GO, DIE & COME BACK

CHAPTER 12: BREAK THE VOWS

Everyone present at that place had no words to say. Nina was still looking at Bran. Bran was unable to believe his eyes. He was standing before the person he loved the most. He was nearly weeping. Nina said to Bran, "I thought you were dead."

"And I have been thinking all these years about why I am not dead. My family had abandoned me. I was living like a rat. Now I know what God has destined for me. I have never guessed that my most lovable thing will return in my life this way." Nina started crying at that moment. Bran rushed to her, but Matt stopped him midway. "Stay away from my wife." Matt grumbled angrily.

"I'm sorry, brother. She is not yours. Her first love was me, and she still loves me." Bran looked at Nina, and so did Matt. She wasn't able to say anything.

"She has married me now," Matt said.

"She has married you too. We never got divorced, and we never left each other. We were dragged apart from each other, and now we are reunited."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Matt turned to Sir Eric. "Father, there is only one way now. I'm calling the police. Now he has started laying his hands on my wife. I can't take it anymore."

Bran turned to Nina and said, "You should have told him, haven't you? They all must know our truth."

"I know that truth!" Matt said. He was getting uncontrollable.

"Oh! Now I get it." Bran commented with a smile filled with anger. "So, it is quite hard for you to believe it." Matt really had no words for him. Lynda rushed to Matt, shook him, and begged him to tell them the truth. Matt stared at her and then at Eric, who was also waiting for his answer. During the next few minutes, Matt told them about Nina's past that she had told him. They were both shocked. Sir Oswald was also stunned. Eric had no words, but Lynda came to Nina and asked, "Is that true? Please tell me! Why didn't you tell us?" She started crying. Nina was still shut. Her eyes went moist. There was only one thing—the most terrible—that was about to come, and she was praying to God to stop it. Bran demanded Nina furiously, "Tell them, Nina! Whom are you scared of? I'm with you. Before they take any other step to part with us again, say it! Please Nina!" He got more furious and impatient. "At least think about our son!"

'And it happened.' Nina thought.

"You bore a son from him!" Matt shouted. He really forgot whom he was speaking to and what vows he had taken with her. "Tell me, bitch! How many secrets are you still hiding from me?" He was red with anger. Lady Lynda controlled him anyway. "Be quiet, Matt. Nick is sleeping in his room." Matt managed himself anyhow, but it was too late.

There was Nick, standing on the staircase. He was afraid of the scenario before him. Matt called him, "Don't worry, Nick. It's just a game going on here. Come to me." He opened his arms to hug him. "Dad!" Nick shouted and dashed to him. Matt was about to hug him when Nick ran past him and threw himself into the arms of Bran, who hugged him tightly and kissed him a lot. "Dad, where have you been all these years?" Nick asked Brandon while crying. "You grew old." Nick said while brushing his palm over the small patches of gray hair on Bran's head and giggled. Matt was about to faint. That action shocked everyone, even Nina. Matt and Nina exchanged horrified looks, unable to make anything up.

"What the hell is going on?" Sir Eric asked in a confusing tone.

Bran pushed himself forward to divulge the truth. "I'll tell you everything, dad. I knew that Nina could never tell you that. When I went missing for two years, during that time I met her. We had fallen in love, as Matt told you. After we were married, we had a boy. We both were separated when he started crawling. Those days, I had no job and no money. I did thefts and other illegal stuff to feed my child. When I had gone out of the house, the police started looking for me everywhere. I was terribly frightened. If I had gotten busted, that infant would have been doomed. I had no choice. I could no longer keep him with me. So, I left him at the gates of one of the orphanages in Edinburgh. I didn't abandon him at all like you did to me, father. I told the orphanage's owner about my condition and continued to visit him once a week. I was starving those days, but I felt no appetite at all when I saw my son having his food peacefully. I told the owner to give him to any good family. I always used to tell him stories of his future, saying that one day his life was going to change, and God really listened. One day, the police caught me, brought me to you after two years, and put me behind bars. Since then, I hadn't seen my son, and he hadn't seen me." Nina started weeping. "It's God's will that you have adopted that same child. Remember what you told me, father, that you would never have me handle your firm? Now you have my blood to handle it, but it's yours too. He is a true Barrel. He is your real grandson! And I'm back with my family—me, Nina, and my boy, Allen. We named him Allen." He looked at Nina with tearful eyes.

