Chapter 39 The Door That Should Have Stayed Closed
Lena was lounging on her bed, munching on a bag of chips, when her phone buzzed. She glanced at the caller ID and frowned. She really didn’t want to answer. But she had no choice.
"Hi, Dad."
"Hey, you little rascal, did you go on that date I arranged with the young man from the Adler family?"
Lena sighed loudly. “You know the answer. Why even ask?” She pulled the phone away from her ear.
Just as she expected, her father’s furious shout came through the speaker. She waited for a while.
After a moment, Lena finally brought the phone back to her ear.
"Hey, hey, Williams, don't you get tired of screaming and babysitting after all these years? If you keep shouting, your blood pressure will spike, and you'll get me in trouble," she said calmly.
"And whose fault is that? You never stop annoying and making me worry!" William, Lena's father, yelled.
“Dad, why don’t you just focus on your law firm and leave my love life alone? I’m old enough to choose who I date. That creep from the Adler family is definitely not it. So why force me?”
Lena got up and fished a packet of cigarettes and a lighter from her drawer.
"Darling, you know I won't force you to do anything against your will. I’m just asking you to give it a chance. You're a year older than Evelyn, and I just heard she got married so—"
"Huh." Lena scoffed. “Yeah right. I’m not getting married, and I’m not going on that date.”
“Well, young lady, since you can't go by my wish, consider your allowance frozen until you get a real job!” William grumbled before hanging up.
Lena rolled her eyes, lit a cigarette, took a drag, then dialed a number.
The moment the phone connected, a furious voice erupted from the other end. "What the fuck do you want again, bitch?"
“I need some cash. A trust fund, let’s say. Send the money, or your little sex tape goes viral.” Lena said in a sing-song tone.
"Lena, I swear if I get my hands on you—"
"You'll do no such thing, Nathan," Lena cut him off coolly. “You know, I’m not totally satisfied with how things ended. Evelyn is being a bit too... I don't know... 'lenient.'" She took another drag of her cigarette.
"I'm not satisfied with what she did, and I'm short on funds. I figured this is the fastest way, so let me say it again. Nathan, if you don't transfer the money, you're going to become an international porn star overnight. Only in this case, it'll be real."
"I'm going to fu—"
Lena ended the call. “I wonder why she even took that video if she wasn’t going to use it,” she muttered to herself. “Oh well. My problem now. Time to buy a good fight.”
—
Elsewhere in Rosewood garden
"Father," Roman called softly, studying his father intently. "What about Evelyn?"
The old man smiled. "I'm glad to see you're able to care for her. Getting her married to you was indeed the right choice, but..." he sighed, “regardless of that, I won't tolerate any mistreatment of that girl.”
Alexander continued moving forward with his walking stick.
Roman stood there for a moment, his gaze darkening slightly, before catching up with his father.
Alexander couldn't stop grinning. "You're smart. I'm sure you understand by now."
"You orchestrated this whole thing?" Roman asked, his fingers curling slightly.
"You're not the only player in this game of manipulation, son." Alexander laughed heartily.
"Why?" Roman asked, tucking his hands into his pockets.
Alexander continued laughing and patted Roman's shoulder. “My boy, our deal was for you to marry and give me a grandchild before I hand over the Sinclair empire to you. But I don't know how long that will take, but I don't think I can wait much longer. You need to work hard at getting that girl pregnant. I want to see my grandchild from you before I pass on. That’s one of my wish.”
Alexander removed his hand and gazed up at the sky. "My other wish..." he sighed deeply.
Roman furrowed his brows, waiting patiently for his father to continue, though he felt increasingly uneasy.
"Whatever contract or agreement you have with that girl," Alexander turned to look at him seriously, "I want you to make it real."
Roman stared into his father's eyes intensely, trying to read him, but still couldn't grasp where he was leading. He could only wait.
"Evelyn's mother was like a daughter to me. She was my goddaughter, though not many people know that because... well, something happened. Her father and I were very close friends."
Roman raised his eyebrows, surprised by this revelation but curious about what had occurred.
Alexander smiled, gazing down as if reminiscing. "Although we were involved in completely different worlds, we were similar souls, so we hit it off well. There were three of us actually, and people often classified us as the good, the bad, and the ugly." He chuckled.
"There was Thorne Beckett—he was ugly inside, though he had a scar, he wasn't bad looking. Then there was Caspian Kensington, the good one, and me, Alexander Sinclair, the bad one. It's a long trip down memory lane."
Roman was extremely shocked by this revelation. He knew his father and Caspian were good friends, but Thorne...?
Alexander coughed slightly. "Yes, not many know about me and Thorne Beckett. And if you're thinking what I think you're thinking, yes—it's the infamous Thorne Beckett, the Mafia Don of Lasiacos and Paso. One thing led to another, and we parted ways. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't cherish my goddaughter when she came running to me for help after Thorne died."
Alexander stopped at a bench placed beneath a large tree in the garden and sat down slowly, taking deep breaths.
Roman sat beside him.
"His death was so sudden. Caspian had parted ways with him too, so he didn't know what happened either. When Evelyn's mother came to me that day, she was extremely distraught and refused to speak. It was like she was trying desperately to bury the memories of what really happened. She went into a mental breakdown for several days, so we decided not to press her about it. She also insisted we keep her relationship with us secret, and her whereabouts."
Alexander paused as if reliving the moment. “We respected her wishes. Later, she got better, and we discovered she was staying with Richard Hayes and she got pregnant with his child.”
He shook his head. “I was quite shocked because I remembered hearing news that she'd gotten married, but since she didn't discuss it, we didn't ask. It was against her father's wishes for Catherine to marry that man, but since Thorne was dead, we let her live her life. However, we made sure to keep an eye on her.”
The moment Roman heard the name Catherine, he froze, his hands clenching tightly. A cold, familiar dread washed over him. Fragments of memory from before, buried deep within him and began to crack and surface.
Memories from that cold, white room, that reeked with the smell of antiseptic and chemicals
"Experimental subject number 5 is waking up."
A woman's crying voice calling out to him.
"Please... help me..."
"I'm... in pain..."
"My... daughter... is..."
Distinct voices.
"Inject her. She's disrupting the process."
A man's voice: "Catherine, I own you. You can't escape from me. You're mine forever. Now… sleep."
Roman started trembling, cold sweat breaking out all over him, his fingers digging into the bench. He found it difficult to breathe, as he fought hard to bury back those memories into the dark.
The name Catherine had unlocked a door he'd spent years keeping sealed.