Jake POV
The limo comes to a halt in front of an office made of glass. The men drag me out and we walk into the office.
The air conditioning is really heavy and people were busy working and going around.
"Hello boss! We are here! We got him!" One of the men says into his phone.
Then he hangs up.
"Let's take him to his office" he orders and we enter an elevator.
It comes to a stop after sometime and we walked towards a door. It had a golden door knob and was white in colour without a stain.
One of the men knocks and I hear my dad's voice. They open it and I'm dragged into the office. My dad stands up as soon as he sees me.
"Why did you handcuff him?" My dad says.
"He was being stubborn sir"
They take off the handcuffs.
"Have you given the lady the reward?" My dad asks.
"No sir! She made it clear to me that she wasn't interested in it"
"That's strange! You can go" my dad says and they exit his office.
A lady gave them my address! And she doesn't want any reward! Strange!!! Who could she be?
My dad smiles down at me but I don't return it.
"Welcome to my office son" he says and stretches his hands out and looks around the place.
I smirk.
"Like seriously? Are you okay dad? You tell your men to drag me into your office like some criminal and you behave as if I came here on my own will" I bark at him
His face falls and he sighs deeply.
"Your men fucking kidnapped me from my home! They invaded my privacy! I have every right to report them" I yell at him
"Its not like that son! They just came to get you" He spits.
"I already told you I am not your son and I don't have anything to do with you! But what do you do? You get my pictures all over the city with WANTED written on top with a cash prize as if I was a criminal on the loose being traced by the police! As if I was some product being marketed! What's wrong with you?" I yell frustratedly at him.
"I was desperate! I was desperate to find you! And I found you! I'm sorry if you felt that way but I was desperate" he says to me.
I huff.
"You are unbelievable! Just forget about me! I hate you" I yell at him.
"You've grown so rebellious against me! What did your mother put in your head about me?!" My dad yells.
"My mother didn't tell me anything! It was your irresponsible actions that made me like this!" I yell back and his face softens.
"You think you are so successful because you are now wealthy and popular but lemme get some things clear to you! You are a loser!" I say and my dad clenches his jaw.
He says nothing and sits on his desk. He covers his face with his hands. I think I hurt him with what I just said. But he deserves it.
"Look, I'm sincerely sorry for what I did! Am willing to make a difference! I know I failed you! I am a loser! You're right about that but please hear me out! I had my reasons" he says softly with sincerity.
"You also have reasons for getting married?" I ask annoyed.
He looks at me surprised but he nods and I sit.
"I can't believe am actually going to listen to this fairytale!" I scoff.
He smiles.
"Thank you son" he says.
°~â¢~â¢Â°
"Your mom and I lived peacefully for a long time after we got married! We were madly in love with each other" he spills
"After we had you and Jessica, things were getting hard! That time you were only ten and Jessica eight years" he says and pauses to take a glass of water.
"I proposed to your mom that we move here and find something to do so that we could look after the two of you really well but she disagreed and told me to stay there and get another job to do" he says with a pause. I listen intently.
"When things became even more harder for us, she began drinking" he says and sniffs. I see tears roll down his wrinkled cheeks.
"So one day, my friend proposed we came here to get a job and live well and I told him my wife didn't agree
But he convinced me to come with him. He promised that the moment we become wealthy, we will come back for our families"
My blood runs cold as I continue to listen. I'm filled with fear of knowing the truth. Suddenly I regret maltreating my dad.
"So one night when you were all asleep, I met with my friend and we took a flight here." He pauses and wipes some tears off his face with a tissue. I just watch him.
"Things became better for us when we got here! And one day I decided to come back to England to check on all of you but......" He trails off and fresh tears are released wetting his dry cheeks.
"But....." I ask determined to know what happened.
"But when I got to our house, all of you were not there! The house was empty" he spits with pain evident in his voice.
"Some of the neighbours said you had moved to another town a few months ago because you couldn't pay the rent." my dad continues.
Even though I was a little boy then, I remembered we began packing one day and I asked my mom where we were going. She told me she didn't have enough money to pay the bills and the rent so we were going to our grandmother's place. Jessica asked mom about dad and moms face fell. All she said was
"Your dad will not come back! He left us Jessica"
I remember the pain evident in her voice when she said those words.
I sigh deeply.
"I asked them where you guys could have gone to but they had no idea" he states and he releases another round of tears.
"I reported this issue to the police and they began looking for all of you but they didn't find you! They said you probably left the country" my dad says and tears fill my eyes.
"So I went to the airport and asked them if you took the flight to another country. But there were no records of that so it meant you took the bus or something" he explains.
"I didn't know where else to look! You guys could have been anywhere in the world so I lost hope. I tried calling your mom but it seems she lost her phone or something" he spits.
"So I came back here and I met another woman. I decided to start a new family since I lost all of you. So I got married to her and we had two boys. They are actually three but the first one is not my son! She had him with her ex husband" my dad narrates.
"Although I got married, I still continued to look for you! I had hope that maybe, you guys would still be alive and would be living somewhere! I found out later that you were all alive and were living in Birmingham in the country but it was too late! I was already married" he continues.
"But why didn't you come and look for us there? At the new town?" I ask and tears run down my cheeks.
"I tried! I just couldn't find you! Its like you kept on migrating from place to place. When the police looked for you there, they said you guys had gone to another town." My dad explains.
"I regretted for leaving you all in the first place but I did it for the family" my dad says eagerly.
"Since then I never saw you nor Jessica grow up. I never saw my lovely wife again! I was so broken" my dad says. His voice distant and sad.
I just look at him with tears rolling down my cheeks.
"Now do you understand what really happened?" He asks.
I nod and wipe some tears.
"I just wanna say, I'm sorry for being so rude to you dad" I reply honestly
"Its nothing! I understand! I deserved it" he replies with a sniff.
"But am willing to change everything if only you can get me to your mom and Jessica"
"What about your new wife? Would she understand?" I ask
"Yes! She knows the story"
"I need to think about this! I don't know if my mom and Jessica would accept"
"You just need to take me to them! I would pay for the trip and everything! Here's my card! Call me whenever you are ready" he says and I take the card from him.
"I'll think about this and call you when I've made my decision" I reply.
He nods.
"Thank you son! "
"Your boss told me you stopped working for him and he really misses you" my dad states with a chuckle.
"Yeah!" I say with a chuckle.
"Would you love to work in my company instead? You are my son" he offers and am shocked.
"I.......I don't know. Its...." I trail off.
"I'll give you the chance to think about it! I just want to bridge all the gaps I created." He explains.
"I'll think about that too" I reply with a chuckle and my dad laughs. I never dreamt of sitting with my dad one day laughing.
A knock is heard and a petite female enters.
"Excuse me sir! Sorry for interrupting! But the meeting is about to start" she says politely.
"I'll be there in a jiffy" my dad replies and she nods before leaving.
"I have to go for a meeting! I would love to show you to my friends that I finally found you but its a serious meeting so later"
"Its nothing dad! I'll just go home" I say and stand up.
"I'll tell my guards to take you home in the limo"he offers.
" no dad! I'm alright! I'll just take a cab"I reply.
"Are you sure?" My dad asks raising a brow at me.
"Yes dad! Don't worry" I reply.
"Okay! Goodbye" he says and engulfs me in a hug. I hug back.
When we break the hug, we both have smiles on our faces.
"Bye dad" I say and leave his office. I thought about all that he said today. I wanted to pass by Nikki's house and apologise to her but maybe that would get her even more mad at me so I stopped by my apartment and went to my room.
I called her again but she didn't pick up. I sigh. I would meet her at Troy's party and talk to her.