by Ammar Habib
Nobody seemed to be paying any attention to Ethan. His entire family seemed too absorbed by Katrina as she rocked the sleeping baby in her arms. They all kept asking her about herself, her family, and her and Ethan’s childhood together. She gracefully answered each and every question with a genuine smile. Just that sweet smile alone had won everybody over. Even Benjamin was quietly sleeping in her arms; a feat that Ethan could never accomplish.
Leaning back in his seat, Ethan watched the four people around him carry on their merry conversation. He felt Jonathan’s foot lightly tap against his leg. Turning his head towards his brother, Ethan saw Jonathan quickly wink at him in approval. Ethan smiled back. Brett spoke once more as everyone looked over at him. “I’ve got to tell you Katrina. You are almost a mirror image of my late wife.”
From the corner of his eyes, Ethan saw Jonathan vigorously nod in approval as she replied, “I’m honored that you would even compare me to her.”
Jonathan looked over at Ethan. “So how was the shopping experience yesterday?”
Letting his gaze fall on his lap, Ethan slightly shook his head. “It was like you said. It started off as only going to a couple of stores, but ended up being eight hours of endless suffering.”
Jonathan let out a thunderous laugh as he slapped his thigh. “I warned you, didn’t I!?”
Katrina reached over and grabbed Ethan’s arm. “It wasn’t that bad. We found some nice pieces to add to Ethan’s wardrobe.”
“It was torture.”
She lightly pushed his shoulder. “You said you enjoyed it.”
He looked over at her with his boyish smile. “No, I said I enjoyed lunch.”
Cathy interjected into the conversation as she gently motioned towards Katrina. “I believe her.”
Brett nodded in agreement. “Me too.”
Ethan looked them both over as he jokingly replied, “Glad to know that you guys have my back.”
Laughter was emitted from the group before it slowly died off.
As a momentary silence fell over the group, Ethan looked towards his father. “Hey dad, why don’t you tell everybody the good news?”
The group turned towards Brett as he briefly gazed down at his lap before he looked up. “Well…I got a new job.”
Jonathan’s eyebrows rose. “Really? Where at?”
“Ethan made me the president of his new charity foundation.”
There was a silence. Everyone exchanged glances with one another before Cathy broke it. “That’s great!”
Everybody looked over at Ethan as he felt Katrina lightly squeeze his hand. Jonathan spoke to his younger brother. “This morning I saw in the papers that you named it the David & Naira Foundation.”
Ethan simply nodded.
There was another awkward silence as Jonathan was expecting an explanation to who this Naira exactly was. A real explanation. But Ethan remained silent and Cathy quickly ended the uneasy stillness. “I heard you were buying up a lot of orphanages and repairing them.”
Again, Ethan nodded. “We’ve also started buying land to build more orphanages, women’s shelters, homeless shelters, and drug rehabilitation centers. Bradley has really been in charge of all that, since he’s the king of real estate around here. We should be able to begin construction on a lot of these places by the end of the month.”
Brett interjected into the conversation. “We’ve also began to negotiate with a lot of international governments to gain rights to build orphanages in their countries.”
Jonathan’s eyes widened. “Which regions are you guys looking at?”
“From Central Asia and South Asia to Northern Africa. Right, Ethan?”
The younger son quietly nodded, but his eyes suddenly looked distant for a split second. But Brett did not notice this. “Ethan’s going to be paying for most everything with the profits from the companies, but we’re also going to be doing a lot of fundraisers. We have one coming up this Friday. Your guys’ invitation should arrive by tonight.”
“We’ll definitely come.”
Seeing how distracted Ethan was, Katrina lightly tapped his leg with her foot to bring him back to reality. He immediately zoned back in and joined in the conversation. “By the way, Jonathan. I’m looking for somebody to manage the international venues of the foundation. I was talking with Brett and Bradley and we were thinking that you might be the right man for the job.”
As all eyes fell on him, Jonathan was silent for a few seconds, clearly shocked. “…Really?”
Ethan nodded. “We can talk about it more at the fundraiser. Bradley can tell about the details.”
The next two hours quickly passed in joyous discussions and laughter. It was a miracle that Benjamin did not wake up. Nobody even seemed to notice how fast time was passing. Ethan hardly even said anything at all, but he was grinning the entire time. He was happy enough just watching everyone around him.
The family was whole again. Better, stronger, and happier than ever before. When everyone finally left, Ethan and Katrina were left alone in the foyer. The golden doors of the elevator closed and Ethan’s family was now out of sight. With a quick sigh, he turned to look at her in her red tunic and black Capri pants. “Are you busy tomorrow?”
“I just have a meeting in the morning. You?”
“I’m going to go meet Charles around ten. I need to discuss something with him. After lunch I’m meeting with Bradley to talk more about the construction of the projects.”
“What are you doing for lunch?”
Ethan slid his hands into his pockets. “I was going to go to the cemetery.”
“Do you mind if I join you?”
“Do I ever?”
She smiled back.
“I need to talk to you about something important tomorrow.”
“You can talk to me about it now.”
