Chapter 4: Naomi Has My Son!

Denzel Flynn

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I feel distracted during the entire meeting hour with the executives. The manager of the Application Management Department, Parker, updates me on the current stage of our app and its faults, stretching the meeting unnecessarily longer.

I’m not always this impatient. But I have an important file lying on my desk that can change my future forever and I can’t wait to get my hands on it.

‘I want the file I asked for on my desk, Jake.’ I text my secretary for the tenth time. He sends me a yellow face, frowning emoji.

Jake doesn’t like to be told twice. I smile inwardly, knowing that the file is waiting for me on my desk.

“Sir, to rectify the faults within the app, we’ll need another five months before the launch.” It tips me off.

“You said that during the last meeting as well, Mr. Parker.” The meeting hall falls silent and my words echo. I see Parker visibly gulp his spit down his throat.

“After going over the data, I estimated that someone working with your salary can get the rectifications done one month prior to the deadline, which was a month ago.”

I glare at the man in his late thirties. Almost every one of my managers and executives is older than me. But that doesn’t let them off the hook. If you wrong me, despite the age and gender, I’ll let that person meet his doom.

“If that’s the case, then you, Mr. Parker, could either be incompetent to get the job done or you're just slacking off.”

Parker looks down, not meeting my eyes, “I’ll try my best to meet the deadline, sir.”

“You already passed the deadline. I’ll give you three months and not a day more. If you still can’t get the job done, I’ll be expecting your resignation letter instead of a report.”

I get up and fix my coat before concluding the meeting and leaving the hall. I take long strides to cover up my jogging. I can’t waste another second.

Jake follows my trail as I step into my office. And just like diamonds and gold in a treasure chest, a precious paper rests inside the brown file on my desk. I take my time admiring the outline of the file since Jake is monitoring my actions.

Once I’m seated, I flip over the cover and start reading.

Name: Naomi West

Age: 28

Martial status: Single

Even though I know the truth, it still soothes my heart to see the evidence in black and white. A smirk overtakes my previously sour face.

A knock comes at the door. “Sir?” Myra, from the Literary Department, comes inside after my approval. She’s the chief editor’s assistant and, coincidentally, my little rose’s good friend.

“You called for me, sir?”

“Yes, about the new author that you pulled in. I want to know about her.” I lean back on my chair, “specifically, the details that you forgot to put in this file.”

Sweat trickles down her face. Does she really take me for a fool?

“With all due respect Sir–”

I cut her off. “I have plenty of people who can find the data I require. Do you want me to relieve you of this burden?”

My face turns cold, and my voice comes out stern. She promptly says sorry and begins to disclose information.

“She lives with Marcus Stallon, but they’re not married. They shifted here because of his job.” Myra stops and bites her lip. She’s still holding back.

“Anything more?” I wait. She blows out a huge breath before talking.

“She has a child.”

I blink at her. There are little things in the world that surprise me, but this tiny piece of fact rocks my world. It’s like jumping off a mountain but never reaching the ground. I’m suspended in the air, thinking about what she said.

I might have glared too hard at her because next, she nervously pulls out her phone and shows me a picture. A picture of Naomi with Stallon by her side and a little kid.

A kid with coal-black hair and electric blue eyes. Eyes like the lighting on a stormy night. There’s no mistake with this. This can’t be a coincidence, since Stallon is blond and Naomi is brunette.

How could she hide such a thing from me? No, I shouldn't assume things. I can't be hundred percent sure until taking a DNA test.  

But if it's true. If you've been keeping my son away from me for all this time, Naomi. I’ll make you pay for it dearly. I'll make you my mine, just like you were supposed to be. You will understand that it can never be over between us. 

I'll love you until my last day on earth. And even in death, I'll accompany you day and night like a shadow.

There’s another knock at the door and Jake announces his presence, drawing me out of my thoughts. “Sir, your sister is here.”

I wave him away and dismiss the two of them. I put away Naomi’s file and embrace myself for Chloe, my little sister, and the motive behind my success.

