"But what does all of that have to do with me?" I asked when Hayden seemed to arrive at a good place to pause in his story.
I understood from the story that Hayden and Ethan were childhood friends and that Jack took care of them. They were both fond of this Jack person but what does that have to do with anything?
"Quite a lot actually. You see, Jack Witman is your father," Hayden said as if it was no big deal.
HUH?! Impossible...
"No...my father..." I began denying.
"He changed his name. Everything about him that you remember is nothing more than a cover. His name, his identity, his looks, how he dressed, his job. Everything was fabricated. What you saw was his second attempt at life, one where he deemed would be more suitable for you to be raised," Hayden explained swiftly.
"That’s impossible. My father had nothing to do with the mafia. He was just an honest businessman who always worked hard," I stated firmly.
"That’s what you saw but before that he was Jack Witman. The right-hand man of Silva and the man who was working hard to unite Silva and Torex," Hayden stated resolutely.
"No...I just can’t believe that. If I do then, everything during those years that we spent as a family together was a lie? That’s just...ridiculous," I said, unwilling to believe it.
So, everything that I knew until now was a lie? None of it was true? Why did my father have to go so far to keep me away from the mafia? Was this why Hayden was asking me whether I wanted to choose a life for myself? I glanced over Hayden and saw that he had a very dark and grim look on his face and his eyes seemed faraway.
I wondered what he was seeing in his mind’s eyes but the look on his handsome face told me that it wasn’t something pretty.
"That’s not quite true. I’m sure his love for you and his family was real. He did honestly work hard to live an honest life away from the mafia," Hayden said with certainty.
"I see..." I mumbled softly.
"He did all of that for you just so that you could live a sheltered and normal life away from the mafia," Hayden explained.
"Wait! Then that means that you and I were...engaged?!" I exclaimed in pure shock.
"That’s right. Of course, you were too young to know about it and I was too young to understand it properly. However, as far as our parents and the gangs were concerned, we were formally engaged," Hayden said with a firm nod.
Even though Hayden and I were engaged, my father left the mafia and chose to live a normal life. He broke off the engagement, didn’t he?
"If that was what my father wanted then why did he leave the mafia?" I asked. Something just didn’t feel right.
"It’s actually quite simple. An incident occurred that made him realize that his daughter wasn’t safe if she had any connections to the mafia," Hayden explained simply.
"Wasn’t safe?" I asked, echoing his words.
"You were kidnapped as a very young girl," Hayden said after a slight pause.
"Seriously?" I asked incredulously.
How is that possible? I had absolutely no recollection of something of that sort happening to me.
"Yup. You weren’t harmed, thankfully so. I was too young to get involved in the incident, but I remember that it was a big mess. In the end, the adults got you back," Hayden said before he smiled sympathetically at me.
"I don’t remember any of it," I said blankly.
"No surprise there, you were too young. The kidnappers were from a smaller gang, and they demanded a ransom of 500 million dollars for your release, sounds familiar?" Hayden asked before laughing a little.
"Oh..." I mumbled in sudden realization.
That figure sounded very familiar. Now everything was starting to fall in pieces bit by bit.
--To be continued...