Jaguar's words fell like a scorching thunderbolt, striking his grandfather directly in the face. The elder staggered, the world spinning around him as he suddenly grasped the immense oppression and agony his granddaughter had swallowed during those barren years all alone, without a soul to lean on. Feeling a sudden weakness seep into his knees, he murmured in a choked voice, overcome by pain and betrayal,
- Take my hand, Butler...
Jaguar lunged forward with anxious desperation, extending his hand to support and shield his grandfather, but the old man recoiled sharply. He yanked his palm away, utterly refusing Jaguar's touch, and averted his eyes as though shielding himself from looking upon the perpetrator of an unforgivable sin. Jaguar's hand froze mid-air as Butler, the chief of staff, rushed forward to grasp his master's hand with deep reverence and caution, slowly guiding him toward the plush sofa where the patriarch always sat at the head of the vast hall.
The grandfather settled into his seat, his chest heaving with labored breaths. He raised his trembling palm and pressed it against his heart, rubbing that aching region of his exhausted body as if trying to soothe the flames ignited by his grandson's confession. After moments of suffocating, absolute silence, the elder struck his cane with immense force against the marble floor, its echo ringing through the majestic halls. He demanded in a resounding, decisive tone,
- Tell me, Jaguar... what did you do to her in all these years?!
Jaguar remained standing in his place like an accused man in a court of law, staring at his grandfather's face, which was now masked in fury and grief. Feeling a suffocating tightness seize his chest, he exhaled a long, searing sigh and spoke in an attempt to defend himself,
- It was my mistake, grandfather... I blindly believed that she and her other grandfather were the ones who orchestrated the accident for you, causing you to fall into that prolonged coma, and...
- I want no excuses!
The grandfather cut him off, his voice as sharp as a razor, refusing to hear any justification. He commanded in a cold, unyielding tone,
- Tell me the facts. What exactly did you do to her? My patience has entirely run out!
Jaguar let out a searing sigh that erupted from the depths of his chest like volcanic lava, his hoarse voice beginning the dark tale,
- I broke into her room on that ominous night... Fati's very first night in our mansion, and the exact night you suffered your stroke. I entered to find you lying motionless on the floor, with Fati hovering over you, her hands wrapped tightly around your neck. In that crazed, blinding moment, I believed without a shadow of a doubt that she was attempting to suffocate and kill you... I never realized she was desperately checking your fading pulse, attempting to administer first aid to save your life.
He paused for a fraction of a second, the atmosphere in the hall charged with suffocating tension, as the grandfather urged in a trembling whisper, dreading what was to come,
- And what did you do... when you beheld her thus?
At this, Jaguar erupted into a roar, his booming voice echoing through the grand corridors as if to permanently convict himself under the crushing weight of his own guilt,
- What did you expect me to do?! What, grandfather, when I saw the man who raised and forged me dying beneath her fingertips?
He fell silent for an interlude, his breath ragged, before continuing as his eyes burned with a lethal remorse,
- Yes... I lost my mind entirely. I shoved her violently, struck her, and dragged her by her hair with a savageness unbefitting of any human being. I did not stop there. I dragged her in my blind fury to her grandfather's mansion, and there... right before his helpless, failing eyes, I beat her with absolute, monstrous brutality. I continued to strike and torment her until the old man drew his final breath, dying of sheer grief and helplessness before her eyes... before I abandoned his corpse and her broken body there, and walked out.
An absolute, heavy silence blanketed the hall a silence more suffocating than the weight of the earth. The grandfather did not utter a single syllable, nor did he erupt in the anticipated fury. For the first time, a searing sense of shame and complicity seized him. He recalled how he throughout all those long years had meticulously planted the seeds of malice in Jaguar's young mind, cultivating the obsession of wreaking vengeance for Rosie's dignity and destroying anyone associated with that lineage. Jaguar was merely the lethal weapon the grandfather had forged with his own hands, and today, he was reaping the toxic harvest of his own ancient poison; his grandson had destroyed Rosie's precious daughter, orchestrating a tragedy that time could never heal.
Staring blankly at the floor, the grandfather felt a suffocating bitterness choke his throat. He questioned in a quiet, hollow tone, his eyes veiled in stunned horror,
- And... did her grandfather perish on that very night?
Jaguar lowered his head further, responding in a shattered, defeated whisper,
- Yes, grandfather... he died that night.
