Novel Square
Our Connection
Our Connection
“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.
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 me, right?” I
asked, feeling that I was about to learn something even more important.
“That’s right. Your grandmother still calls you by your old name, Lisa,” Hayden said before he smiled a
little sadly at me.
A slight pain stung my heart at the mention of my grandmother, and it reminded me of how much I
missed her and her words.
“No, Lisa is my nickname. It’s shortened from Malissa,” I corrected his misunderstanding.
“Nope. Lisa was your original name. Malissa, your new name, was chosen by adding a syllable to your
old name. You were born Lisa Witman,” Hayden corrected me 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 name and your old name as well,” Hayden surmised.
I guess that was why my grandmother seemed to know Hayden and the fact that we spent some of our
childhood together. Hayden was older and he remembers; however, I was too young to remember
much of anything. I didn’t even remember 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,
somewhere 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 Amelia at her birth and my
father wanted Harvey to marry someone outside of the mafia world to create connections. He wanted
him to marry a politician’s daughter or something along those lines,” Hayden said passively.
“I see…” I mumbled.
However, I did not foresee what Hayden was going to tell me 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
some twist of fate, my old man agreed to it,” Hayden said as if the story didn’t concern him at all.
“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. Còntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org
“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…