Next Man, Better Plan novel Chapter 91

Stephanie and Cecilia talked for a long time that night. As a gossip columnist, Cecilia knew plenty of secrets about the Vasquez family that Stephanie didn't.

Apparently, when Jonathan left the family, he had actually been sent away by his own father.

He had entered a motorcycle race against his father's wishes, and in a fit of rage, his father had sent him off to a military camp.

An acquaintance of his father’s ran the camp, and he was instructed to make Jonathan’s life a living hell. For nearly eight years, he wasn't allowed to come home.

The long-standing feud between the Vasquez father and son was no secret in their circle of reporters.

Stephanie asked, "So why are they so at odds?"

"You don't know?" Cecilia said, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "When Jonathan was five, he and his mother were on their way to visit her parents. Somehow, they got separated on the road, and Jonathan was abducted by human traffickers."

"Mrs. Vasquez blamed herself and fell into a deep depression. I heard she became seriously ill because of it. The family spent a fortune trying to find Jonathan, but they never could. A few years later, Mrs. Vasquez passed away."

Stephanie listened intently, shocked that Jonathan had such a painful past.

"The strange thing is, just three months after she died, they finally found Jonathan. He was ten by then, but instead of welcoming him home, his father pointed a finger at him and screamed, 'Why did you run off? Why couldn't you stay with the adults? You killed your mother.'"

Hearing this, Stephanie's breath caught in her throat. It was pure victim-blaming.

A child abducted at five and found at ten—who knew what horrors he must have endured? Yet instead of comfort, he was met with endless accusations, burdened with the immense weight of his mother's death.

"After Mrs. Vasquez died, his father, York Vasquez, started drinking heavily. When he was drunk, he'd beat Jonathan. I heard he almost whipped him to death with a belt once."

"If his grandmother hadn't protected him so fiercely, Jonathan would have probably... gone to join his mother long ago."

These were the dark secrets of the wealthy, and if Cecilia hadn't been a reporter with the right connections, such a shameful story would have likely never seen the light of day.

"But from my years of experience, men like that are usually starved for affection. If you show him even a little kindness, I bet he'd give you his life."

Snapping back to the present, Stephanie walked towards the kitchen.

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