Chapter 9

SHE DIDN’T know that Roma was very beautiful. Her face was angelic. She was in her forties but it didn’t show. She had a tiny round face, almond-shaped eyes, sharp nose and narrow lips.

“What’s the occasion?” she asked Roma, still surprised. “Why are you showing me your face now?”

Roma did not answer her question. “Stop your mission,” she said instead.

“What?”

“I found your mother,” she said seriously.

Vindicta froze. She could not follow Roma. “What are you talking about?” she asked in disbelief.

“Your mother is still alive, Maya,” Roma replied, calling her by her real name.

“If it’s some kind of a joke, it’s not funny.”

“Do I look like I'm joking?” Roma asked. She looked annoyed already.

“Myra is still alive, Maya. Simon Lizardo hid her for a very long time. She was not talking but she was not mute. She will look at you like she was listening but she won’t respond. I don’t know what to happen to her. It was hard to be near her, she was guarded with armed men.”

“Where is she? I will get her; I don’t care if she was guarded with million armed men.” Her heart was struck with different emotions. She was raging mad; her mind could not work properly. She wanted to run to her mother.

“When did we move without a plan, Maya?” Roma shouted at her.

“We’re talking about my mother!”

“I know, that is why we need to plan this thoroughly because just one wrong move, you might not see her forever!”

Vindicta sat at the nearest chair because her knees weakened. She was happy and grateful that her mother was still alive but she was furious knowing that some cruel man was hiding her away from her.

“Why is Lizardo hiding her? And how did you know all this? How long did you know about this?” she asked Roma nonstop but this time, she was calmer.

“I didn’t tell you that Ramius Aquino kept contacting me for a mission. He was Kyle De Dios’ cousin. He wanted us to investigate Simon Lizardo, I can’t see anything wrong with that so I did on my own. That was an easy job to do anyway. And while I was inside Lizardo’s house, I saw a picture. It was Myra’s picture during her younger years and she was with Simon Lizardo in that picture. My gut told me that I needed to find something so I did my own mission without telling you and Allison.”

“I undercover as a maid in Simon's mansion, I met Ria there too. She was harassed by one of Simon’s men. She would have been raped if I didn’t save her. That was the reason why I can’t come here as frequently as before. And while I am investigating, I’ve learned that Myra was Simon’s ex-fiancée. It was an arranged marriage. Everything was okay until Myra met Enrico, your father. None of them are from Aldemar, but Simon stayed here when he found your mother here.”

“Simon was crazily in love with your mother that—”

“He was the one who tried to kill my parents and put our house on fire?” Vindicta interrupted. She clenched her fist due to extreme anger. That son of a bitch was the reason why she was not with her parents! The reason why she endured being alone, the reason for all of her miseries. “I will kill that son of a bitch!”

“Maya!” Roma scolded her.

“I will kill him like he did to my father! I will make him pay! With interest...” She stood up but even before she turned around, Roma pulled her and threw her back to the chair where she used to sit.

“Pull yourself together, will you? I thought you were not a murderer?!”

“But I am ready to kill a murderer, Roma. If he will be the first one that will make my hands really dirty, I will never regret it,” she furiously said.

“And you will prove to Kyle that Vindicta was really evil? If you kill Simon, the bastard, do you think you will be happy?”

Vindicta breathed deeply and lowered her head. Roma was right. She should not let her emotions get the best of her because that might make the situation worse. She should not rush.

“I have a plan.”

She stared at Roma.

“But before I lay the plan, I wanted to introduce myself to you properly.” She offered her a handshake. “Celeste Cuevas.”

Vindicta shook her head before accepting Roma’s hand in front of her. “Amalia De Castro.” Vindicta smiled a bit upon saying her real name. It’s been a long time since she said her name, it seemed unreal.

“We will make our mission not as Roma but as Celeste, a victim of your parent’s kindness. And you, not as Vindicta but Maya, a girl who has been robbed of her youth because of that Simon, the bastard.”

Vindicta nodded to show that she agreed. She was ready to do anything to get her mother back.

“And after this mission, Maya, I want you to think thoroughly if you still want to be Vindicta. I won’t keep you here if you want to live a normal life. Your mother needs you. After all, I have a new trainee.” She was referring to Ria.

“After we succeed, I will stop being Vindicta, Roma. I have been away from my mother for eighteen years, I have to make up for all the lost years. I want to live a normal life for her,” she said firmly. She has been thinking about living normally for quite some time.

“Is it really just because of your mother?” Roma asked, grinning.

“What’s the plan?” She changed the topic.

“Make Kyle De Dios win in the election.”

“What?!” she shouted.

“You have not posted the fake video, right?”

