Chapter 70: Thomas Stone; Alcohol And Guilt.
“What? How is that possible? What happened?” Silas probed, his voice sharp with
concern.
Thomas swirled his glass before gulping down. His chest pounding with guilt at the lie he just told his brother. Not a lie, he thought, not the truth either.
“I just found out,” he said.
“Do you know who it is?” Silas asked.
“Nope, but I’m working on it. Don’t worry,” he said in a small voice trying to sound reassuring.
“Do you need help?” Silas asked. “I could hire extra hands.”
“No, no,” he said, “but I appreciate the gesture. Don’t worry I’m working on it.”
“Alright bro,” Silas said softly.
Thomas poured another glass of vodka and sipped. The cold sensation hit his chest, melting away his guilt. “Thank you for bringing back Sonia. Send my regards to Ivy.”
“Sure,” Silas replied. “Wade’s been calling you.”
“I’ll get back to him. Thanks,” he said softly so Silas wouldn’t clock that he was dismissing him.
“I’ll come see you tomorrow,” Silas said. “My regards to Rosie.”
“Thank you, Si. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight,” Silas said before hanging up.
Thomas dropped the phone on the table and turned to the window. The lights in the distance calmed him as he drank his vodka.
He was supposed to be glad Sonia was doing business with him again. He had seen her missed call, but his thoughts were too jumbled to talk to her yet. The situation of things were robbing him of his excitement.
He turned away from the window and sank into his chair. He glanced at his wristwatch. It was late. Yet he didn’t want to go home, he just wanted to bury himself in work and forget everything.
A knock on the door pulled him from his thoughts.
“Come in,” he said, refilling his glass. He didn’t care if his staff saw him like this.
Sabrina walked in, her laptop in her hand. “Evening sir.”
Successfully unlocked!
“Hey, Sab,” he said, waving her in. What did you find?”
At only twenty, Sabrina was a tech genius. She sat down across from him. “The email’s been sent, sir.”
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Chapter 70 Thomas Stove, Alcohol And Guilt.
“And the reply?” Thomas probed.
“Nothing yet,” Sabrina said.
Thomas nodded, exhaling deeply. Someone had sent a mail to one of his clients, Mr. Anderson, requesting sensitive information. Thankfully, Thomas had seen it, and changed his password before the information was exchanged.
He had sent a follow–up email, stating the initial one was a mistake meant for someone else. He couldn’t tell his client he was hacked–that was going to lead to a lot of issues.
And right now with everything he was already going through, he couldn’t possibly lose another client. He had hoped Sabrina could do some tech things that could reveal who sent the first mail.
Unfortunately, even a genius like Sabrina couldn’t do much.
“Were you able to find anything at all?”
“Not yet,” Sabrina admitted, her tone filled with regret. “But the team is working on it.” Thomas nodded again, taking another sip of his drink. The leak was the least of his problems at the moment, but he couldn’t ignore it still. “Let me know when you find something,” he instructed. “Definitely, sir.” She stood, clutching her laptop. “Goodnight.” “Goodnight, Sab,” Thomas muttered as she left the room.
As the door closed, Thomas heaved a sigh. His stomach churned as he remembered Dr Albert’s earlier message. He rubbed his chin and downed his drink to bury the unpleasant feelings.
His phone buzzed. Sonia again. This time, he answered.
“Hello, Sonia,” he said, forcing his voice to remain steady.
“Hey, Thomas. I’ve been trying to reach you,” Sonia said in a soft tone.
“Sorry, I got busy,” he replied. He couldn’t possibly tell her he had ignored everybody’s call. “Thank you for coming back, Sonia. I appreciate it and I promise that the whole thing will never happen again,” he said. His heart plummeted at his statement as he realized the mistake almost happened again.
“I should be the one apologizing, Thomas,” Sonia said. “Mistakes happened. I should have let you fix it.”
“Now that you’re back,” he said in a calm tone, “Would you be willing to share the messages you received so we could tackle the problem?”
“Definitely,” Sonia said enthusiastically. “That wouldn’t be an issue at all. I’ll have my assistant get back to you on that.”
Thomas heaved a sigh of relief. “Thank you so much, Sonia. I promise to be better.”
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“know. Thomas. It’s also nice doing business with you Sonia said. He could bet she
was smiling.
“Yes it is.” Thomas replied.
“Your sister–in–law is awesome by the way, Sonia added with admiration in her voice.
“She is,” he said with forced cheer.
Ny was awesome, he just didn’t trust her completely. And Slas? He was too smitten to even realize the truth.
“Alright, Thomas,” Sonia said. “Is next week a good time to meet so we could discuss?”
“Yes,” he replied.
“Perfect. See you next week,” Sonia said.
“Have a lovely night, Sonia,” he said, ending the call.
He dropped the phone and sipped his drink. He was feeling lightheaded, but he knew that was the only way to deal with this pain.
Since he was being investigated, he hadn’t been himself. Even though the media weren’t talking about him like before, he still couldn’t get himself to act right–to feel right.
And then clients left.
And then the miscarriage.
He downed his drink before the pain could get to his chest and refilled his glass. His phone rang again. He picked and saw that Rosie was calling.
He didn’t want to talk to her, he just wanted to be shitfaced so he could pass out for the night without having to face her. /
When the phone stopped ringing, he texted her instead, telling her he was rounding up work, and he would soon be on his way.
He can’t tell Rosie about the incident with Mr Anderson, he couldn’t bother her again. Because Rosie could possibly not eat for days out of worry.
She replied to his text wishing him a safe trip.
He left it on read and sipped his drink. His doctor’s message played in his head again: Low sperm count.
“Time to face it, Thomas,” he muttered, dialing the number.
After a ring, Dr Albert picked up. “Hey Thomas.”
“Hello, Doctor,” he replied. “Sorry I’m just reaching out. I’ve been busy,” he lied.
“It’s okay. Did you get my message?”
Thomas’s stomach knotted. “Yes, I did.”
“I ran the tests after Rosie miscarriage because I was skeptical. And I was right, your
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Chapter 70. Thomas Stone, Alcohol And Gut
sperm count is low, which can sometimes contribute to miscarriages, especially when combined with other factors like stress or alcohol consumption,” Dr. Albert explained casually.
Thomas broke into a sweat, gripping his glass tighter, Stress. Alcohol. It all sounded too familiar.
“But don’t worry, it’s very treatable,” Dr Albert continued. “A healthier lifestyle, a better diet, and quitting alcohol will help, then you could try for a baby again.”
Thomas took a sip of his vodka.
“On the other hand, there are other options like IVF,” Dr Albert continued. “I could explain these to Rosie so she could proceed with several options if she likes.”
Thomas’s heart sank. “Thanks, Doctor, but I’ll handle that,” he replied quickly. “I’ll tell her myself. In the meantime, I want this to be between us”
“I understand,” Dr Albert replied.
Fear surged in Thomas’s chest, and he savored the vodka to bury it, but it didn’t go away. He took another gulp, and another, still the fear remained.
It was then he acknowledged it–he was afraid because he realized he might never tell Rosie the truth–that her miscarriage was really his fault.
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