He didn’t answer me directly. Instead, he said; “I want to tell you a story.”
His voice was low and mysterious, piquing my curiosity. “Alright, but first.. let’s go somewhere a little more warm.” I muttered as I shivered a little. The night breeze was very chilly and being at the rooftop made it a lot worse.
He noticed my discomfort and muttered a little ‘sorry’ before leading me away from the rooftop. We got to a room that seemed to be his.. well, judging by the look. It is definitely his taste.
I took my seat on the couch and he sat beside me.
“Where’s Theresa?” I asked since I couldn’t find her anywhere in the house on my way here.
“She traveled out of the country for a vacation. Don’t worry, we won’t be disturbed.” He assured while I nodded in understanding.
I listened attentively as he recounted his story to me. His words were filled with deep pain and anger as he talked.
When he mentioned the Cartwright group, I noticed how his eyes burned with rage and the desire for revenge. I just sat and listened to his painful past, feeling a surge of mixed emotions.
I never knew he went through something as bad as this. Like I said, he always does a good job in hiding his emotions so I could hardly tell what was going on with him.
He had a very painful past, definitely worse than mine but he was able to rise up from them and become what he is today despite all of the setbacks that he encountered.
He also mentioned that due to the tragic moment of watching her mother getting gang raped by hoodlums, Theresa suffered a major trauma and it finally led to her loosing the memory of her mother’s death as a coping mechanism.
Even though he was left to carry the baggage of that painful scene by himself, he was glad that she had forgotten about it and was able to continue with her life like nothing happened.
She knew her mother was dead but didn’t know how, why and or who did it and Nicholas didn’t bother to tell her. He didn’t want to bring her back into her misery.
At that moment, I really felt for him. He had been carrying this heavy baggage all by himself right from a very young age. He had been holding this deep hatred and grudge for that family and it seemed to be weighing him down greatly.
Judging from my experience, he is definitely not going to stop till he destroys that family and I know he’s going to succeed.
I remembered the news reports from my previous life, when Nicholas had already become the head of the Carthwright Group, his background was painted as impoverished, with a mother who was a dancer.
Later clarifications revealed that those reports were all lies that was only meant to defame him. His mother wasn’t just a dancer, she was an hard working woman that left the world a little earlier than she was supposed to.
She was a great mother that was able to raise two children all by herself. And those children grew up to be amongst the most successful individuals in all of Washington DC. Her legacy would really live longer than she did.
I suddenly realised that even though the reports against Nicholas were fake, all the hardships he and Theresa faced were real. I felt a pang of sympathy for him.
Looking at him, I noticed how pained and lost in his tragic past he seemed so I decided to do something to comfort him in a special way. I recalled the time we met again at that charity event, he expressed a desire to see me dance.
I chose to use dance as a way to convey my empathy and support. I stood up and turned on my phone. I played any music I could find and began to dance. Luckily, the music was a slow one so it was easier for me to dance to it.
Catherine moved her body to the song’s rhythms. Her movements were precise, graceful and powerful to the extent that Nicholas was greatly captured by her dance steps.
His thoughts drifted back to his mother dancing so elegantly in all of her gigs. She had always loved dancing but the only place that would let her showcase her talents were bars or stripping clubs.
She had children that always looked up to her so she decided not to perform at the stripping clubs. She tried not to make her dance steps look sexual at the clubs as her children were watching and cheering her on.
Even with that decision, it didn’t stop her from receiving whistles and disgusting praises from drunk men around. She made all the bars she worked for have an increased percentage in their customers and incomes as men always loved to watch her dance.
That made her an enemy to their wives. She occasionally gets harassed by them due to their jealous nature so she had to stop working at the bars for the sake of her and her children even though she was getting paid well.
That was the moment things went downhill for them. Nicholas wished that she was alive to see how far he and his sister had come. If only then he had what he has now, she wouldn’t have died so painfully.
Those hurtful memories flooded back like a tide. Nicholas couldn’t hold back his emotions any longer, and tears silently streamed down his face, his spirit becoming more dazed than it was.
As the music ended, Catherine stopped dancing. She turned off her phone and slowly walked up to Nicholas. She was stunned to notice the tears streaming down his face.
I was hoping my dance would make him feel better but it seemed like it only made it worse. I gently placed my hands on his shoulder and spoke in a soft voice as a way to confort him;
“Don’t worry, they are going to pay for everything they did to you and your family. I know you’d be able to brung them to their knees.”
He raised his head and stared at me with his tear filled eyes; “Why??” He asked.
I stared at him in confusion. “Why what??” I asked.
“Why did you do that?” He asked, referring to my dance.
I smiled gently; “My actions and dance were only meant to soothe you and lessen your pain. I didn’t know it would make it worse.” I explained, making an apologetic face.
“Why don’t you try to look forward instead of dwelling in your past sorrows. They will only weigh you down and cloud your judgements. Will you be able to defeat your enemies this way?” I asked but he didn’t answer.
Instead, he grasped my hands tightly. “It feels so good to have you by my side.” He muttered with a small smile as he placed a small peck on my knuckles making me smile.
“Catherine..” He called as he massaged my knuckles softly in his hands. He stared at me with pure love and compassion in his eyes.
“I’ll never let you go.”