Chapter Fifty–One
I thought the worst was over when I found my son.
I thought the embarrassment and the terror of that moment had ended the moment his little body snuggled
into me.
But I was wrong.
So damn wrong.
The real storm, real terror began the next morning.
I woke up to my phone vibrating violently on the nightstand. With a yawn, I groggily reached for it, careful not to wake Zareon, who was sleeping peacefully beside me.
But the call ended just as I brought the phone to my face. However, the moment the caller ID left the screen, my breath caught at the sight in front of me.
Hundreds of notifications, ranging from calls, texts, and emails, swarm my phone.
“What the….”
My fingers scrolled through the long rows of notifications, confused about what was going on. The moment I tried to click on one, my phone vibrated again, and Phoenix’s picture appeared on my screen.
My brow furrowed as I picked up the call.
“Hello,”
“Ava, do not turn on the TV,” Phoenix said urgently, her voice short and rushed as if she had been engaging in a vigorous activity.
“Sorry? What do you mean?”
“Just stay away from the TV or internet for now.”
“Hu….”
“Do you hear me?” came her hurried voice, and I found myself nodding even though she wasn’t there with me. “I still…”
Beep! Beep!
She ended the call, and my brow furrowed in confusion. What does she mean by staying away from the TV? I wonder if it has to do with her daughter? Oh God! The thought alone terrifies me. I disrupted a whole product launch yesterday just because I couldn’t find my son for a minute. Imagine if she were permanently restricted from seeing her daughter. The thought alone makes me fear for her.
My phone buzzed again, but when I picked it up and saw a new notification pop up, my breath caught in throat. .
Instantly, I started scrolling through the flood of articles, my hands trembling as I skimmed through the headlines and pictures of my face, Kyle, Lillian and even Elson. All plastered all over the internet like we were celebrities.
“A Dramatic Scene at Halo Company Product Launch Event: Woman Disrupts Ceremony, Accuses Guest of
k********g Her Child.”
- Poids >
The footage they showed made me want to sink through the floor, go under the earth and never come back. They had clips from the event, every damn details I didn’t even think would be captured, not to talk of let out. They replayed from the part where I screamed for Zareon, to the moment I slapped Lillian, who looked horrified, like she didn’t deserve the slap, making me look like the guilty one. They showed Kyle looking tense, and Elson being dragged in like a criminal. The most viral of them was when Kyle hit Elson. The part where Elson falls from the hit was cut out and turned into a funny GIF. However, the only thing they got of Zareon was the side of his face, and some of where I carried his sleeping self.
That was reassuring. But they didn’t stop there.
They tore me apart by twisting the story and blowing it out of proportion.
“Sources at the event claim the woman, who was found out to be the owner of a fast–rising marketing company, caused mass disruption after her son was reportedly missing for a moment. The wife of a major investor was accused and also hit across the face, leading to severe chaos and interruption of the ceremony.”
“Who even brings a child to a high–profile corporate event? Highly unprofessional,” a news anchor said with distaste. “Many are already questioning her capability both as a businesswoman and as a mother.”
I sat there frozen, stomach burning with bile as I continued scrolling through articles.
“What kind of mother brings her kid to a corporate event and loses him. Maybe she should focus more on being a mother before running a business?”
“Would you trust your company’s future with someone that careless?”
“A business owner who can’t even handle her own child? Shame!”
“Oh my God…” I whispered to myself, pressing a hand to my forehead. Those words thrown at me hurt a lot, I wouldn’t lie. This was what Kyle was saying. Although he had embarrassed me beyond words through his anger and clear jealousy, it now s anger and clear jealousy, it now showed he was right. I hadn’t been rational. That was a huge event, one which was surrounded by reporters and nosy wealthy people who are nosier than reporters themselves. I should have tried to hold myself together and report to the security instead of making a scene.
But how could I? I blinked away my tears, glancing over at Zareon, who was still sleeping with a hand on his face. How could I act discreet and calm when I couldn’t find my child?
As if on cue, my phone began to ring again.
I
I hesitated, but when I saw the name that popped up, I picked it up.
“Elson,”
“Ava, are you okay? Did you see the news?” His voice came out rushed and loud, filled with concern.
“Hmmm!” came my response, as I gently massaged the side of my head.
“Oh s**t!”
“Are you at the office?” I asked. Elson had always been the one to arrive first at the company.
“No, But I was…” There was a pause, and it was then that I knew he was driving. “It was filled with reporters. They aren’t much, but I couldn’t hide the surprise at how fast they got the news and dug this deep.”
I nod my head in understanding as if he could see me. “Please inform the rest of my employees that they can
>
take the remainder of the week off. Additionally, contact all clients who have meetings or deals scheduled with us this week. Apologize for any inconvenience and update them about our current availability.”
