CHAPTER THREE
1372 Words
Jason smirked as his friend left the room dramatically. He didn’t understand what Mark was going on and on about or why he was so bothered. To him, variety was the spice of life and that applied to women as well. He was getting quite older, but he was doing well for himself. He had three children of his own, if you’d count his estranged son, Gabriel. To him, it didn’t matter that they were from different mothers. He had children, simple.
He looked at his arms and looked at his reflection in the glass door. He was sixty-five, but he looked way younger and that was something he was very proud of. He shook his head as he remembered Mark’s words. His friend was worrying himself over nothing.
His phone rang and on seeing who was calling, he took a deep breath before answering.
“Good morning, Rachel,” he said in a sarcastic tone. Rachel was the mother to his first daughter, Marina. He replied sarcastically because he knew she was about to ask him for a huge amount of money once again.
“Morning Jayy,” she said drunkenly.
Jason shook his head, thinking to himself how he ever fell in love with this woman.
“You’re drunk,” He stated.
“I called you. That’s sober enough in my opi…opinion,” she said slowly.
“Why did you call me?” He asked annoyance lacing in his voice.
“You’re rushing. Don’t… don’t you want to know how I’m doing?” She asked. Jason could hear things breaking and he just imagined how messed up her apartment was right now. His apartment rather, the apartment he paid for.
“You used to love me, you know?” She said to him, feigning innocence.
He was used to this. Her calling and trying to guilt-trip him into taking her back. It never worked and she never stopped trying.
“Yeah, that was until you nearly finished me and my money on alcohol, you drunkard.”
“I saw something in the business papers today,” she said, disregarding his comment.
He knew this was coming too.
“Yes, and?”
“You’re really getting married again, or is it just a rumor?” she asked.
“Is that why you called me? Because you care that I’m getting married again?”
“Do you love her?”
“It’s really none of your business,” He said firmly.
No response.
“What do you want, woman?” He was agitated now.
“You know what I want. You, you know exactly what I want,” she said, sighing.
“I don’t.”
“Stop playing games, Jason. Send me some money,” she said angrily.
“No. I sent you a huge sum two weeks ago. What did you do with it?”
“So you’re now asking me what I use my money for?” Rachel asked, raising her voice slightly.
“Your money?” Jason asked, baffled at the audacity of this woman.
“Jason,” she said daringly, “I will not repeat this again. Not again. Send me some cash.”
“Fine, fine. I’ll send you some money. Just don’t call my number again.”
“Okay. I promise,” Rachel said, laughing quietly.
Jason ended the call and threw his phone across his desk.
“Jesus,” he said under his breath. He couldn’t keep indulging in her addiction. But he didn’t know what else to do. She had some serious information on him, things that could ruin him.
“Sir, the doctor is here for you.” His personal assistant said knocking on his door and peeping through.
He nodded at her, still deep in thought, and shooed her away.
He would find a way to deal with Rachel. He just had to be discreet about it.
“Did you see the business article about your engagement to Jason?” Martha asked Blair over the phone that night. She was the last person Blair told about the meeting with him. The first and second being her parents, who wanted to know everything but didn’t want to seem too pushy. Her mum even showed interest, something she hadn’t done since Marie died. Blair was glad to see it.
“I didn’t know you read the business articles. I didn’t know you read articles at all,” Blair said, chuckling lightly.
Martha was furthering her studies in architecture at the Manchester school of Architecture, in the United Kingdom.
She had left New Jersey to follow her dream two years ago and was due to be back in some months.
Martha rolled her eyes on the other end of the phone. “I don’t. But you’re getting married to the CEO of Nancicorp. I knew there had to be something written about it in the papers.”
“Mmhm,” was Blair’s response.
“So have you read it?”
“Yes Martha, I have.”
“They are literally insinuating that he’s a pedophile in this article,” she scoffed. “Good for him. Maybe next time he’ll think twice before marrying someone younger than his daughter!”
Blair laughed at her friend’s commentary.
“How do you know he has a daughter?” Blair asked, slightly surprised.
“You’re literally getting married to this guy. I had to do some digging around on my own.”
“Oh really and what did you find out?” Blair asked, interested now.
“That he has three kids,” Martha said confidently.
“Blair laughed “You’re so wrong, he has just two.”
“Uhh no, he has three children. Two girls and a boy, I'm very sure about that.”
She was quite surprised. In the report she had read about the Lee's it had stated he only had two children. Both girls.
“There was no mention of a male child in the report I read,” Blair said, getting up from her bed now.
“He’s estranged from Jason. He doesn’t even answer his father’s last name. He goes by Carlton. Gabriel Cartlon.” Martha said, shocked that Blair didn’t know about it.
Blair thought aloud, “Did they try to hide him from my father? And the world in general?”
Martha disagreed, “Then how did I find out about him?”
“True. How did you find out about him, Mar?”
“On google! It was really that easy. They said Jason was rumored to have a son who he had abandoned or something of that sort. I just had to check a couple of articles and confirm that it was in fact not a rumor.”
“Wow.”
“Yep. I got a picture and everything. Hold on, I'll send it to you.”
The jpeg notification popped up on Blair’s phone and she opened it.
“Whoa. He’s quite attractive, I was not expecting that,” Blair said, genuinely surprised.
“I mean have you seen his father?” Martha said, laughing.
“Damn.”
“Bet you wish you were getting married to him and not his old hag father.”
“Mmhm. How old is he?”
“Twenty nine.”
“Not bad. Not bad at all.”
“Yeah he’s an artist too. Lives across the country. Rumor has it that his father hates him for studying the arts and following his dream.”
“Is he successful?”
“Very. His pseudonym is Beijing Bai.”
Blair gasped. She remembered looking at some works by Beijing Bai when she visited the museum with Marie two months ago.
“And how do you know that? I’m sure it wasn’t in the articles you read,”
Martha laughed. “It wasn’t, but surprisingly I met someone who knows someone who knows him, her at school.”
“Hm and you’re sure about all this?”
“Yes I actually am.”
Blair would have to fact-check for herself, but she believed her best friend. She wouldn’t bring any news to her if it wasn’t factual. Ending her call with Martha, Blair wondered to herself what else the Lee family was hiding.
- Writer
