Chapter 3

VINDICTA’S mind was flying somewhere else, she finally got to her own desk outside Kyle’s office. He already gave her some directions about the things she would do there. He said that she will learn deeply as time passes. In the time being, she should just take it slowly. Actually, he was not asking for too much right now, he just asked her to re-type some documents, photocopy, and a few little errands. He didn’t want her first day to be exhausting. Wasn’t he a considerate man?

She shook her head. She should not be thinking like that. Her head should be focused on the mission. “Vindicta, what are you thinking?” someone suddenly asked from nowhere.

Vindicta jerked, she had forgotten to deactivate her earpiece. “Nothing,” she whispered then lowered her head.

“Your mind is somewhere else.”

“I am just sleepy. I am not used to getting awake at this time of the day.”

“You’ll get used to it.”

“How about you? Why are you awake? You don’t have to watch over me. There’s still no action in here.”

“I can’t. If you fail, we will lose millions.”

Vindicta just deactivated her earpiece. She didn’t care whatever Allison wanted to do. The truth was she was not still getting peace because of Kyle De Dios. He seemed familiar. She just cannot remember where she saw him.

It was okay if he was just familiar in her eyes but there was this unusual bouncing on her chest whenever she laid her eyes on him or even just hearing his voice. That was scary. She hadn’t felt that way before.

Kyle’s aura was bright. She can compare him to the sunrise. Fresh, bright…beautiful. He was like a promise of hope. And that was not good. He was her subject, her mission. She closed her eyes firmly. She should not be thinking of anything else but her mission. She was losing her track.

She stopped thinking about him when the phone on her table rang. “Yes, this is De Dios Incorporation. Letter of invitation from the Senior Citizens of Aldemar? Yes, we just received it,” Vindicta said while looking at the paper in front of her. “Yes, Mr. De Dios will attend. Thank you.”

She smirked right after the call. She didn’t even hand a letter to Kyle. And she didn’t have a plan to do it. Wasn’t she there for a demolition job? She can easily make an excuse if Kyle found out about that invitation.

Vindicta cannot explain her boredom while typing some documents, that was not the kind of job that she would do for a long time. She’d rather jump from roof to roof than being in that place. No thrill, no adventure, not even a drop of sweat.

“Miss Ruiz, it’s lunchtime, aren’t you hungry?” Kyle asked her when he passed by her desk.

She acted surprised at his presence even if she felt him walking out of his office. “I’ll eat later, Sir. I will just finish this.”

Kyle just smiled then walked away. She went to the stairs going to the rooftop when Kyle went out of her sight, there were no CCTVs in that corner. She reactivated her earpiece. “Allison, are you there?”

“Yup. Where are you going?”

“On the rooftop.”

“Why will you go through the rooftop when I can just edit the CCTV footage for you?”

“This is easier for me.”

She jumped from the rooftop going down the third floor of the building, she landed on the tiny terrace of Kyle’s office. She already knew that the window there was not locked so she didn’t have any problems upon entering the office. She carefully and strategically put spy cameras on his office, she made sure that they could see every angle of that room. She also searched through his things but still, she could not find anything to use against him.

“Is De Dios really a human?” Vindicta asked Allison in disbelief. “Why can’t we find holes in him?”

She heard Allison laugh. “Well, if we can’t find holes, you know what to do. Do you have plans?”

“The campaign period is still months from now, I can still do a lot of things. For now, I will take it slowly. That is what we want, right? He has to trust me first.”

“Get out from the room, Kyle is coming.”

Vindicta sighed before moving out quickly from the window. She jumped swiftly back to the rooftop. Just in time that she was back on her desk, the elevator opened and Kyle walked out from there.

“Miss Ruiz, why are you still here?” Kyle asked her.

“I am actually on my way down the cafeteria,” she replied then stood up. The cafeteria was on the first floor. Vindicta has no choice but to socialize, gather some gossip. She was not an expert on that part but she had to do it for the success of their mission.

She had found a table when some of the employees approached her. “You’re Sir Kyle’s new secretary, right?”

Vindicta nodded with a smile. Rule number one when you want to gather gossip, you have to be friendly. “I’m Veronica Ruiz,” she introduced herself.

“Veronica is too long; do you have a nickname?” asked a man in a gray suit. She can sense that he was already hitting on her.

“He is not good-looking, do not befriend him,” said Allison.

Vindicta lowered her head then simply turned off her earpiece. She didn’t know that Allison was still watching her.

“You can call me Roni,” she told the group who approached her with a smile.

Everyone introduced themselves but she didn’t remember a name at all. But she tried her best to look genuinely friendly. One thing that was very difficult to do for her because she didn’t have any friends. How can she gain friends? She wondered too.

“You know what? You’re lucky, you get the chance to see Sir Kyle every day. If only we can exchange positions,” one of the employees said. She was pretty, fair-skinned, petite, but she already forgot her name.

“Does he have a girlfriend?” Vindicta asked, acting innocently. According to the information that Allison gave her, Kyle was single but who knew if his employees knew otherwise?

“Hey, don’t tell me that you already had a crush on him?” they teased her.

“Oh, no,” she replied. “I am just curious.”

“Sir Kyle is single. Based on the gossip, after he broke up with his ex-girlfriend, he didn’t get into relationships anymore. Maybe he has not yet moved on.”

See? “Do you know her ex-girlfriend?” She simply turned on her earpiece.

“Was her name Eliza?” asked one of the employees.

“I think so. Eliza Mariano,” confirmed the pretty, fair-skinned, petite girl.

