"But what does all of that have to do with ?" I asked when Hayden seed 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 na. Everything about him that you rember is nothing more than a cover. His na, his identity, his looks, how he dressed, his job. Everything was fabricated. What you saw was his second attempt at life, one where he deed 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
away from the mafia? Was this why Hayden was asking
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 seed faraway.
I wondered what he was seeing in his mind’s eyes but the look on his handso face told
that it wasn’t sothing 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.
None of this was making sense. What happened to his dream of uniting the two gangs?
"What happened? What happened after that day? The girl who was born back then was , right?" I asked, feeling that I was about to learn sothing even more important.
"That’s right. Your grandmother still calls you by your old na, Lisa," Hayden said before he smiled a little sadly at .
A slight pain stung my heart at the ntion of my grandmother, and it reminded
of how much I missed her and her words.
"No, Lisa is my nickna. It’s shortened from Malissa," I corrected his misunderstanding.
"Nope. Lisa was your original na. Malissa, your new na, was chosen by adding a syllable to your old na. You were born Lisa Witman," Hayden corrected
in return as he shook his head slowly from side to side.
"My grandmother knew about all this?" I asked in shock.
"She did but how much she knew exactly, I’m not sure. She knew that your father was part of the mafia and of course she knew his na and your old na as well," Hayden surmised.
I guess that was why my grandmother seed to know Hayden and the fact that we spent so of our childhood together. Hayden was older and he rembers; however, I was too young to rember much of anything. I didn’t even rember Hayden or Ethan for that matter.
"Jack Witman wanted to unite the two gang and achieve stability and peace. He believed that once united the gang will be big enough to suppress conflict with the other small gangs. However, sowhere along the lines, he changed his mind," Hayden said as his tone darkened.
"He changed his mind?" I asked in surprise.
"His initial plan was to join the two gang through the classical way of using marriage ties. However, things were not so straightforward because Ethan was already engaged to Alia at her birth and my father wanted Harvey to marry soone outside of the mafia world to create connections. He wanted him to marry a politician’s daughter or sothing along those lines," Hayden said passively.
"I see…" I mumbled.
However, I did not foresee what Hayden was going to tell
next.
"When you were born, your father suggested the idea that his daughter and the younger son of Torex should get married. His daughter would act as Silva’s representative, and I would act as Torex’s. By so twist of fate, my old man agreed to it," Hayden said as if the story didn’t concern him at all.
"Wait! Then that ans that you and I were…engaged?!" I exclaid 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 engagent, didn’t he?
"If that was what my father wanted then why did he leave the mafia?" I asked. Sothing 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 sothing of that sort happening to .
"Yup. You weren’t hard, thankfully so. I was too young to get involved in the incident, but I rember that it was a big ss. In the end, the adults got you back," Hayden said before he smiled sympathetically at .
"I don’t rember 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…
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