The Billionaire's Wife: Estranged

Chapter 3

“THIS IS really alright, right?” Silver asked with doubts in his voice. “Mom might be bloody freaking out now since we’re missing.”

Currently, the triplets are in a car on their way to Vaux Group with the detective they hired and of course, Rico and Marc. Wala naman talaga silang balak na isama ang dalawang huli kung hindi lang sila nahuli ng mga ito na tumatakas na paalis ng kanilang estate, isusumbong sila ng mga ito sa kanilang ina kaya sapilitan nilang isinama ang mga ito gamit ang pampatulog na dala ni Joey ang detective na hinire nila to get information.

“You should have thought of that before leaving without any consent from her.” Marc answered in sarcasm. “And now you’re regretting it.”

“Don’t you think that’s a bit late since we’re just a few miles from reaching our destination.” dagadag naman ni Rico.

Slate glared at them. “We’re not regretting anything. We want to meet our father but it doesn’t mean that were not worried about Mom.”

“That’s correct.” Silver second then pouted. “We know that Mom doesn’t want to go back here, so we have to take the initiative to meet our father.”

Medyo lumamlam ang expression ng dalawang lalaki sa sinabi ni Silver, siguro dahil sa awa sa kanilang tatlo na lumalaki na hindi kilala ang kanilang ama.

“I told you, we shouldn’t have brought Uncle Marc and Uncle Rico here.” Erin said while pouting. “They’re such a bloody buzzkill.”

Rico turned to look at Erin, “Young lady, where did you learned that word?”

Inirapan lang ito ni Erin at itinuon na lang ang tingin sa dinadaanan ng SUV na sinasakyan nila.

“We need them here now, Erin.” Slate stated to his little sister. “Admit it or not, we’re still just kids and Joey is not enough to act as our guardian. If we did not brought them, the pilot would be suspicious and maybe we’re not here since they didn’t know Joey.”

Tama ito dahil siguradong mas malaking gulo ang mangyayari kung hindi nila kasama ang mga ito.

Silver giggled. “Though, they’re unconscious. Good thing Joey came up with a great excuse.”

Joey winked at them through the rear-view mirror since she the one who was driving.

Erin also giggled. “They were even drooling.”

Matagal na nilang gustong makilala ang tatay nila, gusto man nilang hintayin na maging handa ang kanilang ina na bumalik sa lugar na ito ay mukhang malabo kaya they took it in their own hands and hire a detective to look into their father. Besides, they have a more important thing to discuss with their father for their mother. Luckily, Joey Faux has a lot of connections in different countries even it doesn’t shows physically.

“We’re here.” Joey announced.

*****

“SIR GRAY, your 3 pm appointment is here.”

His secretary said but he noticed the uncertainty on her voice and when he looked at her it is also showing in her face.

“Is there something wrong?” he asked.

“Ah, sir kasi…”

The door of his office opened slowly and it revealed six persons, 3 adults and 3 kids. His forehead knotted with confusion and he’s uncertain of what is going on, who would bring kids in a business meeting. Besides that the adults doesn’t seems to be dressed for the occasion, they’re wearing jeans and shirts with sneakers.

He approached them. “Mr. Creston, isn’t this a business meeting, why would you bring your family here?” He asked to one of the man he thought would be Mr. Creston since other guy looks like a latin and not an english which that last name is.

He offer his hand to him but he awkwardly took his hand. “I’m not Mr. Creston. My name is Marc Heathe.”

Then he looked at the latin one. “Then…”

“I’m the one who set an appointment with you, Mr. Vauxgard.” Sabad ng isa sa bata kaya napatingin siya rito. “Actually, to be more precise, it would be the three of us.

Hindi niya napigilang mapakunot-noo sa nangyayari. Why would these kids want to speak with him? It’s kind of bizarre and unbelievable especially he thinks that they’re only around 5 to 7 years.

Nagtatakang tingin ang ibinigay niya sa tatlong bata at tila may kumudlit sa puso niya ng mabistahan ang tatlong bata.

