One Man Band System

The room settled back into silence, but this time the atmosphere was nowhere near as tense as before. Suddenly, "riiing," Wesley’s smartphone rang. He picked up the call, stood up, and walked toward the front door, leaving Miranda, Eric, and Emma behind. Judging by his tone, the call was personal, not work-related. He stepped outside and pulled the door shut behind him. Miranda turned her gaze to Eric.

"Sorry about that, Eric. Wesley and Kevin are cut from the same cloth—they rarely talk, but when they do, they’re brutally blunt, whether it cuts someone deep or not," Miranda said.

"It’s no problem at all, Auntie," Eric replied.

"Hey... don’t call me Auntie anymore. Call me Mom," Miranda said.

"Oh... okay... Mom," Eric stammered nervously.

"And why are you only telling me about this now, Emma? I found out way before you, from Joe, Layla, Anna, Vicky, and CEO Bryan. Why wouldn’t my own daughter say something?" Miranda asked.

It clicked for Eric immediately. Last week, after he and Emma spent the entire day at the amusement park and stayed overnight at a hotel, the other five girls had returned home to their families and come back with the exact same letter Emma had. Why had they gone home and obviously spilled everything to their parents, leading to that letter being shown to Katie? Because he had handed out rings to every single one of them, even though he’d given ones to Jade, Ruby, and Tania too.

Eric pressed his hand against his forehead as the realization hit him that the very mess he was trying to forget was entirely his own doing. Emma crossed her arms over her chest, turned her head away, and leaned back on the sofa, slumping her feet up onto the cushions.

"Forgot... sorry," Emma said, short, sharp, and sweet.

"Ugh... what a selfish brat," Miranda countered.

"Ha! You hid a massive secret like this from me yourself, and I only found out by eavesdropping on your phone call! Don’t you dare call me selfish!" Emma shouted angrily.

"Fine, fine... my bad. I was in the wrong," Miranda said, backing down.

Wesley stepped back inside the house, but this time he wasn’t alone. He brought along a middle-aged woman with long black hair, though her gray roots were already showing. She had noticeable dark bags under her eyes and looked thoroughly exhausted, as if she were battling an illness. The middle-aged woman held onto Wesley’s arm, wearing a modest casual dress that appeared quite expensive while carrying a tote bag.

The moment Miranda caught sight of the woman, she stood up to greet her. They hugged and shared a brief conversation before Miranda patted Wesley’s arm, appearing to lightly scold him while Wesley scratched the back of his neck in response.

Taking in the scene, Emma turned to look at Eric sitting beside her, who was watching the whole thing unfold just like she was.

"Who’s that?" Emma asked Eric.

"You’re asking me? Who am I supposed to ask then? Obviously I have no idea," Eric said.

As Miranda guided the woman toward the sofa, Eric and Emma stood up to greet her. Miranda paused right in front of the pair.

"Introductions are in order, this is Wesley’s adoptive mother, Kimberly Thorne... Kim, meet my daughter Emma and her fiancé, Eric," Miranda said.

"Oh... it’s a pleasure to meet you, Emma, Eric. Wesley talks about you two all the time," Kimberly said.

Emma and Eric instantly locked their eyes onto Wesley, who quickly turned his head away. But because their stares felt so intense, Wesley finally turned back to face them.

"My bad, alright? I genuinely had no idea, so don’t take it to heart, my dear little sister... you too, man," Wesley said to the both of them.

"Oh... it’s all good," Eric replied casually.

"Why are you even accepting his apology... ugh," Emma said.

"Come on, don’t be like that," Eric said, giving Emma a gentle nudge from behind.

"What exactly did he tell you, Auntie?" Emma asked.

"He said his little sister turned out to be absolutely gorgeous and that he really wanted to talk to her, that’s all," Kimberly said.

"Just that? No venting about how his sister was about to marry her own brother?" Emma asked, tossing a sarcastic glance Wesley’s way.

"Not at all. Why, did something happen?" Kimberly asked, confused.

"It’s nothing," Emma answered in frustration, glaring at Wesley, who was practically wearing a victorious smirk.

"Come on, let’s head straight to the dining table. Dinner’s ready," Miranda said, gathering everyone together.

