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Nathan's heart clenched in his chest, but the knot in his throat was even worse.
"Impossible..." his voice broke, and more tears streamed down his face. "This can't be, damn it."
His grandfather sighed, knowing the storm that was coming.
"It isn't. She's stuck in that time loop and can't move forward," he said, standing up from his seat. "The doctors gave no hope; she will never move forward. It was useless to go to so many countries, begging for a miracle."
"Why?" Nathan looked at him with rage. "Why did you keep her away from me all this time? Why!"
He was beside himself, his face red, and his hands trembling at his sides. His grandfather looked at him unmoved, used to these outbursts for years.
"What good would it have done?" he spat with disdain. "What would a kid like you have done, knowing of a mother unable to be fully lucid?"
"Who the hell cares!" he yelled at the old man, approaching him furiously. "You had no right to keep her away from me! You had no right to make me suffer all this time thinking she was dead too! Damn it, you did the same with Suzanne and my mother. Stop thinking you're a damned God, Jarek!"
"I had every right, Nathan," Jarek said with a strange tone. "She's my daughter, and you..."
"And I what?" Nathan questioned, with red eyes and clenched jaw.
"You are her spitting image," he spat with anger.
"What...?"
"Didn't you realize?" The old man laughed without humor, pacing back and forth, under Nathan's bewildered gaze. "The way she called you, you're just like him. You even act like him."
Nathan's eyes widened in full understanding of his words.
"Like who?" he spoke through gritted teeth, feeling his blood boil. "Speak, damn it!”
"Richard Quirrell!" the old man shouted this time, looking at him with aversion. "I always knew it, from the beginning, I sensed you were just like him."
Nathan was livid with rage. He couldn't understand how he could be compared to that scum; it always drove him even more out of control.
And Jeremy? Did he think he was the same too?
"I'm not a murderer, I'm not a damn criminal, Jarek," he said, both angry and hurt. "Don't compare me to that man, or I won't be responsible for what happens next, I swear."
The old man let out a humorless laugh.
"Do you see?" He shook his head in disapproval. "Always threatening, always angry, always out of control. I gave you chance after chance, and you failed me, even with Suzanne..."
"Don't you dare involve her!" Nathan spat out with rage.
"What happened with her convinced me once and for all that you would never change," Jarek sighed, making a hand gesture that caused Nathan to frown. "A mistake that, fortunately, I'm still in time to correct."
A couple of huge men entered the room, approaching quickly before Nathan could react.
"What the hell are you talking about...?" He was grabbed by both arms, leaving him surprised, scared, and angry at the same time. "What the hell are you doing? Let go of me, damn it!"
He struggled to break free, but he was held tightly, with no chance to escape.
"You're no good for her, Nathan," the old man approached him, patting his cheek with a pitying expression. "You may control yourself for a while, but I know what will happen next... and I won't risk my great-grandchildren with a man who carries the madness and evil inherited from his father in his genes."
"What the hell...?" He fought to break free when he heard him talking about his family. "Damn you, Jarek! Have you lost your mind?”
His words began to make more sense in Nathan's mind, incredulous that his grandfather believed he would one day abuse his wife and children, just as Richard had done to them.
"No, I'm better now that I've achieved my goal," he raised his chin with determination. "You will never see Suzanne or your children again; you won't be able to harm them."
"You son of a bitch!" Nathan managed to break free from the guards and ran to the old man, landing a couple of punches that knocked him to the ground. "They're my children, my wife! You're not going to take them away from me again, you bastard!"
He was held again as the old man wiped the blood with a handkerchief, looking calmer than before.
"You say you're not like him... and you're doing the same thing he did over 25 years ago, Nathan," he scoffed. "Your father hit me and yelled that I wouldn't separate him from his wife and children, and I was weak enough not to act in time. I won't make the same mistake again! Because of him, I've lived in hell all these years... I won't let you do the same!"
"You're crazy! I would never do such things!" Nathan told him desperately, feeling himself being taken away.
"Yes, you will... you won't be able to control yourself, this damn cycle of violence and tragedy will repeat," the old man said with a broken, vulnerable voice. "Maybe they'll say I'm crazy, but only someone who has lived what I have can understand."
"I've also lived in hell, why can't he see that," Nathan thought with a broken heart.
"Jarek... grandpa," he said, swallowing hard, letting more tears fall. "I promise you... I swear I won't be like him, I would never hurt them, damn it, I love them!”
"Richard also said he loved them... and what did he do in a desperate act?" he spat with rage. "Kill his own son with his bare hands! And just a few days before, he said he would give his life for you all!"
Nathan sobbed, feeling the air escape him as he once again had that image in his mind, one he couldn't erase no matter how hard he tried.
"I wouldn't..." he whispered, gradually losing strength. "I wouldn't and couldn't hurt them, I am not like Richard Quirrell."
Thousands of feelings and sensations had him overwhelmed, and he barely noticed where they were taking him. His body trembled, and for a few seconds, he wondered if his grandfather might be right.
"I have his genes, I am his son... I must always control my anger... I lose control," he thought, overwhelmed.
The old man watched as they took him away, while he continued to clean his mouth and let out a sigh.
He took out his cellphone and dialed a number he had memorized.
"The plan went as expected," he said calmly, looking at the blood on his hands. "Now we just need to complete the rest. I'll leave it entirely to you. Take all three of them out of that house and bring them to the agreed location."
He hung up the phone with an inscrutable look, walking calmly towards the exit.