The two boys seems to be identical but not so much though the most confusing thing is they looked kind of similar to him when he’s a child but there’s some difference and the only girl is very pretty, she looked similar to someone he knew and wanted to forget. They have similar gray eyes, full lips and pointed button nose as he have that made him more anxious.

This is making him unsettled and confuse, he might got the idea why they’re here but it’s impossible. It’s really impossible. This might be a unique coincidence, that’s right just a coincidence but why would these kids set an appointment with him.

Unti-unting kumabog ang dibdib niya sa nakikita niya kaya ibinaling niya ang tingin sa tatlong iba para mas malinawan siya sa nangyayari habang bumaling ang dalawang lalaki sa nag-iisang babae na tila ito ang makakasagot sa mga tanong niya kaya dito na rin natuon ang tingin niya.

“Uhm…” tila nag-alis ng bikil sa lalamunan ang babaeng naka-baseball cap, hindi naman kasi naitago ng suot nito na babae ito. “Hello Mr. Vauxgard. I’m Joey Faux, a private detective. I was hired to investigate and look for you by these 3 kids. It may sound bizarre but they’re eager to meet up with you that we flew for hours just to get here and honestly, we only have a few hours of rest before going here. I hope you won’t think this is some kind of prank.”

Hindi pa rin siya umiimik na ibinalik niya ang tingin sa mga bata.

“We’d like to introduce ourselves.” The boy in the middle said, he looked like a shrewd businessman at his age. “I’m Slate Ethan Vauxgard, the eldest.”

“I’m Silver Enzo Vauxgard.” The other boy said.

“And this is Argentine Erin Vauxgard.” Slate introduced the little girl clinging her older brother. “Can we come in and sit down?"

He just nodded then the kids walked inside his office like they have been here many times and approached the couch in his office, he followed while the other 3 followed and stand behind the couch where the kids were sitting which confuse him more but he didn’t focus his attention to that since he have a more important to focus on.

"We might using our mother’s last name publicly but legally our last name is Vauxgard. And I think we don’t have to tell you who we are.” Slate stated while helping his sister to sat down.

“Oh, we’re triplets, by the way.” Silver said nonchalantly while settling in his seat. “As in Mom had 3 babies in her tummy at once.”

Napangiti siya sa sinabi nito. It’s like this boy was informing him if he doesn’t know what triplets meant.

“If you want proof, we brought our birth certificate.” Slate interrupted. “Your name is indicated there.”

Umiling siya. “Where’s your mother? Did she just let you fly here without her?”

“She didn’t know that we’re going here.” sagot ni Silver. “Frankly, we like runaway from home but not really since we’ll return home.”

Nagulat siya na medyo napangiti sa sinabi nito. They have guts at their age, something he couldn’t do when he is at their age.

“Hindi alam ni Liza na nandito kayo?” It’s not an assumption, he knows that Liza is their mother since other than Ara, he only have Liza.

“Yes.” Slate answered. “Hindi kami nagpaalam since she has no plans on going back here and we don’t want to burden or pressure her about stepping back here. That’s why we took the initiative.”

He felt a little bit of pinched in his chest when he heard that but he just ignored it. “Then, who are these guys with you?”

“They’re our bodyguards and act as our guardian.” sagot ni Silver. “So, Mom won’t worry too much about us.”

Napatango na lang siya sa sinagot nito. It seems that Liza is living very well to be able to hire bodyguards for the kids.

Hindi niya malaman kung ano pa ang pwede niyang sabihin o itanong sa mga ito kaya ilang segundong katahimikan ang namagitan sa kanila kaya kahit siguro pagbagsak ng alikabok ay maririnig sa loob ng opisina niya.

“Also, we brought our baby photos up to date.” Argentine interjected the awkwardness while smiling sweetly.

May inabot dito yung nagpakilalang Joey Faux na isang paper bag at saka inabot sa kanya.

“So, you’ll have a glimpse of our life from we were born.” Argentine said. “That’s just a copy of Mommy’s that I made and I added some photos that Silver took, my penmanship is not yet good but I gave my best since I wanted to give that to you so you won’t feel that you miss out with our lives.”

