Chapter 4

(Maggy)

MY CHEST tightened as I put fruits in front of my parents’ picture frame on the table. Today was their death anniversary. Once more, my stomach flipped with the sight of their smiling faces.

Not long after and my phone rang. I didn’t have to look at the screen to know that it was my twin. This was the first time that we are not together during our parents’ death anniversary.

“Are you all right?” Yalena asked before I could say hello. Concern was undeniable in her voice. “At times like this, I can’t help but wish you’re with me. I… I can’t handle the loneliness here.”

I bit my lower lip. What happened over the past years may have strengthened my sister’s resolve but there were nights when she would still have nightmares about Benedict McClennan.

“Sometimes, I wonder when the pain will end, Yana,” I said after a while using the nickname that only me, my parents, and Clarice get to call her. “I miss our parents so badly.”

“Me, too.” I heard her sigh. “But we will get through this, Maggy, I promise. We just have to endure it a little more. We need closure desperately so we can finally move on. And that closure will be Benedict’s downfall. We need to give our parents justice.”

“I know. I just hope this ends soon. It’s exactly sixteen years today, Yana. We’ve been carrying the pain and grief in our hearts for that long.”

After we ended the call, I sat on the bed and stared at the picture frame. I bring that with me wherever I go. Every morning I wake up and every night before I sleep, I would look at that picture to remind myself to never lose focus no matter what happens.

My heart bled for the countless time when I remembered how my parents died. We were thirteen then when the car which Clarice’s father was driving suddenly exploded. And his passengers were my parents. They were on the way to file a case against Benedict.

Unfortunately, our parents got caught up in the feud against Benedict and Roman Alvero, Clarice’s father. They fought over Carla, her mother. A long time ago, Benedict fell in love with Carla, but the latter refused him and chose Roman. After ten years, they met again. Benedict pretended that he had moved on and befriended the Alvero couple who were already married. And because Benedict already had his own family at that time, Carla and Roman accepted the friendship he offered.

Later on, Benedict showed an interest in ADLC, which stood for Alvero-De Lara Oil and Mining Corporation, the company that Uncle Roman managed along with Dad. The two were the best of friends. At that time, Benedict also had his own company which was the McClennan Power Corporation. He offered a merger.

And as businessmen, Roman and Vincent saw a major potential in Power Corporation. They knew that Benedict was also exceptional when it came to business that’s why the two men accepted the offer. They were sure that with the merger, their business would bloom even more. Later on, it became ADM: Alvero, De Lara, and McClennan Corporation. And just as they predicted, ADM became a massive success in the following years.

But one day, their lives had a hundred and eighty-degree turn when they joined politics. It was in Dad’s and Uncle Roman’s blood. Their fathers worked as partners in the past, too. Roman’s Father as the Governor and Grandpa as the Vice Governor. Both of them knew that they had a big chance of winning because they had lots of supporters in their province that’s why Roman ran as the Mayor and Dad as his Vice.

Everything was going smoothly until Benedict announced his candidacy as a Mayor in the same town as Roman’s. That was when things began to get messy. The two opposing camps started having heated conversations even in their office and in campaigns to the point that Roman wanted to buy Benedict’s shares in ADM but the latter rejected it.

Until one day, our mansion got burned down. Yalena and I were lucky that we were in school when the fire happened. Our parents and Uncle Roman who was our visitor that day also managed to survive. The Alveros took us in and welcomed us in their place. But then our parents found out that Benedict’s men were the ones behind the fire incident. They believed that their main targets were Dad and Uncle Roman.

The day after the incident, my parents along with Uncle Roman, drove to the nearest police station to file a case against Benedict. But before they could reach their destination, their car exploded. They died a few days before Benedict was declared the winner of the election.

Everybody knew that something nasty was going on, but the people who used to support our parents were suddenly quiet as if their lips had been sealed. Only one man had a motive to kill them because aside from Benedict, our parents never had any other enemies. But we had no solid evidence against him.

A month after their funeral, we found out from Aunt Carla and Clarice that Benedict claimed that Dad and Uncle Roman sold their shares to him which made him the sole owner of ADM that’s why Aunt Carla and Clarice were no longer allowed to step inside the Company.

But despite our young age, we knew that it was impossible to happen. Dad and Uncle Roman cherished the company so much. They were the founders of it. They put their blood and sweat in building it. Not to mention that we were not struggling financially. There was no reason for them to sell their shares and even if they decided to sell, Benedict was the last man they would entrust the Company with.

