Colton’s ebony eyes twitched. Watching Nicole, who was in his arms earlier and now in Zachary’s embrace, he, for some reason, felt disturbed, but that might have been him overthinking. Regardless, he did not reveal his thoughts and simply responded with a light smile and a nod. “I’ve had my men look into it. I’ll give Miss Lisa an answer as soon as possible.”
Zachary grew relieved. “Thank you very much, President Gardner.”
Beaming, Colton replied, “Don’t worry about the meeting. After all, it shouldn’t be hard to actualize the partnership between Gardner Corporation and F&M Apparel.” Having said that, without further chatter, he came up with an excuse before getting into his car and leaving.
Seeing as he left, Zachary lowered his head to look at the woman, who stopped crying but was still hyperventilating, in his arms and dolefully wiped the tears off the corner of her eyes. “Nicole, how’s Hayden?”
Nicole raised her head and looked at the man’s benign smile as she blinked her irritated eyes before rubbing them and shaking her head. “I don’t know either. During the annual dinner, Hayden called over and told me there were some bad people at home. But when I got home, my house was already turned into a mess. I couldn’t find him and my calls wouldn’t go through.” She gritted her teeth, and as she was speaking, her eyes, once again, started to moisten.
Zachary had known her for about four years, but that was his first time seeing her crying and her downhearted look. That was also the first time he held her in his arms and let her depend on him. Followingly, he grasped her shoulders as he revealed determination in his eyes. “I’ve asked some of my friends in the country to investigate the matter on my way here. We’ll definitely find him. Don’t you worry, okay?”
Nicole nodded and wiped her tears off. Right now, Hayden was her only hope. Her emotional outburst earlier might have been excessive. “Yes, Hayden will be fine,” she resolutely stated, as if she was also encouraging herself at the same time.
Hopelessly sitting on the couch, even Nicole herself didn’t know how she managed to live through the night. Under her eyes were the stains of her ruined makeup which she had yet to remove that made her seem extremely petty. It wouldn’t even be an overexaggeration to describe her as a banshee.
Meanwhile, accompanying by her side was Zachary, who was constantly making calls and contacting everyone he knew to scour for Hayden’s whereabouts.
Every minute that passed agitated her more as she remained in a posture, stationarily sitting on the couch until the sun rose. Because she had kept her eyes still for too long, when she eventually moved her eyes, she felt a sting in them.
At her zoned-out look, Zachary couldn’t help but feel pained. Pouting his lips, he turned to Nicole and suggested, “Nicole, why don’t you go get some rest? I’ll tell you as soon as I receive news about Hayden.”
Upon his timbre, there was finally movement on her frozen face. She turned to Zachary with a forced grin, and with a feeble voice, she replied, “I’m fine.”
Hearing that, Zachary hesitated to say anything knowing he wouldn’t be able to persuade her given her immense worry for her son. Subtly, he heaved a sigh and continued contacting his peers. He gave up sleeping for the entire night as he was, too, concerned about Hayden.
Right when Nicole spaced out, her phone beeped in her pocket. Immediately, she grabbed her phone and saw it was a call from Colton. Hastily, she answered the call and put the phone by her ear.
“My men found some news about your son. He was last seen at Pine Harbor. A witness saw some thugs carrying him onto a ship,” Colton stated.
At once, Nicole’s heart began to palpitate as she gripped her phone so hard that her hand paled. Ship? Hayden was brought to the sea? All of a sudden, her vision turned dark, but fortunately, Zachary managed to hold her up, or she would have collapsed onto the floor. Gasping, she quickly pursued the matter, asking, “President Gardner, have you found the thugs yet?”
“Only information about them. If everything goes according to plan, we’ll be able to locate them today. I’ll update you as soon as I can,” Colton said.
“Thank you, President Gardner,” she immediately thanked.
“You may drop the courtesy,” he faintly replied. After hanging up, Colton lay backward and rested his entire body against the back of his chair, visibly fatigued. With his slender fingers, he pinched the bridge of his nose, gently massaging it. As he was about to rest for a bit and shut his dreamy eyes, the phone on his desk rang. He answered the call, one hand on his forehead, and asked coolly, “What is it?”
“President Gardner, the thugs were just done with their traveling procedures. It seems like they’re going to hide themselves. We’re now sealing the airport, and all there’s left to do is wait,” the informant on the call conveyed.
Colton nodded. In order to look for Nicole’s son, he hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep the entire night. He then inquired with his hoarse voice, “Have you seen the kid?”
“Not yet. For now, we can only look for those thugs, and then we’ll force the kid’s whereabouts out from them.” Having received the commission from Colton, the informant and his crew had searched for Hayden the whole night. Hence, they, too, were exhausted. They first started with scrutinizing surveillance footage to track down the child before finding the thugs, leading to their progress now.
“Mm. Find the kid at all costs,” Colton icily ordered. He loosened his fingers that were pressing his brows as he figured that his effort was worth it. Once he succeeded in helping Lisa, Gardner Corporation would certainly thrive in the clothing industry.
After all, a businessman’s purpose was to amass profits.
As the day gradually brightened up, a shadowy anomaly occurred from the horizon.
Meanwhile, Nicole was supporting her head with both her hands, pondering. Once again, her phone rang, but this time, it was a call from an anonymous line to her business number. Frowning, she rejected the call as she was too disrupted to talk about work. However, it only took a few seconds for the unknown person to call her once more. After pausing for a while, she picked it up.
“Nicole.” As soon as she answered the call, she was greeted by a gruff, gratifying voice. With that, she already knew who the caller was. It was none other than her biological father, William Anderson!
