Chapter 49 On A Quest
Seth was her father’s retired bodyguard who had to come back to manage things at the mansion, following the unpleasant events. He was a very old man, probably in his late 70’s. Seth often used to tell Kate that she resembled the daughter he once had, but lost to an accident.
Kate and Seth generally made small talks in the past, but she was never really interested in establishing a friendship with him. As a matter of fact, she never did it with anybody. Her distraught childhood experiences had fueled her inability to maintain a relationship anyone other than her father. Even though the maids inside the huge mansion were familiar, they were complete strangers to her. But Seth was different. He frequently kept on coming back to Kate, with a hope to become friends with her. Kate had no one else other than her father to call as family, but Seth often filled the role of a grandfather.
The wise old man sat on the garden bench with a book in his hand, when she approached him with anguish.
“Seth....hi...” She said, but suddenly felt guilty because it was the first time, she was initiating a conversation with him and that too was to ask for a favor.
On hearing her voice, the old man immediately perked up, keeping his book aside to stand up and turn to her.
“Katelyn....what a pleasant surprise!” he smiled, a light of happiness spreading across his slightly wrinkled face.
“I... actually wanted to...ask you something. Is Quisito...okay?” She asked while grimacing a little.
“Yes, he is okay. He had survived a few injuries, but no worries, he is recovering. Currently he is staying at his own residence, which is about twenty minutes from here” He gave her the complete explanation like a perfect serviceman.
Kate let out a sigh of relief at his words, because she got to know that Quisito was okay...
“Can you take me to see him?” she asked, but Seth just stood there and watched her with a concerned expression, and she could already guess his reply. He was helpless. Everyone was.
Kate dropped her gaze to the ground when she felt fresh tears gathering at the corner of her eyes. She turned away from him and began to walk back into the mansion, but suddenly his words of hope stopped her in her tracks.
“I would have said no, but this is the first time you have asked me for something. So, I will take you to him”
Kate spun on her heels and advanced to him. She wrapped her hands around his weak but brave body and whispered-
“Thank you....”
“You are welcome child...” Seth murmured as he pet her head.
‘You look a lot like my Lisa...’ Seth said in his heart that was ready to give up any moment, given his age and work experience.
With in the next one hour, he managed to pull a few strings to get Kate out of the highly secure mansion, where every guard had only one important command to obey – Never let Kate out of the building. But none of the men questioned Seth’s intentions when he pulled out a car for her to get in. It was because he was senior to all of them.
After half an hour drive, the car halted in front of a huge gate that led to a building.
“This is how far I can get you. Quisito’s men won’t allow anyone to pass through without prior permission. So... from here onwards, you are on your own” Seth explained after turning off the engine.
Kate nodded in understanding and removed the seatbelt before getting out of the car and heading towards the closed gate.
“Hi, I’m Katelyn, Winston’s daughter. I want to meet Don Quisito” she said to the main guard that was patrolling near the entrance.
After scanning her from head to toe, the guard checked in with his superior officer.
“Sorry ma’am; We can’t let you in” the guard informed, making her heart sink.
“I’ll leave after taking a closer look at the building. I-it’s a beautiful structure...” she blabbered mindlessly, as though trying to manipulate the guard to open the door. But he just gave her an annoyed look and shook his head. She was clearly getting on his nerves.
“Let the kid go; She is important to the Don” Seth’s voice came up from behind her as he walked towards Kate. He knew all about Marcus and what ever happened to her, during her childhood.
“What kind of importance?” the guard asked for clarification, not actually recognizing who the old man was.
“I don’t have to tell you that. But in case you don’t want to die by your master’s hands tonight, then I suggest that you open the gates” Seth used his authoritative voice and the guard immediately recalled that he was Winston’s bodyguard from the past.
The guard fumbled with the number combination and opened one half of the gate. He was about to pull out a device to do a security check on her, but even before that, Kate broke into a run, aiming for the building.
Terrified, the guard spoke into his earpiece “there is a crazy girl on the loose in the compound and now she is running towards the entrance of the building”. He then closed the gate and resumed his position, as he wasn’t allowed to leave his post.
Kate ran like her life depended on it because the last time Marcus left her, it was nobody’s fault. But this time, she herself was responsible. And she needed to fix it real bad.
On the way inside the building, many of Quisito’s men tried to stop her, but she managed to out run all of them. The desperate need to quench the pain of separation in her bleeding heart gave her the inhuman strength to outperform all those well-trained solders. She didn’t even care what they thought about her because at that point, Marcus was more important to her than oxygen.
Once Kate reached the third floor, she spotted a nurse and guessed that may be, he was somewhere on that floor. She was about to ask the location of his room to the nurse, but froze when she spotted two similar yet familiar faces – Dean and Shawn!
The twins who chased her down the alley once were guarding that area.
“Stop right there!” Dean commanded, while coming at her through the narrow hallway. Kate tried to run past him, but was caught by him in mid-air.
“LEAVE ME! LET ME GO...!” she screamed and thrashed in his arms, but he refused to let her loose. Through the corner of her eyes, she saw the second twin approaching them.
“Hold her brother” Dean tried to pass her to Shawn, but the moment he raised his arms to take her,
She bit his hand, hard!
“Owww...” Shawn grunted and shook his throbbing hand. In the little moment of confusion, Dean’s hold on her loosened a bit. Not wasting a second, she turned around abruptly and kneed him where the sun doesn’t shine.