“I haven’t.”

“Then we’re not facing a crisis now. We need to remove Simon’s allies here in Aldemar for us to put him in jail. It would be easier for us to get your mother too while he is in jail. I have gathered evidence against him. He was the most corrupted powerful person in this town. He was protecting big time drug dealers too. So, you remember the flash drive that he wanted you to steal? The evidence was there and I have a copy. We can surrender that evidence to the police if we are in a rush but our victory will be certain if Simon has already no power in this town.”

“I understand now.”

“Next week, the campaign period will start. We will help Kyle in every way possible.”

She was getting crazy. After all she had done to break Kyle’s heart and ruining his image to back out from the election, she will now need to do everything to make him win. How ironic was that?

***

“Sir…”

“Hmmm?” Kyle didn’t even look at Vindicta.

“The campaign period will start next week, right? Can I help you with anything?”

“That’s none of your business, Veronica.”

Vindicta was stunned. What was with his cold tone? Kyle apologized quickly though. He finally looked at her. Guilt was evident on his handsome face. “I’m just a little pressured. The coming election is giving me a lot of headache.”

“I understand, Sir. How may I help you?”

“Don’t worry. My campaign manager can still handle everything.” Vindicta looked at the door when it opened, it was Ramius. “Speaking of my campaign manager.”

She greeted Ramius. As usual, he automatically smiled upon seeing her. “I am sorry, Veronica, but can you let me talk privately to the future mayor of Aldemar?”

“Sure.”

Vindicta hadn’t got a chance to talk to Kyle that afternoon because he had to go earlier, he had a motorcade to attend to. She wanted to come with, to guard him, but she could not because Kyle asked her to take care of the office while he was gone.

She thought helping Kyle with his campaign was easy but she was wrong. She noticed in the past few days that he was avoiding her. He might deny it but she could feel it. Every time she tried to ask him about avoiding her, he would just say that he was busy with work and campaigning, but she knew that the latter was a lie because he was not very visible to the public these past few days.

He would just go home, drink alcohol until he fell asleep on the couch, it was his routine these past few days. She has lost hours of sleep because of watching him. She was worried about him but she can’t ask. What would she say if he asked her how did she knew about him drinking every night? “Excuse me,” said someone who brought her back to reality.

“Good morning, ma’am. What can I do for you?” she asked the woman in front of her, she possessed an angelic face. The pretty woman looked graceful, someone with class.

“Sorry, I don’t have an appointment but I would like to speak with Mr. Kyle De Dios. Will you please tell him that Eliza Mariano is here?”

Vindicta was stunned for a moment. She knew that name, she heard that before. She was Kyle’s ex-fiancée. Was Kyle becoming cold and distant because his ex-fiancée was back? It was the first time that she saw the woman but who knew if the two had met before that day that was why Kyle started to ignore her?

Kyle was not in her radar all the time so there was a possibility that she was right. She was busy looking for people whom Kyle had helped before and convinced them to write blogs or even post on social media about Kyle’s kindness. She knew that was a bit desperate but at least, she was doing something for him. The candidate didn’t seem to prioritize the election at all so she had to make a way. Now, she knew why his energy was all over the place. The ex was back.

Allison even made a Facebook Page for Kyle and to her surprise, a lot of people put testimonials there on how Kyle helped them and how genuine of a person he was. Some even volunteered to help Kyle’s campaigning. Kyle will surely win against Simon’s nephew, Albert Lizardo whose only advantage was his handsome face. That guy hadn’t contributed to Aldemar at all. If his looks were a contribution, then that was it.

But she was nervous because Kyle kept on neglecting a lot of social events lately, he was absent on his campaign sometimes. People might doubt him. Others were bringing up Macario’s viral video again. She didn’t know what was wrong with Kyle. The scandalous pictures with Ria had not reached the internet so what was his problem? She was sure that he really wanted the mayoral position, but what was happening now? Was it really because of his ex? Because if that was the case, she would be very disappointed in him.

Her thoughts paused when Kyle and Eliza went out of the office. “Watch the office while I’m out,” Kyle ordered her without any emotion, like he didn’t tell her that he will court her.

Honestly, she was pissed off already and promised herself that she would put her personal feelings while staying there but she didn’t know that it would be that hard. She wanted to pound at her brain that she was still there because of a mission, she wanted to get her mother as soon as possible. That was the only reason why she was staying there.

But she was still hurt by being disregarded by Kyle with reasons he was not telling her about. Was he really like that? He just led her on? They were okay before the campaign period started. Did he think that she would be just a hindrance on his political career? Or was it really because the ex was back?

But whatever his reason was, he should have talked to her for her to understand. Maybe it was better to resign. She could help him with the campaign even if she was not seeing him anyway.

