"This can't be," Connie mumbled in disbelief, her hands thundering violently, as if half her life had disappeared away, seeing and reading all the evidence strewn before her.
Connie's eyes felt scorched. Her head was dizzy violently. All the information that so emphatically revealed her true identity choked her. "Impossible."
Photos of Connie's childhood, born into a family of love, wealth, and joy. Andromeda and Reiner Kaiser loved her with all their hearts. From the day she was born until she was seven years old.
Nevertheless, the DNA test paper in her shivering hand vividly states that Connie's blood relationship matches Kaiser. Chill down into her spine.
No, I've always seen these flashbacks and a dark, vague piece of my childhood memory. Then everything looks like a bad nightmare.
I couldn't even be sure if it was illusions or reality. Why can't I remember everything vividly, as if something was stolen brutally from my soul?
I felt like I was dying so many times.
Connie's heart was bleeding. Why is it so hurt?
"The reason why I came to see you often, other than that I missed Andromeda, was that seeing you healed the pain of my loss. I did steal a strand of your hair to do a DNA test," Linus added and smiled faintly. "Sorry for that."
Painfully for Connie, her lips trembled. Her eyes swam with tears. All her life, she had always thought no family would come looking for her.
Raised in an orphanage, she experienced abandonment and an abusive adopted family, who threw her out on the streets. The only thing she has is a sliver of dark flashback memories that she doesn't really remember.
The terror screams of women and men, then the hardest blows hitting her chest and head, often make Connie fall out of bed in the middle of the night.
The deep cut scar on her left forehead edge was still painful as Connie tried to recall or trace her vague, dark, unclear past memories. Blurring, yet this burning pressure is often unbearable.
In the end, she feels lost, as if trapped in the deep of a dark forest till she can't find a way out. It always drains her mind and all her energy. That was all that remained. This ache and rage—
So, I still have a family.
"The fact that you are Sadie Kaiser—the granddaughter I've been looking for—I'm late, Sadie. But I promise to make up for lost time—"
Connie shot up from her seat. She growled. Holding back her head, which was throbbing violently. She grimaced, not wanting to fall to pieces any further. "Stop this nonsense! Stop playing with my life!"
Linus couldn't let Sadie go; he grabbed Sadie's hand, holding on to it. His pupils darkened, misted over, holding back years of grief and loss. "You have every right to be mad, sweets.
"I know all this has been hard for you to take and has left you devastated and deeply broken.
"Still, I can't let you go anymore. When Andromeda died, I vowed to find you and bring you home again."
"Let me go!" Connie fumed, enraged, rebelling, pushing away the old hand that was as strong as a steel chain wrapped around her wrist.
She gasped, her destruction sound howling through the air. "I'm sick of all this! Why now? Don't you know what kind of life I've lived?
"All the suffering, despair, and ridiculous deaths that almost took my life! Aren't all those resources you have so powerful?!
"Why didn't you look for me earlier?! Where were you when I needed help so much?! We've met so many times, and you just smiled simply, acting like nothing happened!
"LIAR! Now you're extorting my trust?! Forcing me to accept all your excuses?!"
Asher bowed deeply; he was unable to do anything or intervene between them. His hands were clenched into fists.
Sadie's heartbroken and poignant voice shattered the hearts of anyone who heard it.
Linus tried to be strong. It was all he had now. He had suffered all his life losing Andromeda, the only daughter whom he loved so much. Perhaps he would be even more devastated if he had to experience the loss a second time.
"Let me go!" Connie barked and lashed out, glaring at Linus sharply. "Don't force me! Stay back!"
"I can't let you go!" Linus insisted on his stance. He emphasized firmly, his eyes flashing with determination.
"What do I have to do to keep you here? I know you need time to accept reality; at least stay beside me so you can figure out who you really are. If you still doubt it, let's retest the DNA together.
"This is your home; you're the Kaiser's main blood heir. This is where you belong, Sadie. I'll give this world to you! Don't leave me; I'm suffering after your mother's death. If you leave me too, I might break down and die—ugh!"
"LORD LINUS!" Asher roared in fright.
Linus staggered and choked. His right hand pressed against his left chest desperately, which was in burning, killing pain.
Then a violent, chronic, bloody cough strikes him, and Linus vomits blood. He collapsed unconscious at Constance's feet with a pale, bloodless face.
Connie's bitter rage cries and hatred were stifled, frightened to witness Linus collapsing at her feet.
His cold hand grip that slipped away brought back the exact same terrible memories: when Don Salvatore died, having vomited blood, with his face turning ashen blue under Connie's feet.
"LORD LINUS!"
***
"Is he okay?" Connie asked, holding back the guilt, outrage, hatred, and sickening surrender inside her soul.
Another, the Grand Mansion's private doctor, arrived to treat Linus behind restricted doors. Not even Linus Kaiser's weaknesses could be leaked to the public.
"It's taken care of," Asher replied, smiling sincerely. "Don't worry, he just needs complete bed rest."
"What's wrong with him? Does he have a history of chronic illness?" Connie asks. She couldn't even believe how much she worried about her voice now.
"Lord Linus has a history of heart disease and hypertension. And this pulmonary edema." Asher was stumped, a genuine sadness in his eyes.
"After Mrs. Andromeda passed away, his health continued to decline. When he saw your DNA test results, it was the first time I witnessed the most relieved smile, joyful tears, and passion he showed.
"Lord Linus is rigid and stern; he rarely shows his expressions due to his cold and iron-fisted personality. You are hope on the brink of death."
Constance was silent, glancing at the handsome, old face that lay weak, deathly pale, before her with a turbulent heart.
Asher bowed his head, kneeling at Constance's feet. It was unexpected. "Lady, I beg you. Do not leave. He has spent years searching for you. Please, stay. Give him a chance.
"I know trauma wounds are hard to heal. Lord Linus is your family now. You are entitled to the Kaiser. You need each other. I cannot bear to see him broken again if you leave him."
"Get up, don't do this. You don't have to kneel. I don't hate you all. It's just hard to accept or believe. I'm too scattered to think straight," Connie sighed, yet much calmer.
"I'm still mad about his vexing actions. You all are lying to me."
"He had many things to say. He was so terrified that you would hate and abandon him."
"I don't even remember my parents' faces," Connie added in a trembling voice. Her eyes fixed on the enormous portrait of the Kaiser family on the wall of Linus' private room.
Her tears melted again.
All of this happened so fast. My sanity was shaken to the core. As if my whole world was distorted into bloody chaos.
***