Zach.
Prayer was the last thing on my daily to-do list. I couldn’t even remember the last time I prayed. Did I believe in God? Maybe I did. But I haven’t been practicing my faith for years.
However, challenges have beaten me in the last few days and anything to give me hope of a miracle was welcomed. I remembered when I was little, and my adoptive parents would take me to morning mass. It was there that I learned how to pray silently. As I grew into an adult, exposure to the wild world diverted my interest to other things and sadly, faith took a backseat.
But right now, here inside the boardroom of E.G. Towers, I am calling all the saints I knew about. With the empty ash-colored leather chairs and the long glass table as my companions, I shut my eyes and mumbled a few words of silent prayer.
Dear God! I know I'm not used to talking to you anymore. Please, if you’re listening… please forgive me for ignoring you all these years. I’m not calling you now for myself, but for the most important person in my life. Please! I am begging you. Save her life. And I promise I will do anything and everything that you ask of me! You can take me! Save her!
I opened my eyes and stared at my fingers, waiting. I came to E.G. Towers to see Ewan Gibson, the CEO of this company – Blaire’s real father. She might hate for this forever, and my adoptive parents may never forgive me, but I don’t care anymore. I’m willing to try anything just to save her life.
I’ve been waiting in the boardroom for fifteen minutes, but Mr. Gibson still hasn’t showed up. I didn’t mind. I’d wait for days if that’s what it would take. Patience was one of my virtues.
The past forty-eight hours have been hell on earth. The unfortunate incidences that kept happening to me and my family came in quick succession that I thought the vein in my head would pop anytime. I’d believed I was a strong guy, but the last days had deflated my ego beyond repair. Right now, I let go of all my pride, I threw away my ego.
I hated to recall everything that happened in the past few days, but the images wouldn’t fade.
When Blaire fell from the flight of stairs, she hit her torso and head against the banister. She passed out before she reached the bottom of the stairs. There was so blood everywhere that I almost fainted at the sight of her inanimate body. I was scared out of my skull, afraid that she was dead.
We rushed her to the hospital and after hours of surgery, she remained in coma. And when the doctors came out of the operating room, they gave us news that would damage me forever.
“I am sorry. We tried to save the baby. But the impact of her fall was too much,” the doctor said.
“Pregnant?” I echoed.
“Yes,” the doctor replied. “Is the father here?”
A tear rolled down my cheek as I remained rooted in my place. “I… I am.”
I heard the shocked gasp of my mother beside me. I forgot that our relationship was still supposed to be a secret and right now, only my adoptive father knew.
“I’m sorry, son. We did everything we could.” The doctor patted my shoulder in an attempt to comfort me.
And I knew… I did this to her.
I got her pregnant and I failed to protect both her and our baby!
As if the mounting woes were not enough, the doctors told us that her condition was very critical and that she lost a lot of blood. She would need another operation but sadly, her blood type didn’t match any of ours, not even her mother’s.
“The blood type she needs is very rare, but we must do everything we can to get it if we want her to come out of this–alive,” the doctor said.
“Doctor, please… save her!” I pleaded, not knowing how else I could help her.
“Money is not a problem,” Father said. Mom just kept sobbing beside him.
Hours have passed yet the surgery couldn’t be started as we have yet to find a match.
And I knew there was only one thing left to try.
Tears rolled down my cheeks again and I wiped it before Ewan Gibson could barge into the boardroom and find me crying like a baby. He would want to know why. I can’t tell him that I knocked up the daughter he didn’t know he has, and now she lost that baby.
His grandchild!
I wouldn’t be able to bear the shame.
For the first time since I fell head over heels in love with Blaire, I regretted my actions, my lust for her beauty, my infatuation, my obsession, my selfishness, my...my…
Recklessness!
Damien was right after all. I was a pervert, a randy dog. I loved her with all my heart but look where it got us. You don’t cause pain to someone you claim to love, you protect them with your life. But my love is killing her!
