Rising to his feet, Hank walked up to Liberty, who was busy in the kitchen, and asked her through the window between the dining area and kitchen, “Where’s my son, Liberty?”
Liberty took a glance at him and went back to work.
It took a while before she faintly answered. By then, Hank nearly threw a fit from waiting. Sonny’s asleep.”
“Asleep? Where?”
Liberty kept to herself.
Hank went on to say, “Your business is doing good, and you’re busy. It’s not safe to have Sonny here. What if he runs outside, and you don’t realize it? Someone might just kidnap him. What are you going to do about it then?
“My son is such a cute boy. He fits the profile of what these kidnappers are after. I’m going to take Sonny with me so my parents can take care of him for a while.”
Liberty took a fleeting glance at Jessica who was helping herself to breakfast.
Getting the message, Hank spoke in hushed tones, “Jessica said yes to it. She’s happy to have a child in the house. It will make the place livelier, and my parents won’t constantly fight with Jessica.”
Liberty wanted to say no. Still, she had to consider the terms of the divorce. At the end of the day, Hank was Sonny’s father. Liberty said, “You can take him to stay with you if he agrees. You can’t make him if he’s not keen on it.”
She left the choice in her son’s hands.
Sonny was more than willing to have outings with his father, but he did not want to live somewhere with his mother out of his sight.
“Of course, he’s keen. It’s his home too. I am his father. My parents are his grandparents. My parents are used to looking after children. They’re bored out of their minds now that they have no little kids to take care of. They have been nagging me to look after Sonny.
“Don’t worry. You have Sonny’s custody and I won’t fight for it. I’m just trying to share the burden. It’s all for Sonny’s safety.”
Hank then added, “Where is Sonny sleeping? I’ll take him home after breakfast. It’s none of my business that you want to start a business, set up an eatery, or to make money, but it pains me to see my son getting up at the crack of dawn because of you.”
“Sonny went with his uncle.”
“Mr. York? Isn’t Sonny asleep?”
Liberty faintly remarked, “He’s asleep. Zack carried him away in that state. You can pick him up at York Corporation if you want to.”
Hank was speechless.
“If Sonny doesn’t want to stay at your place for a few days, you can visit him at Seren’s bookshop. It would be hard for me to find the time to look after him since I’m busy, but he’ll be spending a lot of time at Seren’s bookshop.
Furrowing his brows, Hank said nothing more.
Given a choice, Sonny would rather pick his aunt over his father.
Hank had once told his son that he would take him to the zoo. The little guy was happy, but he left with his aunt the next day anyway. Sonny was willing to give up on the trip to the
ZOO.
He knew where he stood.
Hank had not been a good father. Although his son called him dad, they were not very close.
He returned to his seat at the table. Jessica asked, “You look upset. What happened? Did you get into another row with her? Is Sonny around?”
“Zack took Sonny away. She said that we can’t make Sonny stay with us if he doesn’t want to. I can already tell that Sonny won’t want to stay with us. My parents have never taken care of Sonny before. I used to be busy with work, so I hadn’t spent much time with Sonny. I doubt he’ll want to live with us for a while.”
After a brief silence, Hank added, “We can visit when we miss the boy.”
Although freaking out inside, Jessica remained calm on the surface and spoke understandingly, “It takes time to bond even for fathers and sons. You should visit him often when you have the time. Take him out, bring him to nice restaurants, and have fun with him at the playground. He’ll learn to trust you as his father and be willing to stay with you.”
Hank answered, “Yeah. There’s no rush. We can take things slow.”
“Why don’t you tell Liberty that we’ll take Sonny to the zoo this weekend?”
“Sounds good. Sonny was jumping with joy when I said I would take him to the zoo.”
Hank had no idea what Jessica was up to. He thought Jessica wanted to get along with
Sonny and eventually have a child of her own.
He accepted Jessica’s suggestion wholeheartedly.
Zack carried the little man into the office, earning surprised looks from York Corporation’s employees.
When did their CEO have a son?
Was he not married for merely six months?
How did a six–month–old marriage produce a two- or three–year–old toddler?
Zack had always had a shine to his nephew. Without the help of his bodyguards, Zack carried Sonny out of the car and into the office building. Everybody was shocked by the love and care he had for Sonny.
No one thought it was strange that their CEO doted on his wife because the York boys were well–known uxorious husbands.
They thought their aloof CEO would not have the patience to care for a child. It never occurred to anyone that he had great potential to be a stay–at–home dad.
Once Zack carried Sonny into the lift, the two receptionists started their exchange in a low voice.
“Is that the boss’s illegitimate child?”
The receptionist glanced at her colleague and said, “Don’t you know that his wife has a sister?”
“I do. Boss’s wife lost her parents early on in life. She has been living with her sister for more than a decade–everybody knows that. Oh, I get it. The child is the nephew of the boss’s wife. I heard her sister divorced her husband and has custody of the child. The son is about two to three years old.”
Seeing the light, the receptionist uttered with a smile, “That sounds about right. The child must be his wife’s nephew. I can’t believe the CEO would bring his nephew to the office. People would think he was carrying his own son by the gentle way he held the child.”
“He might be dying to be a father… Maybe the missus is pregnant, and he is doing at practice run on caring for a child. He probably wants to be a very involved father.”
The other receptionist was shocked. Was it possible?
Deep in his sleep, Sonny did not wake up during the car ride and the walk to the office. His uncle finally laid him down on the bed in the private resting room.
Zack bent over to take off Sonny’s shoes and socks before removing his jacket. He also tucked the boy under the blanket.
The sight of the adorable child only made Zack’s heart melt. He leaned forward to kiss Sonny on the cheek.
“Sonny, I want to have a little boy or little girl with your aunt every time I look at you.”
The boy a little shy of three years of age was sound asleep, so of course he was not going to respond to Zack.
Zack stayed for a while before leaving the private resting room. He had just come out. of the room when Mr. Chaplin knocked on the door and entered.
“Mr. Lewis is here, sir.“.
“Okay.” It then occurred to Zack that he was meeting Duncan to talk about a partnership. He gestured for Mr. Chaplin to let Duncan in.
Duncan took large strides into the office, asking with a smile, “I heard you brought a child to the office, Zack. Is it your illegitimate child? I can’t believe you. We’ve been buddies for many years, and you never bother to tell me that you secretly had a child.”
Although tempted to throw something at Duncan, Zack could not find an item of good weight.
He peevishly snapped back, “He’s not my illegitimate child. He has parents, you know. But someone likes him a lot and wants to be his dad.”
“Sonny?”
Without a second thought, Duncan named Sonny.
Something did not feel right. Duncan was too quick to answer when Zack said someone wanted to be Sonny’s dad–as if he confessed.
Sure, Duncan was fond of Sonny and wished Sonny was his son. However, he did not like Liberty that way.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.