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The Chairman Recognized His Son's Face
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The banquet hall of the five-star hotel blazed with light, glasses clinking everywhere. This was the Delgado Group's annual gala, and everyone had come in their finest, polished smiles fixed on their faces. Renata had only wanted to tuck herself into a corner, finish the meal quietly, and take her son home. But her son, Jackson, barely twenty and handsome as a movie star, became the center of every eye in the room just by standing there.
Chapters (5)
第1章
The banquet hall of the five-star hotel blazed with light, glasses clinking on every side. It was Delgado Group's annual gala, and everyone had come in their finest, polished smiles fixed on their faces.
Renata Fox had meant only to tuck herself into a corner, eat her meal quietly, and take her son home.
But that son of hers, Jackson Fox, who had just turned twenty and was handsome as a movie star, drew the whole room's eyes simply by standing there.
Just as all the women from the office had gathered around to praise how good-looking the boy was, Keith Delgado, the chairman who almost never showed his face, pushed through the crowd. His hand trembled as he carried his glass over to them.
The old man's gaze locked hard on Jackson's brow and eyes. After a long moment, he said the words that dropped Renata straight into an ice pit: "Your son... looks a great deal like someone I once knew."
Renata Fox was an ordinary veteran employee in Delgado Group's admin department.
She'd been in this line of work for nearly fifteen years, and she was like a brick in the company, hauled wherever she was needed, quiet and all but invisible day to day.
She had a gentle face, but she always wore a pair of black-framed glasses and work clothes washed pale yet neatly pressed. She never joined the office gossip, never fought over power or position.
In her coworkers' eyes, Renata was a shy, maybe even dull single mother.
Only Renata herself knew how carefully she had lived these fifteen years. All she wanted was a steady paycheck, to raise her son to adulthood, to cause no trouble, and above all to draw no important person's notice.
That afternoon, Paul Whitney, the admin department manager, came in beaming. He clapped his hands and announced loudly, "Everybody stop what you're doing! I've got good news! For this year's company gala, Chairman Delgado has personally approved bringing family members. And here's the thing, Chairman Delgado said business was good this year, so every family member who shows up gets a big red envelope, and there'll be a parent-and-child prize drawing on site. Grand prize is a brand-new car!"
The office erupted at once.
"Wow! Long live Chairman Delgado! I've been wanting to bring my husband out to see how the other half lives!" "I'm bringing my daughter, she just learned to dance, she can show it off!" "The grand prize is a car? My God, I'm definitely bringing my mom to draw for me, she's got the best luck!"
Amid all the cheering, only Renata's face went slightly pale, the folder in her hands tightening in her grip.
She didn't want to go.
Especially once she heard the chairman would attend in person, she wanted to go even less.
For all these years she had steered clear of every event involving company leadership. She skipped the gala whenever she could take leave, and when there was no getting out of it, she hid alone in a corner.
"Renata, why the long face?" Maud Chavez, the young intern across from her, leaned in. "Isn't your son home for winter break? I heard he's at a top university, and he's supposed to be really good-looking. Bring him so we can get a look!"
That one call brought Kate Lambert over from the next table.
Kate was the deputy supervisor of the admin department, a few years younger than Renata, decked out flashy and gaudy. She had always looked down on plodding workhorses like Renata.
"Oh, Maud, don't go talking nonsense." Kate's nails were painted bright red, and her voice slid into that mocking singsong. "Renata keeps herself so hidden away, who even knows what her son's like? Besides, a gala at a five-star hotel like this is a high-society occasion. Bringing along some half-grown kid who's never seen the world, and he goes running around bumping into things, breaks a glass or a plate, well, a salary like Renata's can't cover that."
The office went quiet for a beat, everyone a little uncomfortable.
Renata lowered her head, pushed up her glasses, and said softly, "I wasn't planning to bring him. He... he doesn't like crowds."