I swear to God, if she lives through this, I would stay out of her life – forever, for good. If leaving her alone and going somewhere far from her would keep her safe, free from scandal, shame, and embarrassment, I swear to leave and never show myself to her again.
The Stewarts didn’t know what I was about to do. They didn’t have to know. Besides, I started this mess, so I must be the one to clean it up. I doubted that they would agree to let me go. After all, Father was in tears inside his office that day before Blaire overheard us. He was begging me to stay and to allow her to be the one to leave instead.
The door to the boardroom creaked open and I jumped at the unexpected distraction. I dabbed at my face as swiftly as possible with my sleeves to clean my tears. The melodic voice of Ewan’s tall and petite secretary forced me to look in her direction.
“Sorry for keeping you waiting, sir. Mr. Gibson is here now,” she said, sounding business-like. “But he doesn’t have much time. So, you have only ten minutes to state your concern while he listens.”
If only Ewan Gibson knew what I came here to say, he would give me a lot more than ten minutes of his time.
I was about to reply when she turned her head toward the door and a tall man with graying ash blonde hair, slim figure, and amber eyes, emerged. He looked to be in his late 40s.
I was stunned at the sharp resemblances between him and Blaire. No doubt, this was her real dad. How come I didn’t notice it until now?
“Zach Reed! Fancy seeing you here!” he exclaimed and extended his right hand to me for a handshake. Reluctantly, I shook his hand. He beamed at me from ear to ear. I was surprised that he still recognized me.
He once hired me to hack into his company’s IT infrastructure, for the purpose of making sure that their data and their entire systems are completely unhackable—even for one of the best hackers in the country—me.
It took us months before we finally arrived at a security system that is virtually unbreachable. It was in one of my hacks into their system that I found some CCTV footages that told of Mr. Gibson’s affair with my mother. I put two and two together. I finally made sense of why Dad never loved Blaire the way he loved me.
After the pleasantries were over, I sat back down on my chair while he took a seat opposite mine. His secretary sank into a chair next to him. I wasn’t comfortable with her presence there because what I wanted to discuss with her boss was private. But if that’s how Ewan ran his business here, then I would have to comply with his practices.
“So, Zach, what can I do for you?” he asked me cheerfully, still smiling.
I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried to calm my nerves. I adjusted myself on the chair, sighed heavily, then looked him straight in the eyes. “Sir, may I ask what’s your blood type?”
His smile disappeared and he scowled. “That’s none of your business!” he snapped, upset. His secretary nodded in agreement. She threw daggers at me with her eyes.
I shifted uneasily but I knew that my mission here must be accomplished. I clutched my fingers together and blurted, “I bet it’s AB negative.”
He jerked in shock. His eyes widened as he looked hard at me. Relief washed over me because I could see that I was making progress. My confidence level increased.
“How-how did you...” he said between gritted teeth, but I cut him short.
“During the time that I was working on the hack, I found some videos that I knew I should never have seen...” I paused and looked at him to make sure that I was having my desired effects on him. When I was satisfied, I moved on. “I always keep my clients’ secrets, but I found one that concerned your family.”
Ewan fixed his gaze on me for some time, then turned to his secretary. He leaned toward her and whispered something in her ear. She looked disappointed but quickly smiled and nodded, then she packed her files and stood. I was glad to see her make it to the door and out she went. I’ve always known that Ewan was a smart man who knew when to remove an unwanted guest from a sensitive meeting.
After her departure, Ewan faced me again, his expression stone-cold and apprehensive. He leaned toward me and snarled in a low tone, “Better not try to blackmail me with tha...”
“No, no, no, I'm not here to do that,” I assured him. “I’m not here for your money.”
His face softened a bit as he leaned back on his chair and studied me with suspicion. “What else do you know?”
“I knew about your affair with the wife of Mr. Stewart,” I said gently.