“Huh!” There was a screeching sound and then quietness. “Ava, the clients have been…”
My stomach churned. I didn’t wait for him to complete his sentence before bringing my phone from my ear to my face. My fingers hurriedly tapped on my phone until I got to my email, where my clients had already dropped cold and detached emails.
“Due to recent events and concerns regarding your professional conduct, we have decided to terminate our pending agreement, effective immediately.”
Tears blurred my vision, and my fist tightened around my phone.
Was this it? Was everything I worked so hard for crumbling before my eyes?
Was everything I built with every drop of my sweat, my pain, crumbling even before I could do anything?
Oh God!
I didn’t realize I was still on the call and that I was already crying until I heard Elson’s voice over the phone.
“Don’t let them get to you, Ava,” he said calmly and reassuringly into the phone. “These people don’t know the truth. They only see the version the media’s showing them. They’ll come back once all this is resolved.”
I remained quiet, even long after the call ended. This isn’t only about my crumbling business because I know I will fight to rebuild it no matter what. But my fear was my son. If the media keeps dragging this, it will take them no time to dig right into my past. My only hope and prayer was that it would die down soon. I let myself believe for a brief moment that Kyle would do something, as this dragging would affect him too.
But that was a cold lie, because the media wasn’t done.
By evening, things escalated far worse than I could have imagined.
“Rumours are rising regarding the connection between Ava Kings and Kyle Banks and his wife, Lillian Moore, one of the investors present at the disrupted event. Is there more to this scandal than meets the eye?”
My heart stopped as I stared at the article. How they got each of our names was beyond me. Trembling with the dread of what I might see next, I clicked the article that followed.
There, an old photo of Kyle and me smiling too warmly, sitting too close and in love was found and posted. It was a picture taken right before my family lost everything.
My heart constricted painfully, but I still went ahead and scrolled further to see different pictures of Kyle and me tagged and posted.
“Kyle Bank’s Past with Ava Kings Revealed!”
“It Was Confirmed Kyle and Ava Were Once Romantically Involved & Divorced!”
Next to that post, my worst nightmare stared back at me, and my heart stopped.
A zoomed image of Zareon’s face.
A picture of him from the event, when I took him from the officer, was placed side–by–side with Kyle’s picture
from years ago.
“Is The Missing & Found Child Kyle Banks’s Son?”
Instantly, I clicked on the first article under, and my fear tipped over.
+8 Points >
“Notice the striking resemblance?” one article said. “Same hazel eyes. Same facial structure. This child is
definitely Kyle’s.”
This comparison, which could have still passed as made up, exploded on the internet. It spread everywhere. From Twitter to f*******: to i********; and all, with millions of comments.
I staggered back, dropping the phone onto the couch as if it burned.
“No. No, no, no,” I whispered, my butt hitting the couch with the same force as the phone. My hands pressed
on my face.
No, no. Why is this happening?
I had always known this day would come someday. It would be delusion not to think that Zareon’s existence and parentage would be hidden forever, even if that was what I had thrived for. However, the moment Kyle and his wife showed up, I knew it was unavoidable, but I just hadn’t thought it would happen like this, publicly in such a dramatic way that called so much attention.
I gasped for breath, my vision going glassy as tears swam in my eyes. Panic and regret clawed at my chest, but I couldn’t cry as loudly as I wanted so as not to scare Zareon, who was playing with his favourite toy on the fur rug across from me.
The door dinged, and Phoenix entered in a rush. The moment my glassy eyes met hers, she rushed to me. “Phoenix,” I gasped, my emotions overwhelming me. “They… They.”
“Ava, breathe,” she urged, wrapping her arms around me. “Breathe. You’re not alone in this. We’ll get through this together as always.” She reassured as she always does.
“But it’s everywhere,” I choked out. “They know. They all know.”
Phoenix pressed me tighter to her body, her chin resting on the crown of my head, her voice low and calm. “It’s going to be okay,” she said. “We’ll figure it out. But right now, what should matter to us is being fine and not letting their words get to us.”
“But it’s not,” I whispered, tears spilling freely now. “They’ll never stop. They’ll never leave us alone. Zareon is just a baby. He doesn’t deserve all this attention and hate. No, he doesn’t.” I started crying into her clothes. Zareon, who heard his name, turned to us, then made a series of loud gibberish noises when he didn’t get our attention. I wiped my face with trembling hands and straightened my back before turning my head to the toddler who was looking at us with the cutest look that could wipe away sorrows. He made another gibberish sound before returning his focus to his toy.
Yes, that’s right. I had to be strong, if not for anything but my son. Even if it meant losing everything, because he was my world. He was everything, and I shouldn’t let the internet drama pull me down.
Wiping my face dry again, “I’m not…,” I began, turning to Phoenix, but stopped short.
“Are you okay?” I asked, my eyes glazing over her thin and hollow face.
She stared at me for a moment, her shoulder trembling, and then just like that, she burst into a choked sob.
Oh crap!