“No, it can wait until tomorrow. It’s better that I talk to you there anyways.”
“Fair enough.”
Chapter 24
Turning a New Leaf
Feeling a hand come over his mouth, Shaun O’Hara’s eyes suddenly opened. Lying in his bed, his first instinct was to knock away the arm of his assailant, but he stopped short of doing so seeing the gun aimed at his forehead.
It took several seconds for his eyes to focus in on what was happening. Sweat ran down his face and half-naked body as he looked at mask of his assailant. The intruder’s gloved hand pressed hard onto the officer’s mouth, making it impossible for his muffled screams to be heard.
A gust of wind blew in from the open window and the curtains moved with it. His eyes looked up at the barrel of the silenced handgun and the finger that was resting right on the trigger. Looking at the eyes of the trespasser, he knew that this man wanted nothing more than to pull the trigger here and now. But something was holding him back.
“You call for help, you die.”
With his fearful eyes, Shaun acknowledged the threat. Slowly, the intruder took a step back but kept his weapon aimed at the cop. The officer slightly sat up as his eyes stayed fixed on the masked face.
“You’re home late tonight. Problems with the mob that attacked the officers on 2nd street?”
Shaun did not reply.
“Just like the time you and your mob of killed someone close to me.” Reaching into the pocket of his thick, black pants, he pulled out a small photo. “Of course, you wouldn’t remember who I’m talking about. It was a long time ago and it’s not the only innocent person you’ve killed.”
He flung the picture towards Shaun and it landed right on top of the blanket. Keeping his eyes on the intruder, Shaun reached out and took it in his hand before quickly glancing down on the face of the woman. As Shaun looked up at the intruder, his eyes showed that he remembered her. “Who was she to you?”
The intruder did not answer. He did not need to.
“He―her death was an accident…I swear.”
“You’re lying!”
Shaun shuddered upon hearing the roar. “…S
—she wasn’t supposed to be there. We thought she was already gone and that our target was alone. We didn’t know his secretary was working overtime.” He kept his eyes steadied on the weapon. “…I—I tried to throw her out of the room, but when she resisted my gun went off. I thought it wasn’t loaded, but I was wrong. It went off and…and it was an accident.”
The masked man cocked the gun causing a chill to run up Shaun’s spine. “I doubt that.”
“You have to believe me. I did not mean to kill that woman.”
In a sudden fit of rage, the intruder ripped off his ski mask and threw it on the ground. As Shaun stared at the real face of his captor, William roared. “She wasn’t just a woman! She was my wife!” The weapon trembled in his hands as William’s body shook with rage. He knew that Shaun remembered him. “And you didn’t just kill my wife. You…you killed my unborn child! You killed my daughter!”
Shaun’s eyes did not leave the barrel of the gun. A long silence consumed the room. The intruder took deep breaths as he regained control. Shaun tried to think of something, anything, that could save his life right now. “I’m…I’m sorry.”
The words were spoken softly, but William heard every syllable. For a moment, Shaun thought he saw pity in his captor’s eyes. He thought there was a chance that he would let him live. But it all went to ash as a sadistic smirk formed in the corner of William’s mouth. “…Yeah, so am I.”
***
Ethan took a seat at Charles’ desk across from the elderly man. “I’m surprised you let me in. I was half expecting security to throw me out.”
Charles was not amused by the joke. “And I’m surprised you actually look like a human being. I ordered them to throw you out if you came in looking like a street bum.”
Ethan let out a short chuckle while his associate kept a straight face.
“I heard about your charitable endeavors. Seems you’ve been having a very busy time since we last met.”
“I’m having a fundraiser this Friday. You should come.”
“Your invitation came in the mail this weekend.” Charles leaned forward. “I hope you’re not doing this just to get back in my good graces.”
“No. I’m doing it because it’s the right thing to do.”
“I have a hard time believing that after our last conversation.
“I guess people change.”
“Not this much in such a short time.”
“Maybe you didn’t see me at my best then.”
Charles resumed his previous position. “So is this why you’re here? To remind me about your charity ball?”
“No, that’s what phones are for. I came up with some propositions for the firm that I think you need to take a serious look into. Even if you hate me, I still own half the company.”
“I’m all ears.”
“Over the last two years, the firm has been taking up a lot fewer cases on the prosecution of officers. The last one we ever took was the case against Eugene Hendricks.”
“That’s because we had such a low percentage of winning those cases that we were losing money on them. If we kept pursuing those types of cases, we may have very well run ourselves into bankruptcy.”
“I think now is the time to divert more of our resources towards them. I want to accept every case that comes our way involving police or government officials.”
“That would be financial suicide. Not to mention you’d end up getting us blacklisted.”
“I don’t think so. Times are changing. The tide is starting to turn.”
Charles again leaned forward.
“I mean, just look at the news. People aren’t as afraid to stand up to the government anymore. New stories about ordinary citizens standing up against corruption are popping up every day. Now sometimes, like with the masked mob last night, they go in the wrong direction and resort to violence. And the same thing goes for whoever killed that O’Hara guy in his bedroom. But I think that the masked killer created just the atmosphere we need to facilitate change. We might not be successful at first, but I think that if we guide our efforts correctly, we could really be the catalyst for change in this country.”