A scalding, heavy tear delayed by long years gathered in the grandfather's eyes. It desperately yearned to spill, weeping for his old lifelong friend. Despite all the conflicts and blood, that departed elder was the one who had sheltered and raised their granddaughter, Fati, throughout those barren years, despite the dire poverty the grandfather's ruthlessness had driven him into. Yet, the old man's iron pride arrested his tears; he remained frozen, his gaze hardening. In the unyielding code of his conscience, he was the one who had brought about the man's ruin, and thus... he possessed absolutely no moral right to weep for him now.
Wishing to submerge himself deeper into the mire of truth, the grandfather urged in a dry, solid tone, interrogating Jaguar,
- And... did you attend his funeral and his wake?
Jaguar lowered his gaze once more, a suffocating wave of humiliation and defeat seizing him—a vulnerability entirely unbefitting of the formidable "Jaguar." He responded in a muted whisper,
- No... I did not.
The grandfather felt a consuming urge to uncover the remainder of the tragedy; the wound had to be completely exposed to be cleansed,
- And what happened after that?
Jaguar took a ragged breath and responded with a tight chest,
- Nothing... Fati vanished completely, leaving no trace for over six years... and now, she has returned as a brilliant surgeon. She is the very one who performed the delicate operation to save your life and bring you back to us.
The grandfather's eyes gleamed with a cold, analytical focus. The calculated mindset of an astute merchant and a financial titan which had governed his entire existence dictated the absolute law of give-and-take. He questioned in a quiet, inquiring tone,
- And what are her demands in exchange for saving my life and settling the accounts of the past? What is it that she wants?
Jaguar hesitated for a fraction of a second. He was on the verge of uttering the word "divorce," which would terminate everything and strip her from his possession forever. Yet, he recoiled in the final moment, altering his response to deliver her authentic, devastating demand that had permanently breached his defenses,
- She demanded... that I restore her grandfather to life... exactly as she restored you to me.
Those words fell upon the grandfather's ears like a psychological death sentence. The elder slowly averted his face, letting out a heavy, sorrowful sigh, his gaze anchoring onto the large oil painting of his late daughter, Rosie. Studying her painted features, he recalled her noble defiance and pure spirit, murmuring in a voice saturated with grief and absolute certainty,
- That girl... she is identical to her mother, Rosie, in all her free-spirited traits and stubborn dignity. Her impossible demands are meticulously crafted to leave you paralyzed and helpless, never knowing what you must do to atone for your sin.
A heavy, suffocating silence draped over them as the grandfather murmured in a tone overcome by absolute helplessness and grief,
- How then can we compensate her... in the face of this impossible, unyielding demand?
Jaguar stared into the empty space, desperately searching his mind for any escape, any offering that could restore a flicker of peace to Fati's eyes. He had exhausted every avenue, surrendered his pride repeatedly to no avail, while she never ceased to reject him, relentlessly demanding a divorce at every turn. He sighed with a bitter weight, speaking in a voice stripped of all its commanding strength,
- Grandfather... I, too, no longer know how to compensate her... Every path has been entirely blocked before me.
A brief silence ensued, during which the elder plunged into a deep, turbulent train of thought, before a decisive realization ignited in his eyes, clearing the dust of confusion. He turned slowly and questioned with loaded meaning,
- Jaguar... are you two still legally married to this very moment?
A tense tremor rippled through Jaguar's chest, yet he gathered his voice, responding in a firm, resolute tone that carried all his underlying possessiveness and desire,
- Yes, grandfather... we are still married. And I have absolutely no intention of ever leaving her or letting her go; I will not divorce her.
In that exact second, the grandfather's features shifted entirely, cloaked in a sharp, wintry authority. He anchored his weathered eyes directly into Jaguar's, a gaze that pierced through his defenses and banished all stability from his heart. He commanded in a resounding, majestic voice that brooked no negotiation or delay:
- Oh, but you will, Jaguar... Leave her be, and grant her freedom!... For you have done to that poor soul more than enough
How will Jaguar handle this? Will he stubbornly refuse to obey his grandfather? Or will he go to Fati with divorce papers in hand and a broken heart to prove he is willing to sacrifice his own desires for her well-being?
Don't forget to leave a comment, everyone
even if it's just a broken heart emoji.