Julia Haward vs Matilda Haward
Jason was in his office working on some office documents when he heard a knock on his door.
"Yes, come in," Jason responded not bothering to look at who had just walked in.
"Sir, this came in for you," reported the servant, and Jason raised his head to find the servant holding a brown envelope to him.
He accepted the envelope from the servant's hand and dismissed him. The servant exited the office to continue with his task. Jason opened the envelope and brought out the contents. It was from the court. He read it, put it back and placed the envelope aside. He was already aware of Mrs Haward's release. He sat behind his desk for a while unable to concentrate. He slammed his hand on the table and exited the office.
"Jason, my love, is everything alright?" Julia asked, seeing Jason head for the staircase but he ignored her.
Julia had just entered the living room carrying baby Jason when she saw Jason heading for the staircase looking angry. Mary was with her. Julia handed baby Jason over to Mary and followed Jason up the staircase. When Julia entered the bedroom, Jason was looking out the window. She walked up to him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Please talk to me. What happened again aside from Mrs Haward getting free in addition to James breaking out of prison?" Julia asked calmly.
"I just don't understand why a woman I looked up to as my mother while growing up hates me so much. How did I wrong her? Why can't she just let me be?" Jason spoke the words looking straight ahead, but Julia saw the tear in his eyes which he was holding back.
Julia pulled him into a hug and Jason wrapped his arms around her.
"What happened?" Julia asked, rubbing Jason's back gently.
"She is making demand. A demand for me to care for her or hand over the Haward's fortune to her," Jason said, and Julia pulled away from the hug and stared at Jason's face.
"You are a Wellington, not a Haward. You are not obliged to do anything," Julia said.
"You are a Haward, and the Haward's rule of inheritance is binding. I may be a Wellington but marrying you makes me the heir to the Hawards. Late Mr Johan's will is still binding," Jason said and Julia frowned.
No one mentioned the will before and she didn't know about the Haward's rule. Jason sat her down and explained everything to her.
"So you see, I am obligated to take care of her since I am the heir," Jason said.
"That doesn't look good," Julia said and began to rack her brain for a solution. "How about you send her away from Florida to another country and send her money to take her of herself?" she suggested.
"That will be a way around it, but I don't trust that woman with power. She will come for you and our son to hurt me," Jason said. "You two are my world and I am not sure what I will do if anything happens to you two," he said cupping the side of Julia's face.
"Let's take things one day at a time. I am no longer that naive girl she knew from ten months ago. I will not fall for her tricks. I am Mr Johan's daughter. I am a true Haward. Let me handle her. Woman to woman," Julia said making Jason smile.
"Are you sure about this?" Jason asked happy about Julia's boldness but still worried about her.
"Jason, my love, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger," Julia said with a smile. "Let's keep our eye on the lookout for her tricks. I will handle the verbal interaction. Let's set a meet-up. The earlier we do this, the easier for us to pick up anything she has up her sleeve," she added and Jason nodded planting a kiss on her forehead.
At the hospital, Jane had recovered so well. Dr Andesh and Mr Wellington were doing the paperwork for her discharge. Mr Wellington called his guard to bring the car around to the hospital. He stayed in the hospital all through Jane's admission. He only went home to take a shower, change his clothes and return to the hospital. He left the company for Jason to handle not bothering himself about it. He only speaks with Jason to check up on Julia and his grandson but not a conversation on work.
"Sir, the car is here," the guard announced and Mr Wellington walked Jane to the car after informing Dr Andesh they were leaving.
Mr Wellington was not aware of Mrs Haward's release until he got home and called Jason after taking Jane to his room.
"When was this?" Mr Wellington asked with a frown.
"It's been three days now," Jason replied.
"Do you have any idea where she is or she might be?" Mr Wellington asked.
"A hotel bill was sent to me a while ago. I think that is where she might be," Jason replied.
"The lawyer who handled her case is a renowned lawyer from this city. Her records don't make her seem like someone who will go for such cases. I wonder what compiled her to go for Mrs Haward's case," Mr Wellington said.
Jane was sitting on the couch watching him as he spoke with Jason on the call.
"My investigation on her yielded the same results. I have a strong feeling someone forced her to do this. This means someone knows her secret. Blackmail, " he added.
"What secret?" Mr Wellington asked shoving his hand into his pocket.
"That is what I am going to find out," Jason said.
"Do let me know if you need anything," Mr Wellington said. "I guess you will be meeting her concerning the court order," he asked.
"My wife will," Jason replied with pride.
"Julia?" Mr Wellington asked surprised. "Jason, don't do that. You know she will not attack you directly because she knows you will not be bothered by it. She will attack Julia. So why would you allow that?" he asked and Jane frowned listening to him.
"So Julia is meeting Mrs Haward. This makes things easier," Jane thought, staring at the back of Mr Wellington from where she sat relaxing.
"Don't worry father. She will be fine," Jason assured.
"Do let me know where the meeting will take place. I will triple the security," Mr Wellington said.