“Den!” Chloe comes in with a huge smile, her blond waves floating like clouds as she runs to my desk.

I rise from my seat and hug her. She’s the only person in the world who would never get a cold shoulder from me.

Since she was ten, after the accident in which our parents passed away, I’ve been taking care of her. I’ve loved and spoiled her. And I will continue to do so until the day she dies. Even on her wedding day, I told her that if she ever needs anything, I’ll get it for her.

“What brings you here?” I ask her once we’re both seated.

“I have a favor to ask of you.” Her tone gets serious and the previous smile disappears.

“What is it?” I’m afraid of the tone of her voice. Chloe doesn’t sound serious until something is weighing on her mind.

“You know, James and I have been trying to conceive, but it’s been so long. I can’t help but think...”

Chloe doesn’t continue. I can notice her cheeks reddening from shame. I get an idea of what she’s talking about.

“I just want to get consult a fertility doctor with James. But I don’t know how to ask him and I don’t trust him to not lie to me. So, will you help me?”

Chloe’s doe-eyes beg me wordlessly. James and I don’t get along, but I never let it show, considering her feelings for him. I don’t know what that jerk did to my sister. His spell was so strong that for the first few days of their marriage, he had Chloe wrapped around his fingers.

Later, she came to her senses and became her usual self. She still loves him, but it's more tolerable now.

“Fine. I’ll call him today and get him an appointment. I’ll tell you the results myself.” Chloe sighs, satisfied, and comes around to peck my cheek.

“Thanks, Den.” Chloe leaves my office.

I call Jake, summoning him to my office. A moment later, he walks in.

“Make an appointment with an andrologist,” I say, mindlessly going through Naomi’s file.

“For you?” I look up at an amused Jake. He’s even smirking.

“Are you tired of your job, Jacob Scott?” I raise a brow.

“Don’t give me that crap. I doubt you’ll get anything done without me.”

I roll my eyes at him. “For someone with a tongue as sharp as yours, you sure are living a comfortable life.”

“Well, for a man of your position and power, you sure have a lot of free time and less responsibility than any of us.”

Jake smiles the fake polite smile that he always has with him during a meeting. A kind of smile that says: I don't like your face but I have to smile anyways.

“You realize, if you weren’t my best friend, I’d be firing your ass right now.”

“You realize, if you weren’t my best friend, I’d be handing over my resignation letter and kicking you out of this window.”

He gestures towards the floor-to-ceiling window of my office. We’re on the twelfth floor, so his threat is kind of dangerous.

“Then I’ll die and you’ll go to jail for life imprisonment.”

“Oh, your enemies in prison will help me escape and those on the outside will hire me to work for them. I may even get a bonus and holiday.”

I laugh wholeheartedly. “You have thought it through.”

“I think about it every day,” Jake mutters under his breath.

I don’t prolong the matter. Jake will have the last word, no matter what. So I keep it to that. I don’t dislike outrageous humor now and then.

Besides being my best friend since high school, another reason I never fired Jake is because he’s brutally honest and loyal. He’s the only person who’d dare to whoop my ass and tell me I’m wrong despite of my position and power—not that I’d ever listen to him, but it still counts.

“You’re not thinking about taking her back, are you?” Jake displays wariness for reasons I don’t understand. He’s always been a fan of Naomi and liked her more than he ever approved of Layla.

“I thought I told you to make an appointment.” I remind him, getting frustrated, not wanting to have this conversation.

“You understand that it was your fault, five years ago?” I give Jake a frown and glare at him until he leaves my office.

Of course, I know it was my fault. I should’ve never left her alone with Stallon. I should've realized sooner that Stallon isn't trustworthy. He manipulated my little rose into running away with him. 

I'll settle the score with him as well for that.

I take out my phone and call James, Chloe's useless husband. He picks up after the fourth ring. “Brrooth–” he slurs.

“Clear your schedule for today. Wait for me at your studio.” I don’t give him a chance to decline and hang up. If it wasn’t for Chloe, I wouldn’t spare a minute of my day to meet a jerk like him.

Though, it feels quite good to diminish his pride.