C H A P T E R 2 : T H E U N T O L D T R U T H A N D T H E W R A P P E D U P L I E S
J A V I E R S U M M E R S
It was about three days later when Javier had finally received a phone call from Derek Williams, Ella’s biological father. He was lucky that he had informed the person he had paid to find Derek to only give his cellphone number to Derek, without telling him who he actually was. The reason was simple, he did not want Derek to find stuff about him on the internet that may lead him into dialing his office instead. Ella could not know about it until the day where he had arranged for both of them, father and daughter, to finally meet.
“Hello,” he answered the phone once he had made sure that the phone number of the caller was the exact same one his private investigator had informed him last night.
“Oh, I am sorry, I think I dialed the wrong number. I thought I was calling my daughter.”
“No, do not hang up, Mr. Williams,” said Javier immediately. “If you are looking for Ella, you are dialing the right number.”
“Who are you?” Derek's tone changed one hundred and eighty degrees. He had been polite at first but now, he sounded as if Javier had stopped his toe. “How do you know my name? How do you know my daughter?”
“Perhaps because I am going to marry her in weeks’ time?” Javier provided as he slowly lowered himself to his seat. “I have been looking for you, Mr. Williams.”
“Marry? My daughter is getting married? Is that why you have been looking for me? Does she want me to walk her down the aisle? Is that what this is about?”
Derek Williams sounded very excited and almost touched that Javier did not have the heart to say ‘no’. Nonetheless, he could not say ‘yes’ either when he clearly could not predict the future so, in the end, he decided not to answer the older man’s question. “Would you be willing to meet your daughter?”
“Absolutely. I have been looking for her for ages. When her mother, Eleanor, had taken her away with her, she left no trace at all. I have gone looking for them and there were once or twice where I found her and asked her to discuss things over but she kept running away.” Derek let out a deep, weary sigh, and when he spoke again, he sounded much older than his real age. “At some point, I have to give up. Even though deep down I never wanted to but it was crystal clear to me that she does not want anything to do with me. I finally settled down again and found the love of my life. We have a family here in Washington.” The man paused for a few heartbeats before launching multiple questions at Javier, “How is she? How is my little girl? Does she still like to get a nice back rub? She used to ask me to rub her back every night before she went to sleep.”
From his tone, Javier could tell that Derek was probably smiling as he reminisced the good old memories of his daughter. It pained him how the misunderstanding had occurred and caused Ella to hate her father. Ella always thought that her father had abandoned her and her mother. If only she knew that her mother had been the one who ran away from home. Though this thought did bring him to wonder why would Eleanor run away in the first place?
“Why did she run away?” He decided to ask once and for all rather than thinking of the possibilities. At least, if he found out that Derek was not a decent man and he had been abusive or something along that line that had caused Eleanor to run away with their daughter, then he could forget about this whole reunion. He could simply cut the call and never arrange anything behind Ella’s back. If there was even a slight indication that Derek was the bad guy here, Javier would never allow him to meet Ella. Regardless of the fact that Ella’s mother had lied to her by feeding her the wrong story.
Derek grew slightly defensive as he replied, “Why should I tell you? I want to talk to my daughter.”
“Unfortunately for you, there is no chance you can talk to your daughter unless I allow you to so I suggest you start spilling the beans and laying all your cards on the table.” Javier anxiously eyed the door, hoping that Ella would not burst in any second now. “Do not let me ask you twice, Mr. Williams. I am not a patient man.”
“And apparently you are a man with trust issues too since you have yet to tell me your name, young man,” said Derek with an annoyed grunt.
Javier smiled. He had been wondering when Derek would realize that Javier had dodged his question ten minutes ago. “Your story, Mr. Williams. As I said, if you want to meet or even know of your daughter, you should answer my questions. You do not know me and you do not my name. If by the time I ended this call and you have not answered my question, then you shall never meet her.”
“You are smart, if not cunning,” mocked Derek, followed with a dry laugh. “She left because of her poisonous sister.” His laughter had ceased and Javier could feel the atmosphere had shifted. “I am not sure what happened and Eleanor always screamed whenever I tried to bring it up. Her eyes, damn, she looks traumatized and I have no idea what was wrong. All I know was that I had gone home that morning after working on a night shift at our local hospital. After a tiring night of doing two complicated C-sections, all I wanted was to lay on my bed and sleep. Instead, I found Eleanor sobbing in the kitchen. I could tell something had gone wrong when I saw her sister being there with her. Her sister, Rachelle, is a bad influence. I never liked her. I only tolerated her because of Eleanor.”
Javier had never met Rachelle so he did not have any opinion of her. “Then what happened?”
“I asked them what was wrong and none of them said anything. Rachelle said that Eleanor was just feeling sad after watching a movie but I did not believe her so I asked Eleanor. She did not say anything but I saw guilt in her eyes. Until this day, I did not know what she had done, and even though when I had found her twenty years ago, I had told her to come back and that I would forgive her, she still would not come home. She kept running and running and I—” The man’s voice cracked and it was as if he was trying his best not to break apart when he took a deep, calming breath then continued, “I felt bad for her. I felt bad for my little girl for having to move around just so her mother can avoid me. So yeah, like I have told you earlier, I decided to stop. The second and last time I met Eleanor, I told her I would not go looking for her anymore. I do not think she believes me but I really hope she does so at least my little girl would have a place she could call home.”
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Dear Gentle Readers, have you ever read this author's other book called "THE BAD NERD BOY"? If you have, then here is one clue for you, Ella might be related to someone in that book. Enjoy your (almost) weekend!