He took one of the book inside the bag, it’s a scrapbook full of pictures of the triplets and their mom. So, she still do scrapbook as a hobby and their daughter took after her, he thought she won’t do that again after leaving all of her scrapbooks in their house. It made him smile knowing she still do stuffs like this since he won’t be able to get a glimpse of their life without him for almost 7 years.

He scanned the scrapbook from page to page then a picture caught his attention, it’s a picture of Liza and a guy kissing her cheeks while also hugging her tightly. He felt another pinch on his chest a much intense one this time.

“Silver took that on Mommy’s last birthday, ain’t Uncle Ed so sweet.” Argentine is now standing beside him while looking at the scrapbook.

His forehead creased. “Uncle Ed?”

“Yes. He’s like our father even though he’s not really our father since you are. He’s been with Mom right from the time she left here. That’s why Mommy loves him so much, she always say so.” Argentine informed. “And of course, Uncle Ed loves Mommy so much too.”

“Really?” He smiled a little but he feels so awful right now and he doesn’t know why. “What’s his full name?”

“Edward Creston.” Argentine answered with a much sweet smile. “And he’s super wealthy and he always bought us stuffs.”

That cause a lot of pain in his chest. “I-Is he the younger brother of the CEO of Crest International Conglomerate?”

“Yes.” Slate answered coldly. “He’s a doctor and owns a lot of hospitals and laboratories, he’s also into pharmaceutical since he's a chemist besides being a doctor.”

“Precisely.” Argentine said cheerfully. “And you know, he already wants to get married but there's a lot of complications right now. Though, even they’re not yet married, his fiance was being called Missus Creston now.”

Is she referring to Liza? He thinks that’s what they meant of using their mother’s last name publicly instead of his last name as the legal husband. That hurt his ego, right his ego and his pride, that’s why he’s feeling this way.

Since he’s in a daze, he didn’t notice how sinister Erin is smirking while watching him that gave a lot of chills to the other 3 adults standing behind the couch and Slate just shook his head.

When he turned to Argentine, she’s smiling sweetly while looking at the scrapbook. “Is it really alright for me to have these?”

She looked at him. “Yes, I made those for you.”

“Thank you.” sabi niya habang nakangiti rito. “By the way, how long are you going to stay?”

“Not long since we have classes.” sagot ni Slate na hindi pa rin nagbabago ang expression. “Besides, Mom might be on a plane right now to bring us back home. That’s why I’ll be direct to the point since I don’t want you and her to meet.”

Mas nagulat siya ngayon, this kid speaks like an adult.

“We wanted to meet you personally, even just once and let you know that we exist. I know that you were told that Mom got a miscarriage after the accident since that’s what she asked the doctors to tell you, so we don’t blame you for that.” Imporma pa ni Slate.

Medyo gumaan ang pakiramdam niya, may inabot din dito si Joey na brown envelop saka inabot din sa kanya.

“What’s this?” usisa niya.

“Annulment papers since there’s no divorce here.” seryosong sagot ni Slate na nagbigay sa kanya ng magkahalong kaba at takot. “That’s long overdue. I believe you already received countless of that for the past 6 years but you keeps on ignoring them. I don’t know what your intention is for doing so since you already have a new family, right?”

Nagulat siya na alam nito ang tungkol doon sa edad nito, napatingin siya kay Joey. Oo nga pala, nag-hire ang mga ito ng private detective para makuha ang mga impormasyon niya.

“We asked Joey to investigate you thoroughly before we went here, everything from the biggest to tiniest thing in your life, which also includes everyone around you. You already have a daughter who is a few months older than us and I believe your woman wanted to be legally Mrs. Vauxgard and keeps asking you to file an annulment. Also, I want my mother to have her own happiness and find a better man like Uncle Edward.” Slate said but he’s still speechless.

He doesn’t know what to say. Honestly, he, himself don’t understand why he’s hesitating in signing the annulment papers that keeps coming to him every month for the past 6 years and now this, personally delivered by their triplets.