Benedict showed documents that had our fathers’ signature which stated that he bought the shares through legal means. But he was willing to give his shares to the Alvero family on one condition. That was if Aunt Carla would live with him since he and his wife had been divorced a long time ago.

And for the second time, Aunt Carla rejected him. That was when we found out that the root cause of the disaster was Benedict’s jealousy since he was still madly in love with Aunt Carla. He confirmed it himself. He wasn’t able to forget her in all the years they were apart. My parents were innocent. They just got caught up in Roman, Carla, and Benedict’s love story.

But we never blamed Carla for it. Who were we to do that when she was a victim herself? A few days after her encounter with Benedict, Carla suffered from severe depression until she slowly lost her sanity. She was sent to a private institution in Candaba, Pampanga.

Uncle Harry, Dad’s younger brother took us in, including our best friend Clarice since she had no other relatives she could depend on. We entrusted everything to him, including selling our properties. And since our mansion got burned down, we could only sell the land and a few jewelries that our parents were able to save. We would have managed to get by but our family investments were all in ADM. We had no more money in the bank because it was used for Dad’s campaign fund.

People took advantage of what happened to our families and bought our properties at the lowest price. But we were desperate to leave out of fear and so we had to accept what they offered. We used the money to live in Nevada City where Uncle Harry stayed and lived as a nurse. But before we left the Philippines, we heard how Benedict changed the ADM’s name into McClennan Power, Oil, and Mining Corporation.

We continued our studies in Nevada. Our rage and pain became our fuel to succeed. The three of us graduated with flying colors. Clarice studied Business Administration and I took up Business Management. We both graduated Magna Cum Laude while Yalena took up Law and was a bar top-notch.

We worked our asses off over the past years. We chose to keep learning and working even in our days-off. I’ve worked in different prestigious companies to gain more experience. Yalena was smart enough to get in a famous law firm. Clarice got scouted and later on became a supermodel. When we’ve saved enough, we took up a bank loan and started our own business. It was the YCM hotel and resorts. The name was derived from our initials.

It has been three years since YCM was founded and it was now greatly known in Nevada. The public patronized it since the supermodel herself was the one who endorsed it. After only a year and a half, we were able to pay our bank loan. I’m the one who manages YCM, but I still make it a point that Yalena and Clarice would be involve in all of the decision-making processes.

It has been ten months since we finally started our mission to destroy Benedict McClennan. But we couldn’t find that old geezer anywhere even with the private investigators’ help. That’s why we set our eyes on his sons and decided that we would lure them in our trap first. We would destroy them first since we believed that they were the ones hiding their father.

Clarice already started her mission with Alano. I had to finish all my works in YCM first before I begin luring Austin, my target. Fortunately, we had reliable employees working in YCM. Every night, they would send me reports through emails. Yalena would also follow me here after a few months once she was done with the cases she was handling in the law firm.

I allowed Clarice and Yalena to choose their targets among Benedict’s sons. And now, I’m paying the consequences. None of the two chose Austin since he was his father’s carbon copy.

I was distracted when the doorbell rang. I immediately knew it was Radha. She informed me beforehand that she would visit me today to personally give me an update about Austin after spying on him for over a week now. I quickly wiped my tears before I went out of my room.

“Every night after office hours, Austin McClennan would go to the bar. He would often stay at the parking lot for hours, in the same spot where you, two, first met,” Radha reported right after I opened the door. I motioned her to sit on the couch. “Four days ago, I saw him talking to Baron, the bar owner. I talked to Baron yesterday. I made a deal with him; that’s why he told me about his conversation with the youngest McClennan and I found out that he—”

“Wait.” Radha caught my interest when her cheeks flushed. “That’s an exclusive bar, Radha. Obviously, its owner was one heck of a wealthy man. How did you deal with him?”

“Baron asked me for a date. I said yes in exchange of the information.”

“Hmm… that’s interesting. And then?”

“I found out that Austin showed Baron a picture of a woman. And based on his descriptions, it was you. Austin promised that McClennan Corporation would promote the bar to their clients if Baron would inform Austin things about you, especially when he sees you in his bar. If you don’t mind telling me, Ma’am, what’s your plan?”

I grinned. “I want to make him miss me more. I know I got him since the first time we met.”

I deliberately left at dawn to make Austin search for me. I was forced to pretend to be sleeping for a couple of hours because he stayed and sat on my bed to watch over me. I even felt him steal a kiss on my lips before he finally left the room I occupied.

“But it seems that Austin has been missing me way too much. Maybe it’s time I show up.” I winked at her. “I’m getting a little bored here anyway. I gotta come out and play.”