Mag-log inAUTHORThe lady picks up her phone immediately she sees Rose and Dante leaving the place."Hello," comes Mr. Marcus's voice."Good evening, sir," she greets happily."No need for the formalities. Tell me what happened. Did you hear anything that he said? Have they left already?" he asks all at once."I'm so sorry, sir, but they didn't discuss anything. It was as if they knew something was off. The other time they sent me away, even when I tried to stay close, they stopped talking. I think it's because of the lady. She's crazy! I did everything humanly possible to piss her off, but she didn't fight me. She only raised her voice at me," she explains."What do you mean by she only raised her voice at you? Remember why you went there, Juliet. I sent you there so you could keep an eye on him. How come you made them suspect you so early? You're not doing your job properly, and I might sack you anytime soon. I need someone who is smart to do this job, not someone who always gets caught," he
AUTHORShortly after, the manager arrives. He's busy but has to leave what he's doing to attend to the potential customer.The manager knows very well that Dante is among the top customers whom they can't afford to lose."I'm so sorry for being late, Mr. Dante. Trust me, it wasn't my intention to keep you waiting. I rushed down here immediately I heard you wanted to see me," the manager tells Dante, who smiles instead of saying a word."It's fine. It doesn't matter if you came late. What really matters is how you handle the situation at hand," Dante replies."Please, what happened, sir? Did anyone offend you?" the manager asks but gets no response.He then turns to the receptionist, who is standing behind Dante."What happened, Joyce? You didn't tell me what happened when you called," the manager asks."I'm so sorry, sir. I couldn't start explaining what was going on to you on the phone because I needed you to come immediately," the receptionist replies.To be fair, they didn't tell h
DANTEI glare at the waitress hoping she'd see I was already pissed and stop halfway instead of coming here to ask stupid questions, but she doesn't stop. She ignores my glares and walks towards us.Jake immediately gets up from his seat attempting to walk towards us, but I gesture him not to. He doesn't sit; he just stands at a distance and watches.I don't want him to intervene because they might end up giving a different version of the story. They might even say I brought my guard to beat up a waitress unjustly. But if Rose should do it, even if some people would blame her, few would still consider it a girls' fight.I can see Rose clench her fist trying to hold back her anger. The funniest part is the lady isn't doing this for the first time. I'm beginning to see her act as a pretense."Sir, you sent for me," she asks with an annoying smile.I'm about to respond when Rose suddenly cuts me off halfway."You're making it so obvious that you're not here just to work. First you insist
DANTE "Are you okay?" I ask as I pour into her cup, and she nods.She hasn't said anything serious since the lady left. She is only asking me questions to clear the air, and luckily she doesn't argue or try to make a fuss about it. Julia is nothing other than a business partner, and she is married to begin with. I still wonder how Rose came to know about it. I even want to ask if she has been stalking me the whole time but hold back."You didn't want to say a word earlier—was it because of Jake?" I ask, and she nods her head."Yes," she says."But why? Jake is one of my most trusted men, and I can tell you he's not that bad," I try assuring her, but she isn't buying it."I'm not accusing him of anything, Dante. I never said he was bad. The problem here is, the guy I knocked down at the factory looks exactly like him, except that the guy was taller than him. I don't need no DNA to tell you they are siblings. They have the same eye color, same silky hair, and even the same voice. I kno
DANTE "What should I get you, sir?" the waitress asks after we have taken our seats."A bottle of vodka would do," I reply."Just that?" the waitress asks, and I nod before she turns and leaves.I divert my gaze back to Rose, who hasn't said a thing since we got here.Back in the car, I got pissed and yelled at her. She was finding it difficult to tell me what happened, and I couldn't help but assume she was the one at fault. I was already coming to my own conclusion.I apologized and told her to wait until we got out of the car because I literally believed she was finding it difficult to speak because of my driver.After some time, the waitress returns with a tray carrying a bottle of vodka and two glass cups.She drops the tray, then stands beside us.She bends down to open the drink for us and possibly pour it into our cups, but I stop her by telling her not to bother about it.She bows slowly and moves back. She gets to a corner not too far from Rose and pauses. I look at her, wo
ROSEThe drive is silent. Neither Dante nor I say a word to each other, although we keep stealing glances, and he ends up looking away as if nothing happened.I gently drop my phone on my lap, then turn my gaze to the window to admire the night view.Funny enough, I have been driving late at night but never had the chance to take a look at how beautiful the nights are. Not because I don't want to, but because I always have my mind focused on something else. It would be a hard task driving and looking out the window, especially at night.As I stare outside, I soon feel his hands on my bare back since I am wearing a sleeveless dress, which makes me shiver.I adjust my sitting position, then roll down the window before turning to look at him."What?" I ask, my voice barely a whisper.He places his finger on my lips, preventing me from finishing what I have to say."Don't say a word. All you need to do is sit and let me do what's right with you," he leans closer and whispers into my ear.
ROSE Soon I feel my back land on the soft bed; I can only see their blurry faces. Even the room, everything feels blurry."What are we waiting for? Let's get started," I hear one of them say.With blurry vision, I see him unbuckle his belt, while the rest stand beside him, smiling. He's nearly joi
ROSE I'm expecting the gun to hit me, but funny enough, it never does. Instead, I hear someone wincing. I quickly open my eyes, and there he is, holding his bleeding arms.I look back at the corridor to see who shot him, but no one is there.My heartbeat increases. Who shot him?Due to how hard he
ROSE"Do you plan on telling me how it happened, or did you just call me here to waste my time?" I ask Conrad, who won't stop staring at me."Will you be mad if I tell you I called to stare at you?" He winks. Bold of him to think that shit still works on me. Back then, I used to go ga-ga each time
ANNAI walk out of the hotel room dressed. Conrad pleaded I wear something nice. I didn't want to at first, but each time he keeps threatening me with my mission. First, he'd say he wouldn't say a word to me if I didn't do this; he won't do that if I didn't do this. It's simple: it's getting really







