No Time to Die

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Trust

I can't believe Aiden locked me in my own room! Hindi ko alam kung paano niya iyon ginawa pero nagawa niya. I was so into his father's message that I wasn't able to catch up with him when he left.

I don't understand why he had to do that, though... Dapat ba hindi ako makialam sa kanila? Should I pretend that I didn't learn the news from the Cortell head himself?

At ano raw? Na-wipe out ang buong Carodan? Who killed them? The same person who killed my family?

Colton said that someone has been eliminating powerful families. Mine was the first one... Target din ang Cortell pero mukhang hindi nagtagumpay kaya pamilya ng Carodan ang pinagtuunan ng pansin.

Aiden left his laptop. Naupo ako at hinarap iyon. Cortells have a secure line for message transmissions. May password kaya hindi ko mabuksan ang buong program. Now I kinda regret I skipped my IT class way back. Superb hacking skills would be so damn good right now.

I paced in my room back and forth. Hinihintay kong bumalik si Aiden pero lumipas na ang isang oras at hindi pa rin siya bumabalik. I am dying to know what is happening outside!

Ano ang reaksiyon nina Iris at Maverick? I imagine Mav would be devastated and he'd start shouting angrily. Si Iris ay paniguradong tahimik para i-assess ang sitwasyon. She has always been someone who's so careful... someone so composed.

I don't believe that the whole Carodan clan was wiped out. Siguro'y ang mga head ay patay na. Baka ang ilan sa mga tauhan ay nakatakas. One person should at least be alive. Iris and Maverick would need explanations. They're gonna need to hear what happened from someone who was there when it happened.

I'm sure now that they'll leave Origen. They need to assume the position of being the Carodan heads.

I was still pacing when Aiden's laptop lit up. May bagong message pero encrypted pa iyon kaya hindi ko mabasa.

Frustrated, I closed the program. Papatayin ko na sana ang laptop nang mahagip ng tingin ko ang isang folder. It's entitled Orbis Circle. I got curious so I opened it. Inside was a series of folders named after some of the most powerful families in the business.

It's a long list. I was scrolling when I saw my family name. Napaawang ang bibig ko nang buksan ang folder na iyon. It revealed details about my family. Personal information, businesses we were involved in, organizations we were part of. Almost everything.

Ruiz is my real surname. I was never familiar with what my family does. Ang alam ko lang, mayaman kami at marami ang connections. My father can bend rules and we get what we want.

Growing up, my parents didn't involve me in our family's line of work. It was, after all, illegal. Ayaw nila na masangkot ako sa kahit anong kapahamakan. Now I wish they did because maybe then I'll be able to know how everything in the family works. Maybe I'll be able to protect them while they fight for their lives... Maybe I was capable of running everything that they left.

Noong namatay sila, hindi ko alam ang gagawin sa lahat ng naiwang responsibilidad. I am the only Ruiz left and I know nothing. Sabayan pa na takot na takot ako sa lahat ng nangyari. I ran away and I lost everything. The riches, privilege, name... I lost it all. When my family died, I became no one.

Hindi ko alam kung paano ko nagawang makatulog sa gabing iyon. I didn't have the energy to check on the long list of names in the folder so I just closed it. Nang magising kinabukasan ay agad akong dumiretso sa pintuan.

It's still locked. What the hell?! Kaunti na lang tatalon na ako mula sa balcony para lang makalabas!

I showered and grabbed anything I could wear. Handa na akong subukan ulit ang pinto nang bigla iyong bumukas.