Chapter 243: Are You Short on Money?

Zachary fell silent. Before he could respond, Jonathan approached, holding a piece of paper that read: "If you intend to raise me, I'll need a daily allowance of one billion."

A cold smirk touched Zachary's lips. This child wasn't even his, yet he dared to ask for a billion? The boy probably hadn't even seen a thousand. Zachary told Cecilia on the phone, "I'll look into it. If the child isn't mine, I'll return him to Vivian and apologize."

After hanging up, Zachary turned to Jonathan. "You certainly have an appetite. Can you really spend a billion a day?"

"Mister, are you broke?"

A slight twitch played at the corner of Zachary's mouth. Of course he had a billion. "If I were to give it to you, what should you call me?"

Jonathan's eyes crinkled in amusement. "I don't deal in hypotheticals. I'm hungry. If you don't feed me, I'll tell the judge my father refuses to."

Zachary was speechless. He turned to the nanny. "Take him to dinner." This was a disaster. Before, Jonathan hadn't skipped meals to spite him; he'd been engrossed in his toys. Zachary felt a monumental blow.

At Daltonia Villa, Cecilia relayed Zachary's response to Vivian. "Don't worry, once the DNA results are out, he'll let Jon go." Cecilia didn't know Zachary was extraordinarily confident; a paternity test hadn't even crossed his mind.

"Ceci, I should be comforting you, but you're comforting me."

"It's alright now," Cecilia replied gently. "By the way, are you staying in a hotel?"

"Yeah, my dad is pretty harsh. He said if I don't agree to an engagement with Zachary, he'll leave me on the streets. I plan to job hunt tomorrow."

Vivian refused to believe she couldn't find work to support herself. She still worked as an external lawyer for Cecilia's company, earning a modest salary. Having spent her resources freely, however, she had no savings.

"Actually, it's good Zachary briefly took Jon." Without that, they both would be in a hotel now, and Roland might discover she'd been hiding a child.

"True, it worked out in a roundabout way, didn't it?" They spoke at length before Cecilia ended the call. Nathaniel emerged from his study as she returned to her room.

"Who were you talking to so long?" Cecilia hadn't expected him to speak to her at all that day.

"Vivian, about her child."

Nathaniel stepped forward. "Does Vivian live in Hillscester?"

Puzzled, Cecilia asked, "Yes, why? Haven't you been there before?"

Nathaniel recalled the address the tech department had painstakingly located—Vivian's address. He studied Cecilia. "Are you short on money?" If so, why reject his agreement? If not, how was money transferred from Vivian's address? The Kennedys likely couldn't have done it.

"What are you implying?" Cecilia felt there was more to his question.

"Nothing." He was determined to find the person responsible, even if it meant turning Vivian's place upside down.