The room was thrown into utter confusion, everyone glanced at each other in surprise, they all knew who she was_ the chairwoman of Warren's Corporation but why she was here was the question;
Catherine smiled; ''Liam dear, can you come in now; ''
All eyes turned to the door as they watched a man, who looked almost like Nicklaus walk into the parlor, the only difference was the color of their hair.
''Who… who is this? '' Grandma was the first to speak as she was more shocked than surprised;
''This is Liam Wills, or maybe now he is Liam Howells, the first son of Jeffery Howells and the rightful heir to the Howells Corporation, you can run a DNA test if you want, but I mean, it's quite obvious that he's a replica of Jeffery; ''
Liam greeted the elders and came to sit down beside his mother. Everyone was confused, well except for Tiana; she just watched the whole drama unfold.
''where has he been all the while? I thought Michael Wills is your son? Why did you keep him hidden? ''
So many questions flew in the air but none of them could get a reasonable reply;
Catherine rubbed her forehead; ''I adopted Michael Wills, and I kept him hidden until now because I knew someone was after Nicklaus and if he knew about my son, he would try to kill him too, '' her eyes turned to Douglas who was staring back at her murderously, this was the first time he had ever been taken unawares.
She chuckled; ''but now I see he has finally killed Nicklaus, I decided to show my son to the family, ''
The room erupted in chaos again;
''how sure are you that he killed Nicklaus? Don't place accusations you aren't sure of! '' Michelle exclaimed, venom seething through her nose, even if she didn't like Douglas, she already had a plan of her own, so she didn't want one strange woman destroying her plans;
''Well, who knows, don't you want an investigation done? Perhaps, something can be found? '' She tilted her head to the side and stared at Douglas pointedly as though she was extremely sure that he was the one that killed Nicklaus.
All this information at once was too much for Grandma to bear, she held her head with both hands as she tried to calm her pounding head.
''Everyone quiet! ''
Grandma raised her voice to calm everyone in the room, and they all turned to her. She was quiet for a while before she turned to Catherine;
''it's a waste of time doing any tests on your son, it's clear that he looks very much like my son, Jeffery. But I want to know, how did you get pregnant with his baby? ''
Catherine thought for a moment; ''I was his secretary, we had an affair. ''
Grandma sighed, this news was quite shocking to her; Jeffery was the last person she had expected to have an extra-marital affair with, so she found it hard to believe. ''
''And you stayed hidden, why? ''
Catherine swallowed; ''because… ''
Wait, she could not say she stayed hidden all the while because Douglas was out to get Nicklaus, that would be shooting herself on the foot;
''I hid him to protect him; I didn't want any harm to come to him since Nicklaus was already born; ''
'" And you're here with him now, because you want to take the company? How are you so sure that harm wouldn't come to him now? And how are we sure that you didn't kill Nicklaus so you would take over the company?''
Blood drained from Catherine's face as Grandma's words reached her ears; how did she not think of this before coming? Right now, she was the stranger here and the most likely to want to hurt Nicklaus.
Catherine swallowed; ''If I wanted to hurt Nicklaus I would have done it a long time ago, you can carry out your investigation, I'm open for anything, all I want is for my son to have a name and be accepted into this family. ''
Everyone watched her quietly, each in their own world of thought;
''Right, as you said, we'll carry out an investigation on the accident, and if any lead is traced to you, both you and your son will go down for it.''
Grandma paused and turned to Tiana;
''For now, since we are in doubt of who to manage the affairs of the company, we'll leave it to Tiana, Nicklaus's wife to decide. ''
All eyes turned to Tiana who had been watching them quietly, and she smiled faintly;
''Tiana between Douglas and Liam who do you want to be the acting CEO. ''
Catherine's face paled, she knew Tiana would never choose Liam; he had kidnapped her so there was no way she would choose him.
Tiana's eyes moved from Douglas to Liam who was sitting on a distant couch, he could not look her in the eyes, it only made her chuckle. She pulled her eyes from him again and turned to Douglas as though contemplating her decision;
''Grandma, can you let me think about this, I'm not sure. '' Her face looked sincere as she pleaded;
''Liam is my husband's half-brother, and Douglas is his uncle, it's quite difficult to choose. ''
Liam was shocked at her reply; was she thinking about choosing him? After everything, he did to her?
Grandma nodded; ''Okay, but you have to make your decision quick, ''
''Yeah, we'll have another meeting in two days. ''
''Alright, ''
Douglas was the first to stand up and leave the room, followed by Catherine and Liam. Today was the most shocking day of their lives. Tiana sat on her spot watching everyone talk about what just happened; she saw Elizabeth walk to her and a smile stretched her lips;
''Tiana; '' She called sincerely as she sat beside her, ''Did you know? ''
Tiana knew she was asking if she knew about Liam and Catherine, but she shook her head;
''No, I didn't know, I'm just as shocked; ''
Elizabeth sighed and pulled her into a close hug; ''it's going to be fine, okay? ''
She nodded, ''Alright, I'll be going home now.''
Tiana retracted from the hug and stood up from the couch;
''Be safe okay? ''
Tiana nodded; ''I will. ''
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