“Eliza Mariano?” Allison asked from the other line. “Alright, I will look for her. Let us see if she is useful.”

***

“Miss Ruiz, overtime on your first day?” Kyle asked Vindicta. It was five o’clock in the afternoon, and she was not really doing anything. She was just waiting for Kyle to get out of his office.

“No, Sir. I am actually turning off my computer,” she replied politely.

“Okay, I’m heading out first.”

“Sure, Sir.”

She went to the restroom after Kyle left to put on her ‘working clothes.’

“It is too early for your ‘funeral outfit,’ dear,” Allison teased her.

“Shhh,” she stopped Allison, “just please tell me where Kyle is.”

Allison was probably tracking Kyle’s car using the CCTVs in the streets. “Nothing unusual. He is on his way home.”

Vindicta quickly moved to get to her motorcycle that was parked near the office. She followed Allison’s instructions to get to Kyle’s house. Her new apartment was near his house. Allison planned all that. But that was the first time that she went to Kyle’s exact location.

In front of Kyle’s house was an abandoned house so that was the perfect place to do her surveillance thing. Kyle De Dios’ house was simple. Two-story, small front yard, and from where she was at, she can see his room.

“Kyle’s house has no CCTVs,” Allison said. “That guy doesn’t know how to be cautious at all.”

“That’s good though. I don’t need to exert effort playing hide and seek with CCTVs. But here in the streets, I can see some cameras. Is there a camera focusing on his house?”

“There is but you can easily pass through that. I can make it move for you,” Allison said giggling.

Vindicta leaned on the wall then crossed her arms on her chest. She will just wait there, she will see if someone will come or Kyle will go out again. She won’t move until the sun sets and the environment becomes quiet.

“You should eat first.”

Vindicta jerked when Allison spoke. “Can you lower your voice even a little? It’s very quiet here then you will speak out of nowhere,” Vindicta complained.

“You are being jumpy,” Allison commented.

“I will eat later. I am still on the mission.”

“There was no movement in there. Maybe Kyle is already sleeping.”

“I guess I can go to his house now.”

It was now safe to work because it was already dark. She quickly jumped from the second floor of the abandoned house. She looked around and made sure no one would see her before she crossed the street. She jumped on the wall to get inside Kyle’s backyard. That was effortless, the gate was not tall at all.

The house walls were glass so she could see Kyle in the living room, he was watching television. For a big businessman, he didn’t seem to be that busy. Vindicta stood there watching Kyle. He was such a nice view to watch. She cringed at her own thought. If only Roma and Allison could read what was running on her mind, they would vomit out of cringe.

“Did you see the target?” Allison asked.

“Yes,” she replied. “He is watching TV. I can feel that I cannot get anything from here.”

“I got some information about Eliza Mariano,” Allison said instead. “She is in the USA now, a model; she is Mr. Handsome’s almost wife. Two years ago, they broke up. The reason? Nobody knew. They already had the wedding date, the invitations were distributed, then they canceled it all of a sudden.”

Vindicta managed to climb to the second floor while listening to Allison. She went into Kyle’s room using the windows. She looked around. As usual, nothing was unusual.

At the center of the room was a huge bed with white sheets and a comforter. With the look of his house, it was obvious that he loved white. The dominant color of that house was white. She can compare that color to him, no stains, spotless. She wondered how he lived his life like that. Especially when the people around him and the world he wanted to walk in were filthy. “Politics?” Vindicta shook her head. Kyle didn’t belong in that filthy world. That place would eat him alive. If it didn't, then he would just be rotten like the other clean people who came in.

She walked to the study table at the left part of the room. There were folders and books there. She picked one of the folders but she suddenly heard footsteps. She shook her head and blew out some air from her mouth. With the sound of the footsteps, she was sure that Kyle was close. She was not mistaken, the knob moved.

It was a good thing that the style of the room was like a log cabin. She managed to jump to a log before Kyle could see her. She looked like a superhero hanging on that ceiling. Her arms and legs were stretched wide. She held on to the logs firmly and prayed that Kyle would not go to bed soon because he will surely see her if he lays on his bed. She wished that he would go out again or just go to the bathroom so she can go down and hide somewhere else. If the ceiling’s design was not strong enough, she would fall for sure.

She was shocked when Kyle suddenly took off his shirt. Vindicta swallowed and looked away. She tried hard not to look at Kyle but her eyes were so stubborn. His body was just perfect. He was buffed and her eyes were loving it. His body was not buffed like a bouncer but buffed like a matinee idol. Wait, when did she learn the things that she was thinking just now?

Vindicta’s jaw dropped when she saw Kyle unbutton his jeans. “Do that in the bathroom, my God!” she screamed in her mind but her eyes were still fixed on Kyle.

Vindicta was relieved when Kyle moved as if he heard her plea. He grabbed his towel from somewhere and walked to the bathroom. She moved quickly to get off the ceiling. She winced, her arms were sore from her superhero position in between the logs. Before she saw things that she was not supposed to see, she went out of that room.

Kyle’s room was the only room on the second floor. She went down the first floor, there was no room in there. There was no housemaid either. He must have loved being alone. There was nothing extravagant in that house. Maybe ‘Less is more’ was Kyle’s motto in life.

After installing some spy cameras around the house, Vindicta walked out quietly. “Are you going back to your apartment?” Allison asked her. She was now riding her motorcycle on her way home.

“Yes.”

“You’re not coming here?”

“Why? You missed me immediately?” she teased Allison.

“Nope. I will ask you to buy me food.”

Vindicta smiled in disbelief. Allison could just order food online; she could not just admit that she missed her. “What do you want?”