CHAPTER 29: THE ONLY OPTION

"Stacy! Eli..!" Ethan ran towards their direction. He was so worried when he heard the gunshot.

"Eli, are you okay?" Aisha asked his son when the culprit was apprehended. She could feel Eli trembling so she caressed his back. Ethan embraced them both. He looked at the culprit. He was shot in his arms and the police arrested him. Stacy on the other hand, really wanted to confront the culprit but he was already surrounded by the police. Ethan noticed it so he assured her.

"Don't worry, honey. I'll make sure to interrogate him." He kissed her forehead as he carried Eli in his arms. "Let's go home first." Aisha nodded.

"Miss Stacy, Mr. Ethan, we really apologize for what happened earlier." The chief officer came and apologized to them, especially to Stacy. She smiled at him but shock was written all over her face. She was having a hard time processing all the things that happened.

Ethan assisted them inside his car. Stacy couldn't drive her car since she was a little bit unstable, so he called Larry to bring her car back home.

Meanwhile, Caleb also called Aisha.

"Are you okay?" He asked on the other line.

"Ehmm…" Stacy answered.

"I'm sorry I didn't arrive in time but I was able to graze the culprit so you can interrogate him further." Caleb explained.

"I understand… thank you Caleb." She mumbled lightly. So it was Caleb who shot him huh. Thank goodness he arrived in time.

She ended the call. Ethan entered and saw her leaning on the backseat with her eyes closed while Eli was lying on her lap sleeping soundly.

***Ethan laid Eli on his bed as soon as they arrived at the mansion. He found Stacy sitting at the terrace in deep thoughts. He went and sat beside her. He didn't speak a word. He was actually waiting for Stacy to speak.

After a while, Stacy hugged her feet to her chest. She curled up.

"I-I'm sorry… I bought you and Eli more harm than good." She said in a minimal tone. She looked away. She couldn't look at Ethan.

"It's my fault that these things happened." She started to sob.

Ethan didn't answer. He was silent. He was actually waiting for her to say more.

"I'm sorry." She was repeating the same phrase over and over again. Ethan frowned.

"It's no one's fault." He answered finally. He went closer then he embraced her tightly. "It was never your fault." He caressed her back. Aisha embraced him back.

*** The next morning, Ethan received a phone call from the chief police officer regarding their son's case. He was told that the man was not aware who the child was. Someone only instructed him to pick up the child. Someone paid him to bring Eli to the park and that certain person would meet them there. The culprit could not give a name as to who paid him so the police detained him.

Also, Master Omni called Ethan after his conversation with the chief police officer. He heard the news about Eli being kidnap. He was aggravated that he wanted to kill the person behind this.

"Ethan, don't you think Eli is safer at grandpa's mansion?" Aisha suddenly spoke out of the blue. Ethan looked at her curiously.

"I was just thinking, Can we send Eli at grandpa's house instead? He can do homeschooling there at the same time." She explained.

"I don't think he is safe here anymore." She continued.

"But why? We can just assign some of our skilled bodyguards to protect him from here." Ethan said questioningly.

"I don't think it will help. It's not that easy. Those guys seemed to be playing around yesterday. I think they did that in purpose." Aisha was trying to explain it in a simple way.

"What do you mean?" Ethan had a puzzled expression.

Aisha sighed. It looked like she didn't have a choice. She stood up and went to her drawer and pulled up 2 envelopes then she handed them to him.

"Butler Antonio handed me those few days ago." She explained. Ethan was shocked and anger was written all over his face.

Ethan crumpled the envelope when he saw the content. It was all Eli's pictures in every angle! It seemed like the real culprit was able to approach Eli without any suspicions. Ethan was so upset.

"And you're telling me this JUST now?" He was upset.

"I-I'm sorry Ethan. I don't want to involve you with th-----"

"How could you say that?!" He cut her off. "Eli is my son! He is also my responsibility! Are you saying that I am incompetent!? That I cannot protect my child?!" He yelled. Aisha trembled.

"T-that's not what I mean, I-----"

"So what? Do you have other reason to keep this from me? Is there's anything I needed to know, huh, Stacy?"

"I....I..." She couldn't tell him that truth.

"How could you keep these matters to me? I really don't understand! Can you enlighten me?" He was breaking up.

"Because of your selfishness, you almost hurt Eli! And yourself!" Ethan decided to walk out the room before saying more painful words to Stacy. He punched the wall as he exited.

"I'm sorry!" Aisha cried silently. "I'm sorry that I can't tell you everything. I wish I am strong enough to reveal the truth." She sobbed. "I'm so sorry for being selfish all this time. But this is for your own good." She whispered while crying out her frustrations.

"I have to protect you until my sister comes back for good. But if protecting you means leaving you, then I guess I have no choice. I will definitely depart from your lives as soon as I finish this mission."

Aisha was in deep thought. She sighed heavily. It was becoming complicated. Guess she needed her father Demetrius' help then.