The next morning, Damien arrived at his office at exactly 7:00am as he wanted to finish up some of the work he had for the day quickly and go to Harriet’s. Harriet had arranged a meeting with her lawyer as she was the only registered parent to her children.
Damien made a mental note to change that as soon as possible.
They were to be in court at 10:30am to get the paperwork done for their son, Adrian, and officially change his name.
By 9:50am, Damien was done with his work and headed to Harriet’s office. When he got there, she had finished some of her work and set the rest aside for the evening.
“Shall we?” He stretched out his hands to her, which she took happily, a blush making its way to her cheeks.
“Have you thought of a name?” She asked once they were seated in the car. This time around, she wanted him to pick out the name himself, not just because she had made a mistake the first time, but because she knew that it would make him happy. This would be his first time participating fully in their son’s life.
Damien nodded at her and took a deep breath before turning to look at Harriett, who was waiting eagerly to hear what name he had chosen.
“Aiden.” He said with a grin, rubbing his palms together to get rid of the nervousness. He internally crossed his fingers, hoping she would like the name he had chosen as he had spent hours every night for the past week, searching for a suitable name for their son.
“Oh my God!” Harriet exclaimed, tears brimming in her eyes and her lips curling into a smile.
“Do you like it?” Damien asked, taking her hands in his and Harriet cocked her head to the side in amusement.
“Do I like it? Damien, It is perfect. It even rhymes with Addison’s name.” She chuckled in excitement and Damien let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.
“I put a lot of thought into it, you know?” He said proudly, making Harriett laugh.
“Mother is already at the court with him. I called, and she assured me that she had all the needed documents. He doesn’t exactly need to be there as he is still a child but, I just want him to be present for this.” She explained and Damien nodded in understanding.
He ignited the engine and drove to the family court. Thirty minutes later, the registration was finished, and the documents would be mailed to them in two weeks.
Ha Young kept telling them how pleased she was with the new name even though she didn’t fully understand why they were in a hurry to change his name.
“It’ll take some time to get used to his new name but, I’m sure we’ll get the hang of it soon.” Ha Young said as she stood with her daughter, watching Damien play with his son, both laughing and giggling.
“Yeah. Look how happy he is, mother. Why did I ever think of keeping his children away from him?” Harriet said with a sad smile as she stared at Damien.
“Maybe because you hated him and didn’t care if he was happy or not? I’m not blaming you, my love. You were right and now that he has repented, he can be in their lives.” Ha Young said, caressing her daughter. Harriett nodded but didn’t give a reply as Damien was already making his way to her with Aiden.
“Thank you very much for today, Mother.” He said to Ha Young, who hugged him happily. They said goodbye and soon, Ha Young returned to the house with Aiden, while Damien dropped Harriett back at her company before leaving for his.
The day went by rather quickly after the visit to the court and soon, it was already 3:15pm, which meant that he had less than an hour until his meeting with Evelyn.
Damien deliberately took his time, leaving his office at exactly 4pm, knowing that it would take him twenty minutes to get to the hotel.
It was a five-star hotel with an exquisite interior. He could tell by just one look that it would cost thousands of dollars to spend a night there and if Evelyn was staying there, it meant that she was being sponsored there, since she wasn’t so rich.
He didn’t know that she was in fact living with his brother.
The receptionist directed him to room 206, which was on the top floor. Damien took a deep breath before placing a knock on the door. Two minutes later, the door opened to reveal Evelyn, who was surprisingly dressed in decent clothing; blue denim jeans and a gray top. Her hair was also packed in a messy bun and there were dark circles around her eyes like she had been crying. Her lips were also dry and her face pale.
She looked sick but, Damien knew better than to believe her.
“Damien. I-I thought you wouldn’t make it.” She stuttered and cleared her throat in an attempt to look pitiful.
Of course, it was all a pretense. She had mixed her mascara with water and put it around her eyes to make it look like she had been crying. She was getting impatient while waiting for Damien. She feared that he would bail on her and ruin everything she had planned. Even her makeup was washing off.
As she heard the knock on the door, she quickly took out her mascara and retouched the makeup. She also took out white lipstick and dabbed her lips to give her a pale look before going out to meet Damien.
Damien walked into the dimly lighted room and sat on the chair. Evelyn followed and sat opposite him, biting her lips nervously.
“Thank you for-for giving me a chance to explain.” She said and raised her eyes to meet Damien, who was staring at her coldly, his eyes lacking the warmth that used to be there when he was with her.
“Do you care for anything? Water, coffee or whiskey?…your favorite.” She smiled sadly.
“Just water,” Damien said, and she nodded before leaving to fetch him a glass of water. She returned a few minutes later and returned with two glasses, placing one in front of him.
“I’ll need another glass so just get me a bottle.” Damien said, and she nodded and hurried to get another bottle from the mini-refrigerator.
“I was framed, Damien. I’d never hurt your children. You know how much I love them.” She started as soon as she returned, watching keenly as Damien gulped down the entire water.
A smile formed on her lips and her expression changed. She leaned back in her seat and cleaned off her fake makeup, staring at Damien.
“You know, I did kidnap them and that stupid Harriet. The actual plan was to kill her but, I needed to get married to you first, my love.” She said with a pout, and she watched Damien fight to stay sober.
“That plan didn’t work, thanks to you and that friend of yours, but, I came up with a better one.” She laughed maniacally, clapping her hand before standing to touch him as he struggled to keep his eyes open.
She had slipped an overdose of a sleeping medicine into his water earlier, so she could carry out her plan.
“This time around, everything will work out perfectly, my love. I’ll get pregnant for you, we’ll get married, and we can have the perfect life we dream of.” She laughed.
“We?” She froze upon hearing Damien’s voice, followed by a low chuckle from him.
“You see, Evelyn. I knew you were foolish, but I think I underestimated your foolishness.” He grabbed her hand and stood to his feet.
Evelyn couldn’t understand how he was suddenly back to normal when she definitely slipped the drugs in.
“You didn’t think I’d be foolish enough to trust you completely, right?” He grinned, loving the look on her face.
She was so engrossed in her plan that she didn’t notice him swapping the glasses. So, what he drank was her normal water and not the spiked one.
“How? How did you?” Her heart raced in fear, and she struggled to get out of his grip. Before Damien could give her a reply, the door opened to reveal Harriett, who was accompanied by Eric and three police officers and one woman.
“Also, everything you said was recorded right here.” Damien waved his phone in her face and immediately Harriett grabbed her by the hair and landed a slap on her face.
A loud scream left Evelyn’s lips as her heart raced, and her body shook with fear. She couldn’t believe that her plan had backfired.
“Miss Evelyn James, you are under arrest for attempted murder, kidnap and framing. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have a right to an attorney and if you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you.” One of the officers said as he walked up to her and cuffed her.