The Mafia’s Queen: Entangled With A Psycho - Chapter 154

A black car drove through high steel gates, moving so smoothly, it looked like it was gliding through air, through the breeze that blew, rustling the trees. The car finally came to a halt and parked in an open space. The door to the driver’s seat swung open and leather shoes met the concrete ground with a light thud. A man emerged; tall, well built. His blue eyes were bright— gleaming with uncertainty, dark locks for hair, and dressed in black. His shoulders were tense as he momentarily held onto the car door he left ajar, staring at the building in front of him, the institute.

He had never been here before. He had never been allowed to come here, never had the courage to do so until now.

Now there was a drive, there was a purpose.

Taking a deep breath, he shut the car door and advanced. It had been seven years. Seven long years. He pushed back anything that could possibly make him hesitate or weaken his resolve as he walked through the entrance and stopped by the receptionist’s station.

Seated behind a counter embossed with glass that acted as somewhat of a barrier, the receptionist lifted his head at the sound of approaching footsteps, his narrowed eyes scanning the man in black through the glass with profound incredulity, only relaxing when he confirmed that the approaching figure was indeed from a visitor, not a patient.

Then a smile stretched his lips, brightening up his face and his slant eyes forming crescent moons.

” Welcome, how can I help you?” The receptionist asked.

” I’m here to see a patient. He goes by the name of Dominic Kane.”

The receptionist’s smile faltered a bit. ” And How are you related to the patient? May I know who you are?”

” Damien Kane.” He introduced himself. ” The patient is my father.”

The receptionist took a minute to check the institute’s database to confirm if the patient in question was still admitted to the institute. He got his verifications when he found the exact name, Dominic Kane, registered as a rehabilitating patient. Then he checked the record of visits the patient has had throughout his stay there.

The number read zero. No one.

In seven years of being admitted, no one visited.

He turned to Damien once more, who hadn’t moved an inch from his spot. Who hadn’t said anything else.

” Can I see your ID? It’s for further verification.” Said the receptionist after clicking out of Dominic’s profile. In an institute such as this one, access to meet and talk to patients wasn’t granted at will. There were papers to sign, forms to fill. The only reason it was going to be a bit easy for Damien was because he had already set up and finalized everything beforehand. Now all that was left to do was go in and meet his father.

God help him because that was the overwhelming part.

Tightening a grip on his resolve, Damien shoved a hand in his pocket and dug out his ID, curbing aside the deprecating thought prowling in the back of his head before they gained any firm root on him. He handed his ID over to the receptionist who scanned through it, eyes flitting from the card to the man in front of him.

” Were you the one who filed for the relieve form for the patient?” The receptionist asked, handing back the ID.

” Yes.” Was all Damien said and the receptionist nodded, alerting someone over. Seconds later, a man emerged from an elevator nearby. Casually dressed, he sauntered his way over.

” Dr. Smith, please meet Mr. Damien Kane, the son of one of the patients admitted here. Dominic Kane.” The receptionist said as the man neared. ” Your patient, if I remember correctly.”

Dr. Smith gave a nod in acknowledgment and turned to Damien. The doctor looked easy-going, affable even. Someone who doesn’t get galled easily, someone who kept his ire in check. Which, in this case, is necessary when working at a place like this.

The man offered Damien his hand to shake. ” My name is Everest Smith, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Mr. Kane’s therapist.” Even the tone the man used to accost him was poised.

Damien stared down at the man’s outstretched hand with incredulity for a fleeting second before shaking it.

” Damien Kane and the pleasure is all mine,” Damien said, easing off the man’s hand.

Everest gestured to the elevator he just stepped out from. They began walking towards it, Everest leading the way and Damien tailing him with gradually plummeting alacrity.

” To be honest, I was a bit shocked when I heard someone had filed the relieve form on Mr. Kane’s behalf.” Dr. Everest said, trying to get a conversation going. ” You know, judging from the fact that he hadn’t stepped a foot outside the institute since he got here or even had any visitors in seven years.”

Damien sucked in a breath, hands balling to fist as the Doctor spoke. Each word he uttered slashed a clean cut through Damien’s heart, as painful as a real knife would have been but despite all that, he remained lucid. His features stayed calm.

Damien kept walking, and Dr. Everest kept talking.

” But I must say that though your father was a bit resistant to the treatment he was receiving at first, but after a while, he made some laudable progress. ” Dr. Everest pushed the elevator button, and its door slid open. They both stepped in and rode it to the fourth floor. The private wards.

Damien’s pulse sped up, his befuddled thoughts throttling him.

The elevator doors opened with a ding and they stepped out into a desolate hallway, its walls painted in bleak, plain colors. Mostly white. The ceiling was white, the floor tiles were white.

Everything was white. Everywhere was barren, almost lifeless and the silence of the place echoed the sound of their steps and the voice of the Doctor walking a few paces ahead, who, for some reason, couldn’t seem to shut up.

” Though he doesn’t speak much,” The doctor went on blithering, more loquacious than ever and Damien repressed his slowly languishing patience. ” Mr. Kane, somehow in the seven years I have known him, soon became one of my favorite patients here. A very fascinating man indeed.”

Fascinating? Was Damien’s father some sort of specimen in a testing tube? Was his father some sort of exhibit at the zoo? How on earth was a man in a rehabilitation facility fascinating?

To quell his rising irritation, Damien let out a disgruntled sigh, keeping his replies terse, and kept walking. Confronting the loquacious doctor would simply belie his character— it clearly wouldn’t be pragmatic, especially when he didn’t care less about the dolt of a man. No, now Damien had to gather his thoughts.

Seven long years… He took a deep breath. Seven years without family can completely distort someone, and Dominic wasn’t going to be an exception.

Damien’s chest tightened as he let his gaze wander about the bleak walls.

Your father needs help. Your father is sick in the head. He is crazy and a hazard to even himself.

The memories came barraging into Damien like a blitz attack but he immediately thwarted them. They were just too heart-wrenching to even reckon to relive. Watching his own father being taken away and knowing he had been detained in a place like this, was simply too much information to regurgitate at once. It would only leave him livid, which would seethe the intrinsic hate in his veins.

Your father is crazy.

And all this was because of Leonardo. As far as he knew, Leo was the only person sick in the head in their family, not Dominic. Never Dominic.

As their trek came to a halt, so did Damien’s thoughts.

” This is Mr. Kane’s private ward.” The doctor said and Damien’s throat bobbed, his eyes flitting to the door as he watched the man beside him, key in the code that unlocked it.

Code locks? Detained? Recalling all the protocols that ought to be followed before being allotted a second with one of the patients, churned Damien’s innards. This wasn’t a rehabilitation Center, more like a high-security prison. That fact alone was enough to congeal Damien’s blood.

The door swung open and Damien took a hesitant step forward, stopping when his gaze fell on the man who sat on the bed, long dark hair falling to his shoulders as he stared keenly at the wall, still seeming oblivious to the presence of the men joining him in.

” Father?” Damien took another step closer, his heart banging against his chest.

Slowly, Dominic veered his gaze from the wall to the door, and his bright blue eyes narrowed doubtfully at the sight of the man calling out to him.

Dominic’s lips quivered open. ” Domenico?”