Jason's Address
In ten minutes as mentioned, she turned on the TV and the first thing she read was.
'Breaking News; Paradise Hotel CEO found. Jason Haward, the man who scammed the Haward family'
Mrs Haward laughed hysterically upon seeing the news on TV.
At Paradise Hotel, Jason who ended up spending the night at the hotel was awakened by one of the staff.
"Sir, we have reporters in front of the hotel," the staff announced.
"Reporters?" Jason asked checking the hotel CCT camera outside and he frowned seeing the number of reporters at the entrance.
"How long have they been there?" Jason said turning on the TV.
"Half an hour, sir," the staff replied.
Jason frowned seeing the news on the TV.
"Thank you," Jason said dismissing the staff and he went back into the room to fetch his phone.
Peter arrived at the hotel and was surprised to see the swarm of reporters in front of the hotel. He was quickly surrounded by reporters the moment he got out of the car wondering what was going on.
"Did you know Jason Haward is the CEO of this hotel or you were as oblivious as everyone?" asked one reporter.
There were pictures accompanied by flashes of light everywhere.
"Where did Jason get all the money to open such a luxurious hotel?" came another reporter.
"Is this one of Jason's scamming acts?" asked another reporter.
"Was this hotel built out of the money Jason stole from the Haward family?" another reporter asked.
Peter did not reply to any of their questions but quickly called security to rescue him from the reporters. They quickly came around and helped Peter enter the hotel leaving the reporters outside.
"What is going on here?" Peter asked as soon as he entered the hotel to find most of the staff and hotel guests gathered at the reception.
"Sir, please is Jason Haward the CEO of this hotel?" asked one of the staff making Peter frown.
"Sir, we just saw it on the news," replied another.
"Sir, come to think of it, the boss upstairs does resemble Jason Haward," commented one of the staff.
Peter did not know how to handle the guests and the staff who had gathered at the reception. He entered his office and decided to call Jason but before he could do that, he saw Jason walking towards the reception.
"I am Jason," Jason announced to the shock of everyone. "What are you surprised about?" he said as he drew closer to the people.
"I am not here to justify myself to you since you have all already formed your mind about me. For the guest who spent the night here, if you want to leave, I will give you a full refund of your money," Jason said and Peter raised an eyebrow seeing the number of guests at the reception.
"For the staff, if you want to leave, you are free to leave and you don't have to pay anything for breach of contract," Jason said and awaited their reaction.
"I want my money back, I don't deal with scammers," shouted one angry guest.
"Peter, please attend to this guest," Jason said to the shock of everyone present and Peter just nodded.
"He meant his words," one staff whispered.
"Don't you think we might be misjudging him? A true scammer does not refund money, they always have a way to run off," said another staff and the whole room was eventually filled with murmuring.
Jason moved to the reception, logged in with his credentials, went to the hotel account and waited for those who wanted a refund to process it for them.
"Anyone else wants a refund?" Jason asked as the guest who had requested the refund within a few minutes was seen going out of Peter's office.
"You are so lucky you gave me back my money," one guest said as she exited the hotel.
"It's a nice hotel, I am going back to my room," said one guest and immediately left the reception.
The staff one after the other left the reception and went back to their duties.
"Sir, can I continue with my work?" asked the gentleman who was supposed to be at the reception.
"Sure," Jason replied and moved away from the reception.
"What are we going to do about the reporters outside?" asked Peter after some guests decided to stay and the staff resumed their work after Jason had spoken.
Some guests had also left the hotel requesting a refund which was given to them. They were quickly interviewed outside upon exiting the hotel and they all said one thing, at the end of their interview, they received a full refund of their money. Jason looked outside seeing the swarm of reporters after Peter asked his question. Without saying anything to Peter, he headed for the exit.
"Sir, " Peter called out but he still went out with an expressionless face.
The moment Jason was out of the hotel, the reporters surrounded him and threw one question after another at him. He remained silent as they threw the questions at him with the cameras flashing their lights as they took pictures.
"Back in the day, reading a news article in papers or hearing one on the news channel was the best way to come by information. Today I am not sure if that is still a thing. Reporters of today have become so hungry for news that it has made them lazy. This is why the quality of your news keeps dropping. Today, we can read the same news multiple times and the story changes each time," Jason said and the reporters who could not be quieted down immediately went silent.
"What is your job as reporters if we have to wait for second, third and fourth or more news to find out the truth?" Jason asked and there was pin-drop silence
"News about me since I stepped down as heir of the Haward family has been circulating on social media and I am surprised with the smart and intelligent reporters we have in this state, no one had done a further investigation on the issue at hand but you are all waiting for one news channel to publish something and you all republished them on your various channels," Jason continued.
"Do you know how many lives you have destroyed by this?" Jason asked and there was silence.
"The man who raised me said something to me; Be honest and just in your dealing and no matter what happens you will succeed," Jason said. "Are you honest and just in your dealings?" he asked and again there was silence but they had their recorders out recording him.
"Be honest and just in your dealings," Jason said and returned to the hotel.
The reporters started leaving the hotel premises one after the other. The news did not change much but the speech from Jason was live-streamed, so those who had seen the breaking news earlier also saw Jason's live-streamed speech from the hotel premises. The social media platform became chaotic as people argued for and against Jason's submission.
The hotel gradually returned to running normal as the morning incident, happened an hour and a half ago. Jason went upstairs, took his shower and changed his clothing. He sat behind his laptop and started working.
Julia walked into the hotel premises unaware of what had transpired earlier. She hardly listened to the news or checked social media platforms. This habit had gotten worse since Jason's issues went out on social media.
The head chef showed her around, explained the hotel rules to her, and assigned her duties. Julia started her work right away at the restaurant as a waitress waiting on tables.
Back at the hospital, Fiona and Mirenda had also seen the news. Mirenda knew her mother was behind it all and she was happy with the address from Jason. It didn't solve the issue but it did set people thinking and questioned the credibility of today's reporters' work.
"Are you going to look for James once we leave this place?" Mirenda asked Fiona who had just been informed she would be discharged the next day as she had made a full recovery from the fall.
"He needs to know," Fiona said and Mirenda nodded.
They spoke for a while and Mirenda left for the hospital cafeteria to get some food. She dialled James' number on her way there.
"Hello sis, what do you want?" came James' voice.
"At a club?" Mirenda asked hearing a noisy background.
"No, on my way home. What do you want?" James asked again.
"Do you know Fiona is pregnant?" Mirenda announced more like a question.
James who was playing music in his car slammed his feet on the brakes making the car stop at once.
"Hey, what did you do that for?" yelled a driver who almost bumped into James' car but drove away not waiting for a reply.
James turned off the music playing in his car
"What did you say?" James asked.
"I said Fiona is pregnant and I know it's for you," Mirenda repeated and James turned white as a sheet behind the wheel.