Toys For The Big Boys ✓

(41) The Reasons

     The two of us slowly looked at Mat, who was standing on the side beside Mathias. President King did the same and looked at Mat. When he saw his face, President King slowly stood up from his seat and smiled, "It's you...isn't it?"

     "I'm sorry?" Mat confusingly asked.

     "There's no doubt that it's you...because you look exactly like your mother," President King suddenly revealed, shocking us.

     "You know her?" Mat quickly asked him.

     President King smiles, and for a second I thought he was going to cry, "Oh I knew her. I knew her very well. We were very close to the point that she named you after me."

     "What?" Mat asked, now even more confused.

     "I'm sorry if I didn't tell you or even talked to you about it. There were a lot of instances where I could have told the truth but I needed you alive. And I knew that you having a grudge on Antonio won't help you with that," President King tells Mat. But it only made Mat even more confused, "What are you talking about?" he asked.

     President King takes a deep breath and sat back down.

     At that moment I knew that we were once again going to have another roller coaster ride.

     "I was a business partner to your father like how I have always been, and that is something that you are clearly aware of," President King started as he looked at Romeo.

     "But a side of the story that you did not know was that I had a sister," President King says, and just a mention of his sister made Mat flinch.

     "My sister ended up marrying a soldier of a powerful mafia. At first I was against it, but she was madly in love with him, and luckily for me, because of her husband, I ended up being introduced to Claudio Valentino regarding business about prostitution," President King explained, making Mat suddenly look teary.

     I don't know if he was feeling emotional because of a mere mention of his parents, or because he actually had an uncle that he didn't even know about.

     "Wives of the mafia members aren't allowed to stay at this household, but my sister would usually come with me to the Valentino Household whenever I would meet up with Claudio. Through various meetings, we met Antonio. He was a nice man, but then your uncle had a sudden interest with her," President King suddenly stopped, and it looked like he was having a hard time continuing.

     Elizabeth touched his shoulder, like she was encouraging him to continue. And at that moment, I knew exactly what was about to happen next.

     "Oh no..." I whispered as I gently touched Romeo's shoulder. Romeo took a deep breath and grabbed my hand to squeeze it.

     Mat's eyes widened from shock; tears now falling down on his face like he too has finally understood what was going to happen next.

     "A-Antonio," President King finally continued, "He was a crazy man. He...he raped my sister, causing her to kill herself."

     The whole room felt like it completely stopped.

     Mat on the other had, slowly backed away from shock after hearing what happened to his mother. Mat tried to say something but words couldn't come out of his mouth anymore.

     The thought that your mother's rapist has actually been by your side all this time might have made Mat feel so many emotions. Like how Romeo felt when he found out that Johnson's killer was actually Antonio as well.