Novel Square
Crumbling Truth
Crumbling Truth
“That’s right. My old man paid for all the ransom and waved it off as your father borrowing from him.
The debt contract that my old man showed you was drafted and signed then. I don’t know this for sure,
but my father probably didn’t want any of the money back. To him, he was just helping out a friend. C0ntent © 2024 (N/ô)velDrama.Org.
Back then the Torex business isn’t the size that it is today so that money was a significant amount,”
Hayden explained before grinning at me.
“I never knew this. Your father showed me a clause in the contract that I had to marry a member of the
gang of his choice…” I said as I recalled the day that the boss showed me the debt contract.
“My father wanted us to get married. He still does. However, he was the only one who supported and
understood your father’s decision to cut all ties with the mafia. The contract was signed in your parent’s
new name too because of that. My father was probably the only one who knew of Jack’s new identity,”
Hayden continued to explain.
One thing for sure was that Hayden’s father really wanted us to get married. He wanted it bad enough
for him to track me down and use the debt against me. I remembered how mad and shocked I was
back then, but I feel very different now. I had to admit that if it wasn’t for the boss’s intervention,
Hayden and I probably won’t be where we are today.
“The others were against it?” I asked.
Hayden nodded solemnly.
“Definitely. I bet you can’t even begin to imagine. The previous boss of Silva, Ethan’s father and his
entire gang viewed it as an act of complete betrayal,” Hayden said before he heaved a depressing sigh.
Everything was so complicated that I started to get a headache. From the way things are now between
the two gangs, I could tell that the attempt at a partnership back then failed completely.
“Of course, the partnership plan that your father dreamt of failed. His departure made the two gang
hate each other even more than before. It wasn’t just the bosses and the gang members that had
differing opinions on the issue, Ethan and I had opposite views on it as well,” Hayden said coldly as his
eyes narrowed.
“Ethan? What happened between you two?” I asked with worry.
“We were separated by our parents, and we stopped seeing each other. It was because of our parents
at first but later it was mostly because of our different perspectives. Although we both love and
respected your father a lot, his departure impacted us in very different ways,” Hayden said sadly.
Looking back on the argument that I’ve heard between the two, it did seem like they didn’t get along
and had very opposing views.
“How exactly?” I asked for further details.
“When Jack disappeared, I felt like I had lost a father. I can only imagine what it must have been like for
Ethan. Jack was from the Silva gang and he spent much more time with Ethan than he did with me.
Ethan went crazy when Jack didn’t return. He used every method at his disposal to find Jack to try to
bring him back,” Hayden said before he paused as if he was recalling something.
“And you?” I prompted for Hayden to continued.
“I respected Jack’s decision and wanted him to do whatever would make him happiest. I wanted you to
be safe…that’s why…I never went looking for you even after what happened to Jack. At first, I thought
that if that’s the life Jack wanted for you then that was how it should be,” Hayden said with slight regret
in his voice.
I wondered if he thought that his belief was wrong now that many things have changed.
“Ethan came looking for me…” I whispered softly.
“That’s right and he shouldn’t have. Soon after Jack disappeared and Ethan lost his mind, his parents
sent him abroad to keep him away from everything. He hated his parents, and this only made it worst.
Guess what was the first thing that Ethan did when he returned to this country…” Ethan said before he
smirked at me.
“He came to find me…” I said with sudden understanding.
“Correct,” Hayden affirmed with a nod.
“But in the end, he left me to return to take over Silva…” I mumbled softly.
“Unlike Ethan, the boss of Silva wanted Jack found dead or alive. He didn’t need Jack back,” Hayden
said monotonously.
“The boss of Silva wanted to kill my father?” I gasped in shock.
Slowly, Hayden turned to face me before he took my hands into his. I had never seen such a sorrowful
look on his face before, not even when he was in front of his brother’s grave.
“Yes, and he succeeded,” Hayden said without meeting my eyes.
The previous boss of Silva killed my parents? That’s just…
“No. That’s impossible. My parents died in a car accident. They were hit by a truck with drunk driver
early in the morning. There were photos of it, and it was all over the news. It was just…an accident…” I
said as I shook my head in denial.
It felt like my world was going dark. Hayden told me so many things, but this just didn’t make any
sense. It was just an accident, wasn’t it?
Before I could stop it, tears had already started leaking from my eyes before it trailed down my cheek. I
wasn’t sure if I was more shocked or saddened by what Hayden had just told me. My parents had been
dead for a long time now and for the longest time I had believed that their death was merely an
unfortunate accident.
“It’s a sin that both Ethan and I will bear for the rest of our lives. We were too young and too stupid to
do anything for Jack or for you…” Hayden said with so much guilt in his voice that my heart ached for
him too.
--To be continued…