"She is not your family at all. How many times should I tell you she is my wife?" Matt snapped, with his finger pointed at him.

"Sorry brother. It's not your family at all. She is still my wife, and he is my real-born son, whom you are nurturing. I'm very grateful to you." Bran turned to Eric and continued, "Now that my family stays here, so will I, and you have no right to kick me out." They were all stunned. No one said a single word after that and left.

Nick refused to leave Bran at all. They were sitting in the living room. They were both narrating their old stories. Nina asked about everything Bran had gone through. She seemed to be the only person there who really wanted to listen to what Brandon kept on begging his father to listen to.

"Where should I start? So, there is this rich, notorious personality, Gordon Grey, a mafia. He does whatever he wants, and if something goes wrong, he puts it on people like me by luring us into a trap for a lot of money that could change our family's life, but it's all fake. People who trust him end up like me. I just want to end all of it now, and with you next to me, I am not stopping at all."

Bran told her everything he knew about that man. How bad things he did or can do. Whatever he owned depended on the money he earned from the blood of other innocents.

Anger was visible on Nina's face. She said, "What a monster." Bran nodded and held her hand.

Nick jumped in between the couple and got closer to Bran. He started humming 'Be Kind' by Marshmello & Halsey with Bran, like Bran used to sing to him when Nick was a baby. Nina was there, looking at both of them with a sweet smile on her face. Matt was getting weirder while sitting in his room. His head was spinning. In one hour, his entire life was changed. In a blink, his wife and son were taken away from him. The conversation they had downstairs was echoing in his ears. He capped his ears and fell to the ground, but that was helpless. The voice was coming from his mind. Those noises were tearing him apart. He started screaming and pulling his hair. "It can't be!" He screamed. "It can't be!" He wasn't able to control himself. There was one thing that could give him peace. Then he rushed to the bar in the living room.

When he reached there, he saw them sitting there. He crushed his teeth and dashed to the bar corner. While both father and son were busy among themselves, Nina kept on staring at Matt. She was feeling sorry for him. She knew that it was her mistake. She concealed the entire truth from everyone, even from Matt, who loved her the most. A thought came to her that she should go and comfort him. Drag him out of that uneasy situation, but she stopped as she didn't want to create any kind of nuisance again. "Will you shut him up?" Matt screamed at the top of his voice. His eyes were bulging at Nick, who had just stopped singing with Bran. He was terribly scared and snuggled into Bran. Nina also got nervous. Bran told Matt in a calm way, "You have no right to shout at him. Better not do it again."

"Or what? Tell me!" He left the bottle there and jumped off the stool. He was barely able to walk properly, but somehow he reached up to Bran. "Come on, tell me. Listen man! You are nothing in front of me. I'm a millionaire, and you are just a street dog!"

"Matt!" Nina shouted at him. "You cannot say that to him before me."

"Oh!" Matt chuckled under the impression of the drink he had. "Well, practically, I'm also your husband. It appears that you are now tired of me and are looking for something different. Right? Oh! Forget it." Nina clenched her teeth and fists. He turned to Bran and said, "You are in my house right now."

Bran held himself and tried to stop Matt without any fuss. "Listen, pal, you're intoxicated. You should better get back to your place and enjoy it."

"Who are you to order me? Listen, I'm not that little skinny, Matt anymore. I'm a man. A man who is strong enough to fight you." After saying that, he slightly pushed Bran. The situation was getting out of hand. A disaster was about to happen before Nina. She noticed Nick getting more frightened and started crying. She had no choice but to interfere in that quarrel. The two men were howling like dogs at each other. Sir Eric and Lady Lynda had also reached the site. At last, Nina tried to pull Bran back, but Matt reached up to him. She turned to Matt, tried to push him back, and begged him to stop. He was too drunk to listen to anything. In a moment, he crossed the limit of his rage. He threw his hand in the air and slapped Nina with all his might. She fell to the ground, and her head struck hard against the edge of the bar table. Nick hid his face behind the cushion, as he couldn't see the scene before his eyes. Bran stood paralyzed there, too subdued to do anything. Matt was breathing heavily, trying to make up in his mind what he had committed recently. Nina looked at him while lying on the floor. Her tears were flowing down her chin, along with the blood pouring out of the gash on her forehead.