Emily’s Dilemma: Seduced by Billionaire Brothers

It had been two days and Jackson was still in fact missing. A hushed tension hung in the air, shrouding everyone in a cloak of unease. The news had spread like wildfire, sending shockwaves through the media landscape. Headlines blazed across newspapers, their bold letters acting as a glaring reminder of the fraught reality. Everyone asked questions that there were no answers to, that there was no one to give those answers. Everyone waited amidst the investigations, waiting waiting for a call at least.

The whole family sat together in the Hatton family mansion, Ethan seated close to Emily who had just left the hospital but had been silent ever since, refusing to say a word. What exactly was she going to say? What words were enough to describe the fear that had seized her, held her captive and unwilling to let go. Different scenarios kept running through her head, was it Blair? Did she go through with her plans to actually kidnap Jackson? If so, why hadn’t they called yet? Why had no one called? What was going on?

The already silent room fell more silent when the police officer walked into their midst, Mr. Hatton and his wife seated at the other end of the large living room, Mrs. Hatton face looked downcast with worry, her normally carefree look now tainted with fear and anxiety and no amount of soothing was able to calm her down or soothe her shaking hands.

“What’s the update? Where’s my son?” Mr. Hatton sprang up the moment the cop walked in fast strides, “What have you found so far?” the tension was spreading fast around the room as they all looked at the cop, their faces expectant except Ethan who held an air of indifference, his face was stoic as he usually looked whenever Ethan was involved in anything that garnered attention, and it even felt worse that the woman he was in love with was more shaken that the rest of them, he strongly believed that Jackson was fine wherever the hell he was.

“We’re doing our best, Mr. Hatton. Your son will be brought home safe and alive. It’s almost impossible to track his location because his phone was left behind and his car never left the parking lot of the hospital. No other fingerprints were detected on his phone except his but we’re looking at other angles, we’re still looking at security cameras at the hospital and asking people if they had seen anything on the day he went missing” the cop tried to explain but Mr. Hatton wasn’t having it. The cop’s face with his badge identified at Andrew had the face of someone that was used to dealing with rich old folks, their impatience and the arrogance that came alongside it. He kept his face passive and expressionless, that way you gave them to ammunition but Mr. Hatton didn’t need any ammunition to fuel his anger, his last son was missing, it was more than enough to set his fuse.

“It’s not fast enough” Mr. Hatton face contorted in anger and was about to go off again when Ethan intervened, leaving Emily’s side for a minute.

“Dad” he called “Let them do their job, I’m sure Jackson is fine and he’ll be home soon, he’s probably just throwing some form of tantrum”

“How could you say that about your brother” his father thundered “Your brother is missing and you’re calling it a tantrum, how could you be so heartless”

“Dad I ” Ethan tried to fix his statement but Mr. Hatton already had a disappointed look on his face, looking directly at Ethan and that was when his wife stood up walking towards them, just as the cop walked out to avoid the family squabble.

“He probably didn’t mean it that way, darling” she said “Come sit”

Mr. Hatton pulled his eyes away from Ethan, and following his wife when Ethan made a certain statement that suddenly hushed everyone.

“I wish Jackson would never come back, maybe that way you’ll actually look at me as your son and just maybe my wife would actually love me” he said and air was suddenly thick with tension, so palpable you could feel it slice through the air in very thin slices. No one said a word as his eyes roamed through all of them but they settled on Emily especially, and her eyes never left his, she stared right back

“You don’t mean that” his mother said, breaking the silence and Ethan nodded his head facing her now.

“Hell yes, I do”

“Your brother is missing Ethan Hatton and that’s all you can say” his father thundered but Ethan didn’t look he was going to back down

“What else do you want me to say, I see all the energy and resources you’re putting into looking for Jackson but no one did the same for me. When we went on that camping trip and I got lost in the bloody woods for five long hours, nobody looked for me, nobody cared that I was gone, nobody even noticed I was gone and I was just ten years old so yes maybe he should never come back”

The air went silent again, as they all looked at him.

“You were always running off that we got pretty used to it, and you turned up safe as you always did” his mother explained.Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“It would have felt better if you guys cared just a little bit about me the way you guys do for Jackson”

“Ethan” Emily called getting up to meet him but Ethan took a step back and raising his hands to stop her from coming close to him

“Don’t even do that pity thing Emily, don’t look at me that way, like you care when you clearly know that you don’t”

“That’s not true” Emily defended but Ethan wasn’t having it.

“Yea right, but there you are with the possibility of being pregnant with Jackson’s baby, so don’t stand there and tell me it’s not true”

Silence

“You’re pregnant?!” Mr. Hatton and his wife said in unison, shock spread on both their faces as they looked at Emily but she was too engrossed, too angry at Ethan to pay attention to them. Her eyes twitched, and slowly she balled her fist and ready to throw him an angry punch but she managed to stay put.

She scoffed “You’re so messed up Ethan, you find every single opportunity to make everything about yourself, grow up” she told him and Ethan felt a stab in his chest. He was angry, an anger that emanated from within and had always festered with no way to let it out, so he just let it grow, he let it build till it was nearly bursting out of him.

Ethan walked out of the room, the anger still festering within him when he took out his phone and dialed a certain number, it barely rang when the other line picked.

“I’m done” he said sternly “Do whatever you want with him, the ball is in your court now” Ethan was about to end the call when he held the familiar voice in the background

“Uncle James”

The call stayed on and he listened