Chapter 13: Family

Olivia sent Josh to the hospital and Josh was given a tetanus booster and rabies shot as Josh didn't know if Xander was updated with his vaccine or not.

The scratch on Josh's face was not deep. However, the chance of it leaving a scar was probable.

Josh was furious and even wanted to kill Xander after knowing that he would have three three-inches scars on his face.

Josh was very particular with his face and so this news devastated him.

The doctor gave him a list of instructions on how to minimize the formation of scars when his wound healed.

However, he was so occupied with the fact that he had to hide his face for seven weeks and undergo cosmetic procedures to remove the scar.

Olivia who was also listening to the doctor became less sorry for her brother as he observed his reaction to the news.

'Seems like Xander had taken revenge for his fur mom,' she thought.

Meanwhile, Xander had to stay at the vet hospital for observation and this broke Zarah's heart.

Xander was born with a frail body because he had to endure so much on the street before Zarah found and took him in. He couldn't properly stand when she picked him up and so he had to undergo surgery so he could stand and walk again rather than dragging his hind legs.

And now, because of what Josh did to him, he was in great pain and the vet had to closely check on him.

Zarah had no other choice but to leave him there.

Devastated, Zarah walked out of the facility. She decided to wait for Olivia outside as there were already a few taxis at this hour.

Olivia had to bring Josh back to Irving Residence as it was not advisable for the two of them to be in the same place when their emotions are so high.

Josh was still fuming in rage and had been swearing to kill Xander if he saw the cat again.

Zarah no longer wanted to see Josh after he hurt Xander, too. And she was thankful to Olivia for taking Josh away.

However, the journey from the hospital to their residence took her an hour. However, it would take thirty minutes to reach Zarah.

While she was on the way, her car unexpectedly broke in the middle of the highway.

Olivia got out to check her car and she was in disbelief when she saw smoke coming from it.

Good thing there's a good Samaritan who came to help her.

Elliott was driving by the highway when he saw the car in front of him stop.

Good thing he was able to hit the brakes and avoided the possible collision.

He saw the female driver get out of her car and so he followed. However, he didn't expect to recognize her.

"Good evening Miss Irving!" He greeted and his voice startled Olivia. She turned around and saw him walking behind her.

"Good evening, Mr. Floyd!" She greeted him back.

"May I?" Elliott asked permission so he could check her car himself. He recalled that she was best friends with Zarah.

"Thank you, Mr. Floyd and I'm sorry for troubling you with this."

"No, ma'am! It's an honor to help you and you're not troubling me at all." Elliott said and tried to open the front of her car.

They both coughed as they inhaled the smoke coming from it and he had to close it.

Elliott went back to his car and grabbed a rope so he could tow her car to the side as they were in the middle of the highway and quite a few motorists were passing by.

After he had successfully pulled her car to the side, they resumed the conversation.

"Where are you heading at this hour, ma'am?" If he was not mistaken, this was not the direction going to the Irving Residence. 'Maybe she has a flat nearby?' he asked himself.

"I'm heading to the vet hospital."

Elliott then tried to look at the inside of her car to check for any animals inside but he couldn't find any.

"Zaza's cat, Xander, got into an accident and she had to rush him to the vet hospital for treatment." Olivia finally explained.

"Oh!"

She tried calling Zarah but she found out that her phone was drained of battery power. Since she was in a hurry, she had forgotten to bring a charging cable.

Elliott gave it a thought and grabbed his phone. He looked for Rupert's number and called it.

Rupert, Chris, and Xavier were in a bar close to the vet hospital. They tried inviting him over but he declined as he had no time for it. His mother got a fever and he had to drive to the nearest pharmacy to buy medicine.

In a single ring, Rupert picked up the phone. However, the music was so loud that they could not hear each other properly.

Rupert decided to go outside and that's where they could hear each other well.

"What did you say?" He asked.

"Zarah's at the vet hospital near your location right now and she needs a ride home. Could you please get her and drive her home?" Elliott said.

"Oh, okay. I'll be on my way." Rupert said and he ended the call.

Olivia then asked Elliott about the call, "Who was that?"

"A colleague from work. Zarah knew him." He answered and Olivia asked him again, "Can he be trusted?"

"Well, hopefully. He's working with the CEO who is Chairman Stevens' third son."

Meanwhile, Rupert went back inside and excused himself.

"Where are you going?" Chris asked him as it was not their practice to leave the bar without getting wasted.

Other than Xavier, there were three other people in the room. One was a brown-haired handsome man wearing a white suit and the other one was a blonde-haired handsome man wearing a black suit. The third one was Hope.

Wait, why was she there?

Hope was not the only woman inside the room as aside from Chris and Rupert, Xavier and the two other men had women sitting on their laps as their companions.

"Elliott called me. Zarah's in the vet hospital waiting for her ride home."

"Can I come with you?" Hope immediately got up from the couch and grabbed her purse when Xavier spoke, "Stay here. All of you are drunk."

Everyone was baffled after hearing him. Especially Rupert who only had a couple of shots before he received that call however, he was not drunk. And what about him? Xavier had drunk more shots than everyone.

