A soilder’s comeback (revenge served cold)

CHAPTER EIGHT

UNCLE COLLEEN.

I don’t say a word until Nathan disappears down the hallway. This is when I turn to her, anger evident on my face.

“What do you think you are doing?” I ask Ophelia.

“What do you mean, dad?” She asks again, “what am I doing?”

“Nathan. Why do you keep following him around and doing what he asks you to do?”

Her forehead creases into a slight frown, “what exactly are you talking about dad? Are you not happy that he is back? You have been acting this way since he got back like you are upset he is back. Tell me, aren’t you supposed to be excited that he didn’t die in that blast eight years ago?”

“Do you think that’s what I am worried about?”

I can’t help but scoff. One thing I didn’t like about my daughter is the fact that she tries to see the good in everyone when it doesn't even warrant that. She does not believe someone can be bad or evil, she thinks everyone has a good heart.

That is exactly why I don’t want her anywhere near him. I do not trust him even though he claims to have lost his memory and remembers nothing. Maybe it’s because of the kind of people I have dealt with over the years but I prefer to keep myself on my toes before I am caught unawares.

“You don’t have to suck up to him just because he is back after a long time, Ophelia”

“I am not sucking up to him, dad”

“Stay away from him”

Before she can say anything, I turn around and make my way back to my office. As long as that boy remains in this office, I will never rest assured.

A knock comes on my door and I look up. It pushes open and Xander steps in. He is my most trusted person in the entire world and the one who does all of my dirty work. You can say he owes me his life because I saved him from committing suicide a few years ago, recruited him into the army and now he has a life to call his own.

“Did you bring what I asked you for?” I ask and he nods.

“Yes, sir” he answers, dropping the brown envelope in front of me. I pick it up and immediately tear it open, allowing my eyes to skim through the white paper.

Nathan was in Luxembourg all these years, he served in the army and lived freely, almost like he had no care in the world. He partied most of the time and lived lavishly.

Could it be that he really lost his memories? Was he being mean to me because that was who he had grown up to become?

“Is this all?” I ask.

“Yes sir” Xander responds, “that is everything about him. Nothing unique”

“Are you sure?”

“Trust me boss. He is as clean as a goose. But if I find anything, I will come to you immediately”

“I want you to keep an eye on him and report everything to me”

“Yes sir”

Without another word, Xander makes his way out of the office while I return my attention to the document in my hand. I wish I could believe what is written in the paper but then, this is Nathan Han. The man who came back from the dead.

I heave a sigh and lean back against the chair, still scrutinizing the paper.

“What exactly are you hiding, Nathan?” I mutter to myself, “why are you back here?”

I sit in my thoughts for God knows when until my phone buzzes with a message and when I see the content of the message, I pull myself off the chair and make my way out of the office.

Ophelia sits across from me, her attention on the plate in front of her but it looks like her mind is somewhere else.

“Tell me, how did it go at the base” I finally speak up, my eyes watching her every move.

“Nothing much” she shrugs, glancing at me for a while, “Nathan kept telling everyone we were friends and he trusted me to lead him right. That’s all.

“And?”

She noisily drops her spoon on the table, frustration evident on her face, “Why all the questions, dad?” Her eyes roll to the back of her head, “what’s going on?”

“I am only worried about you, Ophelia”

“You used to wand me to be close to Nathan when he was here and now you are acting like he is a villain and he has come to hurt you”

I don’t say a word, I just keep looking. My daughter may never understand the risk I had to take to give her the life she has now, she didn’t know what I had to do to make sure she could sit at the table with elites and even dared to talk—she had no single idea.

“Nathan asked for my help and I am going to do that. If you have a problem with that, you can tell me to my face and I will make the decision. But until then dad, I do not appreciate what you are doing”

“I am only trying to protect you”

“From what exactly?” Ophilia throws her hands in the air in frustration, “you keep saying this protection thing like I don’t know how to take care of myself. I am a military personnel, father. I disarm bombs for a living, I spent months in training. All these things you know but you keep acting like I don’t know what I am doing. I don’t like this dad, I am not a high school kid”

Before I can speak, she picks up her plate of odd and walks away. I can’t even get mad at her, not when she is a direct replica of her mother—the woman I loved with my entire life.

“Nathan Han” his name rolls off my tongue again but in that moment, my phone buzzes and his name pops up.