"Grandpa, why did Hazel co by? Don’t you want anymore?" His grandson looked at him with those innocent, doe eyes, seemingly sad and disheartened. "Are you going to let her take away?"
Staring at his grandson almost broke him. The way his little body drooped, and his eyes misted with unshed tears, tore his heart apart.
"What nonsense!" He imdiately answered. "Co here, Caleb, sit with ." Patting the empty seat next to him.
Of course, he was well aware of his grandson’s situation with his mother. It was the reason why he made sure that the Morton family took custody of his grandson when Hazel left.
In hindsight, he initially thought that Hazel would be a good fit as his daughter-in-law since she belonged to the Smith family, one of his family’s allies in the underground business.
However, learning that she could not care less about her own child made him realize that he was wrong about her.
He might be ruthless, rciless, the devil himself in people’s eyes, but when it ca to family, he was the guardian angel who swore to protect them. He was God himself, who would wield all his might to keep them safe.
Before anything else, he was a family man.
"Caleb, your mother was only here to check on you. She just misses you. But I promise she’s not taking you away from your father... from us..." He assured him, running his finger through the boy’s dark hair, a feature that ran through the Morton family.
In truth, he had no idea why Hazel was back. Although his ex-daughter-in-law kept saying that she regretted divorcing Oliver and leaving Caleb, he could tell it was just for show.
Trusting Hazel was a mistake he didn’t plan to repeat. But he was interested in learning what she planned by coming back into their lives.
"I really don’t like her. Hazel scares ." The young boy confessed, which was more than enough reason for him to protect his grandson from his own mother.
"Don’t worry, Caleb. I won’t let anything bad happen to you." It was a promise he intended to keep, even beyond his grave.
"Well, my Mom also promised to take care of ." Caleb suddenly said enthusiastically. "I really like Mom. She’s nothing like Hazel."
Caleb didn’t need to spell out who he was referring to. Honestly, he had underestimated that woman.
Sophia Maddison had completely enchanted his grandson. Even his wife was captivated by her charms.
What about his son? Did he really marry her just to please Dianne and Caleb?
What if Oliver had already fallen into that woman’s web?
"Excuse , Sir Maximus, but you have a guest." Taylor interrupted, cutting him off from his musing.
"Go run along, Caleb. I have to attend to so things." He patted his grandson’s head before encouraging him to find his grandmother or his nanny.
Grabbing his cane, he followed Taylor to the garden where his visitor was already waiting for him.
"Mr. Hols, the investigator that you hired to investigate Ms. Sophia Maddison." Taylor introduced the man who held a folder in his hand.
Since he wasn’t the Don anymore, he had to find an independent investigator who was not connected to his son.
The last thing he needed was for his son to discover that he was investigating his new wife. Not at least until he had found proof that she was not what she pretended to be.
"It was nice to et you, Mr. Morton." The man shook his hand. "I gathered a few pieces of information about Ms. Maddison." Then, the man handed him the file.
This detective was highly recomnded by one of his closest friends. According to him, Mr. Hols was the best in the business.
"As you initially suspected, there seed to be so inconsistency in Ms. Maddison’s files." The man pointed out the dical records that he gathered from the hospital where Sophia was treated after the accident.
"What is wrong with it?" Maximus asked, finding nothing irregular in the docunt.
A little frustrated, he grabbed a cigar out of the inner lining of his jacket and started sniffing its leafy, bitter, nicotine scent.
"Nothing, Sir. The dical record appears to be legit. Ms. Sophia Maddison really had a car accident, sustained several injuries, and survived." Mr. Hols clarified, testifying to the authenticity of the file.
"So, what? I already knew that." He thought of lighting his cigar, but he already knew that it would be a terrible idea.
If his wife sniffed even a light aroma of the nicotine-filled stick on his breath, he would be in big trouble.
Anyway, he still had to find out why he had to pay this man a large amount of money, if all he could uncover was old news.
"What is surprising is not that, but what we couldn’t find?" He continued, but his words didn’t an much to him since he couldn’t catch his drift.
"This is her birth certificate. Those are her parents’ marriage contract and death certificate." The man pointed to the paperwork included in the folder.
Again, he knew that Sophia’s parents were involved in that car accident. But they died.
"Those are the copies of their passports." He continued, pointing to what seed to be legitimate paperwork.
"Again, what am I looking at?" He raised his brow. "Am I paying you to repeat what I already heard before?" Soundind disappointed.
"Sir, what you have is what she wanted you to find." He explained. "I think you are right about her. Her files are too clean. As if it were a carefully orchestrated identity to make you believe who she was."
"Okay, so where is the proof?" He already believed that Sophia was hiding sothing. But without any evidence, it would remain just a suspicion.
"I’m still looking into it. Based on my inquiries, Sophia also gave birth to a child. But the child died." Mr. Hols inford him.
Wait! A child?
"What child?" He had not heard anything about a child. "Why were there no records of her giving birth?" He asked, slightly surprised and skeptical.
"Precisely... My source confird that she gave birth after the accident, but it seed the record was wiped clean from the system." The investigator continued.
The man paused as he took the refreshing drink that Taylor offered him.
"That was why there was no record of it." The man further explained.
Now, the man had finally caught his attention.
If Mr. Hols was telling him the truth, then he might have finally found the bullet to use against that woman.
"Besides the missing hospital record, and aside from those docunts. I couldn’t find anything else that linked Ms. Sophia Maddison to her past." He divulged his discovery, or lack of it.
"What do you an, Mr. Hols?" He wanted clarification.
"It appeared as if Sophia didn’t exist before the accident." Mr. Hols confidently said, with a smug smile on his face. "Give so ti to dig up so more, and soon I’ll have your answers, Mr. Morton."
After dismissing the investigator, a smile crept onto his lips. It seed he was finally getting sowhere.
At the very least, Mr. Hols gave him sothing new. Although it was not conclusive, it was still a promising lead.
"Sophia Maddison, your ti is almost up." His eyes sharpened as she shoved the docunts back into the folder. "Whoever you are, I hope you’re ready for my surprise."
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