Their set-up now was actually like that already. She was still there but she seemed like wind to him, he could not see her. He was always acting like she was not existing. Instead of hurting herself more, she was not a masochist, she would just resign. “Vindicta, won’t you do anything? The ex-fiancée took Kyle away from you already.” That was Allison.

“I thought you’re the antagonist here?”

“That was before, when the mission hadn't changed. And I know that you will say goodbye after you get your mother from Lizardo so why would I stop you now? I am preventing this falling in love thingy before not because I just want to or I just don’t want you to be happy but because we have a mission to accomplish. If you really want Kyle, then fight for him. Is that still you, Vindicta? Will you just sulk in the corner? Fight, girl!”

Vindicta smiled. “Let’s just let him do his thing for now. Maybe his mind was just busy because of the election, that's why he forgot that Eliza left him at the altar before. He will wake up for sure.”

“Wait, have you found your bracelet already?”

“Oh, I completely forget about that.” She looked for it in her apartment, checked every corner, but she hadn’t found it. She even thought of asking someone to suck the septic tank.

“What if you left it at Kyle’s house?”

Vindicta stood up. That was a possibility. She suddenly became nervous. What if Kyle saw the bracelet and thought that it was familiar?

“Relax. We’re not sure. The best thing to do now is to go to Kyle’s house and look for the bracelet.”

Vindicta did as she was told but she searched the whole house thoroughly, she didn’t see the bracelet. She felt relieved at least. It was good that the bracelet wasn’t there.

“Negative. Maybe I lost it while running. It’s okay, I don’t need a remembrance from my mother because I will be with her soon,” Vindicta said, smiling, even if Allison wouldn’t see her.

“Go back to the office. Kyle was back.”

“Is he still with Eliza?”

“Not anymore. Don’t worry,” Allison said, teasing her. “Go. I and Ria had some training to do.”

***

Vindicta got mad when she saw Kyle watching TV while holding a can of beer instead of attending his campaign event in one of the districts of Aldemar.

Vindicta jumped the second floor of the abandoned house without thinking. It was good she was not wearing her “Vindicta outfit” because she was scheduled to attend his campaign event.

Vindicta pressed the doorbell and waited for Kyle to open the gate for her, she waited for a few minutes. He looked surprised seeing her. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

“How about you? What are you doing here? You should be campaigning right now?” she asked instead.

“You’re really concerned about my campaign, huh?” he said sarcastically. He even grinned.

“What is happening to you?” She couldn’t help asking.

“Come in. Let’s talk.”

She followed Kyle inside. “What is wrong with you, Kyle? I thought you want to be the mayor of this town? Are you this sure about yourself? You’re fighting with a Lizardo, you know they may not play fair!”

“I know. And I know too that you certainly know how they play.”

Vindicta was stunned. She looked straight into his eyes and she was frightened with the emotion that she had seen there. Anger?

He put his hand on his pocket and her eyes widened when she saw what he got from there. Her bracelet!

“Veronica… No, Vindicta? Am I right? You’re Vindicta.”

Vindicta swallowed her tongue. What will she say if she was caught red handed? What word did she need to say to make things right? There was nothing she could say to atone for what she did. Apologizing would not sound right at that moment.

She walked towards him to get her bracelet but he moved his hand for her not to reach the bracelet. “You are such a brilliant actress, you made me believe you’re real. How long have you been doing this job, Vindicta? You seemed really like an expert,” he mocked her.

“Give me my bracelet and you won’t see my face again,” she told him calmly instead. There was no point arguing with him.

“Just like that?” he asked like he could not believe her. “After we talked, no, after you blackmailed me with the malicious video, I already know that you are Vindicta.”

“Then why are you telling me this just now?” she asked, teary-eyed because of annoyance and maybe guilt. So that was the reason why he was giving her cold shoulders these past few days. Everything was clear to her now. “Are you still looking for evidence against me? Or is this it? Is this a trap?”

For a few seconds, he just stared at her face. He became teary-eyed all of a sudden. “Because I know that you’ll run away if you knew that I know the truth about you.”

Vindicta’s knees weakened. She wanted to ask Kyle to repeat what he said because she might have heard him wrong but she hasn’t had the guts to tell it to him.

“I hate the things you did to me, the lies, the disguise. But I don't want you to leave. And if you knew that I already know you, there is a possibility that I might not see you again. Do you know how hard that was? Do you know how difficult it is to love you?”

Kyle’s tears dropped from his eyes before walking towards her and hugged her tight. Vindicta could not move because of the bomb that he exploded in her heart. Was she dreaming? If yes, she hoped she'd never wake up.