The weight of her words pressed against my chest as I nodded slowly. "If you're right—if you can really protect us—then I have to trust you."
Doña Adella’s expression didn’t shift. Her eyes bore into mine, unflinching. "Trust is a fragile thing, hijo," she said, her voice low and deliberate. "But in this case, it’s not optional. If you wish to live—if you want your child to live—you’ll have to trust me. Completely."
I tightened my grip on the armrests of the chair, searching her face for a sign of deceit, but all I found was an unsettling certainty. "How long can you protect us?" I asked, my tone sharp with equal parts skepticism and desperation. I needed to hear it straight from her—what could she, a woman I barely knew, possibly gain from helping us? Though I understood that the Riveras and Lardizabals were equally powerful and equally dangerous, I couldn't fathom why Doña Adella would go out of her way to fight a battle that wasn’t hers.
She chuckled softly, the sound low and deliberate. At imbes na sagutin ang tanong ko nag simula itong magkwento. Nag-story time si Lola mo haha. Her voice taking on an almost hypnotic cadence.
"Jacob’s family and mine," she said, her words measured and purposeful, "we’ve been rivals for decades. In business. In politics. In power. Pangalan ng Rivera ang nakadeklara sa buong Gitnang Kabisayaan. Kontrolado naman namin ang kapuluan ng Kanlurang Visayas—my family’s empire thrives on strategy, precision, and discipline. While they’ve resorted to dirty tricks and coercion, I’ve built something they can never replicate."
Her eyes narrowed, her gaze like a scalpel cutting into the heart of her enemies. "I know their strengths, their weaknesses, their secrets," she continued, her voice dropping to a near whisper. "Including the ones that could destroy them."
Her words hung in the air like a blade poised to drop, and I felt the tension build in my chest.
"And you want me to be part of this?" I asked, though I already knew the answer.
Doña Adella tilted her head slightly, a faint smile playing on her lips. "You’re already part of it, gustuhin mo man o hindi. Simula nong pangyayaring pang-gagahasa, your life became tied to this war hijo. Lalo pat mayroon ka pang sanggol na dinadala. Sanggol na may dugong Rivera." Pabigat ng pabigat ang aking paghinga. Ang pagbukas nito ng bagay tungkol sa nangyaring pangbababoy ay sapat ng basehan kung anong klasing tao si Donya Adella. Hindi ko nakita sa kanya ang awa, hindi niya ako kinakaawan, lalaking biktima ng abuso. Biktima ng lahat.
Kayat winaksi ko na ang mga agam agam. Ibibigay ko na ang kapalaran ko sa kanya.
"And what do you get out of this?" Tanong ko. Ano ang makukuha ng Ginang sa pagkalaban sa pamilya ni Jacob.
Her lips curled into a faint smile, as if my question had amused her. "Victory," she said simply. "And perhaps... redemption."
I blinked, unsure of what she meant. Before I could ask, she continued, her tone shifting from regal to something darker, more cutting.
"Bukod sa pera," she continued, slipping briefly into Tagalog as though her emotions had breached her composure, "Pamilya ang pinakamahalaga sa mga Rivera. And you must have heard how far they’ll go to protect both. If a scandal erupts, if one of their own is compromised, they’ll do whatever it takes to bury it. Kahit pa ang taong iyon ang biktima, kahit pa ang taong iyon ay galing sa mayamang pamilya."
I nodded silently. I knew all too well the lengths Jacob's family would go to preserve their reputation. It was why I had run, why I had hidden. But the next words from her lips chilled me to my core.
"And when they find out that you’re carrying Jacob’s child," she said, her eyes boring into mine, "they won’t harm the baby. No, they’ll take it, raise it as their own, far away from you. But you? You’ll be expendable—a liability they’ll eliminate without a second thought. The Riveras see no value in you, only in what you can provide. Do you understand what I’m saying, hijo?"
