For some reason, Colton grew enthralled by her hasty expression. Languidly, he opened his mouth as he looked at her with his ebony eyes, and with a voice so magnetic, he stated, “Well, I bought it, so I did the paternity test.”
What?! Nicole was so stunned her entire body was petrified. Her jaw dropped as she fixed her unbelieving eyes on the man. She was thoroughly perplexed.
“Then… What was the result?”
Right as she voiced her inquiry, she thought, Oh, silly me, what was I expecting?
Colton stared at her without answering the question. He simply countered, “Miss Lisa, don’t you even have the slightest idea as to who your son’s biological father is?”
Judging by her expression, she was obviously regretting asking the question in the heat of the moment. As her excitement waned, her face began to redden. She stammered, “I-I mean, it was a thoughtless question. Of course I know who his father is.”
“Oh?” Colton blurted with his voice pressed. With that, he squinted his eyes. With an increased volume and a somewhat teasing tone, he smilingly questioned, “Then who’s the boy’s father?”
Withdrawing her gaze, she attempted to speak in a calm manner. “That has nothing to do with you, does it?”
In response, Colton softly chuckled and stopped talking about it.
Nicole felt utterly frustrated by his cliffhanger, dying to find out the results of the paternity test. Although she was certain that Hayden wasn’t Colton’s child, she wanted to hear an explicit confirmation from the man.
As if he could read her mind, he shot her a beam. “Indeed, Hayden’s not my son. The kid was just being a kid.”
Strangely, Nicole heaved a sigh of relief. Even she was weirded out by her internal celebration. “Well, kids, right? I hope you didn’t take it to heart.”
“It’s alright. I understand,” he generously replied.
As they were about to continue on discussing business, Nicole’s phone that was on the couch vibrated. Although she was going to ignore it, her heart oddly palpitated as her eyelid twitched. She grabbed the phone and took a glimpse, only to find out it was a call from her son. Apologetically, she turned to Colton. “Excuse me, President Gardner. I have to take this.” Finished, she held the phone by her ear.
Before she could ask her son what happened, she heard his panicking voice. “Mom, some bad guys came to our home and kept banging the door!”
Immediately, she grew anxious. Since it had been quite some time since there were any residents dwelling at their current home, she didn’t bother to install an anti-theft door. Right now, all there was between her son and the “bad guys” was a simple wooden door.
“Hayden, block the door with anything you can lift and go hide in the house. I’m coming back right away. Remember, don’t make a sound.”
“I think they’re about to come in, Mom.” Hayden suppressed his voice. No matter how mature he was, he was, after all, merely a child who had no idea what to do in such a circumstance.
In that instant, a chilly sensation gushed in her body and was creeping to heart as her lips uncontrollably trembled. I can’t let anything happen to Hayden!
“Hayden, find a place and hide yourself. I’m coming back now.” Perhaps it was due to the overwhelming perturbation in her mind, but when she was saying those words, tears began surging in her eyes and flowing down her cheeks. She bit her lips. How did this happen? Why would anyone want to kidnap my son? She never felt as helpless as she was now. Even with the fastest speed, it would take at least an hour to travel the distance between her home and Crown Hotel, where F&M Apparel’s annual dinner was being held.
Grasping her phone, as she was about to say something, she heard a commotion from the other end of the line.
“Mom, save me!” Hayden sobbed with his suppressed whimpering, followed by the voices of several men.
“This must be the boy.”
“Yeah. They mentioned the kid in this apartment. He must be it.”
The voices gradually grew inaudible before the call ended.
“Hayden, Hayden!” Nicole shouted at her phone, only to be responded by silence.
Troubled, she no longer cared about the meeting and tried to look for Zachary, but he was nowhere to be found after being summoned away.
On the other hand, Colton could roughly figure out what happened based on her panicking look and her conversation. At once, he offered his assistance with utmost debonair. “Let’s go and check it out. I’ll drive.”
At the moment, Nicole, as if grasping at straws, rapidly nodded and gripped Colton’s wrist, disregarding any sort of social stigma as she dragged him out of the venue.
Knowing the matter was urgent, Colton did not stop walking as they exited the building. As soon as they tacitly got into the car and fastened their seatbelts, the man put the pedal to the metal and sped away.
Grasping her phone, Nicole continuously dialed her son’s number, but his phone was apparently turned off given how her calls didn’t go through. She raised her hand and clutched her hair out of agitation. Ever since she gave birth to Hayden, this was the first time she felt so helpless and distressed.
No, please don’t let anything happen to Hayden! Or else, I wouldn’t be able to live on.
As Colton hit the gas, his car vroomed and roared, speeding away toward their destination. What was supposed to be a one-hour-long trip was shortened to only forty minutes.
Having reached their destination, Nicole lifted the skirt of her gown and picked up her pace. Ignoring the fact that she still had her heels on, she stormed up the stairs, only to discover that the door to her house was wide open. Traces of the door being pried open were apparent. The house was in a complete mess. All of the wardrobes in the rooms were opened, and even the fruit platter on the living room table was swept onto the floor. Evidently, the situation that took place earlier was rather extreme.
Feeling a tingle in her nose, she scoured the room as she yelled, “Hayden! Hayden!” Nonetheless, the house was silent, and not a single movement was heard.
