The tension between me and Dylan began to subside as we seemed to have agreed on one thing - to save Judas. Our journey back to the hotel was nothing but constructing our plan on how to find Judas and extract some information from him. While Dylan kept on talking, I also listened to the tone of his voice and body movements to find anything suspicious. My brother somehow suspected Dylan to be the man behind his dad's death. After all, apart from his stepbrother, Dylan was also the second on the list whom I believed could benefit the most from Don Romualdo's death. One to mention, the multi-billion-dollar empire, will be inherited by them. If my brother's claim about Mr. Dex was right, then that left us with Ghino and Dylan - two stepbrothers who could not make it up for the benefit of the empire. "We both knew that you have all the means to find him, Dylan. To save Mrs. Nacua. But you choose to stay silent." I replied in an accusing tone. "Not unless what Ghino accu
Dylan attempted to argue with the cab driver and attempted to punch him in the face to be precise, but I managed to drag him out of the car before everything got out of hand. "You shouldn't have stopped me, Elaine," he blurted while pacing from side to side. Dylan could have been furious at Ghino earlier but compared to the old man, I can see his veins popping out of his arms and neck. "Do you think something changes if I let you punch him, huh, Dylan?" I frowned as I tried to stay calm as much as possible. If I'm gonna let my worries and fears swallow my way of thinking similar to what Dylan was feeling at the moment, both of us would get panicked. And as a result, we might not get any solution to the matter at hand. "Right now, we must provide, not the best, but the quickest possible, solution to both of your problems - the one which was about saving Judas or saving your dad's branch office." "So, what do you suggest then?" he asked. "We cannot let the re
After eight long grumping hours, I found myself standing outside the airport, scanning at those people coming in and out of the place. Ghino and I refused to cross paths again because of what happened back on the plane. I already messaged Elaine about my arrival, not just once, twice, or thrice, but countless times, asking her if she could pick me up. And for us to discuss any updates regarding her search and negotiations with Judas. As I was about to hail a cab, the phone in my pocket suddenly rang. Somewhat excited, I quickly glanced at the screen to check if it was her. "Brother Noah? How can I help you?" I hissed the second I answered the call. "You sound awful, Brother Dylan. Are you disappointed that I was the one who reached out to you instead of my little sister?" Noah teasingly replied from the other line of the phone. Indeed I was disappointed. My excitement three seconds ago was written all over my face but it shattered into pieces upon hearing a ma
While peeking into Muareen's "cannot be drawn" and furious mood, the plan of making things right with Elaine flashed into my eyes and dominated my conscience. I had to make the plan would work perfectly. And making Maureen get mad at me was not part of the plan, at least, not yet. So I jumped out of bed and wrapped my arms around her. Even if it was against my body and will, I gently removed the towel that covered Maureen's body and began kissing her lips. Then I brought her to bed. In order to make things convincing and for every part of my body to participate, especially my adrenaline, I simply imagined that the woman right in front of my eyes was none other than Elaine. Compared to the conservative Elaine, Maureen was the assertive and liberated type of woman. Every time I slowed down, she always took the initiative. She hopped on top of me while removing my clothes until nothing was left. Then she licked my neck, down to my chest, and to my surprise, she sw
Knowing the fact that Maureen was affiliated with Ghino behind my back, her involvement in the case might not only jeopardize our plan but put Judas at risk. So, before the tension between them got extended, I removed Maureen's hands from me. "We know you have a good intention, Maureen. But I'm afraid we cannot get you involved with it. Even Judas didn't want me to know his whereabouts..." "But she knew about his whereabouts, right, Elaine?" Maureen insisted before she crossed her arms around her chest and slightly rested the side of her shoulder on Dylan. "So, what's the point of having this conversation if you didn't know the entire story? How are you going to protect Judas if that would be the case?" Elaine and I exchanged bothered glances, to the point that we ignored the awkward feeling that happened between us before Maureen interrupted our conversation. After reading each other's minds, Elaine nodded at me, still skeptical, but Maureen left us with no other
And I started to get worried when we had nothing with us to defend ourselves, not even a dagger or gun. The worst part of our situation was that we were surrounded by utter darkness. "Do you think we were in the right place, Elaine? Judas was supposed to be meeting us twenty minutes ago. Do you think he changed his mind?" I broke the deafening silence of the junk shop. "Don't worry, Dylan, everything went according to my plan..." Before Elaine could finish her sentence a man with his face entirely covered in a black mask slowly approached us. I pulled Elaine behind me before anything bad happened. "If you are Judas, stay right there!" I exclaimed. Luckily, the man in the black mask heard my furious remarks as he stopped lifting his foot five meters away from us. He then turned his head sideways as though he was scanning the entire place, thinking we brought someone with us. It means to me that he was indeed Judas. But what's with the mask? And why was not saying a
Despite my eyes being fixed on the table across from me, the first thing that I noticed was that Noah and Elaine exchanged glances, especially when Judas avoided making eye-to-eye contact with any of us right after asking him that. Elaine's bothered eyes were telling me that they agreed to my confrontation. We could have done something for them if he or his Mom already told us something from our first time visiting their squatter residence. Needless to say, his Mom also died at the hands of the person behind my dad's death. "You were supposed to be cooperating with us instead of playing hard to get. After all, we have one thing in common. Our loved ones fall into the hands of the same person. So, I'll cut these nonsense demands, Mr. Nacua. Tell us the name of the person who gave your family half a million dollars." The heavy tension that hung in the air overwhelmed the entire room when all of us were put into profound silence. Judas must tell us about his truth and li
Judas' friendly piece of advice shoved an unreachable and unfathomable hole deeply into my heart as he stated nothing but a fact. I don't know if Elaine was aware of this but Maureen can sue us for having an affair. Everyone, not just our employees, but those who recognize the empire will judge us. They will humiliate Elaine, and people will blame her if something bad happens to the company. Our hidden relationship will be investigated by the cops and the board. Everyone would ask me if the rumors about us having an affair were true. And if I made a cover-up, Elaine would get hurt. On the other hand, if I tell them the truth, I may not feel guilty about it, but both of us would be imprisoned. My conscience cannot afford that to happen either. "So you mean I should stop loving Elaine?" I could not help but ask Judas. My heart, despite he hadn't answered yet, sunk into the bottom of the ocean. Elaine and I confessed both our feelings not long ago. That day was