He was shocked. The menacing expression that had disappeared earlier returned with undeniable venom. He rose to his feet slowly and yelled, “Get the fuck out of here now!”
I stood and leaned over the table toward him, my own face taking a hard look to match his hostility. “No, I won’t! Not until I get what I came here for!” I yelled back at him.
I moved away from the table and turned my back to him, feeling overwhelmed with emotions. “Mrs. Stewart is my mother. Or should I say, the woman who raised me until the court nullified my adoption, and I was taken away from the Stewarts’ house.”
“You? You are Stewart’s son? The one he adopted?” he asked me, astonished.
I nodded without looking at him.
“Oh! I heard rumors before,” he came toward me. He stopped behind me and put one hand on my left shoulder. His voice was cool and friendly again when he spoke. “I know all about the story. Stewart is believed to be infertile. But the family needed an heir so badly. That’s why you were adopted. But...” He sighed. “Then a miracle, or maybe science happened, and Stewart was given a daughter.”
He was silent for a while, then I turned around to face him. “Look, I don’t have time to discuss the affair—” he said.
“You’re right, Mr. Stewart cannot father a child,” I said, cutting him off mid-sentence.
He gasped. “Really? So, his daughter was adopted, too?”
I fished out my wallet from jeans’ pocket. I opened it and brought out a picture of Blaire. I handed it over to him.
He hesitated, then accepted the photo and studied it closely, confused.
“Her name is Blaire. She has your hair color, and your eyes,” I said as a matter of factly, bracing myself for the earth-shaking reaction that would come from him.
Ewan looked at me with wild eyes and back at the photo. He stared hard and long at it for some time, stunned. Then, with unsteady legs, he slowly walked up to the closest chair and sank into it, exhausted, broken.
“This is not happening! No! This is not happening!” he kept muttering to himself over and over again. The sudden turn of events was unbelievable to him.
Ewan Gibson was the city’s most eligible bachelor, who had never been married before, nor had any children of his own. There were a string of women, my mother one of them, but no one got him to propose marriage.
His vulnerability moved me to tears and I couldn't control it anymore. I felt my eyes well up and the tears rolled down my cheeks. I was the only broken man in this room some minutes ago but now, we have become two, and my partner in sorrow had no idea this was coming to him.
I will get what I came here for, no matter what happens, no matter what the consequences will be. I approached him and knelt in front of him.
“Please, sir! I am begging you. She is fighting for her life in the hospital. She needs… blood! We couldn’t find any match in the city. So, that’s what I’m here for!” I looked at him, equally broken, totally beaten. “She meant the world to me. I couldn’t live in a world where she doesn’t exist! Please, sir, save my girlfriend.” I was desperate, and I didn’t care anymore what anyone thinks of me.
“Girlfriend?” he asked, his eyes burning into mine.
I nodded sheepishly.
“But… isn’t she supposed to be your sister?” He asked, the expression on his face was wildly confused.
“No,” I replied firmly. “I wasn’t related to her by blood. And eight years ago, the court nullified my adoption. So, we didn’t grow up together. Legally, we aren’t family anymore.”
He stared at her photo in front of him. “Where is she?” he asked firmly.
“Bellevue Hospital,” I answered, my heart pounding against my ribs in excitement.
He nodded. “Affairs happen all the time. My affair with Mrs. Stewart It is a scandal indeed, but it can easily be forgotten. However,… an affair between a brother and a sister can turn into a national sensation,” he said coolly, but I couldn’t mistake the threat in his voice.
I nodded in between tears.
He studied my face deeply for a while, then he said, “If she is indeed my daughter, I will not let her die. I will take her from Stewart if I have to. But I have one condition.”
I was bursting with joy that anything he wanted in exchange for his impending kindness was welcomed, even if I had to take a bullet for him. “Anything, sir,” I said in desperation, eager to get this done as soon as possible.
“You can never show yourself to her again.”