Chapter Thirty-Seven

Zach

It was just after dinner when Zach was called to the phone. He took it in his office, plopping down on his chair and putting his feet up on the old worn-out desk. The phone call was short. The message was short but devastating.

When he hung up and put the phone back down, his face had turned white, his eyes dark. He’d just gotten the message he dreaded most.

Julian, his strongest soldier, his trusted guard, was no more. He stopped breathing; he couldn’t keep up the fight to live anymore. Zach hit the desk with his fist.

He felt like a failure—all the people who had died because of these attacks. He should’ve protected them; he should’ve been stronger. He needed to find a way to put an end to the attacks—he had to.

He owed it to Julian and all the others that passed away because of this. He shoved some papers aside to make some space to place his elbows on his desk. When he did that, a white envelope fell out on the floor.

When he picked it up, he frowned. He hadn’t seen this envelope before. His name and address were on it, and it hadn’t been opened. He curiously ripped the envelope open.

When he unfolded the paper, he saw a letter written in a handwriting that he knew all too well. His breath hitched. Was someone playing a sick joke on him?

~Dear Zachary~

~It’s been a long time since I have seen you. The last time I saw you, you could hardly be called a man. From the things I have heard about you, you’ve grown into a fine young man. A strong leader and boss.~

~I am sorry I couldn’t be there when you needed me most. I am sorry I left you with such a great responsibility when you weren’t even ready. I am sorry, so deeply sorry, that I couldn’t be there for you.~

~I’m sorry I couldn’t give you time to blossom before you had to take on your heavy task as boss.~

~There are some things I need to explain to you. I really hope this letter will reach you, so I can make you understand the difficult situation I am in.~

~The last time we saw each other was when I left to protect the family from an attack from a neighboring family. Everyone, including me, thought it was a neighboring family.~

~As you know, the battle was lost, and part of the land fell into the hands of the enemy.~

~Everyone on the battlefield thought I had been killed. I was seriously injured and unconscious, and all our soldiers had withdrawn to defend the rest of our land and the family. They left me for dead.~

~Although that should never have happened, I am grateful for that. It has kept you and the rest of our family safe.~

~Shortly after the attack, I fell into the hands of our enemy. As it turned out, it wasn’t a neighboring family that attacked us, not quite. It was a group of outcast mobsters headed by someone. The man has a great hatred for me.~

~Before your mom and I met, your mom was with this man. She’s always lived in the big city and never expected to find ~her destined~. While I was there for a business trip, we met.~

~She left the man, but he has never been able to forget her. His hatred and jealousy for me were so great that he wanted to take away everything I had and loved. My status, my family, my wife, my kids, everything.~

~My intense physical training helped me heal quickly from my injuries, but the man poisoned me and hit, kicked, and injured me a lot and for long times in a row.~

~He let me heal every time and just before I was back to strength, he started again. He showed me pictures of how my family got on without me. How my wife languished and eventually died from grief.~

~How my oldest son, still a boy, turned from a happy young boy into a serious young man. How he was weighed down by the heavy burden he was carrying.~

~How he took care of his two young brothers and the people he was responsible for. I endured the blows, I could handle the injuries, but what he did to you, it cut my heart every time.~

~If only I could have done more to protect you, if only I could have escaped to unburden you.~

~Up until recently I was always heavily guarded. But the highest in rank of their crew is not so much around anymore, and lately, my guards have not been around that much.~

~One of my guards has even become an ally. He is the one who gave me the opportunity to write this letter and helped me to send it.~

~Boy, I hope you know how incredibly proud I am of you, of that amazing man you’ve become. A great, strong leader, a true boss.~

~I hope you know that I love you and your brothers very much. I hope one day I may hold you in my arms again.~

~My boy, I miss you so much.~

~Your father.~

Zach pushed his chair back and hunched over, his elbows on his knees. He started breathing heavily, trying to fight back the tears that threatened to form in his eyes. His father was still alive?

His father had been kidnapped—how did he not know that? His father thought he had failed him and his family, but he had failed his father.

He was blinded by fear for his enemy, by grief over the loss of his father, and by the heavy tasks that awaited him. He hadn’t looked for his father as the soldiers had said it was too dangerous.

Zach couldn’t fight his tears back anymore and let the letter fall on the floor. A wave of guilt washed over him. If only he had known that his father was still alive, he would have searched for him, fought for him.

Then his mother wouldn’t have passed away; they would both still be here. An animalistic grunt came out of the back of his throat: pain, anger, sadness, and regret forcing themselves out.

All the memories flooded his mind; all the feelings he had put away just washed over him, and he broke down.

He didn’t even notice when someone knocked on his door and came in. When he felt a hand on his back, he jolted up.

“Zach?”

Zach looked into the worried eyes of his best friend. He tried to wipe away his tears and tried to stop his crying but didn’t succeed. He couldn’t hold it back anymore.

“Jeez, Zach, what’s going on?” Ethan crouched in front of Zach’s chair and stroked Zach’s upper arms to comfort him.

After a while, Zach had no more tears left, and he became quiet.

“Zach?” Ethan frowned.

“Sorry you had to see that.” Zach gave him half a smile.

“What is going on? I have never seen you that broken before.” Ethan got up and sat down on the corner of the desk.

Zach bent down to pick up the letter he had dropped on the floor. “Here, read this.”

Halfway through the letter, Ethan’s face turned pale. His eyes rushed over the lines. When he was done reading, he dropped the letter on the desk, his eyes wide. “No way.”

“Yeah,” Zach looked down at the floor. He didn’t know what to do with himself.

“Your father is still alive,” Ethan said, thunderstruck.

“Yeah,” Zach repeated. “I’ve failed him.”

Ethan looked at Zach, his brows forming a frown. “No, Zach, you’re not the one to blame. You were just a kid at the time. You had no idea what to do. You are not to blame, don’t even think about it.”

“Still, I have never looked for my father.”

“It was too dangerous, Zach. If you had gone looking for your father, you would have been taken too! Then we wouldn’t have lost one boss, but two!”

Zach sighed. He didn’t know what to think. “We have to find and save him now, though.”

“Yes! Let me call everyone together, then we can think of a way to find your father and free him.”