Donovan watched as Arthur’s hands convulsed with anger, he could only imagine the thoughts running through his mind. Donovan pulled over to the side and stopped the car, giving Arthur enough time to calm down.

Arthur just sat in silence while he processed what Donovan just told him. His current thoughts were so chaotic that he wasn’t sure if he wanted to know anymore. He spent forty-eight years believing his mother died peacefully, that she had a weak body and passed away due to natural causes.

But now Donovan, a man who he had trusted with everything for the entirety of his life, was telling him that his mother was murdered right in front of him.

Arthur’s hands stopped shaking, at it was at this point that Donovan prepared himself for an avalanche of questions. It was likely that Arthur would close himself off from the outside world, or that he’d push his family away and run from home. He wasn’t sure what to do in order to minimise the damage, but he had to try.

Arthur held himself back from lashing out in anger. After a sharp exhale, he opened his mouth and asked a single question.. “Why did you tell me that?”

Donovan didn’t know how to answer at first. He wasn’t expecting that question out of all the other possible questions that a seventeen year old kid would ask in this situation.

He wanted to try think of an answer that would result in a positive outcome, but it was clear from Arthur’s expression that he didn’t appreciate waiting, so he blurted out the first thing he could think of. “There was a chance you would have found out about it today, I didn’t want you to find out from someone else.”

Arthur’s eyes locked onto Donovan’s face, and he felt rage bubble up inside of him. On the tip of his tongue was an angry rant about how he wished he heard it from his family instead of from Donovan.

But he didn’t say anything. He knew he wouldn’t have meant it. Arthur already considered Donovan family, he was like a big brother to him. Or rather he considered him as an uncle, as he was more of a parental figure than his father ever was.

Arthur refused to take this out on Donovan, he knew better than that. But even though he had the memories and experiences of a forty-eight year old man, his body was still immature and emotional. It felt like his young body was fighting his adult mind, and often times it won.

It was a strange feeling he had to deal with, and ever since he began feeling emotions that he wouldn’t usually be so affected by, like the guilt he felt after the bandit camp was exterminated, he knew something wasn’t right.

After a deep breath, Arthur rationalised his thoughts. He didn’t have to be told why this was hidden from him. He already knew it was his father’s orders as usual, and anything his father said was gospel. The only person who would dare disobey him was the man sitting beside him, clearly holding back tears of his own.

“Thank you.” Arthur breathed out a sigh, his mind had finally won over his body’s emotions, allowing him to suppress the anger he felt. “I won’t bring this up, especially not to father. So don’t mention it to him in some strange moment of weakness either.”

Donovan could tell something strange was going on, this wasn’t the sort of behaviour he had come to expect of Arthur. Even if he seemed to suddenly change after the accident, from what Donovan could tell he just seemed to be more confident. But his current attitude seemed dangerous, he was violently shaking with anger mere moments ago, but had somehow suppressed his emotions after hearing his mother was murdered.

Warning signs were flashing in Donovan’s mind, and he remembered Dr. Martin mention something concerning about Arthur’s mental activity, and Donovan believed that he just found the consequence of it.

They sat in silence for a few minutes longer, before Arthur asked another question. “Did they ever catch who did it?”

This was a question Donovan expected earlier, and while he was originally going to lie, he decided to just tell Arthur everything.

“When the police began their investigation, they found traces of blood somewhere on the fence. The police determined that the murderer had cut himself on one of the spikes while jumping over.” Donovan explained, “The blood they found was already on record, linked to a common criminal with a couple charges for battery, assault and burglary.”

“If they caught the guy, why did my father disown the Watts family?” Arthur asked, surely he wasn’t going to blame them for a criminal jumping over their wall and committing a random act of murder.

“Well, they didn’t catch the guy.” Donovan corrected him. “He was found a week later, face down in an alleyway with his throat slit. They never found his killer, and further investigation showed that he was receiving large sums of money from an unknown source.”

“So, he was silenced?” Arthur’s scarily calm expression twisted into anger once more, but he still seemed calm, “It wasn’t a random kill, it was a hit… Is that what you’re suggesting?”

Donovan felt his throat tighten, he thought he had already circumvented the worst of it, but he was now thinking that was probably not the case.

“Why was my father angry at the Watts family? Does he suspect that they paid the killer? Or is there another reason, were they still somehow involved in this, or is father just blaming them?” Arthur asked a bunch of questions at once. He just wanted the answer but all he was left with were more questions. “Just tell me why father has it out for them.”

“It was likely that your mother wasn’t the target.” Donovan explained with a sombre tone. “After her death, Olivia was attacked a few days later. The assassination failed, and then there was yet another attempt a few weeks after that.”

“We believe your mother was mistaken for Olivia, and was killed in her place.” Donovan continued, “Your father blamed the Watts for her death, and Olivia wasn’t even allowed to attend the funeral.”

“After this, your father began spending more time in the office, overworking himself to avoid thinking about his late wife, and ended up pushing you and Anna away as a result.” Donovan cleared his throat and wiped the moisture that was forming around his eyes on his sleeve. “Due to your father locking himself away in his lab, there wasn’t any chance for the two families to repair their relationship, so they eventually decided to mutually avoid each other.”

“And you know the rest. Your father only snapped out of his depression after almost losing you a few years later.” Donovan said. “That incident forced him to reconnect with his family, but by that time the damage had already been done.”

  “So what is going to happen when I walk in there?” Arthur asked calmly, he was mostly concerned about the fact that a possible outcome of today was getting screamed at by Maria’s mother for something his father did. “I’m not going to get attacked or anything, am I?”

Donovan laughed at Arthur’s question, he started the car back up before he began talking again. “Olivia isn’t that sort of person, so it should be fine. You might as well find out by yourself, what’s the worst that could happen?”

Arthur had several more questions about the situation that he wanted to ask, but he figured he could find out afterwards. Instead he decided to focus on meeting a relative he wasn’t aware even existed. He also just realised that this meant that Maria was technically his distant cousin, which was a surprising revelation all on its own.

As the car continued driving along the road, the layer of trees suddenly ended and the surroundings opened up to showcase a massive flower garden that separated the castle from the forest.

“This place would kill you if you didn’t take an antihistamine, huh?” Arthur playfully asked Donovan while gazing out towards the field of flowers. Donovan silently nodded in response.

They eventually pulled up to a large parking space that was full of expensive looking cars.

“It looks like Olivia can still manage to fill her events.” Donovan said while looking for a spot to park, “I think I can see a few I recognise.”

Donovan parked the car and the two stepped out of the vehicle. They made their way up towards the excessively large patio that overlooked the garden, and sitting around the various tables on the patio were rich looking people who were busy speaking amongst themselves. 

A few eyes fell on the pair momentarily, but everyone seemed more interested in what they were currently doing. Arthur couldn’t see Acai or Maria yet, but he continued scanning around looking for a familiar face.

“Oh, Donovan is that you?” A woman’s voice could suddenly be heard coming from behind them. “Is that grumpy old fool ready to apologise, or did you come here looking for a job?”

Arthur and Donovan turned around to see a busty woman sporting a black form-fitting pencil dress and an assortment of pearl accessories. Arthur noticed that the woman did indeed have some resemblance to the pictures he had seen of his late mother.

“Hello Olivia, good to see you too.” Donovan responded in a sarcastic manner, shrugging off the negative introduction. “Neither of those options happen to be the case today, but there is someone here that you probably want to meet.”