46

My emotions were not giving me room to process my thoughts, but I didn't consider barging into Ethan Brooks' office as an irrational behavior.

"I'll call the security on you, ma'am!" His dumb secretary thought a threat would do. She could call the SSS for all I cared.

"Son of a bitch." I yelled at him.

As usual, he was fondling some woman on his desk. Anger was boiling within me like hot spring water. I felt like tearing them into a butcher's pieces.

The lady leaped to her feet and scurried out of the room, without even drawing down her mini skirt.

"Have you finally gone insane?"

"Damn you Ethan!" I launched at him and slapped him so hard across the face that my hand hurt.

"Well, Fuck you, Layla!" His eyes flashed with fury.

"You must be out of your mind for you to have barged in on me on my property. I will file a suit against you for this." He threatened.

Oh, you meant my father's property rather. I fumed.

"Where have you kept my son? What the hell have you done to Nathan?" My chest ached as I couldn't keep my cool.

He scoffed.

"I expected you to have come earlier, what do you think that I'd confess that I am responsible for his kidnap? You are such a fool!" He roared.

"It would be best for you to own up to it now, or else, I would not leave you unscathed." I ground out.

He clapped his hands.

"That's exactly what I want...do not leave me unscathed and let's see who gets more scars." He sneered at me, closing the gap between us.

Then and there, I knew that the battle line had been drawn and it was either me or Ethan. But it had to be me, I won't let him win no matter what.

"What? You are suddenly mute? You're dumb now?" He let out a mocking chuckle.

"You have the audacity to barge in here and yell at me like a rabid dog after keeping my son away from me. Let's slug this out in court." I hated his confidence. And I realized I was not wrong after all. It was he who had kidnapped Nathan from his school.

His confidence for me. I scoffed.

"Where's my son?" I repeated, but in a more calm tone. Cause with the way my blood was boiling, I could murder him at this rate.

"You are suddenly calm, huh?" He chuckled.

"And you mean our beloved son?" He questioned, and it disgusts me to think if he thought he was Nathan's real father in the first place.

"Where is he?" I snapped.

"He's doing okay, perhaps... shouldn't you know how's doing? You have kept him under your shadow for four years, I bet you know his every feeling, allergy, and mood."

"What do you want?"

"You're still asking? Really, Layla? You're still asking?" He laughed. "Well, by the way...I didn't say I kidnapped him, right? Do not lay a false allegation on me, please." He returned to his swivel chair.

I came closer to him, very much sober now. My head was spinning with a headache and I could barely stand.

"You are the only person who is capable of such a vile act." I gritted.

He chortled.

"Vile, you say? What's vile is you keeping my son away from me for four years and then continuously lying to my face about him not being my son!" He yelled.

"He's not your damn son!" I yelled back.

"Bloody liar!"

"Carry out a DNA test and see for yourself, you bastard!"

"There's no point in that. He is my son, I'm damn sure!"

"Of course, there is a point... You are fucking impotent!" I blurted out.

"What?" He breathed. "How dare you say that to me?" He pounced on me, almost smothering me. I struggled to free myself, but his grip was too tight around my neck.

I pounded his chest continuously, but he didn't let go until I kicked him in the balls. He crouched to the floor level and groaned.

I moved away from him, trying to catch my breath. He was a fucking murderer!

"I'm saying the truth. You cannot impregnate a woman, you fool. You couldn't impregnate me during our marriage and now, Chloe's baby is not yours." I was determined to let him know the truth of the matter.

"That's enough!" He ground out.

"She has made you have the delusion that you can impregnate a woman." I laughed mockingly at him.

"That's enough!" He yelled again.

"Go and perform a test, and we can have a proof."

The look on his face was saying a lot more than words could say.

"You are an asshole as much as she is a bitch, right?"

His eyes had become very red.

"I have proof of her infidelity," I said as a matter of fact. "It's right here." I brought out my phone. He wanted to snatch it from me.

"No! That's not how it works." I took a step back, with my phone behind me.

"How does it fucking work? Why should I believe you anyway?" He bellowed.

"You have no choice, all right? You think Nathan's your son, but he is not, and then Chloe's baby is not yours either. You are the loser here."

"I won't believe that until I see the evidence. Nathan's my son, I fucked you—"

"But I got laid right after." I cut in.

"I went to a club and fucking drank myself to a stupor and had mind-blowing sex, a sex that even you couldn't satisfy me with,"

"And you expect me to believe that?" He scoffed.

"Yeah, for your good, you should. Chloe has been playing games with you, and you are badly losing to her, just like I lost to you four years ago. I've not started to make you pay, but she has set the foundation for me."

He suddenly burst out into a peal of wild laughter.

"You sound lame..." He said amidst fits of laughter. "Show me that proof, bitch." He ground out.

"Where's Nathan? I must be sure he's okay."

"This is not an exchange."

"It is," I said flatly. "Take me to him, I want to see him."

"No." He returned to his seat. I was disappointed, I thought I already had leverage over him. "I don't care whether Chloe's having an affair or not, it doesn't affect the smallest part of me. I won't be so silly to believe you. You will not see Nathan."

"Great! Now I know you are responsible for kidnapping my child." I turned to leave.

"If you love your son, you won't involve the cops. It's dangerous." He warned, and his icy voice stabbed me in my spine for a moment, I was scared of what he could do to Nathan, but then I thought, didn't he believe Nathan was also his son?

"You can't hurt him."

"Who's talking of hurting him..." He smiled mischievously.

"Don't you dare..." I glared at him.

"I'll send him far, far, far away from you...and you'll never be able to see him ever again."

My heart dropped.

***

Sofia

Mrs. Carter was restless in the living room as she was trying to reach Aunt Layla through the phone.

"I've been redirected to voicemail, too." My mum said, dropping her phone on the console. "You have to calm down, Hannah. I don't want you to be stressed." She added.

"She's quite irrational. I shouldn't have allowed her to leave just like that." Mrs. Carter frowned.

"Nevertheless, I don't want you to be stressed. Sofia?"

"Yes?" I stood up from the dining room.

"Get your Aunt Hannah a hot cup of Nestlé." She said, and I went ahead to make the coffee. It was freezing outside, and I wondered where Aunt Layla was. I hoped she was okay and Nathan too, I hoped they would find him soon.