"Sure," Jason acknowledged and the call ended.
"What happened darling?" Jane asked as soon as Mr Wellington turned to face her.
"Jason's stepmother is out of prison and she is making demands. Your daughter-in-law is going to meet her," Mr Wellington informed her.
"What kind of demands?" Jane asked with a curious expression.
Mr Wellington sat down next to her and rested his arms across her shoulder. Jane leaned in on his chest. Mr Wellington told her about the Haward's rule of inheritance and went further to tell her about the late Mr Johan's will.
"The will is binding and hence Jason has to honour it," Mr Wellington said.
"Wow, that is quite a lot," Jane said.
Back at Jason's apartment, Jason settled the bill from the hotel making direct payment into the hotel account. He was able to get Mrs Haward on a call and he set a meeting up for tonight.
"We are seeing her tonight?" Jason said and Julia nodded.
A couple of minutes to nightfall, Mirenda and Henry came over to Jason's apartment to see how Julia was doing now that James and Mrs Haward were both out of prison. Peter was next to walk through the door.
"Are you going somewhere?" Mirenda asked surprised to see Julia all dressed up like she was going out knowing James or Mrs Haward could be anywhere with set traps.
"Yes, I have a meeting with my stepmom," Julia said and Mirenda's jaw dropped.
Peter and Henry just exchanged glances and returned their gaze to Julia who carried an expression which made it seem like nothing was happening.
"Is Jason aware of this and is he okay with you meeting that viper?" Mirenda asked with a strong expression.
"Wow, that is your mom," Henry reminded Mirenda.
"No, she is not. My mother died. This one is a viper," Mirenda replied to Henry with her gaze fixated on Julia who appeared relaxed.
"I going with her," came Jason's voice drawing everyone's attention to the staircase.
"Okay, if you two are together. I am okay," Mirenda said and hugged Julia.
"Don't eat anything and don't drink anything. That woman is nothing but evil," she said and Julia nodded.
"I decided to come home today," Peter said.
"Okay," Jason said.
"You guys be safe, I will wait for you two," Mirenda said.
"Okay," Julia acknowledged and headed for the door with Jason.
Jason and Julia left the apartment with two cars. Five guards were in one car and Julia and Jason were in the second car with two guards. They soon arrived at the hotel and Jason informed Mrs Haward he was in and waiting for her in the hotel's meeting room.
Four guards were inside the meeting room with Jason and Julia, while three stayed outside looking out for anything suspicious. Mrs Haward strode into the meeting room wearing a straight dress and a flat shoe.
"Oh, you brought the flea," Mrs Haward said as soon as her eyes fell on Julia with a smirk, before taking a seat facing Jason and Julia who sat next to each other.
"It's Julia Haward to you, Mrs Haward," Julia said sternly with a cold expression and Mrs Haward giggled.
"Oh, the flea is now acting tough," Mrs Haward said, and the temperature in the room dropped.
Mrs Haward shifted her gaze to Jason and the dangerous look in his eyes sent chills down her spine.
"If you want to go that way, I don't have a problem, viper," Julia said and both Jason and Mrs Haward shifted their gaze to her.
Julia stared back at Mrs Haward looking very calm.
"You dare address me as a viper?" Mrs Haward growled.
"I thought we were addressing each other by names of creatures," Julia said calmly.
"Do not address me by that name again," Mrs Haward warned.
"I will address that way you will address me," Julia said and Mrs Haward began to boil.
"Anyway, I didn't come here to debate about your soul. So let's get to business," Julia said and Mrs Haward stared at her in shock.
"Is this the weak Julia she knew or another person pretending to be Julia?" Mrs Haward thought staring at Julia.
"Tell me what you want and we can discuss it," Julia said and Mrs Haward continued to stare at Julia surprised.
"Are you ready to talk or are you gonna sit there and stare at me?" Julia asked after snapping her fingers.
"I am a Haward by marrying Mr Johan. You can't leave me penniless. I demand you give me half of my husband's fortune, plus Haward's International and the family condo. They belong to my husband," Mrs Haward said and Julia smiled but her smile did not reach her eyes.
"Hmm, last I checked, you could not complete the purchase of the family condo and hence you lost it. Secondly, Haward's International does not belong to my father any more. I sold it to the Wellington's, together with all the other business. Here is a copy of the documents," Julia said and pushed an envelope to Mrs Hawards who opened it to look at the content with a surprised look.
"How dare you sell my husband's businesses to the Wellington's, you flea," Mrs Haward barked.
"You do forget, I am the only child of Mr Johan, viper," Julia said sternly and anger flashed in Mrs Haward's eyes but Julia didn't care.
"My father's will said nothing about giving you half of his property. He asked the heir to take care of you. And I am his daughter, so I will tell you how we will execute that since you have nothing to say," Julia said and stared at Mrs Haward in the eye.
All this while Jason remained silent allowing Julia to handle the conversation as she had requested.