"Doesn't like crowds, or isn't fit to be shown off?" Kate laughed behind her hand. "Renata, I'm only saying this for your own good. Kids from single-parent homes turn out withdrawn as it is, so all the more reason to bring him out to see the world. Look at my husband, busy as he is, he's definitely bringing our son to something like this. You've got to carry yourself with some pride."
Renata bit her lip and didn't argue back. She had long grown used to Kate's sneering, and to keep this job she had learned to swallow it.
"Who said my mom has no pride?"
A clear, crisp voice rang out at the doorway.
Everyone turned as one.
There in the admin department entrance stood a slender young man in a white down jacket, a backpack over his shoulders and an insulated lunch box in his hand.
The boy had sharply defined features, a high straight nose, and dark bright eyes like cold stars in a night sky. Simply and plainly dressed as he was, the composure and quiet nobility that ran through him seemed to brighten the whole office.
It was Jackson Fox, come to bring Renata her lunch.
Jackson strode over to Renata's side, set the lunch box on the desk, then turned and looked at Kate, his eyes cold. "Ma'am, my mom just keeps a low profile. That isn't the same as having no pride. And this is only a five-star hotel, not some den of tigers. I'm going to keep my mom company, not to see the world."
Kate was thrown by the force coming off this young kid. Her mouth opened, but for a moment nothing came out.
Renata quickly caught her son's hand. "Jackson, watch what you say. This is Supervisor Lambert."
Jackson drew back the edge in his eyes and gave Renata a warm smile. "Mom, if the company's handing out perks, then we'll go. I'd like to see just how grand this company of yours is, grand enough to make this lady feel so superior."
Renata looked at the firmness in her son's eyes, and it felt as if a corner of the ice in her chest had thawed.
She wanted to refuse, but looking at that face of his, so like... like that face, an ache rose in her again.
She had hidden all these years. Was she going to hide her whole life?
Her son had grown up. He was a man now, and he wanted to protect his mother. How could she keep on being a coward with her head tucked down?
"All right." Renata drew a deep breath and nodded. "Then we'll go."
第2章
Back in the cramped five-hundred-square-foot rental after work, Renata started digging through drawers and closets for something to wear.
Most of her clothes were black, gray, or blue, and all of them were years out of style.
Jackson was in the kitchen making dinner. Ever since he'd started college, he took over every chore whenever he came home on break, never letting Renata lift a finger.
"Mom, stop looking." Jackson came out carrying a steaming plate of pepper steak. "Just wear that cream cashmere coat. I bought it for your birthday last year, and you've never once let yourself wear it."
Renata looked at her son, her eyes stinging. "You paid for that with your tutoring money. I couldn't bear to."
"Clothes are meant to be worn." Jackson came over and pressed his hand over hers. "Mom, I know they give you a hard time at work. People like Kate Lambert only pick on the ones who won't fight back. At this gala, I'm going to make sure everyone knows Renata Fox has a good son, so no one dares treat you like that again."
Renata looked at his handsome face, and her heart filled with both comfort and worry.
This boy had grown up too good-looking.
So good-looking that sometimes, waking in the middle of the night and watching him sleep, she felt afraid.
Because as he got older, the lines of Jackson's brow and eyes looked more and more like that man's.
The man who, twenty years ago, had left a bold, indelible mark on her life and then vanished without a trace.
"Jackson, at the gala, let's keep as low a profile as we can. We'll eat and leave, all right?" Renata said. "Especially… if you happen to see the company's top boss, try to stay out of his way."
"Why?" Jackson looked puzzled. "Mom, are you afraid I'll embarrass you?"
"No!" Renata denied it in a rush. "It's just that… important men like that have strange tempers. They're not people we can afford to cross."
Jackson smiled and dished her out a bowl of rice. "Don't worry, Mom, I know my limits. I'm just going for a good meal, and I'll enter a raffle ticket for you while I'm at it. If we hit the grand prize, we'll have a car, and on weekends I can take you out for a drive."