The whole time Ethan spoke, Charles looked deep into his eyes. Even after he finished talking, Charles just sat there staring at his face. Ethan could not tell if he was contemplating what he had just been told or was about to laugh at the idea. “Seems like you’ve put some thought into this.”
“A little.”
“Last time you came with a plan to change things, you bailed on me.”
“I think people deserve second chances.”
“Not everyone does.”
Reaching down, Ethan picked up the file folder sitting at his feet. He put it on the desk and pushed it towards Charles. “I’d suggest that you look through all of this before making your decision.”
Charles stared at the thick file for several seconds, clearly stunned that Ethan had collected all of this information. He opened the folder and glanced down at the top page before closing it. “You’re a complicated man, Ethan. I’ll look it over and let you know.”
“Fair enough.” Ethan rose to his feet and turned around to leave.
“And Ethan…see you Friday.”
The young man smiled, but his turned back hid it from his associate. “Wouldn’t be a party without you.”
***
Under the warm sun, Ethan stood in front of Naira’s tombstone. Wearing a casual collared shirt, he buried his hands into his pockets. Last time he had stood here, he was hell-bent revenge. But in just a few weeks, his entire world had changed.
The bracelet he had laid on the tombstone was gone, just like he knew it would. Probably washed out by the rain or blown away by the wind. Ethan heard light footsteps coming from behind him. He recognized them, but kept his eyes fixed on the headstone. A soft hand fell onto his shoulder as Katrina came alongside him. He turned his head to look upon her radiant face.
She was staring at the grave but sensing his gaze, she looked up at him. Katrina wore a short-sleeved, casual off-white dress that ran down to her knees. Over her waist was a brown belt. Her hair was wavy and stood completely still in the tranquil wind. “How long have you been here?”
“Not sure. What time is it?”
“Almost noon.”
“I guess an hour then. Thanks for coming.”
“I come here often.”
“To visit David?”
“And Naira. If she’s your sister then she’s my sister too.”
A smile befell Ethan’s face. “She’d be glad to hear that. She was worried that you wouldn’t like her.”
“You told her about me?”
“All the time.” They both looked back down at the tombstone. Katrina slightly smiled. Her hand slowly left Ethan’s shoulder and fell to her side. There was an awkward silence before their gazes locked once more.
“You’re a patient person, Katrina.”
“For what?”
“Anyone else in your shoes would have bombarded me with questions by now. Everyone else has in one way or another, but you have not asked me one question about what I did while I was gone. I know you heard a lot on the rooftop the night you found me there in the storm.”
Katrina thought for a moment. “The way I see it, whenever you’re ready, you’ll tell me everything.”
He reached over and took her hand into his. “There are things about my past that have haunted me every day. Things you need to know about me, Katrina. If you don’t, then it may be impossible for us to ever be together. It will be impossible for me to ever be close to you.” Ethan looked down at his sister’s tombstone. “Things like how Naira died.” He looked back at Katrina. “…and how I am responsible for her death.”
There was another long silence as Katrina stared at him completely emotionless. She did not say anything for what felt like a long time. “How are you…responsible?”
“I couldn’t protect her from a group of drunken thugs. They…they wanted to kill me. I
t was my fault she was out there that night. I was too overprotective of her to let her stay with anybody else. If she hadn’t been there then…”
She tried to digest the words he spoke, seeing the pain in his eyes. “You aren’t responsible, Ethan.”
He did not reply.
“The person who killed her. He’s responsible for her death. Not you.”
“You don’t know the things I’ve done Katrina. I’m not as innocent as I was when I left. I’ve…I’ve taken lives, Katrina.”
As he spoke those words, he let go of her hand and looked down at her feet. After saying his confession, he expected her to walk away in horror. He closed his eyes, waiting to hear the sound of her departing.
But it did not come.
Her hand came under his chin as she raised his head. He opened his eyes to look at her. “I know your heart, Ethan. And I know that any life you’ve ever taken was to protect an innocent person. For any person you’ve ever hurt, you’ve helped 100.
Every word she spoke sank into the very core of his soul.
“Everyone makes mistakes. But the point of life is to be able to forgive yourself and move on. I don’t care about your past. No matter what you’ve been through, I know you’re the same man that I love. Your heart controls what you do. Not your mind. Not your past.”
Ethan slightly smiled at her words.
Katrina slowly turned around and Ethan followed suit. They began to make their way up the hill and to their parked vehicles. They were silent for most of the way up and neither looked at the other. He couldn’t believe the conversation had ended the way it did. His nightmare last night had predicted a different ending and he was glad his premonition had been wrong.
Together, they walked under the beautiful, blue sky. As they nearly came to the top of the hill, Katrina spoke once more. “Did you drive here? I didn’t see your car.”
“I took a cab. By the way, your grandfather called me today. He said he was coming in town Friday morning so he’ll be here in time for the fundraiser.”