Miranda guided Kimberly toward the dining table, with Emma following right behind them alongside Eric. But suddenly, Wesley grabbed Eric by the shoulder. Naturally, Eric turned around, a bit startled to see the dead-serious look on Wesley’s face, considering he thought the whole issue was already settled and didn’t need to be brought up again.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" Wesley asked.

"Sure... what do you want to talk about?" Eric asked.

"Not in here, and somewhere Emma can’t hear us. Outside," Wesley suggested.

"Hmm... alright," Eric said, a bit hesitant and wondering what on earth the guy in front of him was up to.

They walked out toward the front door, Wesley opening it so Eric could step outside with him. They strolled off the porch and leaned up against Wesley’s car parked in the driveway. The two stood in silence without saying a word, the air growing awkward. But before long, Wesley broke the silence.

"Once again, I’m sorry. I was completely off base about you, I’m serious," Wesley said.

"Alright... it’s fine. Is that all?" Eric asked.

"Honestly, I kind of suspected I might have been wrong after I ran into someone at Dad’s office," Wesley answered.

Eric felt a wave of curiosity, wanting to ask who Wesley had bumped into at his father’s office, but he held his tongue. Eventually, Wesley spoke up again anyway.

"Between Dad and that person, I learned that you’re dealing with some heavy stuff concerning your family. I didn’t pay much mind to it back then, until yesterday during Emma’s piano competition," Wesley said.

Something clicked instantly in Eric’s mind. He immediately understood what Wesley was trying to get at—he had already heard the whole story from Emma two days ago at Joe’s hotel.

"It was your old man’s doing, right?" Eric asked, probing.

"Yeah... you could say that. It really was my old man’s guys who caused the mess, but the one calling the shots wasn’t my old man... it was your brother," Wesley answered.

"Yeah... Emma already told me everything, and she got the story from your mom," Eric replied.

"Great... if you already know, that makes things easy," Wesley said.

"Makes what easy?" Eric asked.

Suddenly, Wesley extended his hand toward Eric, leaving him thoroughly confused. Eric stared at Wesley’s dead-serious face, then hesitantly and slowly reached out to shake Wesley’s hand.

"I’m apologizing on behalf of my old man. Please tell the police and the federal agents to drop the investigation. Right now, he’s completely trapped and can’t go anywhere. I know it’s not my problem, but he begged me for help since he knew I was meeting up with you. I’m just passing along the message, but the apology really is coming straight from my heart. Because of my old man, your life got turned upside down," Wesley said.

"Oh... okay, but as for stopping the investigation, I can’t do that. It wasn’t me who got targeted, it was my dad and my little sister," Eric replied.

"Yeah... I know. I was only asked to pass the message along for my old man and apologize to you in person, that’s all," Wesley replied.

"So do you know what happened to Jason?" Eric asked.

"Right now, every bit of evidence of his schemes, from way back up to now, has been handed over to the cops. He’s currently a fugitive and word is he went off the grid. The last time I saw him was right after the bombing, all bruised and battered when he got thrown out of my old man’s place," Wesley answered.

The two released their handshake and fell back into silence. Eric looked deep in thought, not because he felt a shred of pity for Jason, but because he was pondering what move Jason would pull next that would inevitably mess with his life.

Wesley noticed Eric standing in silence, deep in thought about something that was clearly connected to the guy he despised for trying to hurt Emma. He patted Eric on the shoulder.

"Take it easy, the cops are definitely hunting him down right now. He’s a fugitive at this point and there’s no way he slips through the cracks with the mountain of evidence stacked against him from over the years," Wesley said.

"What exactly was he involved in anyway?" Eric asked.

"Odd jobs, sometimes stealing, sometimes pushing illegal drugs, sometimes setting up girls to be trafficked. He belongs to a gang playing pretend mafia. The name Tony Malini was actually him and his friend, the one Dad killed in prison, but he used Dad’s address for his operation since he was on good terms with Dad, turning Dad into their phantom Tony Malini. Naturally, Dad uncovered the whole thing. On top of that, he almost hurt Joe’s niece and Emma, so of course Dad and Joe aren’t going to let him off easy and will make sure the cops lock him up, which means you’re safe," Wesley answered.

"Hmm... so that’s how it is. Since when?" Eric asked.

"According to Dad, since about three years ago, back when he was still in college," Wesley answered.

Eric’s mind instantly began racing, because he knew full well that three years ago, Jason had just befriended Blake, who quickly became his best friend, and only after graduating did he start dating Melissa.

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