Chapter 63
“YOUR accomplice, Demi White was dead on arrival at the hospital,” Euclid informed Marcus as he sat on a chair in front of him inside the interrogation room. “The bullet that Maria shot at her went straight to her heart destroying her aorta.”
Marcus shook his head. “I didn’t expect that she can actually shoot a gun,” he said and smirked. “Angelic face is indeed deceiving.”
Euclid didn’t see any remorse in his blank face after he informed about Demi’s head. His gaze was on his cuffed hands over the table and didn’t even move a bit when he entered the room. For a moment, Euclid saw the younger brother he looked for over the years in him, not the notorious criminal who risked many lives.
The SD card that they’re looking for in Maria’s house was turned over beforehand to their IT specialist with Wendy’s help. According to her, she found the micro SD card inside Maria’s old purse, wrapped in tissue paper. She thought it was just another trash she left, but she found the chip inside when she opened it. Out of curiosity, Wendy inserted it to her phone and saw that it contained thousands of zipped files.
Wendy gave it to Maria after finding out what’s in it. But, Maria told her to keep it. If something happened to her and Sara, surrender it immediately to Agent Fred, which she did during the hostage inside their house.
“Have you… talked to Maria?” Marcus hesitantly asked him after a few minutes of silence. “H-How’s Sara…?”
“Your daughter is safe,” Euclid answered. He tried to hide the bitterness in his voice, but he failed. “She’s fine now and having a rest at the hospital. She’ll under go a child counseling after her release, and Maria will make sure that she’ll overcome the trauma that you and your woman gave to her.”
Marcus lowered his head and clenched his fist on the table. Euclid waited for him to talk, but he remained silent. Until now, Euclid couldn’t digest the truth that Maria revealed just a few hours ago. All this time, he hoped that Sara was his child, that he was his own, that he and Maria had a child. But she wasn’t. And, of all people, Sara’s father was his brother. Euclid now believed that the stars are playing at their fate.
When he heard Maria saying that Marcus was the father of Sara, his chest suddenly hurt as if somebody hit him with a baseball bat in the chest. And the pain lingered inside his chest until now. It sliced his flesh repeatedly, causing unbearable pain in his heart.
“Did you ever love her?” Euclid asked him as he clenched his fist on the table. “Or you just used her by your own satisfaction?”
Marcus met his eyes. “I did like her…” he admitted. “But, that was before I found out that you’re connected to her.”
Euclid clenched his jaw. “You just used her to execute your plans. What for, Marcus? To take revenge at me?”
“I want to make you feel the pain that I felt when you and dad abandoned me and mom at Hongkong,” he said without batting an eyelash. “You left us and let mom be killed by the gunmen that dad was trying to execute in his fucking mission.” His jaw clenched as he speaks. “I’m hiding inside the cabinet when they came in our house. I saw how she was killed, Euclid… And, up to her last breath, she protected dad’s identity as an undercover agent.”
Euclid knew where his grudge coming from. He also hated their father for choosing his profession over his family. Still, he realized that he’s just doing it to protect them from the criminals. “Dad went back at Hongkong for you and mom—”
“That’s not true,” he countered. “I was at our house waiting for him to get me, but he didn’t come…” he smirked. “I was just fifteen years old back then.”
“He went back at our house in Hongkong, but he said that he didn’t find you there, that maybe the syndicate have abducted you—”
“Lies, lies…” Marcus shook his head. “Dad didn’t go to Hongkong, because he believed his co-asshole agent that I wasn’t in the house anymore. He has a habit to believe in any hearsay, right? Stupid agent—”
“Don’t say that to our father, Marcus,” Euclid stopped him. “No matter what he has done, he’s still our father and he just did all those things to protect us from danger. And, I know that mom thinks the same way too, that’s why until her last breath, she didn’t betray him.”
“And, you’re still soft like a woman, Euclid,” Marcus said. “You’re still the big brother who used to tell me to always looked on the bright side. And, guess what? I applied it to myself and decided to join the Decagon as an asset. Seeing you suffer and got frustrated by your failed missions of capturing us gave me satisfaction.”
“So it’s all about me?” Euclid banged his fist on the desk. “You risked many lives just to get even to me? You even put the innocent child in danger, Marcus. Your own flesh and blood, you risked your child’s life.”
Marcus looked away from him. “You got me now, Euclid. You got the SD card where all the information that you need was stored. Everything is over now—”
“Not until you tell me who’s the mastermind in all of this illegal dealership,” he said between his teeth.
“You’ve encountered him already,” Marcus said with a smirk. “But you just let him go because you were so preoccupied with Magdalene.”
Euclid’s brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”
“Remember the bidding? He was there,” he said. “He called himself as Magdalene’s master.”
Euclid clenched his fist. “This will be the end of Mr. Fortuno,” he said and raised from his seat, but Marcus stopped him before he could walk out the interrogation room.
“Is there a chance that I could speak to Maria?” he asked. Euclid can read in his chagrined expression that he really cares for her and Sara.
“You’ll see her at the court,” he replied. “She’ll testify against you.”
“Can I speak to her first? Bring her to me here.”
“It’s under our protocol that the state witness is not allowed to speak with the captured criminal,” Euclid said and turned his back at him.
“Euclid, before you cut your ties to me, I want you to do something for me,” Marcus spoke from his back.
Euclid can hear the rattle of the metal handcuffs on the table, an indication that he was upset and bothered. He turned to face him and waited for him to speak.
“I want you and Maria to keep my identity from Sara…” he said and looked down at the table. “I don’t want her to grow up knowing that her father was a criminal…”
***