Watching her son's cheerful expression, the weight on Renata's chest eased a little.
Maybe she was overthinking it.
Delgado Group was enormous, thousands of employees. The gala would be packed wall to wall, the lights dim. Chairman Keith Delgado sat far above it all. How could he possibly notice one small employee and her son tucked away in some corner?
And twenty years had passed.
Keith was old now. His memory had probably long since blurred.
Besides, no one but her knew the truth about what had happened back then.
As long as she never admitted it, what could anyone do to them?
At that thought, Renata gave herself a quiet push of courage.
That night she slept badly. Her dreams were full of that night of thunder and rain, the mansion, the shouting, the unyielding backs turned to her, and the rain pouring down, mixing with her tears, soaking her young face.
She dreamed she was clutching Jackson, still a swaddled infant, running through the wind and rain, and behind her it felt as if countless eyes were fixed on her, the eyes of the Delgado family, cold, merciless, judging.
"Leave the child…"
"He doesn't belong to you…"
The voices in the dream were like a curse.
Renata jerked awake and found the pillow soaked through under her head.
By then, day had already broken.
Sunlight poured in from outside, and Jackson was on the balcony hanging up the laundry, the light spilling over him and edging him in gold.
"Mom, you're up?" Jackson turned, his smile bright. "Hurry and eat breakfast. It's the gala today. We've got to look sharp!"
Looking at her son's smiling face, Renata drew a deep breath and pushed the fear back down.
For her son, she had to be brave.
第3章
The gala was held in the ballroom of the Marriott hotel downtown.
The moment they stepped inside, everything announced the wealth of the Delgado Group: the gleaming crystal chandeliers, the corridor laid with deep red velvet carpet, the impeccably dressed waitstaff.
Renata Fox wore that cream cashmere coat over a simple black knit dress. Plain enough, but it suited her gentle grace. She had put on light makeup that hid her usual tiredness, and it gave her a quiet, settled kind of beauty, the sort the years bring.
But the son at her side drew even more attention.
Jackson had changed into a navy blazer he'd bought for a school debate tournament. It was no designer label, yet on him, with his broad shoulders and narrow waist, his long straight legs, and that sharply cut face, he outshone even the performers hired for the night.
Mother and son turned heads the instant they walked in.
"Wait, is that Renata Fox from admin? You'd never guess it normally, but cleaned up like that, she's got real presence." "Who's the good-looking guy next to her? Don't tell me that's the rich boyfriend everyone's been whispering about." "No, that's her son! I hear he's still in college!" "God, how is a son that good-looking? Some kind of genetic miracle?"
The murmuring from her coworkers reached Renata's ears, and she felt awkward, instinctively wanting to shrink toward the side.
But Jackson kept a firm hold on his mother's arm, chin up, chest out, and steered her toward the admin department's round table.
"Chin up, Mom," he said under his breath. "Tonight you're the star, and I'm your knight."
Warmth spread through her, and her spine straightened a little on its own.
They had barely reached the table when Kate Lambert's shrill voice cut in.
"Well, well, everyone look, our dear Renata's arrived!" Kate was decked out in a bright red evening gown, a string of glittering pearls around her neck, a chubby boy of seven or eight tucked against her. The kid was gnawing on a fried chicken drumstick, grease all over his mouth.
Kate's eyes swept over Jackson, a flicker of envy in them, and then she covered her mouth and laughed. "So this is your son? Handsome enough, I'll give you that, but this outfit... is that a knockoff off some street stall? Wearing that to an occasion like this, aren't you afraid people will laugh?"
Renata opened her mouth to answer, but Jackson beat her to it, smiling politely. "Hello, Mrs. Lambert. Whether the clothes are designer doesn't matter. What matters is whether the person can carry them. Take you, for instance, decked out head to toe in labels. It does look festive on you. Kind of like... like one of those chubby good-luck dolls people hang up for the holidays."
