have the right to know who their children are. If he were in Dave’s position, of course, he would still want to know the truth.

Felix then excused himself. William let the man go because he had nothing more to ask. He also ordered Danica to pay the check. Felix smiled happily because his business this time was done efficiently.

***

The next day, William determined to take immediate action. He did not want to linger and buy more time because the date of his divorce from Paula was also approaching.

“Dani, when is the dinner appointment with Dave?” William asked.

“Tonight!” Danica replied. “7 pm at the Restaurant in Dynasty Hotel.”

“Ok, thank you!”

William didn’t usually meddle in other people’s problems. But, this time, the baby could be his dependent in the future. He had to settle things up before it was too late.

Bad things could happen in the future if he didn’t say this earlier. It could be that the child in Lea’s womb would meet Dave’s daughter or son in the future. What if they fell in love and dated? Of course, it would be very bad, wouldn’t it?

***

The restaurant was not too crowded. However, for the sake of keeping a secret, William still booked the VIP room for Dave. Dave was waiting in the room-alone, at William’s request.

“Good evening, sorry to keep you waiting, Dave!” William greeted Dave with the signature smile he used to give to his business clients.

“No problem. It’s not that long,” Dave replied with a smile that was no less pleasant.

After ordering food, Dave started the conversation. “Oh. What important matter do you want to discuss with me?”

“I wanted to talk about Lea,” William answered.

Dave’s face paled. However, he tried to laugh despite being nervous. “Ah, you get along well with her? Why didn’t Lea tell me?”

“Dave, I don’t want to beat around the bush,” William whispered, “I just wanted to ask. Have you ever had anything to do with her? Something that is not related to work?” William didn’t smile. He looked at Dave’s face seriously.

Dave gulped, turning his gaze to anything but William. “I don’t understand what you mean. Why don’t you ask her yourself? Don’t accuse me of anything unreasonable!”

Dave’s face hardened. The man was angry with what was happening at this time. He felt humiliated and immediately prepared to leave. He quickly stomped to the door.

However, before Dave reached the door, William said. “She’s pregnant! She’s already five weeks pregnant.”

William’s words made Dave stop. He turned his head and suddenly the y, the color drained from his face.

“W-what? Pregnant?” Dave stammered. “You’re threatening me. You want to blackmail me, no?”

“Oh, are you surprised?” William asked again.

“It was a mistake. I don’t know anything about her pregnancy. We had sex just once!”

“But babies aren’t a surprise or even a mistake!” William smirked and continued, “Just recall what were you doing that night. Were you wearing protection or not?”

Dave’s mouth opened but did not refute William’s statement. It seemed, he admitted that at that time he did not use rubbers.

“Why are you surprised? What else could you expect to come out of if not a baby? A desk? A cupboard?” William exclaimed.

Dave’s eyes opened and closed many times, still unable to accept the reality he was facing right now. However, everything William had accused him of was the truth.

“I know you might lose everything if you tell the truth to your family and your beloved fiancée.” William looked at Dave with deep sympathy. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone about this.”

Dave was still freezing. One night’s mistake that he made turned out to lead to such deep regret.

“I wanted to let you know one thing. Because of some misunderstandings, my family thinks that the child in Lea’s womb is my baby. You can let it pass and pretend to don’t know anything. However, in the future, I can’t guarantee whether I will be able to love your biological child with all my heart or not.” William took a deep breath. He then rose from his seat, patted Dave on the shoulder, and then left the room.

As he was about to get into the parking lot, he heard a woman’s scream.

“Aaah! Help! Help!”

William immediately turned toward the voice. Before he knew it, he bumped into a skinny little boy in shabby clothes.

“Ouch!” The little man fell to the ground. “It hurts!” he groaned.

William studied the boy whose hoodie was now open. A woman’s purse fell near him. That light brown purse... William knew it very well.

The boy wanted to take the purse. However, William swiftly picked up the wallet from the ground, ahead of the boy.

“This is Paula’s purse, isn’t it? How can this be in your hands?” William asked interrogating the boy. He quickly checked the ID card inside to confirm the owner.

The frightened boy ran quickly, leaving William for fear of being caught and handed over to the police.

“Hey, don’t run!” William shouted. However, the boy still ran and left him.

Meanwhile, Paula, who fell while running after the pickpocket boy, was still kneeling on the ground. Her leg was sprained, it hurt quite badly.

Tonight, she was supposed to have dinner with Samuel. They promised to meet at the Dynasty Hotel’s restaurant.

“Ah, why am I so unlucky?” Paula grumbled in annoyance. She picked up the cell phone from the ground and called someone. “Fortunately, my cell phone is still with me.”

After a while, someone picked up her phone call.

“Hey, gorgeous! I’ll be there in no time,” Samuel answered teasingly. “You’re being impatient, aren’t you?”

“Sam, can you go a little faster? I was pickpocketed. While I was chasing him, I sprained my ankle and fell. Thank him, now I can’t walk,” Paula said as she endured the excruciating pain. Her smooth legs were lightly bleeding. “I’m in the Dynasty Hotel parking lot and there is no one around.”

“Good grief! I’ll be there soon,” Samuel panicked and immediately hung up the phone. He drove the car faster to get there quickly.

Exhaling lightly, Paula hung up the call and rested on her hands. She tried to stand up but failed because her legs were starting to bleed profusely.

Before long, from behind, a large and long hand shoved her purse close to her ear and said, “Don’t you have a husband? Why did you ask another man for help ... instead of your husband?”

Paula was startled, her heart skipped a beat. She turned her head and of course, she was surprised to find William crouched behind her, looking gloomy.

“Will-William?”