The CEO’s little ones

Chapter 87:

When Noah heard Stella calling him, his eyes immediately lit up. He left Joseph alone and ran in her direction while smiling fervently.

Stella was very talkative as she began to describe what had happened over the past two days, including what had happened on the plane, on the beach, and the storm they encountered while at sea. It seemed that her incessant chatter would never end.

Joseph nonchalantly pulled the chair up next to Hayden as he purposefully asked, “Do you mind if I sit here?”

Hayden forced himself to twist his lips and tell him he didn’t mind, but deep down all he wanted was for him to disappear from his sight.

Joseph didn’t read between the lines as he nodded in her direction in kindness, but his behavior only caused Hayden to boil deep in his heart.

As he watched the two of them giving each other hints with their eyes as if they were showing their love for each other, Freddie could only feel his heart freeze.

He secretly thought about how Hayden had always seen him as her little brother and even though he covered up his intentions to marry her by teasing her, she really took it at face value and only thought of it as his joke. Although he was always close to her, a stranger could easily defeat him, like Joseph, who seemed to harbor all sorts of intentions.

The very thought of that sly fox enticing her to sign a contract with an agency in which Joseph had his stakes made her grit her teeth with vehement hatred.

Freddie couldn’t help but throw out a snide remark, “You’re the high and mighty president of the ST Group, I bet you’re not here because you want to expand your business?”

Joseph ran his eyes over him, “Your suggestion isn’t bad at all. If I had the time, I would also come here for business purposes, but I’m actually here to bring my son for a mini-vacation.”

“You could have taken his son anywhere, but why does he have to follow us here – isn’t that too much of a coincidence?”

“It’s no coincidence at all.” Joseph’s expression was very composed as he said without reservation, “Noah and I thought this would be a great place for our getaway.”

Freddie immediately clenched his fists and countered with another question, “What’s so great about this place?”

“It’s crowded and the whole place is buzzing with activity.”

“You…”

“Let’s eat.” Hayden suddenly interjected with an unnatural expression, “The food is getting cold.”

Joseph’s eyebrows rose slightly as he took a sip of his tea.

Only Freddie had a hideous expression on his face as he persisted with his argument. “Isn’t he getting married soon, why isn’t he here with his fiancée?”

His attack this time managed to catch Hayden’s attention, and with the muscles in his face straining, she concentrated her hearing on what he was about to say Joseph.

Joseph put down his cup and, with a nonchalant air, began, “I don’t recall ever announcing my marriage to the outside world. Where did you hear that rumor about a fiancée?”

Hearing that, Hayden’s expression froze. He unconsciously looked up in Joseph’s direction and ascertained that he was serious, with no hint that he was joking. This fact made his heart race.

Did he just say that he had no intention of marrying Violet?

“Clearly everyone in the industry believes that fact, are you going to deny it now?”. Freddie followed up with another question, which was what Hayden also wanted to know.

“So, are you saying you’re going to admit to the rumor between you and that little known star?”. Joseph answered slowly as he cut into his steak, “You don’t need the agency to clear your name for you anymore, do you?”

“You…” Freddie was speechless at Joseph’s retort, and his face reddened as he fumed, “Stop using the agency to pressure me. If it wasn’t for you employing some dirty tricks to lure me into signing that contract, I wouldn’t have hired your agency on my own.”

At that point, Hayden felt she could no longer keep quiet.

“Freddie, Ray-Trace Media is a huge company, and I’ve reviewed your contract. As long as you don’t go against the terms, there will be no problem for you. Mr. Beckham did it for your sake, why do you have to say that?”.

“Hayden, it’s obvious he wants to threaten and control me! And yet you’re on his side.”

“Threaten you?” Hayden was confused by this, “Why would he threaten you?”.

“Of course he’s going to threaten me for…”. Freddie suddenly stopped his sentence mid-sentence, but gritted his teeth and continued without actually answering her, “Anyway, it’s not a decent thing to do. When I make enough money to break my contract, I’ll let you know that no one is going to work quietly for your stupid company.”

As he said that, he shot a withering glance at Joseph. He showed no sign of respect for his boss.

Joseph was not at all bothered by Freddie’s unreasonable opinion. He maintained his cool demeanor as he placed a thinly cut steak on Noah’s plate while pouring some water for Hayden.noveldrama

Because the weather forecast called for a huge downpour in the afternoon in the Maldives, although the sky was clear without a cloud at the time, the scheduling department didn’t dare venture too far from the hotel. They rescheduled their original plan to a beach near the hotel and handed out games for Noah and Stella to beat, while Freddie went into the sea to find starfish.

After lunch, Stella and Noah had changed into bathing suits, carried shovels and buckets as they flew to the beach. Stella radiated confidence as she drew in the sand with a stick, she was giving instructions to build a sand castle fit for a princess.

Noah nodded earnestly and the two soon got down to work.

Behind them, Hayden was lying in a long chair while wearing a long yellow beach dress. Joseph was lying next to her, with a table holding some fruit juices separating them. A huge awning kept the sizzling sun from scorching them.

“So, are the rumors going around the company about your marriage to Violet just a rumor?” Hayden finally put his doubts into words after holding back for some time.

“It’s not just a rumor.” Joseph’s husky voice sounded from beside him, “However, I regretted my decision.”

Hayden was startled to get this response. His mood altered as he asked, “Why did you regret it?”

“I wanted to get married for Noah’s sake, but Noah doesn’t seem to be fond of him.” Joseph’s answer was straight to the point, with no unnecessary excuses.

Hayden suddenly felt like falling from the clouds, as a sense of disappointment enveloped her.

For someone like Joseph, marriage was no big deal. He treasured his son, so he could marry someone just for Noah’s sake, and he could back out of the marriage for the same reason.

Did this mean that what he had done for her, how he had treated her before was only for Noah’s sake?

Not far away, it seemed that Stella and Noah were engaged in a little scuffle over their sandcastle building. Stella prattled on about her own ideas while Noah merely remained silent while making gestures that even adults would have a hard time understanding.

Hayden furrowed his eyebrows to push all his jumbled thoughts away. He was trying to get back to normal.

The ringing of a phone interrupted his concentration.

“Hello, is this Miss Downey speaking? This is the owner of Jewellery Inheritance Inc. store, do you still remember me?”.

From the other end of the phone came a sweet, sultry voice. After hearing her introduction, Hayden felt herself perk up as she held the phone away from his ear, “I remember you, do you have any leads on my inquiry from last time?”

“That’s right, I have something for you.” The store owner sounded very sure of something.

Suddenly, Hayden felt the blood in his body rush to his head. Her breathing became ragged as she asked anxiously, “Have you found out who it was who customized that necklace? Who was it?”

“We’ve gone through all the custom orders over the last ten years, and we could say with certainty that this necklace was made in April eight years ago. Mr. Beckham was the one who had this necklace made.”

“Mr. Beckham?” Hayden could feel every fiber in his muscles tighten, “Beckham who?”

“I mean the chairman of the ST Group, Joseph Beckham.”

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