The coworkers nearby couldn't hold back a burst of laughter.
All that red on Kate, paired with her round figure, really did make her look like a holiday poster child.
"You!" Kate was so angry the powder nearly fell off her face. "You ill-mannered little brat! Who said a child gets to butt in when adults are talking?"
"Kate!" Paul Whitney came over just then, his face dark as he snapped at her. "This is the gala. The chairman will be here any minute, and you're making a scene like this? It's a disgrace. Everyone, sit down!"
Kate shot Renata a vicious glare and yanked her son into a seat.
The little heavyset boy still wouldn't behave. He balled up the napkin he'd wiped his mouth with and threw it at Renata.
Jackson's hand shot out and caught the wad in midair, then set it lightly into the ashtray on the table, the whole movement as graceful as a piece of performance art.
The women around the table stared, transfixed.
"Renata, does your son have a girlfriend?" Maud Chavez leaned in beside her, cheeks flushed, to ask.
Renata smiled, embarrassed. "He's still young. Studies come first."
Just then the ballroom doors opened again, and the noisy hall fell silent in an instant.
Rousing music swelled, and the host called out in a soaring voice, "And now, let us welcome, with our warmest applause, the chairman of the Delgado Group—Mr. Keith Delgado!"
第4章
The whole room rose to its feet, applause thundering through the hall.
Renata stood along with everyone else, but she kept her head down, tucking herself behind the people in front to stay as hidden as she could.
Through the gaps in the crowd, she saw the old man being ushered in, everyone clustered around him.
Keith Delgado.
Twenty years, and he had aged so much.
The hair that had once been jet black was fully white now, his face lined with wrinkles, yet those hawk-sharp eyes still carried an authority that brooked no challenge. He leaned on a dragon-headed cane, and though his steps had slowed, every one of them landed steady.
Behind him came the company's executive team and a few bodyguards.
The sheer presence of it pressed down on everyone until they could barely breathe.
Renata's palms began to sweat, and without thinking she gripped Jackson's sleeve.
"Mom, what's wrong? Your hand's so cold," Jackson asked, concerned.
"It's nothing. My blood sugar's a little low," Renata lied. "Just sit down, don't keep looking."
Keith walked up onto the stage and took the microphone. His voice was low and strong, echoing through the entire hall.
"Employees of Delgado Group, and your families, good evening to you all."
"This past year, Delgado weathered its storms and saw its share of glory. None of it would have been possible without the hard work of every person in this room..."
It was only a routine opening, but to Renata every word struck like a blow against her heart.
She didn't dare look up, staring hard at the plate in front of her, wishing she could turn herself into air.
Keith's speech wasn't long. At the end, his tone shifted, and there was a faint, hard-to-catch weariness in it.
"I'm sixty-eight now. A lot of people keep asking me who Delgado's successor will be. As you all know, I have no children..."
At that, the room fell silent.
Keith had lived a colorful life, and a hard one. He lost his wife early and never remarried. There were rumors of a few romances in his youth, but none had left him an heir. Where this vast business empire would eventually land had long been the subject of outside speculation.
"But I've never given up the search." Keith's clouded eyes swept the room, as if looking for something. "I believe that somewhere out there, fate has its own plan. Tonight I'm glad to see so many young people, so much fresh blood. You are the future of Delgado."
"Enough of the heavy talk. Tonight everyone eat freely, drink freely! I, Keith Delgado, will drink first, in your honor!"
With that, he raised his glass and drained it.
The applause broke out again, warmer than before.
The dinner had officially begun.
Course after exquisite course was brought to the tables, and the mood slowly heated up.
Renata, though, couldn't taste a thing. She only wanted it to be over, wanted to leave.
"Mom, have some shrimp. I peeled it for you." Jackson set a glistening piece of shrimp into Renata's bowl.
"Thank you, son." Renata forced out a smile.
At the next table over, Kate was making trouble again. Glass in hand, dragging along that grease-mouthed little chubby boy of hers, she headed off to toast the executives.
