Ghino piqued his curiosity as he pressed the play button of the video on my phone. Deafening silence immediately swallowed the entire room. His eyes were fixed on the screen while mine was on him. I couldn't help but curve the tip of my lips after catching a glimpse of those several long curve lines evident in Ghino's face. He could not deny it to me when I already held solid evidence of his betrayal of Elaine. The footage was supposed to be three minutes long but it took Ghino fifteen seconds to end watching it. He slid the phone back at me across from him. "Are you implying that you are going to use this to blackmail me? Should I be scared of that, huh, Dylan?" Instead of a worried face, Ghino bestowed a smiling one - ear-to-ear to be precise. The footage that I showed him was during his late-night visit to the hospital. And it was not about me but him and Maureen having an affair in the middle of his ongoing marriage to Elaine. I got the footage from the bas
"That was such a relief, Mr. Nacua. You're not letting your guard down." I heaved an abrupt sigh, ejecting the cold air that was stuck in my throat after getting choked by him. He almost got me there. I even thought of dying at that time when I could see it in his eyes, the burning rage, and the urge to kill. "Don't trust me, but will you trust your son?" I continued, 'His life right now, is in danger, and he needs you. But in order to do that, we need to get you out of this place by filing a motion of reconsideration." Mr. Nacua piqued my interest as his rage slowly melted. So I ordered the police officers to let of him. I needed him to trust me with everything for us to make an agreement or demand. "What do you want me to do?" he asked. Because I was not fully equipped with the case, I let my two lawyers talk to him - explain everything about the process. And to make sure he had something to hold against me, I asked him his demands. We promised him and Ju
"But I do." Brother Noah insisted as he looked at me sharply. I could barely see any sign of sympathy in his stares. "No matter how many times you will kneel in front of me, Mr. Spencer, you will not get anything from me." Then he reached out to me and helped me up. "Stay away from her, I'm begging you," he added, "My sister and Ghino are getting married in three days. Can you just be happy for them?" Brother Noah did not wait for my response when he left his spot and went back to Uncle Dex's office, leaving me alone with a heavy heart, lost in thoughts, asking myself if I could be happy for them. No. I can only be happy with Elaine on my side. She loves me, and I am well aware of that. It's just that the two of us were caught up by undesirable circumstances. My feelings for Elaine were of no question. I love her. I needed her in my life. And I am willing to risk everything I have for us to be together. After a few minutes of sobbing, I went back to my office
Even Elaine nor anyone from her family ever extended me an invitation to pay respect for being the CEO of Spencer Group and Companies. And as the person who paid her paychecks for the past eight years. They were all mad at me, there was no question about that. So I am to the world. To myself for being such a billionaire loser. None of them remember my existence. But it's alright. Once I see Elaine doing fine in the hands of my stepbrother, everything will be alright. I just hope she will be happy wearing a white long gown. Thirty minutes later, I found myself huddling in the dim corner of the church with nothing on my side but utter darkness. Good thing I did not wear something revealing to the public as I managed to sneak into the church without everyone noticing me. Unfortunately, it appeared that my arrival was already late. I missed the part of the wedding where the priest could have asked who was against Elaine and Ghino tying the knot. "My dear, Elaine F
All thanks to my stepbrother, Ghino, for letting me push through that kind of decision. My parents, especially, my dad, wherever his soul was right now, would probably understand why I did such a ridiculous thing. Six hours later, under the glimmering full moon, we reached the east side of the state, a countryside where all I could see were small houses built with light materials. My blurred eyes could barely see any three-story buildings, shopping malls, restaurants, or schools. The entire place was as if it was abandoned by time, but well-preserved. Where I parked the car, in front of us was a wide blue ocean. As soon as the window of the car was opened, the cold summer breeze caressed my exhausted skin, helping me to regenerate my lost strength after a few hours of non-stop trip. On top of that, the cold air helped me get refreshed and clear up my bothered mind. Time check. The time was already three in the morning when we finally stopped running. I catch a glimpse of her face
My silent complaints were shuttered into pieces when someone knocked on the door. Even the sounds of the knocking reverberated all the walls of the room. "Dylan, lunch's ready. Get out now." Elaine's words echoed in my ears. "Wait for me, Elaine," I replied as I moved from the floor and pulled the door open. Luckily, she stayed in front of the room. Then I pulled her inside. We talked heart-to-heart about a lot of things - my complaints to be precise. One to mention was the fact that I cannot stay in the room without an AC. However, Elaine explained to me that there was none all over the house when the people who lived in the house didn't need one because the entire place was already surrounded by towering trees. The heat of the sun couldn't penetrate the house. I also complained about having no private toilet room, but Elaine highly advised me to endure walking a few meters from our room to the public toilet room when the house only has one. She also remi
Elaine's Mom continued, "Because of that, I will extend my full support to my daughter's husband, Ghino Frost, and the deceased families with their decisions to put a bounty of five million dollars on those who can give us information about Dylan's whereabouts." Shit. The last thing I heard from my attorney was that Ghino declared a million-dollar bounty to the person who kidnapped Elaine, but it was raised to five million. I could not believe even my own stepbrother would go that far, making me the most wanted person in New York City. "If Dylan was looking at the news right now, do you have a message for him?" The reporter threw another question at her. But instead of an answer, Elaine's Mom collapsed to the floor causing a commotion at the press conference. If this news could reach Elaine, perhaps it would happen to her as well, She will hate me because of that for certain. But how am I supposed to explain these things to her? Before anyone from the press confer
And the news already reached the borders of Tennessee. What worried me the most in the peek of our relationship seems to be inevitable. It was earlier than I expected. Sooner or later, the news could reach Elaine's attention. Good thing I insisted on coming with Mr. Delaven instead of her. "Yeah, of course, I'm doing just fine, Mr. Delaven!" I defensively replied as I dragged him out of the store before he could catch a glimpse at the newspaper stand. "We better get this done as soon as possible so we could go home early." The old man did not ask me for further questions, not even glancing at the store on our left, lucky for me. As soon as we delivered the two baskets to our client, we took off to the next village right away. Right before the sun went down, Mr. Delaven finished our deliveries without any deterrent. I tripled my speed accompanied by those sharp eyes, trying to avoid seeing any newspapers around. We met a few people in the villages, old and youn