Sweet Revenge: Jace & Emerald

“Emerald,” Mr. Landers said as he looked at young Morgan with teary eyes. “Looking at you is like looking at my mother’s photo in her younger days,” he added. They were in a hotel where Mr. Landers stayed as soon as he arrived in L. A. He wanted to go to her house, but Cedrick said to wait since she had personal matters to settle.

“Mr. Landers, I”

“Dad, call me dad.” Mr. Landers corrected her, making her eyes water. “And he’s my grandson?” he added, looking at Ace, smiling back at him.

“Yes, D-dad,” young Morgan replied.

“I have another grandpa?” the boy asked,

“Yes, young man, and it’s me,” Mr. Landers answered. His happiness was beyond his imagination, seeing his daughter and grandson. He never thought that in his search for the love of his life, he would be able to find another part of himself. “Can you come to me? I want to hug you.”

Ace hesitantly got up from his seat while Emerald encouraged him, making him walk closer to Mr. Landers until he was in front of him. “Oh dear boy…” the man said before he carried him, put the boy on his lap, and hugged him tightly.

Mr. Landers’ tears fell as he gently tapped on the boys’ back. Then he looked at Emerald sitting beside Jace, who was watching them. He motioned for his daughter to join them, and young Morgan didn’t see anything wrong with it, so she got up from her seat, sat beside him, and hugged him and Ace.

Cedrick Rosa, who was watching the scene, was teary-eyed as well. He felt overwhelmed by the situation. When he went to L. A., he only thought about finding Ember Ferguson and never imagined that he would be able to travel a secret that only the person he was looking for could unravel.

Jace, also in the scene, looked at his wife and son with a smile. He thought Emerald was overjoyed, making him more eager to find Lucy or Ember Ferguson, young Morgan’s mother before he could finally say his wife was completely happy.

Mr. Landers, Emerald, and Ace are now staring at each other before a smile appears on their faces. “My dear, please know I am happy to meet you and my grandson. But the truth that I haven’t found your mother and might be in danger still fears me.”

“I’ve been looking for her as well, Dad. I didn’t stop searching for her for a long time, and I still fail.” Emerald replied in a low voice with her head down.

“We will find her, dear. I promise you that. I will not stop searching for her even if it’s the last thing I do.” Mr. Landers said before looking at Cedrick.

“I’ll do everything I can, sir,” the detective said with conviction. Like his employer and friend, he was determined to find Ember Ferguson.

“And everything I can as well, dear wife,” Jace said. Mr. Landers looked at him and said,

“You have to make up to my daughter and grandson because of what you did, Mr. Higginson.”

“I intend to do that, Mr. Landers.”

“Dad, you have to call me Dad as well since I am your wife’s father.”

“Yes, Dad.” Mr. Landers nodded and looked at his daughter and grandson, who were both smiling. After their dramatic meeting, they decided to talk about Ember later since Ace was with them. They didn’t want the boy to hear anything violent that may cause him trauma.

***

“Are you telling me that someone wants to harm my grandson as well?” Mr. Landers asked after Emerald and Jace told him about the park incident and what Nanny Keng told them. They were in young Higginson’s office in Software Group with Cedrick, Liam, Ronnie, and Detective Santos.

“Yes, and I already asked Creep to look into the cellphone number and find anything he can that might connect or lead us to whoever sent Nanny Keng that message,” Emerald said.

“I also asked Kyle to send the details to our friend, who is also good at tracing people using technology,” Jace added.

“But the fact that someone was after Ace put the boy at risk. Ask someone to look after him and the nanny since he’s also attending school.” Mr. Landers suggested.

“I already did,” Jace informed the man, who nodded in relief.

“As for Ms. Ember,” Cedrick chimes in. “Liam and I discussed it and shared our information, and we decided to look into Mr. Morgan.”

“My dad?” Emerald exclaimed.

“Yes,” Liam said.

“Why him?”

“Because we learned that Mr. Morgan has liked her ever since.”

“What??”

“Ms. Ember used to work at Morgan Grocer. Because your mother is a real beauty, Mr. Morgan tried to rape her many times and succeeded once.”

“Why didn’t she” Emerald was supposed to ask, but Liam cut her words off.

“Your mother didn’t want to be found by her father, so she held it in and kept everything to herself. Unknown to Mr. Morgan, she was already pregnant and thought the baby, you, was his.”

“Mrs. Morgan didn’t like it and wanted Ms. Ember to abort the baby, but your mother didn’t agree.” Cedrick continued.

“But she had something that stopped them from insisting on the abortion, like the rape incident.” Emerald chimed in, making Cedrick and Liam look at her.

“You know it?”

“It’s just my instinct. Knowing Merly, she’s not the type to let people live with her, especially when she knew she threatened their marriage,” explained Emerald. “It must be why she also looks for other men, and now I understand why she has been hostile to me ever since. It was because she knew I was not her daughter and thought I am her husband’s bastard.”

“What could Ms. Ember be holding against them to make them agree to do everything she said if she didn’t file a rape case against Mr. Morgan? It must be it. She must have evidence for that.” Detective Santos asked.

“It must be important to them since they didn’t tell Emerose about my identity as well,” Emerald answered.

“Let’s look into Mrs. Morgan too. She might have something to do about Ember’s disappearance. She might only be acting to divert our attention to other things or people.” Mr. Landers said.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“I don’t think anyone in the Morgans knew about Ms. Ember’s true identity.” Detective Santos said.

“And I hope it stays that way.” Emerald looked at everyone and continued, “The Morgans are bankrupt. It was only because Merly’s relationships with different wealthy men kept them hanging. Once they find out about my mother’s wealth, I’m sure they will do anything to get their hands on it.”

“They will have difficulty doing that, knowing Mr. Ferguson, your grandfather?” Mr. Landers said, smiling.

“My grandfather?” young Morgan asked.

“Of course, he’s still alive and on his way here. I already told him about you and Ace, and he’s looking forward to seeing you both. He had been waiting for your mother to return and promised not to rest until he saw Ember again.”

“Is he sick?” Emerald asked worriedly.

“What? Of course not! He’s strong as a bull. But missing your mother so much made him look older than his age.”

“Thank God,” young Morgan said.

“Don’t worry, dear. We will find your mother, and everything will be okay. We will make whoever took her, pay for what he did.”

“And let’s just hope that she’s still fine. It’s been over five years, and we have no news about her.” Everyone looks at Cedrick. “I’m just reminding everyone, so we must get going and find her as soon as possible.”

“And that’s what we’re going to do,” Jace said.

After their conversation and laid out some plans and strategies, they decided to keep Emerald out of the search to ensure her and Ace’s safety. They were worried that whoever took Ember might get back to her once they found out her true status. So, they decided to keep the fact that young Morgan is Mr. Landers’ daughter and the Ferguson Telecom heiress.

Despite her happiness, Emerald couldn’t help but feel worried about her mother. She thought how painful it was for Ember whenever she called her nanny and Merly, her mom, when, in fact, she was her biological mother.

As a mother, young Morgan realizes the pain and suffering Ember had gone through all those years that they were together but unable to call Emerald her daughter. With that, she started to hope and pray to God to keep her mother safe and bring her back to them.