With an antagonistic tone, she coldly blurted, “What?”
Despite her apathetic utterance, William remained amicable as he chucklingly said, “Nicole, I’ve prepared the things you wanted to retrieve last time. Why don’t you come and take it if you have the time now?”
Recognizing how his speaking attitude contrastingly varied compared to the last time they spoke, Nicole could easily tell what was happening even with half her brain gone. She subconsciously revealed a sarcastic grin.
The only reason William’s attitude would change so radically was indubitably the result of Queenie telling him about her identity as Lisa, and him trying to please her right now was proof enough. Indeed, she wanted to retrieve her mother’s belongings, but the current circumstances wouldn’t allow her to. Rolling her eyes, she answered, “Not now.”
Fearing that Nicole might hang up, William quickly continued, “My grandson’s here too. He’s been playing around for the entire night. If you have the time, come and fetch him home. I’m getting old. I don’t think I can keep up with him.”
Hearing that, she was dumbfounded. The iciness in her eyes instantaneously turned into shock as her lips trembled. “Hayden’s with you?”
“Yeah. What an adorable child,” he laughingly said.
“I’ll come over right now.” Without saying more, she swiftly hung up and dragged Zachary up from the couch.
At her nervous look, he curiously asked, “What happened?”
“Hayden’s at Anderson Residence. Come with me,” she speedily explained as her heart rapidly thumped. Hayden’s safe! Although there was no telling whether William’s words were true, she at least found a new direction to go.
“He’s with your father?” Zachary skeptically questioned. Having been in F&M Apparel for so many years, he had never heard Nicole talk about her family. The only thing he knew about her family was her deceased mother, which was stated in her resume, while information about her father was left blank.
“Yes.” She lowered her gaze, and she was visibly trying to be patient.
In response, Zachary knowingly nodded before grabbing his coat on the couch and draping it around her shoulder. “Let’s go. I’ll send you.”
Swiftly, Nicole got into Zachary’s car, a silver Maybach, and as soon as she told him the address, he immediately drove off.
Having reached the gates of Anderson Residence, Nicole hastily alighted, while Zachary, worried about her, parked his car and quickly followed after. She charged through the doors into the well-lit living room, where four individuals were sitting on the couch, including her son who was sitting in the middle. “Hayden!” Nicole dashed to him and hugged him, holding him tightly in her arms.
Seeing his mother, Hayden immediately wailed out loud. “Mom!” No matter how mature and well-behaved he was, the abduction had certainly shocked him. He spent the entire day being uptight, and it wasn’t until he met Nicole that he started to cry at the top of his lungs.
Looking at her son snuggling in her embrace, Nicole bitterly caressed his silky hair, relieved that her son was intact. She continuously comforted her son as she whispered into his ear, “You have nothing to worry anymore, Hayden. Mom’s here.”
There was a trace of redness on Hayden’s milky cheeks, which seemed to be the doing of the chilly sea winds. After all, how could a child’s frail skin withstand the torment of the sea winds?
Hearing her child’s sobbing, Nicole felt devastated as if a thousand needles were pricking her heart. She tenderly patted him and waited for him to calm down before asking, “Where did you go, Hayden? You got Mom so worried!”
Hayden lifted his head from Nicole’s arms and revealed his sorry eyes, muttering, “A bunch of bad guys barged into our house and carried me away. They brought me to the sea. And my face hurts from the wind blowing.”
At once, Nicole hugged her child’s head as her heart thumped. The sea… As she was comforting her son, she raised her head to look at the remaining three on the couch. She pulled a freezing, straight face as she glared at the three, coldly interrogating, “Why is Hayden here?!” She squinted her eyes. I was right after all. It was all their doing!
“Don’t be so angry, Nicole. Hayden’s my grandson. There’s no way I would hurt him, right?”
At that moment, Lydia stood up with a gratifying look and walked over to caress Hayden.
Nevertheless, Nicole took a step backward and evaded her hand. Standing still, she swept her gaze across the Andersons. “You said you knew nothing of his whereabouts, so why is he here?!”
Queenie looked up, disdain and resentment evident on her face. If it weren’t for William’s persistent hindrance, the little rascal would have drowned in the waters by now. “No matter whose child he is, he is still Dad’s grandson. What’s wrong with Dad wanting to see him?” she questioned, her voice hostile.
Hearing that, Nicole lowered her head and looked down at Queenie, revealing a belittling smile. “What you did was abduction!” Her eyes were evidently red, and having spent the night without slumbering left her extremely energyless. Nonetheless, now that her son was right in her arms, she couldn’t be more relieved by the vivid sensation.
“Don’t be mad, Nicole. We’re family, right? Come, sit down, and we can have a nice chat,” Lydia, standing at the side, suggested.
Disgusted by their pretense, Nicole intensely leered at them. She would never forgive the people behind her son’s abduction. “Be prepared to get sued. Imprisonment is coming for all of you.”
Eventually, Queenie lost her patience and sprung up from her seat, gazing at Nicole as she sternly yelled, “Why are you being so difficult, psycho? Even if Dad divorced your mother, he’s still legally your father. And since when has a father meeting his grandson become kidnapping?”
Queenie was infuriated just by thinking how William’s behavior changed after knowing Nicole was Lisa. Enraged, she continued, “You’re not trying to disown your own father after becoming the Chief Designer of F&M Apparel, are you?”
At those ridiculous words, Nicole burst out laughing. There was nothing but delight on her face, realizing how they spoke nothing of Hayden’s journey to the sea, but kept going on with the grandfather-grandson talk, and only a dimwit couldn’t tell why.
“My own father, you said?” She turned to
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