The Lost Heir's Vendetta

Chapter Three

Aidan had been locked up for almost 24 hours until he was taken suddenly again to the officer's office which he later learned was the Chief police officer.

Upon his arrival at the office, a middle-aged man got up and jumped on him, in a warm embrace. Aidan with a confused face looked up and down at him.

"Remove those handcuffs immediately! Why is he still in them?" Commanded the man who had enclosed him in an embrace. Aidan wondered who he was to command such authority.

In a split second, the cuffs were removed and Aidan massaged his wrists to relieve the pain inflicted on him by the cuffs.

"Why I'm I here?" Aidan exclaimed. "If it's to force out some sort of confession from me to use against me then you're in for a long ride," He said, furrowing his brows in a scowl.

"Confession?" No one is getting a confession out of you my son"

"You don't know how long and hard I have searched for you and now, you're here right in my arms," The man said, smiling from ear to ear.

Aidan looked at him briskly. "Son!? Who are you?" Aidan retorted. "You must have confused me with someone else. I'm nobody's son. I'm an orphan."

"I'm your father. You might have been an orphan all your life but it's all over now," said the strange man.

Aidan, frustrated at not getting the right answer snapped at the man. "Who are you!?" He was in prison because he was framed by his in-laws and he wasn't ready to trust anyone again. Especially a strange man popping out of nowhere claiming to be his dad.

"I'm Robert Ackerman, your father. I have been searching for you since I got back into Emergande City. I entrusted your search to my friend here, the CPO leaving distinctive traits he could use in your search."

"He alerted me the moment he found you," Robert said enthusiastically.

Aidan scoffed and looked directly at the CPO "What distinctive traits did you find in me, Sir that identifies me as his lost son?" He asked with so much sarcasm.

"Your neck bead," Robert said, cutting off his friend; the CPO from answering. "It was left on you by your mother. She made two right after you were born; one for me and one for you" While speaking, Robert brought out a bead from his breast pocket that was similar to his in every way.

Aidan was a bit dejected at the mention of his mother. He enclosed his face in his palms. Robert noticed him, drew him closer, and sat him down on the chair given to him by the CPO.

"You're free of all charges leveled against you." The CPO said smiling.

"Free?" Aidan said, squinting his face. He was amazed. "Are you playing games with me or what?"

"No games son."

"Stop calling me that!" Aidan snapped and hissed at him rising from his chair. "How is it that I'm free? How did I get out?"

The head of the police; the CPO rose from his chair. "I freed you upon the command of your father"

"So the Hartfords really locked me up on false allegations knowing fully well I'm innocent?" He spoke rhetorically.

"The Hartfords? What connections do you have with them? Is your arrest connected to them in any way?" Asked a concerned Robert.

Aidan felt a sharp pang in his heart. He knew right then that the charges leveled at him were done in a way that kept the Hartford name out of it. Madam Doris always had a way of taking her family's name out of anything that stains it. He at least thought Erica would come for him but he shook the thoughts off.

"How sure are you that I'm your son? Why did I live all these years as an orphan when a man who called himself my father and who had so much power to command even the head of police was alive? Why did I endure so much? Why did I believe all these while I was a nobody?" Aidan spoke indignantly.

"You're not a nobody. I searched for you all these years but it was fruitless. I recently came back and filed this report just for the sake of hope and here you are" Robert said, nudging his jaws and smiling.

Aidan chuckled and shook his head. "This is crazy. You sound absurd. You suddenly concluded that I was your lost son because of a beaded necklace. What if I found it in the streets? After all, I grew up there." He questioned Robert.

"I know you didn't find it on the streets because the beads can only be unlocked by your mother's name." Upon saying that, Robert went to the back of his neck and unlocked the neck bead.

Aidan let out a soft grasp. That bead has been on his neck for as long as he could remember. He never took it off because he couldn't unlock it except by destroying it so he just left it there knowing it was probably from his parents and all he had left from them.

"So if this confirms I'm your son, where is my mother? Why isn't she with you? What happened to her?" Aidan queried his father.

"She died on the very same day you disappeared," Robert said dejectedly.

"How did she die?"

"Your mother came from a strict and broken family, she wanted to run away with me but an accident occurred that took both of you away which to this day I can't quite place my finger on"

"So you think her accident wasn't an accident?" Aidan asked curiously but Robert shrugged it off almost immediately.

Aidan stared at him for a while deliberating on whether to believe this strange man was truly his father all because he could unlock his necklace. Robert, sensing his divided heart, said something that shocked Aidan further.

"Let's do a DNA test to put your mind at ease," Robert said to him assertively.

"And if the test proves I'm not your son? What would you do then? Aidan asked, making air quotes with his fingers.

"Then I will set you up for life," Robert said sternly.