Chapter 183 - Shut Her Up
"What did he say?" She asked when Desmond hung up the call. She was nervous even though she tried not to be.
"He retrieved the contact number of the person who blackmailed your dad." He shared the good news, making her let off a sigh of relief at the fact that she would no longer have to ask Lucy or Zeus to help her trace the culprit. It was not that she didn't want to, but they were more or less suspects too.
His tone and gaze confirmed that he had suspicions too. Perhaps the identity of the caller was too shocking.
"And?" She probed.
"It's the butler of the Su family."
Her jaw moved but for a while, she was unable to say a word. She stared at him in shock before she finally managed to fumble a few syllables out.
"The butler must have been instructed to do that by his master, right? What does the Su family have to do with dad and I?" She didn't understand. There was no relationship between the Su family's company and F&P Media either. When she racked her brains, she found that the only connection they had was the acquisition of one of their hotels. But that wasn't merely for her own selfish benefits, it was for Preston and Fort Group. Why was the Su family targeting her? They were not even targeting her directly but her father instead? It made no sense.
"I didn't think much of it before but now that I remember…" Desmond scratched his chin as he thought about something.
"What do you remember?" She sat up and probed.
He pulled her up and reclaimed his spot on the tea-cup chair and pulled her to sit on her spot—his lap. "The first time I met your mother, a bodyguard was trailing after her and calling her "Miss Su." At the time, she angrily glared at him and said, "My surname is not Su. It's Roatta now." Now that I think about it…"
"She sounded like it was not Roatta before. It was Su." She finished his statement, which shocked her even though she was already prepared.
"Yes. Skeleton did another check without my orders, I hope you don't mind." He added.
"What did he find out?" She was certain that it had a lot to do with what they were talking about.
He caressed her back gently in an attempt to make her feel better about what he was going to say. "There are only two families surnamed Roatta in Imperium and when he checked, neither of them had a daughter called Lucy. On the other hand, there is a missing daughter called Lucinda Su from the Su family and she should be about your mum's age."
"Lucinda Su." She repeated the name and shook her head. But no matter how hard she wanted to deny it, Lucy could very well be that Lucinda.
"Su family… Nathaniel Su?" She asked when it sank in.
"Yes. From Skeleton's investigation, she must be Nathaniel Su's daughter."
She remained silent as she processed it, then it dawned on her. "No wonder. When we first met, he asked for my mother's name." At the time, she had found it funny and somewhat ridiculous, annoying even. But could it be that when they first met, the elderly man thought she looked a lot like his long lost daughter, or suspected that she was his granddaughter and was merely asking for confirmation?
"Do you want to ask her?" He stroked the side of her neck.
She shook her head. Not yet. "What reason do you think she would have to hide her identity?" She asked even while knowing that he wouldn't know. She just wanted to let it out.
"She has been hiding many things. First, it's her identity, then she also hid the fact that she was pregnant when she divorced my dad."
"What?" that definitely shocked him.
She realized that she had not told him about it before. "Zeus is my brother. I'm sorry I didn't tell you. It's not that I didn't trust you before." She attempted to explain, sinking her back into his chest.
"I understand. You have nothing to be sorry about and you definitely have the right to keep secrets." He reassured her. While trust was important, he didn't expect her to spill everything that was in her heart without any sort of consideration.
There were things that were better left unsaid and others that would not change a thing whether or not they were said and she was glad that he understood this.
"Thank you." She wrapped his hands around her tighter.
He kissed her head and thought about Lucy's decision. "The only reason I can think about is that her life would be in danger if she didn't disguise her identity, and her son was probably in danger too. Which is why she had to hide him away."
She shifted slightly to look at him.
"At least from my understanding of Aunt Lucy." He added.
"You knew each other." It was not a question. She was certain of it.
"He was my parents' friend. At least I thought they were friends." He explained. They were supposed to be friends but no friend would hold their friend's child hostage.
"She was mysterious in the past too." Zaria sighed.
"I guess so." He agreed, since even he couldn't figure her out.
"I will ask her about it later. If she is in a conflict with her family, why would they still target father? Could it be because they think she is still together with him?"
"She probably broke off her ties with her family because of him." It was the closest reason he could come up with, considering such things happened albeit rarely. "They think that she is not returning to the family because of him."
It was possible and she frowned. She suddenly started questioning her parents' divorce. Was it really what they both chose?
Deciding not to think about it anymore lest her brain burst from all the twists, she rested her head on his chest and closed his eyes.
"Is it comfy here?" He asked, taking it as a cue to change the topic.
"Mmh. It's warm, hard and sturdy." She smiled without moving.
"Hard?" His deep voice sounded amused when he asked in her ear.
His hot breath made her muddled for a second, then she understood what he just asked. Her eyes flew open.
"I was talking about your chest. I… unless 'that' is hard too."
He smiled. "Your presence always makes me hard, Zaria. From the first day I met you."
"The first day?" She squinted her eyes. "When I threw you a dollar for your reputation or when I took someone's name to swindle you?" She asked.
"Both." Came his hot breath again, sending her nerves tingling.
"The latter is normal, but I didn't know you can have the mind to be hard while being yelled at." Just how bizarrely did his body work?
He chuckled lightly, pulling her so she was sitting very close to his crotch. "It depends who is yelling at you and how they are doing it.
If it's annoying, I will be angry." He explained, then gently kicked her ear. "But if it's a feisty kitten purring and showing her claws in all the wrong ways, I will want nothing more than to shut her up—with my lips."
Follow current novels on (f)reew𝒆bnovel