C H A P T E R 3 : T H E N I C E B A C K R U B A N D C H I L D H O O D M E M O R Y J A V I E R S U M M E R S It would not be Summers’ dinner if there was no drama especially with the return of their long lost son, Draven. Ten years ago, at seventeen years of age, Javier had willpower bigger than anyone else’s. Draven had been framed and regardless of how many times he had tried to explain, no one believed him. No one except Javier and his mother. To make things even worse, their grandfather had written Draven’s name off of his will which could only mean that he was no longer a part of the Summers family. Being one of the older siblings, Javier had tried to talk to both Thornton and Piers, but Thornton had sided with Piers and their grandfather and deemed their little brother as ‘an ungrateful, entitled asshole’. Javier had been the only person who had secretly helped Draven to secu
Later that night, Ella lay in Javier’s arms, in the warmth of their bed and the soft glow of good sex and candle lights. She had gone with Damon and Tanner after work to get some shopping done and by the time she had arrived at her flat, Javier had been in an apron. Yes, Javier Summers, the CEO of Summers Entertainment Industry had been wearing her pink apron and standing in her kitchen cooking steak. It appeared that during her shopping with Damon and Tanner, he had arranged everything from the candlelight dinner at the balcony surrounded by her beautiful flowers and plants to the candlelight bedroom. In all honesty, Javier would have gone for a candlelight bath too but since Ella only had a shower and he had promised that he would not complain so he gave it a rest. With her back pressed into his chest, he ran his hand down her smooth arm to her wrist and subtly touched her engagement ring. “You know, we have never t
C H A P T E R 5 : T O L E A R N T H E H A R S H , P A I N F U L , A N D U G L Y T R U T HJ A V I E R S U M M E R S “Let’s just say that what you have been telling me so far was the truth, do you have any proof?” Javier asked while checking his emails on the computer. When Ella’s father had yet to reply, he added with a more pressing tone, “Please think very carefully as this might be our last conversation should you have no proof at all.”“There is no proof." The man let out what sounded like a mix of a grunt and a sigh. "I am afraid you just have to take my words for it, Young Man.”Javier gave it a thought. “Then I suppose I could not take you to meet Ella. Thank you for telling me your side of the
Ella stared at her trembling hands and clenched her fists. This was not happening. Just when her life was getting good and everything fell to the right place, life decided that she got off easy and created problems for her. A small tear slipped out of one corner of her eye and she quickly wiped it away. What hurt more was the fact that Javier had not told her beforehand. He had not asked for her opinion even though it was crystal clear that it was her past that he had been digging. He had no right to do that. He should at least talk to her, ask for her opinion. They were partners. They were supposed to sit down and discuss things over and yet he had made decisions on his own without consulting her. Would this be the course of their relationship? Him deciding things on his own based on what he thought might be the right thing to do or the best course of action. Closing her eyes, she leaned back against the back of the seat and
The second Javier entered the house (Ella’s flat), he knew that she had been there and without even calling for her name or searching through the rooms, he also knew that she had left. The only question was where she had gone to. He started by eliminating places where she could be like the office and Damon and Tanner’s flat — because it was during working hours and there would not be anyone at their home. The next thing that came to mind was her mother’s place just right outside Seattle. He fished out his phone and sent a text to Ella, asking where she was. He wanted to call her but since he had seen her car was not parked, he assumed she was driving and he did not want to take her eyes off the road. With text, she could simply read it later. Then he dialed Eleanor’s number. The first call went to voicemail but Eleanor did pick up the next one. “Hello.” “Eleanor, this is Javier and I am wondering if Ella is there.”
Javier paced along the laminate floor of the waiting room, his fingers running through his messy hair. This was not the first time he had done this. His tie was discarded somewhere carelessly without a car. He continued to pace, probably burning a hole in the floor but he could not think of anything else to do. He needed to do something, anything. “Javier?” He jumped and finally stopped pacing as he glanced at Draven who was walking towards⁰⁰ him. Javier struggled to hold back his sob as he headed straight for him, his arms locking around his younger brother in a tight embrace. He nuzzled his face into his neck and fought his best not to cry right there and then. Draven locked his arms around his brother and held onto him tightly while muttering, “I am sorry. I came here as soon as I can. Do not worry, Brother. She is gonna be okay. Ella is going to be alright, Brother.”
“I know you do not trust me, Javier,” said Aimee once Nurse Jo had left. She was sitting on the sofa with her hands clasped on her lap while Javier was sitting on the chair next to Ella’s bed. “And I do not blame you after what has happened between us but you should know that this is work. I would never implicate anyone’s life or health.” When he did not say anything and still kept his eyes on Ella, she continued talking, “It has been ten years. You should forgive and forget about it. I have lost count of how many times I said that I was sorry. It was a careless mistake. I should not have done it. If that did not happen, perhaps—” she took a pause and let out a sorrowful sigh, “perhaps you and I are still together. Maybe we are even married and have one or two kids.” Without even looking at her, he muttered under his breath, loud enough for her to hear, “Stop talking.” Yet Aimee continued with her chatter as if she had
It felt like a dream. Except for the fact that he had not slept the entire night and even though the sun rose up, nothing changed. Ella was still lying on the bed unconscious. Javier had kept a close eye on her, watching her the whole night and hoping that she would move a muscle or even better, open her eyes, and yet there had been nothing thus far. He would have been worried that he had lost her if it was not because of the steady rhythm of her heartbeat on the monitor. Moving his gaze from Ella, he watched Damon and Tanner sleeping on the couch. Tanner was sleeping in a seating position while Damon put his head on Tanner’s thigh and occupied the rest of the sofa. Tanner had one hand over Damon’s eyes and forehead and under different circumstances, Javier would have laughed picturing Damon as a naughty brat and Tanner as his mother who tried to make him fall asleep. Ella had great friends. Javier was very grateful for their presence. He was not sure he could have gone through the