The Billionaire's secret Love by Manogyna Marthi (readnow .txt) 📕

Chapter 40

Augustus

10 years later

"Daddy wake up, you promised me both of us will go to swim today." My eight year old daughter reaches my bed and tries to pull my eyes open with her little fingers. I lift and place her on my belly in my half sleepy state and reach the clock on my bed side table trying to check the time. Fuck! It is already 8:30 in the morning. Yesterday evening I promised Abigail that today both of us will go for a swim in our swimming pool and enjoy our daddy daughter time till noon. "Daddy it is Sunday and you forgot your promise." My daughter whines with a cute pout on her face. I kiss her cheeks and bring her to my lap while sitting. "Daddy never breaks his promise princess. Give daddy ten minutes of time and he will be ready." I assure my daughter and go to the washroom to freshen up.

Coming out of the washroom I hear Abigail speaking on the phone. "Yeah mummy, daddy is fine. He is taking me for a swim today and both of us are going to have a lot of fun." My daughter spreads her little hands wide making her brown eyes big in describing the phrase 'lot of fun' to her mom though she wouldn't be able to see her cherry face. Her expressions got me to a titter as I pull her chubby cheeks and walk inside the closet to pull up a pair of shorts awaiting a fun day.

Flashback

Too much of blood loss accompanied with gunshots on my arm and leg was a miracle for me to survive. I stayed in the hospital for almost three months. For the first fifteen days I was in coma. As soon as I got over my delirious state the first thing that I asked my parents was about of my wife. The cops searched for her every pillar to post and finally recovered her body which was completely covered in blood two days after the attack. Learning the desolating news about my better half got me to a state of ruination. For months together I grieved for the loss of my wife just staring at our wedding picture placed on the bedside table of the master bedroom. I did not speak to anyone and stayed in my house in complete isolation. I cursed the destiny to keep me alive because I no longer felt a reason to live and suffered my life to pull on with no spark left. Since then I became a workaholic. There were no weekdays, holidays and no feelings, sentiments left in me. I became unreasonable for simple things and fired every soul in my office without a proof of a mistake.

Two years after the heart wrenching massacre of my wife and my driver which changed my life adversely I received an anonymous phone call from a hospital. My sister Jessica and her boy friend met with an accident. Her boyfriend Roger died on the spot while she was nine months pregnant admitted in the hospital with serious injuries. There was a lot of internal bleeding and the doctor gave us little hope of her life. Two days later fighting her last battle she delivered a beautiful baby girl. Clasping her cold hands with mine my sister speaks her last words to me in her fragile voice. "Augustus I have no much time left in this world. You are the most caring, loving and protective brother only a very fortunate person like me can have. Being bestowed with such a great revelry, I want to exercise my last wish with you today."

"Jess please stop speaking such abrogating words. You are a fighter and you are going to live for us and the baby. How will you take care of her when you decide to leave the world?" I try to boost the spirit of my sister with inspirational words but she gives me a weak smile and shakes her head. "I want you to bring up my daughter like your own. She should never feel the absence of her parents and become an orphan." She took the baby in her arms from the cradle nearby and looked at her with adoration for a few seconds. Kissing the infant's forehead her lips lay there stationed cherishing the moment and then sheltered her baby in my arms.

With glassy eyes I reach her eyelids and try to wipe her tears. She inhales hard struggling to breath and held my hand compressed as though trying to gain some strength with the pressure. I was trying to reach her hair with my other hand that cradled the infant to push it away from her beautiful face when I hear a strong beep of the monitor attached to her body. The crooked line thus far was replaced with a clear straight line.

Tears long controlled didn't listen to me anymore and drowned my eyes losing my sister. I look stone cold at the deceased form of my sister and then pull my mother to the warmth of my chest who was now crying ceaseless. At that moment I felt insensitive to any kind of pain. Another important member in my family was gone but I am forced to be strong not only for my parents but for the responsibility vested in my arms. So beautiful and fragile she lay there wrapped in a towel with a cute 'o' on her pink lips ignorant of the sorrows of this world with her eyes tightly closed. Then and there looking at this miraculous gift of God I took the oath. No matter what I will protect this little princess like my own.

Since then I started rising up Abigail. She became the reason and the hope of my existence that brought a smile in my life. I stopped being goalless. She was now my little responsibility the duty that I treasure to take care of right since the time my sister dropped the her in my arms. Every day I reach home looking for my daughter giving me new challenges. My struggles started off from her bottle feeds. She wouldn't just quit the bottle even when she was six years old and now her recent fight is with a boy in her class who called her a Barbie doll because she has brown eyes and the same color hair. Yeah there are some things that match between me and Abby. The most significant are our eyes probably because we carry the same genes. Abigail inherited those brown eyes from her mother that myself and my sister shared in common.

Few months after I started rising Abigail I met Veronica. Veronica is the daughter of our business partner and family friend Alexander Spark. I met her in one of the charity ball function by the help of a common friend. She is a bubbly girl who is full of laughter and cheer but there was something missing in her eyes. We instantly became friends and in one of our friendly encounters I found out she was a lesbian.