4: In Search Of The Answers

Silence – long uncomfortable and agonizing silence. Faith spilled everything that happened in two days to the mysterious man sitting right in front of him while he sat silently, not uttering a single word. He didn’t ask her a word – he just looked at her and she started to talk like a trained parrot. He sat with his leg resting on his knee while he was leaning back in the chair. His elbow was resting on the armrest and his long index finger was pinned on his cheek and his middle finger was bent and pressed on his lips while the rest of the fingers were clustered under his chin.

He had his eyebrow raised while he listened to her and after she was done, he didn’t move. He didn’t react. He simply stayed in his position while his eyes bore her down. He did not look angry nor did he look happy. He did not look confused or even amused. He simply looked – bored. His earthy eyes were bearing her down. She gulped and averted her eyes down to her intertwined fingers. Her heart was thumping in her chest. She was regretting her decision of coming here. As she stood in front of this appealing man, she feels stupid. She decided that if he doesn’t talk in a minute, she will leave.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity to Faith, his eyes moved from her to the letter and the business card placed on the table. He removed his hand from his face and straightened his composure. He hunched and rested his forearm on the table as he intertwined his fingers.

Unfortunately for Faith, his eyes averted from the letter to her once again. Her lips parted slightly and Mateo noticed this slight movement as he glanced at her lips before he looked back into her eyes. “I need answers,” she wanted to sound demanding but it somehow came out indistinctly.

It was the moment when for the first time Faith heard this man’s voice, “And what make you think I have the answers to whatever questions you have, Miss –?” he tilted his head and raised his eyebrow – he didn’t have to ask the question.

She gulped, “Um, Merchant. Faith Merchant,” she answered his unspoken question. He nodded his head, “Right, Miss Merchant.” he replied shortly and then went silent. Faith waited for him to continue when she realized that he had already asked her the question.

She shook her head, “Uh – uh, this letter my father gave to me,” she pointed towards it.

Mateo once again bobbed his head, “Before he shot himself in front of you. You already told me about that,” He replied. Faith looked away and gulped nervously. Her cold hands were fisted as she recalled his father’s head blowing up and the blood on the wall.

She let out a shaky breath, “How did you know my father?” she asked him carefully. He shrugged, “I didn’t,” he replied.

She knitted her eyebrows together, “Then why did he leave me this letter and – this – and this card. It was signed by you. See,” she passed him the card.

Mateo glanced at it before he looked back at Faith, “Miss Merchant, you have already wasted my time enough so I will make this short and tell you that I did not know your father. This,” he pointed at the card Faith was holding out, “What made you so sure that I signed it?” He asked her. “You are believing the words of the man who deliberately murdered your family before putting a gun to his head.” He spoke.

Faith’s eyes filled with tears. “But there was a man in the hospital. He was disguised as a policeman. He asked me to come to you as well. This can’t be a coincidence, Mateo.” She said defensively.

Mateo clenched his jaws and exhaled before he spoke, “I am much older than you, little girl. Address me as Mr. Nixon.” He spoke. Faith was taken back by his words. She didn’t expect him to say that. Just like he did not like to be called by his first name, she did not like how he called her a little girl.

She flared her nostrils, “I am not a little girl, Mr. Nixon.” She emphasized his name. Mateo sniggered, “Says the woman looking for her guardian,” He commented.

Faith realized that Mr. Nixon might be blessed with good looks but he was not the most considerate person. “I am only in search of answers. I don’t want you to babysit me, Mr. Nixon. I am not a baby. I can take care of myself,” She said to him brusquely. “It is very hard for me to believe that my father, who ‘deliberately’ murdered my mother and siblings ‘accidentally’ left me behind.” She put air quotes as she spoke.

Her eyes were filled with tears as she continued, “It is very hard for me to believe that I was there. All he had to do was pull the trigger and end my life there but instead, he handed me this fucking letter and asked me to find you for answers before he blew his brains out was an accident! So please, help me out here, Mr. Nixon. I need to know what happened.” She fisted the letter in her hand as a tear fell from her eyes.

Mateo leaned back to his chair with his eyes pressed on Faith, who put her face in her palms and let out a silent sob. Mateo didn’t say anything to her. He didn’t console her nor sis he started to bark at her. He just stayed in his place – a little too calm for the situation.

Faith sniffled and looked at the man who is made of stone, “Look, I find it hard to believe that my father just randomly gave me your name. I believe him. You know something and you are not telling me. I promise you. You will not see my face the minute you tell me the complete truth. Please, just help me out here. A man broke into my hotel room. This is why I came here when I didn’t even want to come to get your help.” She spoke.

Mateo nodded his head, “And yet here you are,” he added to the conversation. Faith huffed. This man was unbelievable. She shook her head, “You are right,” she nodded and got on her bare feet. “I am sorry I wasted your time, Mr. Nixon. Have a nice life,” She said to him before striding to the door and aiming to get out of the room when his voice stopped her in her tracks, “Your father didn’t kill you. Just accept that you got lucky, Miss Merchant, and move on in your life.” His voice boiled her blood.

