Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 31853 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 159(@200wpm)___ 127(@250wpm)___ 106(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 31853 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 159(@200wpm)___ 127(@250wpm)___ 106(@300wpm)
“I am, too.” Payton’s voice was tight. Kissing his wife’s hair, he whispered, “But we need to believe in him. And in us. I don’t think we’re the type to raise idiots, do you?”
She choked back a teary laugh. “N-no. I d-don’t.”
The judge finally gave his assent to Reid, and Enid swallowed as Reid pulled out a badly crumpled set of papers from the pocket of his formal jacket.
Reid began to read.
My name is Reid Chalkias. My biological parents were Andrea Gomez, born in Sicily, and Rodrigo Chalkias, born in Sparta, Greece. My mother, Andrea, was born to a family whose business was rooted in organized crime. According to my father, it was only when he was about my age now that he found out what his grandfather and father had chosen to involve themselves in.
When my mother discovered she was pregnant, she and my father began making plans to cut their ties to their families. They wanted a different future for me.
But they also knew it was not going to be easy, and so in the years that passed, my parents continued to be involved in their family’s crimes.
I neither condone nor condemn my parents for their participation. I don’t know what I would do in their position, and my father’s sacrifice has spared me from having to make such a decision.
When I was seven, the island we lived in was placed under attack. It was a war between two gangs, and my mother was one of the victims. Her death hit us hard, my father more so and now, in hindsight, it’s become clear to me that this was about the time that my father decided to alter his plans.
Originally, it was supposed to be my father and me escaping the family’s connections.
When one of my uncles kidnapped Lord and Lady Malcolm from their yacht a year later, my father saw it as an opportunity to make his move. He freed them in exchange of securing their promise that they would take me under their wing as well as keep Igor as my unofficial guardian.
When the family learned of my father’s actions, war broke out. What transpired afterwards is common knowledge, and I, too, have read the same incident reports and insider accounts. They say my father was ruthlessly methodical as he destroyed the family from within and after that, he went after the other gangs that could have even the smallest reason to come after him – or me.
In the final encounter, the remaining gangs had agreed to a temporary alliance to take my father down. My father was prepared for this. When they came for him, he was not alone. He had the police with him.
People died.
A lot.
My father included.
When news of my father’s death reached me, it came with a letter that the authorities had found in his pocket. He had not been able to finish it, but what he was able to write would remain forever with me.
Enid watched her son pause to swallow convulsively, and she swallowed her own sobs back, wanting to be strong for him just as he was doing his best to be strong.
His gaze still on the paper he was reading, her son said hoarsely, “I welcome death with a smile, knowing that you can lead a life that your mother and I have always dreamed for you.”
Slowly, Reid looked up, his fierce green gaze meeting everyone else in the courtroom. “I know that people will think I’m too young to make any promises, but I’ll still swear it anyway. In honor of my parents’ sacrifices and the love that Lord and Lady Malcolm have given me, I will do everything I can so that none of it will be in vain. I will lead a life that they can be proud of. But if this court asks me to denounce my biological parents in favor of a piece of paper that has nothing to do with my character, I will never do that. Rodrigo Chalkias was not the best of men, but he had been a good father to me, and I cannot and will not lie about—-”
His voice suddenly cracked, and when Enid saw her son’s shoulders start to shake, she didn’t even pause to think.
She rushed to him, protocol be damned. Her son needed her, and when she reached him, he looked at her and said brokenly, “I don’t want you to think I’m betraying you or Father. I love you, but—-”
Enid shook her head. “Hush.”
People began to shout behind them. The judge began pounding his gavel, demanding for order in the court. But she heard none of it. She saw none of it. The mother only saw her son, and Enid drew her little boy close.
“I’d never think that, baby.” And as he cried on her shoulder, she whispered, “I’m so, so proud of you. Everything you said was perfect. You’re the son we want, and we wouldn’t have you any other way.”