Chapter 02

I was half asleep when I heard the yelling of a familiar voice. It was not clear since I'm adjusting myself to not falling asleep for, I don't know, how many hours. I tried to open my eyes, but damn it, I can't move my eyes. I feel like it was tape or something. I breathe heavily and relax my body and my whole self.

I was there, waiting for myself to open my eyes. When I succeed, my head hurts, and that makes me mumble for a bit. When I bit my lower lip out of nowhere, I wanted to shout in pain because it fucking hurt!

That's when memories flash back to my mind.

The gun.

That's a bastard, Pablo.

The scene in the company.

And... And a man who I last saw.

It was Giovanni Rossi.

The one and only Giovanni Rossi.

I was back to my senses when I heard the voices clearly from where I was. I tried to roam my eyes around and think of this room as somehow familiar to me, but I couldn't name it since I was worried about the voices.

"I'm going to kill that bastard! Ah, Fayra was fuming mad. She's on her way here, and Mateo can't even stop his wife. Damn that Pablo. I will dig his fucking grave. Fuck him!"

"Calm down, Morgan. You're too loud —"

"What do you want me to do, huh? Look at Mira. She's hurt. He hurted her. Do you think Fayra will love to see her sister like that? She might also dig our grave, and my wife will definitely do that too! I think this is my fault; I should stop her a while ago. I can stop her, but I  just let her go. Fuck!"

"We helped her staff go to a safe place, Morgan. We did our best to help them. This is not the right time to think like that. They will understand why we weren't at Mira's side when Pablo hurt her. That's the true reason. We can keep up with everything, especially when there are some who have been in danger."

"Ah, that's it. I'll actually kill that man."

"Shut up, Morgan. You're making a lot of noise. You know, you're annoying. You've been here for a while now. You haven't done anything but bang on and on; you've even overpowered the girl. Sit down!"

"Watch out, Sébastien. When Isabella asks you about what happened, make sure that you'll give her a valid reason aside from that. If you get stuttery, I'll hit you!"

"Yes. Yes. Shut up, will you? You're out of your pouder—"

"The owner is a friend of mine."

"It's Mateo's friend, not yours."

I was shaken by what I heard from outside. I stretched out my arm first and slowly stood up. My body is a bit sore; maybe it's because of my fall earlier.

That fucking snake person even slapped me with his gun and pulled me to the ground. It's not a joke, because it really hurts. I wanted to cry earlier, but I would only look weak in the eyes of Pablo.

He's really out of control. He's really something. I don't need to conclude about the possible one because I know he's using it. Isa 'yun sa mga dahil kaya ayaw na ayaw ko sa kaniya at siya ang pinaka-una kong hinanapan ng butas. He's in an illegal businesses. I don't know what othee work he has done, but I know one.

Drugs.

He sold it and used it.

I didn't know he was going to join me, so I couldn't even protect my staff.

Speaking of... I stood up quickly. I want to see the damage. I can't rest here while they and their loved ones are in the hospital. I need to see and check on them.

I turned the doorknob and walked out. My eyes quickly moved to Kuya Morgan and Kuya Sébastien, who were both frowning while busy on their phones.

"K-Kuya!" I called. It depends on which one of them looks at me first.

"O-Oh, you're awake." Kuya Morgan came to me quickly at four o'clock and helped me closer to the couch. Kuya Sébastien did the same when he reached out his hand to me.

"How's your feeling? Does your cheek still hurt? How about your body? You really fell hard. We watched the footage."

"I'm definitely not fine, Kuya Morgan." I rolled my eyes. Isn't it obvious? I was wincing.

"Yeah, right. That was a dumb question for me to say." He sighed and looked at me with a full face of worry.

"What happened?" I looked around the entire unit where we were. This one is really familiar to me, but I'm not sure who I saw it on. I'm pretty sure this isn't my first time here. I just don't really remember. "Whose unit is this?"

"You lost your consciousness last night, Mira. Dr. Bustamante has already checked on you. You fell too hard, and Pablo hit you with a gun. You couldn't handle the force; that's why you passed out," Kuya Sébastien explained.

"And we're in Gio's unit," was Kuya Morgan's catchphrase.

I was a little stunned, but I also quickly realized everything. I passed out in his arms. Kuya Morgan was not with me at that time; only he was. He probably couldn't think of anything else but to send me here. Yeah, that's it. I don't need to think more about that. Anyone would catch me too if they saw me first.

"How about Pablo? What happened to that bastard? Is he behind bars?"

"Mateo, handle everything right now. Pablo escaped, and now no one knows where he is. Since he and Mr. Enriquez are allies, he is the one who was captured by Isaih. He is in interrogation now, but until now, he has not said anything. He closed his mouth like a scared little rat."

I closed my eyes and felt my senses.

"This is getting out of hand. I shouldn't piss him off in our meeting. If I had known this was going to happen, I would have been careful. This is my fault. This is all my fault," I said.

