Chapter 61



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There were hardly any people in the café-bar on the second floor of the ST Group, even though it was almost dinner time.

The waiter was serving coffee to a table in the corner of the café as he nodded in Hayden’s direction. He gave her a warm smile to show his familiarity with her.

Hayden always worked in the second floor lobby, so she was very familiar with the employees who worked in all kinds of stores here.

“Dad, why did you come?” She asked anxiously as she stirred her coffee.

Across from her sat a man in his fifties. He wore a brown suit that gave him a good family look, and his black hair was sprinkled with a few scraps of silver hair. An expensive-looking watch, probably costing a million dollars, glowed dimly as it reflected the café’s bar lighting.

ɢ𝔞l𝓷𝓸v𝔢𝓵𝓼.c𝓸m brings fresh updates “Your sister attended Michelle’s engagement ceremony this Saturday and told me she saw you. It was she who told me you work here.”

Hayden had long anticipated Chelsea coming home and adding several layers of invention to her story, so she instantly became cold and emotionless. “What did she actually say to you? I’m sure she wouldn’t say anything nice, I guess.”

Bentley frowned and replied, “He only told me about your place of work. Why do you think he would speak ill of you, have you misunderstood your sister in any way?”

Hayden clenched the spoon in his hands tightly, there was barely any color in his face, “What kind of misunderstanding would I have with her? We just have very different personalities that never mesh well.”

“I know Chelsea always has a temper, but despite that she still cares about her little sister. We are family after all, so she would be more honest with you than any stranger could be. Hayden…”

“Dad.” Hayden interrupted, “You’re not just here to mediate between me and my sister?”

Hearing that, Bentley looked at her briefly and replied, “I hear you’re now standing next to Mr. Beckham of the ST Group.”

Her father’s question was, to say the least, not surprising.

Seeing as Chelsea had brought up her encounter with Hayden at the engagement ceremony, he would no doubt bring up the news about her and Joseph, as this news had caused a stir at the celebration. Even if she didn’t mention it, her father would most likely have heard about it from his friends.

Therefore, someone as astute as Chelsea, of course she would not pass up the opportunity for her father to hear this news from her own mouth.

She should have considered the possibility that her father might have found out about her antics of finding fault with Hayden at the ceremony.

“So what if it’s real, so what if it’s fake?”. Hayden looked down without denying anything and at the same time, he would not admit this fact so lightly.

“You’ve never had much interest in how I’ve led my life all these years, so you might as well stay out of this matter. I’ll be able to handle this on my own.”

Bentley wasn’t angry at Hayden’s coldness, instead he had a concerned look on his face, as if he was genuinely worried about her.

“I hear he has a son. If you’re really with him, you should be prepared for there to be a lot of things you have to consider thoroughly.”

Hayden slowly raised his head, “What if I told you that I have a son, too?”

Almost too slowly, Bentley’s expression began to transform.

Hayden was just waiting for the moment when his father would lose his mind and become enraged. Ever since she was mature, she had always wanted her father to take his anger out on her so she could take this opportunity to throw all her confusion and dissatisfaction at him.

However, Bentley only let her expression freeze for a moment before taking a sip of her coffee in an attempt to regain her composure. After setting the mug down, his face returned to peaceful, “When did it happen?”

“The reason I went overseas five years ago was to deliver that baby. I didn’t want to bring him home.” Hayden replied.

“So…he’s five years old now.”

He furrowed his eyebrows, indicating that he still hadn’t really calmed the turbulence in his heart, but at the same time he didn’t seem overcome with anger either. After a moment’s silence, he asked, “Is it a boy or a girl?”

“It’s a girl.”

Their conversation had morphed into something strange, as Hayden couldn’t see how his father was enraged. Bentley had been asking about his son, which made him seem to have forgotten his initial objective here, which was to question her about Joseph.

Finally, when they called the meeting to a close, he paid the bill and said cautiously after a moment’s hesitation, “If you’re not too busy, you should bring that girl home. If you’re willing, she can stay there too. The others will have nothing to say about it.”

After saying this, he left. His back provoked in her a feeling of loneliness.

From a young age, Hayden never had a mother. She grew up with her grandfather and only when he passed away did she end up following her father. At the time, he had remarried, and her half-sister Chelsea was only a few months older. When she was little, she never understood anything adults said, but when she got a little older, she couldn’t escape her fate of having her ears bombarded with gossip and rumors.

Some things could not be hidden forever.

Bentley always had the feeling that he had not fulfilled the role of father well with his daughter, so ever since he brought her back to his side, he always thought of ways to make up for her absence. He never said no to her requests, even allowing her to take a young man who looked like a beggar while he took him in. He had agreed to all her requests, but despite his efforts, he was always assailed by that feeling of helplessness that reminded him that he had not fulfilled all his duties as a father.

After meeting with his father, Hayden felt somewhat upset.

Fortunately, his work for that afternoon was coming to an end, so in order not to inconvenience the guests staying there, he interrupted his work just before nightfall.

With a bag on her back, she walked out of the ST Hotel and looked at the time on her watch. While in a daze, she suddenly remembered that she had forgotten to pick up Stella.

After hailing a cab, she told the driver, “Sir, take me to the Castillo Azul Bilingual Kindergarten.”

On the way, he called Rita, the daycare director. “They’ve already looked for her.”

He let out an exclamation while still in the cab and asked, “Who took her?”

On the other end of the phone, Rita carefully explained, “Mr. Beckham is the one who took her. I see he has a good relationship with Noah’s father and they always go looking for each other’s child, so when he offered to take Stella, we had no problem letting him do that. Is there a problem with that?”

“Oh, then no…no problem.” Hayden let out a sigh of relief, “Sorry to bother you.”

After he hung up the phone, he saw that he had an unread message. It was from Joseph, and it was a terse “[I’ve brought Stella to my house].”

He immediately instructed the driver to change his destination to the Villa Imperial area while he dialed Joseph’s number.

“Hello.” Joseph’s voice sounded on the other end of the phone, his voice so deep it sounded like he was speaking into his ear.

Hayden felt the air was oppressive so he rolled down the window to let some fresh air in. “About today, thanks for looking for Stella. I was too busy so I forgot about it.”

“You’re welcome.” She couldn’t detect any emotion in his voice as he said, “Naturally I’ll be true to the promise I made to you.”

“Your promise.” Hayden was momentarily stunned, “What did you promise me?”

“When you’re busy with the celebration these days, you asked me to go get Stella and stay at my house for now, isn’t that what you want me to promise you?” Joseph replied as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“What?” Hayden’s head was shrouded in confusion as he hurried to ask, “When have I ever made this kind of request?”

There was a few seconds of silence on the line and then a serious voice rang out, “The night before last.”

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