Chapter 47 Twist Of Fate
But that decision of mine to let him go was the biggest mistake I have ever made in my life and if I could go back in time and fix it... I would have never let him leave; Because the minute you found out that he was missing, you went crazy. You looked like insanity dressed up in human form. You lost complete control of your mind and I had no idea how to handle you.
You never slept because his face was the last thing you saw before you went to bed and the first thing you saw when you woke up, for the past eight years of your life. You wept all the time, while calling out his name, because you thought that he was playing hide and seek with you. Once you even tried to jump off from the top of the mansion because you missed him too much and thought that he might come to save you.
You wouldn’t believe what strange places my men found you hiding, curled up into a small ball, like a lost kitten. You had frequent blood pressure issues because you wouldn’t eat properly. Eventually, you began behaving rudely to everyone you came across and never smiled.
That’s when I realized that the fortune teller’s words were right.
On top of the fact that I failed to keep the promise I had made to your mother, I also had to deal with my close friends backstabbing me. They knew that I had grown weak because of your condition and they didn’t spare me. My business went down hill along with my health.
Three months passed and you slowly slipped into depression. It was all too much for me to take and I did something no human should do to another one. I did it to save you from yourself, but I still regret doing it.
But before I tell you what I did...I..I want you to know that my deed wasn’t selfish. I tried all the other methods to make you behave like a normal person but I tried this thing at last because every other method failed. I just have one request...please don’t hate me...”
Winston’s eyes glistened when he pulled her hand to his chest.
“D-dad, I...I..can’t hate you. I’ll never hate you. It’s a promise” Kate sniffed as she covered their joined hands with her other palm.
Nodding at her assurance, Winston carried on with rest of the story.
“I hired five live-in psychologists and psychiatrists to mess with your memory. When they refused to obey me due to their ethics, I threatened them with the lives of their family. Left with no choice, they began their treatment that included medicines for erasing your memory.
They manipulated your vision of the world and slowly, made you believe that ‘Marcus’ was just a figment of your imagination. I had my men remove everything from the mansion that might remind you of him. They treated you for three long years, but by that time, the ‘little Katey’ your mother adored was gone, replaced by someone entirely different.
I constantly blamed myself for your state and my heart couldn’t take it. It failed me multiple times, providing my enemies the backdoor to snatch most of the things I owned, making me powerless in the mafia. And that meant I won’t be able to take you out due to lack of security.
One the other hand, you grew miserable every day, confined just to the four walls of your bedroom. Your cheerful attitude was lost, and you preferred talking very less. I tried to sent you to school, to make you happy, but it backfired in the form of an attack.
Gradually, you became accustomed to the boring life inside the mansion, but every time I looked at your stoic face, my heart reminded me that I was a failure...because I broke the promise that I made to your mother.
Unable to see your tragic condition, I rarely came home during some days, because I just couldn’t...”
Winston trailed off with a sad sigh, but Kate’s face twisted with confusion.
“B-but dad, what does Quisito have to do with all this...?”
“I wasn’t finished” her father said and gestured her to give him the water that was kept on the bed-side table. She brought the glass up to his mouth and helped him drink a bit and put the glass back.
With a look of astonishment, he started again.
“Seven years went by and my empire was at the cusp of crumbling to the ground. I was all set to give up my throne, when one day, unexpectedly a man walked into my office with his bodyguards, all huge and ready for battle.
I instantly reached for my gun, but when I scanned the face of the leader once again, my world stopped for a second.
‘Marcus?’
I asked him but he just came forward, extended his hand to me and spoke-
‘Now It’s Don Quisito, Sir’
I shook his hand in disbelief, because the scrawny little boy who once waited for my orders had become the Capo Di Capi of the Italian mafia. I thought that he too had come back to take down the rest of my empire, but he did the exact opposite. He helped me rebuild my territory and managed my business.
The man was mysterious, but loyal. He never bit the hand that fed him once and it made me repent of all the times I had been cruel to him. I even apologized to him about the past, but I was surprised to know that he didn’t even hold a little grudge against me.
Ever since that day, you saw him with me a lot, but you never realized that he was Marcus, because in your memory, Marcus never existed.
Last month, when Quisito came to see me, he expressed his wish to marry you. I was both shocked and surprised when I heard it, but I was happy. He is the only person in the whole world who should belong with you.
I know that there is a decade age-gap between you both and I am no one to push you into a loveless marriage, but I’ll tell you one thing. You can wait for a thousand years....but you’ll never find a man more perfect than Quisito”
Saying that, Winston’s eyelids closed and Kate understood that it was the effect of the drugs kicking in.
She carefully got down from the bed and pulled up the blanket up to his chest. After placing a kiss on his forehead, she came out of the room and got back home.
Her head throbbed with the overload of information, but now it became clear to her why she remembered almost nothing about her childhood.
“Marcus...” Kate whispered the name like she was tasting it, once she was inside her room. Something clicked inside her head as she recalled a certain thing.
Could he be...
The only way to confirm her growing suspicion was to take a look at Marcus’s pictures. And the only way she could see them was to search Quisito’s laptop.
She remembered seeing her childhood picture as its lock screen image and she had a strong feeling that the device contained the rest of the pictures that she needed inorder to confirm an identiy issue that just took birth in her head.