The resistance in Hayden’s eyes made Stefan uncomfortable. Clenching his fists, he decided to
confess everything to her after hesitating for a while.
“Hayden, come with me if you still believe. I’ll take you to a place.”
“What place?”
“You’ll know when you’re there. Everything I have done to approach the Beckhams is all there.”
The road was muddy after the snow, Hayden drove cautiously. She cruised in a community near the
University of Public Security and entered a room on the fourth floor trailing Stefan when they got off.
There’s no decoration in the room, only a bed and a desk except for numerous books. Marked books
and files filled a shelf.
“I lived here when I was a private detective.”
“But I haven’t been here for a long time.”
Hayden took a glance over the room. The room was dusty, it had to being long deserted.
“There on the shelf is everything I know about the Beckhams, I put them in a chronological order. My
mom never told me anything about the Beckhams, so I have done some research.”
Hayden paused for a moment, then suspiciously, she walked to the shelf and pull out a notebook.
The date was three years ago, when Stefan just went to college.
It was a report cut from a newspaper on the first paper.
“Franklin Hawkins, CEO of ST Group resigns, Joseph Beckham, the only heir of the Beckhams takes
over.”
Moving on were some records of the interviews Joseph had taken, along with Stefan’s notes, which
included his own analysis on Joseph.
His analysis, at first, was limited to vocabulary such as “cold”, “shrewd”, “has a bias in business”. But
later, words like “not so cold”, “kind of annoying” started to emerge.
All these were a teen’s self-talk, he shared them with nobody. For so many year, he had been focusing
on his half-brother.
Hayden was deeply moved when she closed the book.
She put it back and whirled to study Stefan for a good while, then she asked.
“Why would you think of doing this in the first place? There’s gotta be a reason. You guys never met,
what prompted you to do the research on him?”
“Because of my mom.” He replied instantly. “When I was a kid, she used to cry while holding a picture,
yelling Joseph’s name in her dreams. I was confused at first. Then I knew she had another son called
Joseph, and she was evicted by him.”
People see things differently.
Hayden could understand the grudge Stefan held for his mother. But at the same, she had to stand in
Joseph’s shoes and think of the harms that Rebekah brought him.
“So you want Joseph to accept your mother again?”
“Right.”
“That won’t be easy.” She said directly. “There’s something you may not know. And that’s the reason
why you have such a thought, but…”
“My mom didn't cheat.”
Abruptly, Stefan interrupted Hayden. Hayden saw the conviction in his eyes, she paused.
“I know what you’re saying, but my mom could not have been in a relationship with another man.”
Hayden frowned. “But Stefan, your mom said that your father and Joseph’s are not the same one…”
It was hard to tell Stefan that thought. But she knew from the stubborn look on Stefan that she couldn’t
persuade him easily. And god knew what he might do if she fail to talk him out of tying to make peace
for Joseph and his mother.
To approach Joseph, he chose to be a private detector and discover so many stories about the
Beckhams. Hayden could imagine how dangerous it could have been.
“Hayden, you think my mom gave birth to me with another man too?”
Stefan’s face changed. Slowly, his hands coiled into a ball. “But my mom has been telling me that my
father’s name is Henry Beckham since I was a child.”
Hayden was shocked at his protest.
Henry Beckham was the only son of Harrison Beckham, Joseph’s father. He died in a car accident
when Joseph was thirteen. The accident was the reason Joseph evicted Rebekah too. And the mother
and the son had never met again for the next two decades. But why would Stefan say that his father
was Henry.
Doubts and suspicions filled Hayden for the moment.
What happened that year had remained a mystery, and obviously, Rebekah didn't feel like talking about
it. But Hayden somehow had a eerie sensation that the truth was way more complicate than it seemed
to be.
“If what you say is true, then why would your mother leave?”
Speaking of her mother’s leave, Stefan frowned automatically.
“I’m still looking into that now. But it was definitely not because of cheating, that’s bullshit!”
Much as Hayden wanted to believe Stefan, she had to stand on Joseph’s side.
She mused for a while, then looked at Stefan.
“Stefan, your mom never told about what happen that year, maybe she had her own difficulties.”
Stefan paused, “Why do you say so?”
“Proving that you are a Beckham is easy, but your mom would rather take you away from the
Beckhams and give you another last name. Have you ever thought about why she did so?”
By now, she believed that Stefan would not lie to her, and her intuition told her that what Rebekah said
was true. Based on all the information she had now, she had a dreadful conjecture. It was so dreadful a
conjecture that she dared not tell Stefan.
Stefan didn’t know what Hayden was implying, he looked at her in confusion.
“Let’s leave it here today. What you’re trying to do cannot be done rashly. Anyway, don’t let Joseph
know about your relation with your mom. At the present, it’s the best thing to do.”
The only thing she could do now was to try to talk sense into Stefan and hope that she could find a
solution before things worsened.
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