Green Harbor

CHAPTER 11

Zelena Luka must be out of her mind. Here she was, waiting outside the police headquarters for Victoria to pick her up. Her mind was in shambles, she tried not to rehearse on what she'll be saying to her sister. God, she needed help. How did it go from "I did it, I'm a few steps closer to closing the case" to "Shit, which Luka was Caballero talking about"?

The thought made her feel uneasy. There were so many Lukas, so many of her father's rivals. And Zelena was definitely not up to searching the whole country, not when there could be some terrorism being planned on as she waits for Victoria. Her mother was up to some undercover plot this whole time, but connecting her timing and place back to that night when their father was murdered was something only Jesus Christ can do. Her thing with purchasing that car and crashing it during the Villamors' ball And Victoria...

Zelena shook off her doubts about her. Victoria had just texted to tell her their mother was leaving for Manila and that she had some things to explain. Victoria had always been mysterious growing up. Right now she was only offering time for Zelena, maybe let her breathe. She was still angry about her thinking it was her who just got blown to crisp. Whenever Zelena was dealing with anger and anxiety like this, she'd always call Katha.

Katha.

Thinking about Katha didn't feel as comforting as it always was anymore. Zelena loved their father and was pretty much driving herself crazy trying to find the suspects, yes, but when it came to Katha? She had no choice but to keep calm until Katha is in good condition to talk to her. There was nobody she can trust now. Not her mother, not Cayla. Maybe Keone? Now that Zelena thought about it, Keone disappeared for weeks.

Victoria's car appeared in front of Zelena now.

——

Zelena may be looking at the window beside her but she can sense Victoria's looks on her from time to time. She felt so uncomfortable, and the silence wasn't helping.

"Zelena," Victoria started. "I don't know what to tell you. I felt foolish."

"I bet you did." Zelena was thankful her voice sounded stable.

"Zelena, I'm serious. Mama didn't... She is working hard, too. She knew everything there was about Papa's murderer, God, remember when she told our neighbor Aling Tanya about her cheating drunkard of a husband? Mama had her sources."

"And how come I don't?"

"You'll understand when you're older." Victoria said, trying to be funny. "But for now... I'll be lending you something."

"Your confession on being Papa's killer?"

Victoria smiled thoughtfully. "Way better than that."

——

Zelena went over and sat beside Victoria while she lit candles beside Gregory Luka's gravestone. There was no wind, no people, and the sun was hours away from setting. Zelena always moved with stiffness around so many things and their father was one of them. Sometimes a child with an abusive childhood see their own parent, their abuser, and could only see the horrors they brought to their life.

This time, Zelena could only see her father as someone worth going out-of-character for. Sure his whip cut her open so many times, but that also led Zelena to where she is and what she was doing. This was the closest thing they had to love. She was actually hating everyone for her father. And it seems that Katha, in the other hand, was in danger because the person she is allegedly protecting, was a person so valuable that even she, a soft daughter of their father's, just scared a person and made him come forward.

Zelena's eyes landed on a nearby gravestone marked "Laura Villamor". Why the hell is a Villamor buried in their family burial area?

Victoria breathed before she started speaking. "When I was a young girl... 17, I think, I was in love with a man from Iloilo, Nicholas Macapagal. I brought him home a lot just as much as he brought me to Iloilo. And one day, Nico moved in with me to Baguio. I came back to Bacolod a month later, pregnant." She noticed the wind blew away the flames of the candles, so she picked up the matches. "Papa went and fabricated all kinds of evidence to make it look like I had been raped, like I never knew Nico or gave him my consent. Nicholas went to prison, and when I gave birth, he was killed by his fellow inmates. "

"So— What about the child? Did you ever get to see them?"

Zelena saw tears in her sister's eyes now. "Yeah. I did."

"Did our parents meet them?" Zelena regretted asking questions when Victoria struggled to answer, trembling at the memory.

"They always have. I thank heavens Mama and Papa let me keep them, even if it meant changing up some bits of myself. I thank heavens they let me see them grow up. Both of them." Victoria smiled although she spoke like she forced to swallow down rocks.

Zelena's shock and fascination was still fresh when Victoria took her hand and pressed onto her lips. "Zelena, I'm your mother. I'm your mother. Everyone's trying to stop you from knowing the truth, and now that I confessed to you here in front of my father, I see no reason for me to not fight, too."

"Victoria." Zelena shook her head, gripping her sister's hand tightly.

"I forgave Papa along time ago now. But I wouldn't forgive myself if I let you out on your own." Victoria let go of Zelena's hand. "Hand over your phone."

//

"Are you out of your mind?" Cayla Villamor raised her voice at Katha. "If you want to find your father's—"

"That is not what I wanted at all." Katha Luka answered back. "Why would I be concerned about my father? What's left in his anatomy for me to protect?"

"You wouldn't be silent on something unless you wanted to protect it, do you? This Green Harbor Murderer is someone you've actually talked to?" Cayla asked.

"More than you've ever talked to Jesus, Cayla. I'm not as damaged and sick as you think I would be after that explosion, there is no way I wouldn't know who put that bomb in my car. There is no truth serum injected to my system for you to take advantage of."

Cayla smiled at the response, amazed how Katha didn't feel the syringe she had been sticking onto her arm. And way before Katha could realize what Cayla's silence meant, her eyes were closing.

Miss Villamor reached down the drawer beside Katha's bed and grabbed just the thing she needed. Tiabella's diary.

//

During the evening, Cayla Villamor went back home not feeling any fatigue from work. That night, she went to her bedroom, closed the door, place her phone on her desk before opening the diary to read it. "I didn't know snatching an old, ordinary thing like Tiabella Luka's diary would be one of my greatest fortunes."

Oh she must regret saying that out loud. Because little did Cayla know, the phone on her desk was a little window. A little window that lead to Zelena hearing the diary's entries being read word for word.