Chapter 3: Under his scheme

After a ten-hour and twenty-six-minute journey, Uno, among the guys, arrived in their home country at nine o'clock in the evening. A three-hatchback bulletproof Volvo XC 90 was waiting for them in the area, brought by his men. He took off his cap and tucked his gun into the back of his trousers again. His head turned to the woman he had abducted, who was tranquil in her seat and seemed to have lost herself in awareness. He stood up and stepped over to her. He hauled her by the arm to stand across from him, making her snap back to the present.

The girl stared at him and did not know how she mustered up the courage to venture into a pair of his scrutinizing blue eyes. Finally, she caught a view of his face and found him surprisingly and strikingly magnificent, despite his cold and horrifying demeanour. It was far from what she had imagined him to be.

"Move."

"W-Where. . . A-Are you t-taking me?"

"Shut the f*ck up and move!"

His cold, deep tone held some overbearing power that swiftly sent a shiver down her spine. Her hands clenched into fists as she tried to calm herself because of this dreadful man of six-two in height standing before her, not having realized her feet had made their own decision to stride ahead of him.

They completely exited the jet and headed straight to the cars.

Uno tossed the woman to one of his men, making her grunt in surprise. He motioned for his man to load her onto the first vehicle, but the girl briskly shoved the guy away.

"No! I don't want to come with you!"

She ran and tried to escape. Uno slightly smirked at her audacity—as if she could seize the opportunity to flee.

Rick rapidly blocked her way, making her grunt for a second time when she bumped into his massive body. "Behave yourself, woman. The man behind you is not good to annoy. Baka kainin ka niya ng hilaw." He held her in both arms and shoved her back to the man. "Isakay mo na 'yan! Para makita niya ang pa-welcome ng lalaking magiging bangungunot niya sa buhay start from now."

Uno stayed quiet, watching her rendered speechless as though she was trying to emphasize what Rick meant by 'welcome' —but remained perplexed. Her gaze abruptly went in his direction. Their focus converged. He could tell in its eyes seemed to see the type of someone she would not like to read about; someone like a ticking time bomb without an alarm, ready to explode any moment; even the deadly look from him appeared to be wanting to slaughter her.

"Sumakay kana!" sigaw ng lalaki sa dalaga.

Via climbed into the backseat of the car. Her sight did not avert from Uno, even after the man closed the backseat door and went to the driver's seat.

"Have you watched her enough?" Greg patted Uno on the shoulder to bring him back to his senses. "Ingat, baka mabalewala ang pinaghandaan natin sa mahabang panahon," dagdag nito.

Hindi siya tumugon. Umikot siya sa pangalawang sasakyan papunta sa passenger seat. Binuksan niya ang pinto ng kotse at pumasok sa loob. Bago niya isinara ay nagsalita muna sa dalawa. "Cut off the head of Mr. Gario. Send it to me."

"I will go alone," Greg demanded at lumapit sa ikatlong kotse.

"Teka! Ayaw mo ako isama?" tanong ni Rick.

"Hindi ko kailangan ng baklang kagaya mo."

"Tang ina nito!"

Hindi na tinapos pakinggan ni Uno ang asaran ng dalawa. Isinara niya ang pinto ng kotse. They began to depart from this place to go to his hidden villa. After a long ride, they reached the main gate of their destination, accelerated to drive directly into the parking lot, and got out after they parked. He spotted Alex nearing him—his right-hand man. He turned to his men and nodded to them. They immediately understood what he meant. He wanted them to take the girl to the warehouse. They complied.

"Master, nasa loob na ng kotse 'yong lalaki," wika ni Alex sa kaniya.

"Bring him into the warehouse."

Alex bowed after him and obeyed his order. He went to the warehouse. Mabilis niya lang narating dahil nasa loob lang ito nang villa. His men stayed outside, guarding the vicinity. He entered right away. There was a wooden armchair in the middle of the vast warehouse space, where the woman was standing before it with a long string dangling from her side. She turned her head in his direction after she noticed him. Sinalubong niya iyon nang napakalamig niyang tingin habang humahakbang ang dalawang mga paa palapit sa upuan. He sat down when he reached the chair. His eyes were fixed on her spot, dumbfounded by her stance.

Yes! Via was still left wondering about everything that happened today. She observed her surroundings. The icy and frightening aura in the atmosphere made her freeze. Especially the way Uno stared at her. All the emotions were quickly devoid of her charming face. She felt cold all over her body, like the winter snow.

Uno remained silent as he watched her posture. A whirlwind of emotions flashed through his eyes—anger, hatred, and resentment—but he managed to appear normal, just as he had always done.

Via gathered the courage to turn to him again and met his eyes, trying to analyze him. But she could only see a distant face with no facial expressions. Despite this, she got a sensational feeling about him—that something inside of him was walking through the dark place where he could not see any light shining came from it.

"Bitiwan niyo 'ko! Sino ba kayo?!"

The loud voice shifted their attention. Uno and Via turned to it and saw a man being dragged into the warehouse by two of Uno's men. Its hands were bound to its back, and a handkerchief blindfolded in its eyes.

"Bitiwan niyo sabi ako! Ano bang kailanga-ahh!" D***g nito matapos bumagsak nang malakas sa sementadong sahig nang biglang binitawan ng tao ni Uno.

Via widened her eyes when she recognized the man. "R-Ro-a-an?" she mumbled and could not hold back her shaky voice to see her boyfriend here, whom Uno had also taken—as part of his scheme to welcome her enthusiastically into hell with no access to get out. She was about to step close to Roan. But when a bullet grazed through her left cheek, she froze from her stance.

That was merely a warning shot from Uno's gun. Yet enough to tell he wanted her to stay put as he quietly eyed her gesture. Her lips trembled further because of the tripled terror, as did the rest of her body—as she felt the slimy liquid dripping from her cheek to her chin. He could tell how horrified she was. It was evident on every inch of her face.

"V-Via. . . B-Babe? Ikaw ba 'yan?" the man asked, circling his head everywhere to find the source of the girl's voice.

Although Via wanted to respond, she could not dare to open her mouth. Tears fell down her cheek, synchronizing with the blood flow on her cheek.

"Hindi ako maaaring magkamali. Alam kung boses mo 'yan, babe. Please. Speak. Do not be afraid of them," Roan added, but no one spoke.

Uno nodded to his men. They got what he wanted them to do. Lumapit ang mga ito kay Roan at inalis ang panyong nakapiring sa mata nito. 

Roan quickly searched for Via and found her standing before them, bleeding, shivering, and silently sobbing. Gano'n na lamang ang naramdaman nitong galit matapos masaksihan ang situwasyon ng dalaga. Pinilit niyang tanggalin ang mga kamay na nakagapos sa likod, ngunit sa higpit ng pagkakatali dito ay hindi niya kaya. He could not help but got up and tried to get close to the girl.

Uno motioned to one of his men and understood what he meant. Sinundan si Roan at huminto sa harap nito bago makalapit sa dalaga. Agad na sinipa nang malakas sa dibdib ang lalaki pabalik sa dati nitong puwesto. Dinig pa ang muli nitong pagdaing matapos bumagsak nang pahiga sa semento.

"F*ck!" Roan cursed. Inilibot niya ang tingin sa paligid and unintentionally landed on Uno. "You. . . What the f*cking hell do you need from us?!"