She turned around to look at him. He had twirled his chair around to look at him. She fists her palms tightly up until her nails and knuckles had started to turn white, “You think I am lucky?” She asked as she slowly approached him.

“I saw my father kill himself. I lost my mother. I lost my brother. I lost my sister. In a matter of a few minutes, I lost my whole family. I am never getting them back. I went from having a happy family to without a family at all in a matter of minutes! Someone might be following me to kill me. Someone broke into my room a couple of hours ago – probably to end my life. If you believe I got lucky then you got it wrong, Mr. Nixon. I wish my father would have put a gun to my head and ended it then – at least I would have been in peace,” She said to him.

Mateo with tranquility in his voice spoke, “In which case, you should have stayed in that room of yours, the man you believe broke in your room might have helped,” He said with no remorse.

Faith squinted her eyes. She couldn’t believe this man! “Fuck you,” She spoke nastily before he turned around and stormed out of the room – ramming the door behind her.

Blair and Levi saw Faith rushing downstairs while she wiped the tears off her face. Blair heaved a sigh as she sees the girl running out of the club, “I knew Mateo will not go easy on this girl,” She mumbled as she turned around – ready to go home.

“Anyway, I will be leaving, and as I already told Mateo, I will be taking off for a day for personal reasons,” Her words reek of her husband but Levi didn’t bring it up – not that Blair will ever tell him anything about him so he just nodded his head as she continued, “Don’t let horny bastard do the nasty in the club,” she pointed her finger at him to which he chuckled, “I will not. Don’t worry,” she nodded in approve before she walked away. Levi stood out of the room Mateo was in, he needed to have a word with him but Mateo was taking his time to walk out.

Mateo pressed the phone to his ear as he stood by the big window – down he sees Faith waiting on the empty sidewalk. She was bare feet and was rubbing her arms. He saw her take her phone out of her jacket’s pocket and put it to her ear. “I don’t know what to tell you, son. I am hearing this news from you,” The man on the other line said lowly.

His voice was hoarse – Mateo woke him up, but he didn’t care. “I only promised to help until she turns eighteen and from what I remember she must be turning twenty-three soon. I don’t care, Carlo, I did not sign up for this. It is not my responsibility. I have better things to do,” He said firmly, “I hope you will forward my message to him. I am letting you know that if she decides to go to the police – I will not be held responsible.” He added.

“I am sorry I woke you up so late – or so early, anyway – I apologize,” He mumbled before he cut off the call. He didn’t even wait for Carlo to reply.

Faith had no other option but to call the driver who gave his number to her, Ethan. She had no money and she didn’t see any transport around. Also, she was bare feet, she felt freezing. She was emotionally and physically drained. She was at the point where she didn’t care if this Ethan guy was a killer – he could strangle her to death for all she cares.

As soon as Ethan picked up the phone, she realized that he was sleeping. She bit her tongue – feeling guilty. She thought he would still be on duty. She didn’t want him to come and get her – especially when he just must have gone to bed, so when he asked who it was – she cut off the call.

The sun was almost up – she could see the sky changing its colors, and here she stood completely clueless about what to do or where to go. She wanted to go to the hotel but she was scared of being attacked. Her only other choice was to go to the police and tell them everything. She decided to walk bare feet up to the point where she could catch a ride. Maybe – she didn’t need to know what happened. Maybe all she needs is to go back to her normal life and try to get past all of this.

Faith wondered if her classmates from university know what she had gone through. She didn’t get any call from them, not even from Elijah. Maybe, they don’t know or maybe they don’t care. She had to call her university and let them know that she will be freezing her semester, she was in no state of attending classes and giving exams. She had already got calls from her work, but not because they wanted her at work but to pay their condolences and to ask Faith to take a week off.

The pet shop and the restaurant she works at were in the neighborhood so, they eventually came to know about the incident but only after the funeral. She was apprehensive to go back to normal – she doesn’t know how was she going to face all the questions when she was completely clueless about what was happening to her.

Mateo saw her walk away. He pinched the bridge of his nose and cursed under his breath before he turned around and strode towards the door. He knows that Levi must be standing right out of his door. He opened the door and there he stood.

Levi opened his mouth when Mateo cut him off, “Do me a favor, Levi. Ask someone to drop that girl anywhere she wants. She just walked away. She is wearing no shoes and it is messing with my head. Also, don’t take my car – take yours or anyone else but not mine,” He ordered Levi who briefly nodded his head.

He could see that Mateo was exhausted. It was no time to talk to him. Maybe he will talk to him when he is well-rested. Mateo didn’t wait for Levi to talk – he just slammed the door and walked to his office. He had already made his driver and assistant leave, now he was too tired to drive back to his penthouse, he will be staying at his office for now.