Accordingly, Colton, who just parked his car, arrived at the scene, realizing that burglars must have barged in with the mess in the house.
Nicole then searched in every room without missing even one corner. Sadly, her son was nowhere to be found. All at once, she broke down in tears. Her son meant everything to her, and there was no point in living without him.
Staring at the devastated woman, Colton, for some reason, felt a sting in his heart. He subtly frowned, remembering how he was never a nosy person. However, perhaps it was because the woman in front of him could prove beneficial to Gardner Corporation, for he came up with a virtuous excuse. “I’ve got some connections. Send me some photos of your boy, and I’ll have them look for him.” Once Nicole accepted his help, she would be in his debt, and it would be nothing but advantageous were Nicole, as the Chief Designer of F&M Apparel, to repay her debt.
The woman sniffled with her eyes absolutely reddened. Regardless, she managed to remain rational. At that moment, crying wouldn’t be of any use as the most crucial thing to do was to look for her son. She didn’t even dare to imagine what would happen if she failed that.
Swiftly, she pulled out her phone and opened the photo gallery to search for her son’s photographs. Pulling up the images, she realized that she only had Colton’s number before turning to him and said, “Can you add me on Facebook? I’ll send the photos to you.”
“Okay.” Colton nodded and befriended her on Facebook.
At once, Nicole sent the photos to the man. Squinting her eyes, she attempted to hold up her collapsing mind. As she had been living overseas for many years, she basically had no close acquaintance in the country. Thus, she had no one to turn to for help. As she was hesitating, she received a call from Zachary. She then sniffled before answering the call and spoke with her shaking voice. “Hello?”
Having heard from the waiter that Nicole and Colton left the hotel in a rush with displeased faces, Zachary knew something was up. Nevertheless, now that he heard Nicole’s tone, he immediately knew the graveness of the matter. After pausing for a bit, he inquired, “Nicole, did something happen?”
“Hayden was abducted.” She held in the urge to wail.
Zachary was dazed to hear that and quickly comforted, “I’m coming right away, Nicole.”
Hanging up the call, Nicole crouched down. The weather was rather chilly in February. Despite donning only a gown, she stiffly squatted as if she couldn’t feel the wafting coldness.
With that, Colton took off his coat and draped it around her. As he gazed at the woman before him, an inexplicable pain flashed across his eyes. “I’ve instructed some men to look for your son. In the meantime, I need you to think whether you’ve offended anyone in the country,” he calmly suggested, thinking only a grudgeful nemesis would kidnap her child.
Feeling the warmth on her back, she sensed a smell on the coat that exclusively belonged to the man, in which she found comfort in. She raised her hand to brush away the tears at the corner of her eyes and shook her head. “Not that I know of. I’ve been living overseas for the past few years. I didn’t return here during that period either.” As she stammered, an idea popped up in her mind. If there were any people that held resentment against her, it could only be the Andersons.
Are the Andersons behind this? But why would they do so? Hayden is Joseph’s son, so even if they take him in, it won’t give them any benefits. Perhaps, there’s some convenience that they discovered in abducting Hayden?
Regardless, she couldn’t forgo any clue she could think of. “I got it. I’m going to pay the Andersons a visit.”
Before she could walk away, she was stopped by Colton’s grab, to which she, halting her steps, turned to look at him as she tried to shake him off. With a frown, she asked, “What are you doing?”
Colton swept his gaze across the woman’s figure. At that moment, the once-delicate makeup of the woman before him was smeared by her tears as tiny red veins surged in her eyes. She was nothing but miserable. Due to her hastiness, the bottom part of her gown was all crumpled and stained by dirt. Unlike the graceful Lisa she was one hour ago, she now resembled a pitiful stray puppy. As he withdrew the odd look in his eyes, with his raspy voice, he uttered, “Go get changed. I’ll send you there.”
Nicole lowered her head and took a look at herself, only to find that she, indeed, seemed pathetic. She then nodded and went back into her house. Followingly, she changed into a rather casual outfit, but she didn’t have time to remove her makeup. As she exited her room, she gathered her messy hair and tied it behind her head with a black rubber band. Regardless, her appearance wasn’t anywhere atrocious. Having changed into casual wear from her gown, she appeared notably younger.
“Let’s go. To Anderson Residence.” She dragged Colton, who she, in that instant, perceived as her life savior, as if she was comforted by the man’s existence.
Colton peered at the aggressive woman in front of him and how she intuitively grasped his wrist as she thoughtlessly dragged him forward. In the past, he would have confidently considered such behavior as a woman’s flirtation tricks.
Having descended the stairs, Nicole got into the car and finally calmed herself down. That was when she realized the car Colton was driving was a full black Rolls-Royce Phantom, and she felt embarrassed by the fact that she charged into the passenger seat.
As Colton was starting the engine, he caught Nicole’s awkward look and beamed. “You’re the first person to sit in my car’s passenger seat.”
“Uh…” Why’d he say that out of nowhere?! Nevertheless, thinking how the man drove her out of F&M Apparel’s annual dinner just to look for her son, she eventually blurted, “Thanks for your help.”
His deep eyes darkened. Without making a response, he concentrated on driving. Fortunately, Colton was somewhat familiar with Anderson Residence. Although he’d only been there once, he remembered the way there, thanks to his superb memory.
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