The Billionaire's Son

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"If you're that worried about him, why don't you . . ." Gideon trailed off, stealing a glance at me before he shrugged. "I don't know, tell him the truth?"

I didn't answer right away. I placed the gun on my less dominant hand and fired. "Gideon . . ." I sighed. I missed the entire target range! Ibinalik ko ang baril sa aking kanang kamay. "It's not that easy."

"But you're hurting him, Mallory." He pointed out.

Natahimik ako. Yes, I'm hurting Leon. And he doesn't deserve this. Leon had been nothing but a good friend to me for the past years and because he's a little persuasive, he managed to become my boyfriend. I'm not saying that I'm not happy with him, because I am. But there are times when I stare at Leon's sleeping face and tried to picture out a family with him but I just couldn't.

"Okay, forget about marrying Leon, Mallory." Wika ni Gideon at sunod-sunod na ipinutok ang kaniyang baril. Halos bullseye lahat maliban sa isang nalihis. "You're still into Sage, and that's not a question. That's a statement."

I fidgeted the gun with my fingers. I really like the weight of the gun in my hands since Gideon first introduced me to it.

"Kung ayaw mong makagawa pa nang mas malaking gulo dito sa Pilipinas, bakit hindi ka nalang bumalik ng Japan? You and Suki can live together. Forget about everything here. Now that you know the real suspect of your mother's case, you can sleep better at night."

"It's not that easy," I squeaked.

"Yeah, I know. You can't stare at Christian Monterio without being reminded that his mom killed your mom."

"Gideon!"

Humalakhak ito. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. But it's true, isn't it?"

Dahan-dahan akong tumango.

"See? That's why you've got to move on, Mallory. Marami pang opportunities ang naghihintay sa iyo. And may I remind you that you are an engineer, not a model. You're only doing this as part of your revenge to the Monterio's. But now that you've got nothing to revenge unto, I think you should stop."

Nanatiling nakatutok ang aking baril sa shooting range.

"You really think?" it was almost a whisper, coming from my own mouth.

"Yes, Mallory. You should stop."

---

A surge of panic hit me when one night, I realized, that I wasn't wearing the star pendant necklace anymore. Kung saan-saan ko hinanap ang kuwintas, pero hindi ko ito makita.

"Are you sure it's still with you when we arrived here in the Philippines?" tanong ni Leon sa akin habang tinutulungan akong halughugin ang aking kwarto. "Because I haven't noticed you wearing the necklace since."

I bit my lower lips. "Yes, it was still with me, Leon."

"Okay, then. We'll keep looking."

Lumabas ako ng kwarto at nagbasakali sa sala nang biglang tumunog ang aking phone. I fished it out of my pocket and placed it against my ears. It was an unknown caller.

"Mal . . ."

Or so I thought. It was Sage.

I sighed. "What is it now, Sage?"

"You should come to the office today."

Kumunot ang aking noo sa kaniyang sinabi. "And why would I?"

"Because I have something that you might be looking for right now."

My eyes widened in realization. "You have my necklace?" I almost shrieked.