Woke Up Married

50

New Heir

After supper, Peter went to see Jason.

"Mr Haward, I have a suggestion. I want to run by you," Peter began, and Jason gave him the go-ahead.

"My qualification is not helping me much in my search for a job. I was thinking of becoming an Uber driver," Peter said.

Jason raised his eyebrows looking at him but started thinking about what Peter had suggested. Peter, seeing that Jason was silent, knew he was thinking about what he had just said, so he decided to add more information that would make his suggestion a good one.

"I was thinking I could drop you at work in the morning, and do my Uber work and come pick you up when you close, which will equally be my closing time. Instead of the car being parked, we can make some extra income with it" Peter added.

Jason thought it through and felt it wasn't a bad idea and if Peter was okay with it, he didn't want to stop him.

"That is okay. Find out everything you need to know about becoming an Uber driver, and we can buy a car," Jason said.

Peter nodded and got right to work finding out more about the basic requirements one needed to meet to become an Uber driver.

They all decided on how to run the house without having to spend more. For now, Peter and Jason will be working and Julia will be taking care of the house. Everyone accepted their duty and was ready to execute them very well, but Julia was still worried about Jason. Jason was still not showing any emotions. He was acting as if everything was fine, but she could feel how distant he had become. He has refused to allow himself to feel or be affected.

Julia was standing in the kitchen putting the plates in their respective places watching Jason and Peter chatting in the living room. Jason is a hard-working person, but now, he is occupying himself with so much just so he won't think about what is happening around him, and this hurts Julia as she knows it will affect his health negatively. In her heart, she wants to help out, but Jason wants to handle everything by himself. She lowered her lashes as she put the last plate in its place.

Meanwhile, back in Florida, Mrs Haward was busy with preparations for the announcement of the new heir. She intended to make it grand, and because of that, she engaged the top news channels and media stations, so the news would travel all around the world. Yes, she wanted the news to go viral. She wanted this news to be bigger than the way Jason was announced. With this, she intended to deliver another blow to Jason, to knock him out entirely. Soon the long-awaited day came, and the new heir was announced on every news channel.

"The Haward family have finally chosen a true Haward blood to be heir to the Haward fortune. The family had been able to fix all the damage caused by Jason Haward, who happened to be a false heir, and not even a child of the Hawards. Information reaching us has it that when his dirt schemes were discovered he stole a large sum of money from the family account and relocated to another continent. However, the Haward family had decided not to press charges because he was once part of the family. Today we are happy to announce James Haward, the true heir of Haward's fortune," came the reporter.

"The Haward family have finally chosen a new heir. The delay was a result of the damage caused by Jason Haward, the false heir who scammed the family for millions of dollars. The news has it that, after taking a large sum of money from the family's account, he moved to another continent. The new Haward heir will be on our show soon, and we will have answers to some of the questions we have on our minds," announced another reporter from a different news channel.

"The Haward family took a massive hit when they unknowingly chose Jason Haward, a con artist, as heir. The family have, however, chosen the rightful heir in the person of James Haward to fix the damage caused by Jason," came another reporter on another channel.

The news of James being chosen as the new Haward heir was all over the news channels and social media. Mrs Haward had managed to secure an interview session for James. This was meant to further destroy Jason. She wanted to ensure she left Jason in a state where he could not rise again. The news went viral and became the top search topic on all social media platforms. Her clear intention was to continue making Jason look bad, even when announcing James as the rightful heir.

In what used to be Jason's apartment, Mrs Haward sat with James in the living room, rehearsing for the interview that had been set for him. She had employed the services of a professional to help prepare James. A set of questions had been prepared ahead of time and shared with specific interviewers and that is what James was using in rehearsing his responses. Mirenda was equally helping to get James ready for the program which was scheduled for the end of the week and that was two days away.

"Mum, I am exhausted. I need to get some rest," James complained.

"James, you will be on TV and in front of millions of people, you can't afford to humiliate yourself by saying the wrong things. This interview will be viewed by all," Mrs Haward said "So you need to get everything right," she added.

"Fine," replied James, and he tried to learn things a lot faster.

James wanted everything to be done and over with, so he could have his own life back. The days he didn't have to think about anyone but himself.

For the whole period Mrs Haward was doing this preparation, James had been moving from one place to another. He couldn't even remember the last time he visited the club or even picked a woman for his pleasure. This whole thing was very stressful for him, but his mother kept pushing him to look at the bright side. He will be richer and more powerful. At least with such power, finding Julia would be as easy as using a magnet to pick a needle.

"Look, my dear, everything will be back to normal," assured his mother.

James nodded and they continued.

Back in Croydon, London, Jason, Peter and Julia were watching TV together, so they had already seen the news which was on almost every channel. Jason looked at the screen blankly like he was looking at nothing, but Peter's face flashed red and his hair was now standing on the tip. Julia was sitting next to Jason. She turned to look at Jason's face, which had no expression but appeared to be very calm and collected.

"Why are they doing this?" thought Peter. "Why are they bent on destroying Jason? What wrong did he do to them to get such hate?" Peter thought and hoped this would not affect Jason's new job, which he was yet to start.

Peter thought about Jason's new job but was not sure how to draw Jason's attention to it as he was sitting there watching the TV screen like the news was about someone else and not him. Julia got up and left the living room after excusing herself. She went straight to the bedroom as she didn't want to watch and listen to everything they were saying on the TV anymore. Jason watched her leave, and he could tell she was hurt. She had told him she loved him. It does make sense she feels that way about him. He didn't want to see her like that, but how could he protect her from all this?

"Sir, will this change anything at your new office?" Peter managed to inquire, almost stammering.

"That is something I will have to find out. That will be on Monday when I start work officially or wait for a call from now till Monday," replied Jason, sounding calm and collected.

"The car I got will be arriving today," Peter said, lowering the volume of the TV.

"Good," Jason said.

"I will complete the formalities tomorrow and be ready to start on Monday with you," Peter said, and seized the opportunity to lower the volume of the TV further.

Back in Florida, James was now ready for the interview. He had gone over and over the scripts and was now conversant with them. Mrs Haward warned the interviewers not to ask him questions outside the printed scripts. Public questions are not allowed either. It was the day for the interview and James sat comfortably in the provided seat, and the host sat adjacent to him.

"Welcome to today's show. I am very honoured to have you, Mr Haward," said the host, and James replied with a nod.

"Hello, everyone. Thank you very much for joining us on our show tonight, themed; Time with the Hawards. As you are already aware and may have seen or read on social media, the Haward family recently was faced with a family scandal, as someone considered one of their own turned out to be a con artist. Today we will be getting some insight into what happened. Here with me now is Mr James Haward as our guest," the host said, smiling at James, and he returned the smile.

"We will take a quick commercial break and go right to business when we are back. Stay tuned," she added.