Chapter 46 Marcus
"The entire mansion had become a black cloud, filled with sobs and woeful faces. But being a leader, I couldn’t cry, even though I wanted to. I stayed right next to your mother’s coffin. Wearing a white gown and resting ever so peacefully, she looked as beautiful as the first time we met. I was missing her terribly, but I didn’t let it show.
I was able to put a door on my emotions until, it was time to bring you out to say final goodbye to your mother’s warmth, forever. A maid brought you out and you were already irritated at the absence of your mother. I took you into my hands and lowered you on top of your mother. The moment you mumbled something incoherently and reached your tiny fingers up to caress her pale face, as if trying to wake her, I lost it. Warm tears rolled down my face and I cried in public, for the first time in my life. It was your feeding time and you were very hungry. You refused to get separated from your mother and held on to her coffin with your stubborn fingers. It took the combined effort of two maids to force fully pull you away into the mansion. But you were inconsolable.
After the funeral, your cries shook the mansion, but thankfully, Marcus’s mother knew how to calm you down and somehow got you to sleep. I was a lot grateful for that because your heart wrenching cries were the only thing I needed to go completely insane.
That day, marked the beginning of the fall of my empire. I was never the one to mix work with emotions, but my worries on keeping you happy made me weak. It affected my heart because of my ill kept health and lack of sleep. Somehow, I was determined to keep the promise I made to your mother and I worked day and night to stay in power.”
Kate wiped her tears as Winston continued with the rest of the story.
“When Marcus took charge as your round the clock body guard a week later, I wasn’t at all convinced of his skills. The boy could barely hold a gun properly. I was very rude to him the entire time, but he never complained and accepted all my accusations like a martyr; And this attitude of his irritated me even more. The only thing that made me keep him was the fact that he kept you happy, whenever you were with him.
I never trusted that he could save you from any danger, but an incident happened when you were three years old and it proved my thoughts wrong.
We were walking along the side of a road. I held your hand while you walked beside me with tiny footsteps. Since you kept on kicking off your small shoes, I asked Marcus to take them off and to keep it with him. He obeyed me without any complaints and held your footwear in his hand while following behind. I could have kept the shoes in the bag which one of my men carried, but I gave it to Marcus, particularly because I wanted to insult him and show him his place.
You made little happy noises every time your feet touched the grass pavement and made my chest swell with inexplicable amount of joy. It was our playful bonding time and I was thrilled to be with you. Suddenly a phone call broke the spell of the moment and I had to attend it because it was an important one. The call extended to more than five minutes as we continued to walk, but Marcus interrupted me from behind and asked me if he could hold your hand until I was done with the call.
My anger knew no bounds at that point and I shouted at him with all my energy because nobody had to teach me on how to handle you. I only stopped my bashing when I saw tears in the boy’s eyes. Grinding my teeth, I returned back to the muted call and carried on with the discussion.
The person on the other end of the call said a very funny joke and for a second I laughed and my grip on your hand loosened. That was the exact moment you chose to scream ‘buther fy’ and break free from my grip to run to the other side of the road.
For the next few moments, everything seemed to move in a slow motion.
A black sedan raced towards the spot you stood on the road and my heart stopped beating at the thought of what was to come. I expected your earsplitting screams, your injured lifeless tiny body and everything, but something entirely different happened. Marcus launched himself towards you and pushed you to the grass land on the other side of the road, but unfortunately got hit by the car before the vehicle came to a screeching halt.
I screamed his name and rushed to the bleeding boy, while my men ran towards you. With shaking hands, I gently lifted Marcus, but instead of thinking about himself, he asked me whether you were okay. And at that spot I knew that your mother had made the right choice. Even my highly trained men who stood at the spot didn’t have such insane reflexes or this amount of selflessness. I felt impressed and guilty all at the same time, and that day onwards, I treated him better.
The boy had two broken ribs and a concussion and took weeks to recover. But the stunning factor was that stayed by his side the entire time he was bedridden. No matter how much I coaxed you to stay away, you wouldn’t leave. You cried out stubbornly and clutched his bed, every time I tried to forcefully take you away. So....eventually I gave up.
Marcus’s mother too was shocked to receive the news, but said nothing. She had always been grateful for putting a roof above their heads and worked for me in the kitchen.
Marcus was barely a teenager when he saved you and he didn’t even have to do it because it was entirely my fault and besides, I had highly trained men who had years of experience around me at that time. But, out braving all of them, he came for you. As your guardian angel.
I rewarded this selfless act of his with a lifetime guarantee to walk away with a million dollars, anytime he wanted to quit the job. But he chose to stay, because of you.
Years flew by and your bond with him grew deeper. I have sometimes found myself wondering that even twins might not share the connection that you both have. He was the only person who never grew tired of your insane energy and he always made sure that you were happy, no matter what. Although it was me who made the promise to your mother, it was he who fulfilled it.
Over the course of time, Marcus took six bullets to save your life, earning my respect like no man ever did.
Everything was perfect, calm and beautiful, until this one fateful day.
Marcus turned eighteen and had become more protective of you than anyone. We were having fun at the beech and it was about late evening. He was running to catch up with you so as to make sure that you don’t drown yourself in the waves and I was watching the whole thing from a distance, when I got a phone call, asking me to return to the mansion. The reason the caller gave saddened me but I said nothing to a single person as we immediately rushed back home.
The mansion once again wore black shade because Marcus’s mother had passed away. She was a sweet lady who had admirable work ethic and never took a day off. She was even popular among the maids because of her charming personality. But the person who was worst affected by her demise was her son.
When Marcus approached his mother’s lifeless body, I thought he could hold it together, but the boy broke down. His cries echoed off the walls and everyone struggled to hold you back from interrupting the moment, because you couldn’t bear to see him in pain. Even though you were only eight years old, you knew that something was wrong and began to cry with him. The incident deeply affected everyone, including my men who barely felt any emotion.
The next day onwards Marcus grew more and more inactive, earning angry cries from you. But he wasn’t reacting to anything that you did to him. You once pulled at his hairs so hard that he winced, but more than that... the boy was unable to respond. The poor boy was shattered beyond repair and I never knew that he loved his mother so much, until she died.
A week later, he came up to my office and asked me to give him permission to leave.... Forever. I wanted to make him stay, but I couldn’t bring myself to say anything to his emotionless face and dead eyes. So, I let him go.
He didn’t even take a single penny with him. He just left the way he came"