"Miss Rita?!" Theressa gasped while Miss Rita had her gaze fixed on Marcelo, Theressa kept looking back and forth between the two as she was utterly confused.
"I see you've decided to come out from your shell" Marcelo remarked, hands in his pocket as he walked towards the couch to sit, his legs crossing over the other, back resting on the chair as a small evil smile lingered on his lips.
"I told you keeping me here is not going to stop me from destroying you" Miss Rita stated, her eyes sharp, piercing into Marcelo's, her features composed like she knew Marcelo had found out her schemes.
"Well I did tame you a little, your son must be proud in his grave" Marcelo smirked seeing the switch on Miss Rita's face.
"What the hell?" Theressa almost spat, she felt like she was in the dark trying to blend in with rainbow colors. The answers to her questions seemed far. How is everyone and everything so complicated? Theressa's brow was furrowed the whole time she thought the old lady worked for Marcelo because she needed a means of survival and Marcelo was just being an asshole boss like he was to her before. That was the reason she always felt bad for her, never in Theressa's life did she believe Miss Rita was such a person.
Though Theressa has seen the reason Marcelo wanted her Theressa apart he couldn't understand why he's keeping her close.
At the the mention of Miss Rita's son, Miss Rita had her jaw clenched, her fingers balled into a fist, like her son was a sensitive topic, a spot in her no one was to shoot an arrow to.
"But why?" Theressa had blurted. She had a lot of why's and a lot of questions that she wanted to ask but she was scared of Rodriguez pushing her away because of her curiosity.
Miss Rita had shifted her attention to Theressa; her gaze seemed like she was expecting Theressa to ask such question and Theressa had proved her right.
"I needed to test something, I didn't plan to ruin any one's plan, just a little game" she shrugged, her lips twitching into a smirk. She looked like a psycho, this was a side of Miss Rita, Theressa never expected.
"Who are you working with?" Marcelo questioned. Miss Rita seemed to be taken aback my Marcelo's question.
Marcelo's gaze was calculative, he seemed to try to pull something out of Miss Rita and he was clever at doing so.
But as Miss Rita parted her lips to speak a knock came on the door followed by Mary walking in.
"Am I interrupting something?" Mary questioned, her gaze shifting from one person to another.
Until her gaze fell on Theressa whose heart shattered on seeing her mum.
Theressa wanted to stay back, to listen to what Miss Rita have to say, to pour out all her questions but her mother's days with her was already counting and so she excused herself as she walked out of Marcelo's office with Mary.
She barely had time to spend time with her mother and so she let Marcelo deal with the case at hand by himself.
Theressa and Mary had slept in the same room, though Mary had sensed Theressa's weird behavior, she didn't say a word or raise any questions. She also didn't say a word about the familiar lady in the office with them. Besides, it could be her brain playing tricks on her.
The night passed by with mother and daughter in each other's arms. They were both up but neither had refused to get off the bed.
"Mum" Theressa called for the attention of Mary who was sitting up on the bed.
"I want us to go somewhere" Theressa said to Mary, who was focused on reading the news with her glasses on.
"Yes?" Mary answered without looking down at her daughter.
"Let's go see dad"
Theressa's words were sharp, penetrating Mary's ears as she pulled her glasses and dropped it to the bedside table.
"All of a sudden?" Mary questioned, her brows furrowed as she turned to Theressa who was proceeding to get off the bed.
"It's been long we did so" Theressa stated as she moved to dress and hurried her mum to do the same.
They had paid a visit just once this year and Mary wasn't stable at that moment and Theressa could only talk to herself while her mum kept saying weird and strange things no one could ever understand it was just three words she kept on saying. Mary repeated those words till they left the cemetery but Theressa never read the any meaning to what she was saying.
Even as they got to the cemetery, Mary's face looked pale which was weird this is the first time they are both visiting Mr Taylor's grave in a well state, yet her mother seemed out of it.
They both knelt in front of Theressa's father's grave his name scribbled on the marble tile.
Theressa, with a bittersweet smile dropped the flower on the marble tile, her heart shattered as she recalled all the memories she has with this man that is now six feet under the ground where they knelt.
Meanwhile Mary was lost in her thoughts, her lily bouquet still tightly held in her arms like she didn't want it to be dropped there but Theressa failed to notice that.
"Mum…" Theressa trailed
"How about leaving this country, you know… leave the city, go somewhere…far?"
Theressa suggested, her gaze reluctant to meet her mother's as she feared her mother's reaction.
"And you?" Mary asked gently
"Will you continue working with those dangerous men?" Mary questioned causing Theressa to abruptly turn to her as she was stunned about her mother's question. How could she have found out?
"I will leave, I don't want to be a burden to my daughter, I don't want to be the reason you're in a tight spot" Mary stated, finally turning to see her daughter's face, eyes glassy like she was about to cry from her mother's words.
"Just be safe, I know you love him but be safe" Mary shot her daughter a bittersweet smile and Theressa didn't hesitate to pull her mum into a hug.
"Thanks mum, I promise to come to you and once everything settled I'll bring you back" Theressa muttered between sniffs as tears slipped past her eyes down to her cheeks to her Mary's shoulder. Mary patted her back as they enjoyed each other's embrace.
Mary was the one to pull away from the hug as she cleared her throat.
"There's something you need to know" Mary began, as she swallowed. Theressa with furrowed brows paused lip could only wait impatiently for her mother to let out what's bothering her.
"Your father's accident wasn't a normal one" Mary began.
It was a shocking news to Theressa. Mr Taylor had definitely after a truck crushed into his car.
Theressa became anxious, she didn't want to force her mum to let out the truth that had been hidden from her but she also couldn't stand the suspense.
"Mum, what happened to dad?" Theressa questioned, her heart beat increasing with each passing second as she feared her mother's response.
Mary's lips parted to speak but got sealed back at the sound of a gunshot. Everything paused around them. Both mother and daughter faced themselves eyes widened as they became still.