Blackmailing His Runaway Bride by Dance-is-me (carter reed .txt) 📗

Twenty Six

As he sent Isabella to his room, Charles got down from his car, his mind racing.

Did Rodrigo Ordinaz decide to come to him instead?

If his thoughts were true... Then, why?

Why would Ordinaz show up when Charles was yet to have a wife as he requested?

While his mind asked these questions and searched for a response, Charles soon realized that he hadn't been bothered about his biological father's matter since he met Isabella. Sure, he still planned to marry her.

But, at that point, he was not marrying her because of his father or any other reason.

As he walked into the elevator where two women had earlier entered, Charles smiled to himself, his thumb hovering around his lips as certain coyness befell him.

His earlier thoughts continued.

Charles wanted to marry Isabella because he wanted her. Nothing more.

Definitely, that alone came with its benefits.

As the lift tinged, he was dragged out of his thoughts.

Charles was officially a step closer to his father. Strutting out, his ears got filled with the voices of the women in the elevator who he had paid no attention to.

For a second, he wondered why they decided to resume their talk when he left. He didn't hinder whatever conversation they could have been having.

That didn't bother him for long. As Charles's sturdy paces led him to a certain entrance, he stood in front of the huge doors that hid the man on the other side from his sight and he let out a huge sigh.

Pushing the doors open, Charles went in with majestic steps, his eyes noting how well-furnished the room was. Compared to his, it was more spacious and it had more gold in its features. Too much gold actually.

"Charles, there you are..."

"Father." It wasn't who he thought it was. But he was nonetheless glad to see his old man again.

As the man he always knew as his father got off the huge bed and approached him, Charles moved closer and gave him a warm hug.

"It is so good to see your face after a long time," the older person confessed heartily.

"What are you doing here, Father? This is indeed a surprise." Charles led the man to a nearby seat, his eyes noticing how much silver raided his father's scalp which was once dominated with an abundance of blackness.

The older Oxford gave a light chuckle as his blue eyes roamed through Charles's height. "I tried to contact you after being discharged, but I was informed that you were here." His slightly wrinkled face frowned a bit. "Why are you here though? Is there any problem with that deal?"

Quietly, Charles sat down and asked, "Are you talking about the one with Osung groups?" As his father gave a nod in response, Charles wondered whether to tell him that he knew the truth about his real father. He gently caressed his lips lightly as he said, "There is no issue at all."

Christopher Oxford then spread his arms slightly, more questions on his face. "Why are you here then?"

Charles smiled. "I found her, Father."

The old man narrowed his eyes as he firmly wrapped the furred robe on his body. "Who?"

"Isabella."

"Isabella, who?"

Charles sighed, laughter almost shaking his broad shoulders after. "The woman I told you about years ago."

"The very one that had my son in tears for weeks?"

Charles frowned. "I never cried."

His father gave a hearty laugh. "I saw tears in your eyes that night. So you found her after all these years?" Charles nodded. "What have you done to her?"

"Done to-" Charles's disbelief got hooked in his throat.

"I watched you grow up, Charles, and I know you to be very unforgiving at times. So I mean my question. What have you done to her?"

Charles's line of sight went to the line of rings on his father's left hand. That hand rested peacefully on his father's chest, the man waiting for his son's response. Charles never really got why he loved those types of jewelry. But his father never failed to collect them in different sizes.

"What have I done to her, you ask." Isabella's small face flashed through his mind. "I have done nothing but make her mine again."

"You might want to elaborate a bit."

Charles grew more comfortable. That was how it had always been between him and his father. They never see each other that much, but that fact has never once affected the way they relate to each other.

"I found Isabella a married woman-"

"What on earth are you playing with? A married woman?" His father definitely didn't like Charles's introduction to his explanation.

"Father, just listen." The old man drew a straight line on his lips as his back leaned into the chair. "Isabella might be married but she entered that union because of her father, Alberto Shade." Charles paused. He wanted to see if his father knew the man.

"Alberto Shade." Charles smiled as his father spoke. He was glad the name wasn't strange to his father.

"He was in debt a long time ago and he had her marry Gabriel Manifold to settle it."

"What? Manifold?"

"You know Manifold?" Charles was surprised at that. The aspect of business Manifold engaged in was not one his father's company took interest in.

"Yes. I met him years ago through Alberto." His frown deepened. "So, you are saying  that Alberto married Isabella off to Manifold's son?"

"Yes."

"What kind of debt is that? That is such a cruel thing to do to one's child. So..." Charles's father looked him in the eye. "How do you come in? Did you pay off the owed debt?"

Charles looked ahead, sobriety all over his face. "Gabriel Manifold has done nothing but cause harm to my woman ever since she has been with him." A deep sigh followed. "He doesn't want me to pay the debt. Instead, he insists he wants Isabella to remain his wife."

"Does Isabella want to remain his wife?"

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