AFFECTION

THIRTY SIX

36

DAVID WELLINGTON

I spent a long time there- at Erica's penthouse, and she told me random stuff. Some of it made sense, most of it did not. I stayed there because of my meaningful conversation, but also because an aquarium was being installed in my penthouse below. Hope took Oliver to the office, and i was home, so it was the perfect day to get it done. A bunch of men were working on it. It was a big one, and is going to cover about half of the wall in my dining room. I had personally gone to pick up twenty beautiful fishes for it, who could easily expand it there as they grow. A cleaning staff was hired, and one person was meant to feed them thrice daily. They were getting a security check done on them downstairs by Stephan's team.

Eve was peacefully sleeping on my chest and so when I thought it was time to leave, i laid her down beside Erica, patted her head, gratefully and then left.

I was at the top of the stairs when I saw Stephan and Eric engaged in an intense conversation.

"...then who are you suggesting Stephan? Who is it?"

Stephan sighed, a little disturbed, "It was Carter. All the clues point to him. And he has a reason. Oliver's case was the first case he ever lost!'

"I bloody paid for it!", Eric snapped, "I paid for him to loose. Way more than his usual compensation! Has he lost his mind! He thinks he can get away with attacking Erica??"

I got down and made my presence known to the two men.

"Why did you pay for him to loose?"

He looked shocked at my question. He must be hoping i didn't hear him the moment I did. But I am not a fool. I can hear and see stuff, especially when it involves me and my sister.

"David..."

"Don't David me Eric! Just tell me. Like right fucking now."

I was not really shocked. His talking these days was sneaky. And his actions - they have been sneaky since the day I came back. So sneaky that I had to question the very foundation of our friendship. Something I was not ready to do.

"I paid him to loose because I wanted you to have Oliver, as well as to give you a good lesson on how hard it would be win him."

I should have been enraged. Furious even. This guy probably went on to plot a whole court case because he wanted to teach me a lesson. A fucking lesson? Like he was my high school teacher!

"Why don't you start from the start?"

He sighed and rubbed his forehead with his finger.

"It doesn't matter now. You have Oliver, you love him. That is the only thing that is important."

I shook my head, "That is important. For sure. But what is more important is how you kept our friendship on line."

His eyes softened at that, like they really did. And when it comes to Eric, his eyes barely ever soften for me. He likes to pretend he's my strict dad who's got the responsibility to keep me on line.

"David..."

"I'll be outside. Call me when you are done here.", Stephan excused himself nodding at both of us, giving us the privacy. Somehow I appreciated it.

"Now speak!"

"I love Oliver more than I will ever love my own child. I hope that much is clear to you. But I have seen you living without parents, and seen Erica resent them because it was their wrong decisions that made her life a hell. I don't care about anyone and anything, but I can't imagine seeing that child, thinking years later, that his mother died on the day of his birth and his father abandoned him even when he was alive. That thing- that realisation wouldn't let me live. I knew you would love him some day, but for that you had to come back and see him. You did. But you weren't really trying to commit in that father son relationship. So I did it - made a will about taking him away from you. Something that finally invoked the anger and the intuition of being a father to your kid. When it seemed like it was working, i pulled in Carter as my lawyer. Jefferson is already shit in what he does, and when you appointed him as your lawyer, I had to pay Carter even more to loose. But that bitch was being so cruel that I thought he would change sides at the last moment. And so i bribed the judge too..."