"Paul, I hope you'll keep looking out for our Kate." Kate's husband had come too, a man with a big belly, clearly a seasoned operator on the business circuit.
Paul deflected with a few polite words.
Kate's eyes darted over to Renata. "Renata, honey, didn't you hear Mr. Delgado say everyone should drink freely? You're being so antisocial. You've got that big handsome son with you and you won't even take him to toast the executives? Once he graduates, if he wants a spot at Delgado, won't he need Paul here to give him a hand up?"
Before Renata could speak, Paul quickly waved it off. "Come now, take it easy, take it easy. Jackson's still in school, he shouldn't be drinking."
"Juice works fine too!" Kate wouldn't let it go. "Young people need to know the rules. An opportunity this good, plenty of folks would give anything to get it and never can."
Jackson set down his chopsticks, picked up the juice in front of him, and stood.
His movements were neither timid nor arrogant, his eyes clear. "Mrs. Lambert is right. I'm the younger one here, and I should toast all of you elders. Paul, thank you for looking after my mom the way you do. She's a quiet person, not good with words, so if there's anything she falls short on at work, I hope you'll be patient with her. Let me toast you with juice in place of wine."
With that, he drained the glass.
Every word was airtight, protecting his mother while giving the executives their full due.
Paul nodded in approval. "Good! Good boy! Renata, you're blessed, raising a son as thoughtful as this!"
The colleagues around them turned envious looks their way.
Renata looked at her son, tears welling in her eyes.
Just then, the lights in the hall suddenly dimmed, and a spotlight swung toward the head table.
It was time for Keith to make his round of toasts, table by table.
第5章
By custom, the chairman only toasted the executive table for show, then left.
But tonight Keith seemed to be in high spirits. Flanked by several vice presidents, glass in hand, he actually started making his way toward the ordinary employees' section.
Renata's heart shot straight into her throat.
Don't come over here. Please don't come over here. She prayed frantically inside.
She dropped her head and pretended to dig through her bag, trying to hide her face behind her hair.
But the thing she feared came anyway.
Keith made small talk with employees the whole way. He seemed to enjoy this mingling-with-the-people feeling.
When he reached the admin department tables, Kate put on the biggest show of all. She dragged her husband and son forward, all but throwing herself into the aisle.
"Mr. Delgado! Good evening, Mr. Delgado! I'm Kate Lambert from the admin department! This is my husband, he's in building materials too, and he's always admired your name!" Kate's voice trembled with excitement.
Keith stopped, gave a polite nod, and let his gaze move on without lingering.
Just as he was about to turn and leave, his eyes drifted, by chance, over the next table.
At that table sat Renata, head still down, and Jackson, turned to one side to block the draft from his mother.
The light fell right across Jackson's profile.
In that instant, Keith's feet slammed to a stop.
He froze where he stood, as if he'd been struck by lightning. The glass in his hand tilted, a few drops spilling onto his expensive tailored suit, and he didn't feel a thing.
The secretary behind him jumped and hurried forward. "Mr. Delgado? What's wrong?"
Keith ignored him. He pushed past the bodyguard blocking his path and walked, step by step, almost stumbling, toward Renata's table.
Everyone around them was stunned, with no idea what was happening.
The admin department coworkers held their breath, and Kate's smile froze on her face as she watched, jealous, while the chairman moved toward Renata's table.
Renata felt the strange shift in the air around her.
That powerful, crushing presence was getting closer.
She knew she couldn't hide anymore.
Trembling, she lifted her head, and met Keith's eyes head-on, eyes full of shock, confusion, even a trace of wild joy.
But Keith wasn't looking at her.
He was looking at Jackson beside her.
Jackson was pouring hot tea for his mother. Sensing someone approaching, he instinctively stood and turned around.
The moment the old man and the young man locked eyes.
The whole banquet hall seemed to stand still.