How the Mighty Fall (The Sinner #1)

EPILOGUE 2- KAIROS

Week two of pursuing her and she won't budge. It hasn't helped that Vashka has been acting like a hussy who can't breathe without me. Or rather can't live without his gambling nights. My absence meant more responsibilities for him and less trips to the casino.

He's constantly bugging me through texts and calls to come back. Madalas ay dinudugtungan niya pang kung ayaw ni Vivendel sa akin ay tigilan ko na siya. And that's just the least of the things that's driving me on edge. Seeing my wife work as a soldier in the past week has been torture. Not because I'm worried she's too fragile for it, but because of how she is toward her comrades. In between her shifts, she'd have a chat with a soldier or two. After her shift, she'd sometimes have drinks with them in one of their bars. She'd usually just have juice. Thank fuck. I don't know what a drunk Vivendel would do.

An image flashed in my head. Of another Islas soldier carrying her. Or worse she'd invite the man over to her apartment out of drunkenness. What torments me even more were her small smiles toward other men. I fucking know that it's a polite and friendly gesture, but she never looked as calm and carefree as that while we were married. And that was not her fault either. She showed hints of joy around me but all of it were hesitant. As if she's constantly waiting for me to dismiss her and hurt her emotionally at any second.

Before following her here in Cebu, I told myself I'll only stay outside her house. I just wanted a glimpse of her. But that determination was suddenly non existent when the possibility of her falling for another each second we're apart washed over me.

So I tailed her everywhere. Even to the Islas mansion, where guards are currently pointing their guns at me.

But I did not come here unarmed, so I'm pointing two guns back at them.

"These ungrateful fuckers," I muttered. Without Despiadados's help, they'd still be hunting down Mancini's soldiers. The temporary truce was mutually beneficial but I'm not admitting that.

A small figure that I knew so well caught my eye from afar. She's running so fast with fear and determination in her eyes.

I swallowed. Since I got here,the only time she has shown vulnerability was during the first day I got here. When I confessed my love and got rejected. The rest of the days I was here, I was only met with her resistance and cold shoulder.

Now I'm seeing a version of my wife who puts her emotions out in the open. My wife who worried over me. My wife who can see clearly through the fogs of my dark soul and find something loveable in it.

She tried her best to mask her fear with authority when she came in front of me and used herself as a shield.

"Cariño..." saway ko sa kanya sa mababang boses. I came to Cebu, prepared for all of this. Hindi niya ako kailangang protektahan. At kahit na kabilang siya sa mga Islas, I still feared for her safety. It should always be me shielding her from the cruelties of our world, not the other way around.

"Ibaba niyo ang mga baril niyo. He's harmless," she said, ignoring me.

Their faces screamed disapproval. No one ever described me as harmless.

Sarkastikong ngumisi ang isang gwardiya, hindi pa rin ibinababa ang baril. "Kung kami ang dumayo sa Pangasinan at nanatili ng ilang araw na parang turista, siguradong bangkay na kami ngayon, Ms. Islas."

"We should give him the benefit of the doubt," Vivendel persisted. "After all, not too long ago, his organization helped us eliminate our enemies."

Lennon Islas stepped forward and arched a brow challengingly. "At ano naman ang rason ni Kairos De Cordova para pumunta rito kung hindi para sa kapakinabangan niya?"