"Can you drive? I'll come with you." The man wearing the white suit asked him.

"No need Dylan. I can manage." Xavier shortly replied. His hand was not fully healed but he can still drive.

Dylan was the cousin who called him the other day.

Dylan looked at Xavier in curiosity while he got up, grabbed his car keys, and pushed the woman sitting on his lap away.

"Will you be back?" Dylan asked him but Xavier did not answer him and left.

As soon as he did, Dylan started interrogating Rupert and Hope, "Should I know something that I didn't know? Who's this Zarah, Rupert?"

"Zarah's an intern in Stevens Group, Young Master Dylan."

"Oh! That's interesting. I never thought that Xavier's taste became this low. He should have approached me. I'll give him a bunch of fine ladies rather than wasting his time with an intern."

Hope felt upset after hearing the man's comments about Zarah. She wanted to correct him but decided not to as she would rather let this man swallow his words after meeting Zarah.

"Do you have a photo of her? Maybe she's a beauty, that's why Xavier became interested in her." He added and this time Hope decided to interrupt.

"Why don't we leave Xavier alone, Mr. Lockhart? He disliked it when people tried to poke their noses into his personal life. If you're right and it's a fling, it won't last."

"You're right, Miss Fisher. I think I should listen to you then, yeah? After all, at the end of the day, either you or your eldest sister Felicity will become his wife."

He then gazed at her from head to foot and asked, "Aren't you supposed to be attending universities in Sterlington? Does your father know that you're with Xavier? Are you sticking around trying to make him like you?"

Hope didn't expect that his attention would be transferred to her. She should have just stayed quiet.

Faced with his questions, Hope only smiled at him and said, "I don't have to answer your questions, Mr. Lockhart." Hope then got up from her seat and looked at him with displeasure before she continued, "Don't be so sure about yourself, Mr. Lockhart. Whether Xavier won the bet or not, your marriage will follow shortly."

"Where did you hear that nonsense woman?!" As expected, Dylan was immediately triggered when someone tried to talk about his marriage.

Hope didn't answer him as she felt satisfied to put the man on the edge.

Hope left with a smile on her face. As she walked out, the other man excused himself as well, "I'll be back. Will just go for a smoke."

Rupert and Chris looked at each other. They were undecided as to whether they should stay or leave.

Hope went to the bar counter to buy herself a drink. She joined because Xavier invited her and she hated Dylan's guts.

The bartender served her cocktail and she was about to drink it when she saw the other man sitting down on the vacant stool next to him.

"I assume this chair's vacant." He said in a light baritone voice.

"You should go back, Cole."

"Nope. Dylan sometimes goes overboard once alcohol enters his system and I find it a little too much to handle."

"Aren't you Dylan's brother? You should stay with him despite his attitude." Hope told him but she didn't expect Cole to turn that question to her, "I could ask you the same question, Hope. Why did you decide to leave Sterlington and your family?"

Hope chuckled as she could not believe what she heard.

"Oh my! Don't turn my question back to me, Cole. Our situation is different. You did not grow up in a dysfunctional family."

Cole looked at Hope in disbelief.

"We behave like we are a perfect family when we're in public but behind closed doors, we are not. That's why I wonder how my dad convinced Old Master Lockhart to agree that the next daughter-in-law should come from my family."

"It's not about how Mr. Fisher convinced grandpa. Our families have great histories together. If I'm not mistaken, it started with both of our great grandparents. Your great grandfather helped my great grandfather and in turn, they made a pact that the families should be one by marriage."

Cole took his order before he continued, "Your grandfather was supposed to marry Xavier's grandmother as she's the only daughter of my great grandpa but she ran away with another man. She died and left a daughter and that's Xavier's mother. She's supposed to marry your father but she ran away and married someone old enough to be her father."

So far, it did make sense for Hope. However, she couldn't understand why it had to be Xavier.

"I don't know either. Grandpa and Dad are very secretive about this matter."

Meanwhile, Xavier finally arrived at the vet hospital.

Zarah had received a call from Olivia through Elliott's phone and he briefed her about it.

She was expecting that Rupert would be the one coming out of the car but she didn't expect that it was Xavier.

"It's you." She blurted out but she was met with Xavier's sharp tongue, "Why? Are you expecting someone else?"

"Yes." Zarah didn't hide it and it displeased Xavier.

"Get in before I change my mind."

"I don't need you to change your mind, just get lost." Zarah could not stand Xavier's guts.

Xavier was easy to talk to and so, he rolled the windows of his car up and was about to leave when Zarah grabbed the door handle, "Wait!"

Xavier rolled down the window and asked, "I thought you didn't want to. Why are you stopping me now?"

Zarah found out that the door was unlocked and so she pulled it and entered the passenger seat.

She remembered that she still had to talk to him about the owner of East Pacific.

"I want to talk with you about something. Can we talk about it while we drive?"

Zarah had been looking at Xavier and she didn't realize that she had not fastened her seatbelt.

"Don't you know how to fasten your seatbelt?" Xavier harshly reminded her and Zarah became pissed.

***