I felt Kuya Morgan's palm caressing my head.

"You just did what an owner needs to do, Mira. You just looked for a hole in him that really should come out because if not, you will lose your company. That man is really just a bad weed, so let's lead here."

I held my breath. We were in that scenario when the door slammed loudly. We looked at it together, and I was so surprised to see Ate Fayra crying. When our eyes met, she ran to me and hugged me tightly without hesitation.

We would have fallen if Kuya Morgan hadn't been quick to support us.

I buried my face in her shoulder and rubbed her back. I can feel how scared she was. It touched my heart. My sister will always be my older sister. Her attitude toward me has not changed since the beginning. That's why I treasured and loved her more than myself.

"Thank God you're okay. I don't know what to do if something bad happens to you more than this," she said when we parted. She looked at me while holding both of my cheeks.

"Ate Fayra, I'm fine. You don't need to worry that much. It just happened because the company was having a problem with our stockholders." My explanation to her.

Ate Fayra stared at me. "Now I really want to take that place from you, Amira. I'm not happy with what you're facing anymore. This is your life involved here. I can't allow myself to wait until I see you get punished a lot before I care about you."

I held my breath. When her tone is like this, I shouldn't contradict her. When she utters this word, it's final.

"Ate Fayra, calm down. I'm alive. I'm breathing and can even move. Also, Pablo can't do anything to me since the government was moving to catch him. Isaih is there," I specified to one of the policemen who are acquaintances of Kuya Morgan and I.

Ate Fayra was about to say something when our attention was averted by the voices coming our way. I swallowed hard when I met Giovanni's eyes; he's with Ate Fayra's husband. They're talking about something about the case, but he's staring at me—let's say, he's roaming his eyes all over me.

 

"He's into illegal transactions. He's not an ordinary criminal that stole money from our companies; he's more than that." Giovanni tried to explain further to Kuya Mateo, while my brother-in-law was busy with the papers he was holding. Perhaps those are the cases filed against Pablo. I'm aware of that. That's why I questioned my dad about why he let that man into our company.

"He's the son of your grandparents friend. I let him be in since I know him—no, I let him in because I think I know him well. He's very innocent looking and he's not doing anything harmful to our company, even with your sister when she's in that position. I think of a possible reason is that he thinks you can't control your position very well, or maybe the other one. Jealousy."

I was still hearing my father words to me. That's too possible. He's not as well known as my father, and more than that, I heard that her father is mostly like my father when he's still alive. I can count that as a second reason after the main reason.

 

"He sells and uses drugs. He abducts and sells fire arms without the proper government issue or registration," Giovanni continued.

"But why now is it not publicized? He's walking and roaming around like a normal citizen," Kuya Sébastien wondered.

 

"He can handle the government at his will. Escobar is known to protect major criminals in this country. Pablo is also rich; what else can we expect?" Giovanni answered sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes without a second's thought after hearing that. He's still sarcastic as ever, and I don't wonder anymore because he's close to Kuya Sébastien.

"We only have Enriquez right now. With that one, I have a strong hunch that he knows where Pablo's located. He just doesn't want to talk about it, maybe because it isn't allowed." It was Giovanni again.

"Why do you say so?" Kuya Morgan's voice filled the living room.

 

"Isaih gave me a picture that's tattooed on Enriquez's shoulder. It was an organization that they are hunting for their mission. He's part of it, and Pablo was in it too for sure."

 

"We don't need to get involved in that matter anymore. We're hunting him because he stole money from us. That's all; we're not interested in digging into his other criminal records."

 

Everyone in the room was staring at me.

 

"He's harmful for everyone. We need to make sure that he's going behind bars with his criminal records for him to cannot pay the bail." I looked at Kuya Morgan after he said those words.

 

"I'm having bad feelings about this, Kuya," I said.

"He's in the news. He's making it to international news, Amira. And a lot of cases are reportedly blaming Pablo." He made me understand the situation. "After what just happened, do you think he'll let you be at peace?"

"Then we will hunt him?" I fiercely ask him back.

This is a big move.

"We will hunt him, but you stay away." Giovanni's words filled the whole room.

My eyes landed on him. He's dead serious about it. But I just chuckled.

"He slapped me real hard. That wasn't a joke. I need to get even. I'll slap him with what I can do to take all his luxury. I'll hunt him too," I said.

I saw how Giovanni shook his head in disbelief. While my Kuya, Mateo, Morgan, and Kuya Sébastien were just diverting their eyes to me and Giovanni. On the other side, Ate Fayra licked her lower lip like she was trying not to smile.

"You're stubborn now, huh?"

"It will do nothing to you," I answered back.

He looked at me firmly. He's massaging his chin, and suppress a smirk on his rosy lips.

"It will surely have; perhaps you're still part of my life after all."