Elite Wars

Chapter 22

GUSTAVE

I must have tired her out real because she drifted off to sleep after our little talk post-fuck talk. I haven't had the time to digest her revelations so I'm laying on our bed, one arm on the back of my head. Looking at our ceiling.

Who am I going to blame for this? I asked her and she answered me but I wasn't ready to hear it. I wasn't mad that she had to dance in front of a bunch of worthless dirty old mother fuckers. I'm enraged, because I wasn't there to protect her from their dirty sights. If I could just find them now, I would gladly break their necks.

I grew up with Uncle Arnulfo on our side. Abuelo is his mentor, he was my Dad's best friend and when My Dad passed away, My abuelo and him became really close. I used to think that maybe he sees my Dad in Uncle Arnie and maybe I was right. They became weird best friends. He was always there on every milestone that me and my brothers achieved. He was there on every family trip. Hell, I was there when he married Sandrine. I was merely a college boy but I knew then that there's something sick with it.

Sandrine moaned beside me and squeezed in further beside me. I shush her out and touch her hair, my fingertips playing at its ends.

Rage quickly consumed my whole being. I have this pent up anger inside of me and fucking her to sleep wasn't nearly enough. I wasn't mad at her. No. I was angry at the man that I looked up to, my whole life. He took advantage of someone as innocent as Sandrine. And I know the word grooming was like recently invented but that's exactly what he did to her. I used to be mad everytime Sandrine would compare me to him, like he didn't do her any wrong. Like I'll never be as good enough as him, whatever I do, or however I treat her, but now I understand.

When you grow up like her, get abused the way she did, a little bit of a kind act is more than enough. In her eyes, no one treated her the way Uncle Arnie did. And maybe she thought that he did that to save her. And that he will cherish her for the rest of his life, which is what she had been longing for. She's inside this fantasy, that her knight in shining armor, despite his age, saved her. Uncle Arnie might have fooled her, but I can see right through his act. He preyed on her.

I'll admit that I hated her, but that was before. When I thought that she was just like any other gold digger out there who is after Uncle Arnulfo's money. But it turned out, she was the victim here.

I kept my frustration in check. I hated how I only knew about this now. I should've been there. I should've protected her but I can't. Even if I was a little bit earlier than Uncle Arnie, the young me would probably never see a future with a nightclub dancer like her. So I chose to believe that everything that happened is certain to happen.

The truth is, I had a choice. And I chose to marry her.

"Mi nieto(1), you didn't have dinner with us today. Is something bothering you?" Nilingon ko si Abuelo na nadatnan akong umiinom sa lanai at tumatanaw sa malawak na infinity pool ng aming bahay.

"Abuelo, care for a drink?" Itinaas ko ang hawak kong baso.

It was hard adjusting to the life in Manila, I just got back home to work for the company after I finished my Master's degree at harvard. I had such a vision for Salguero Tropics. Abuelo is doing good in handling everything but I know I can improve it.

"Mijo(2), you know you don't have to take the deal with DOMECO, right?" Aniya, hindi pinansin ang paanyaya ko.

Ah, right.

Uncle Arnulfo, the closest to the father figure I have, passed away three months ago. His lawyer invited us for his will reading. His widow was there, with her crocodile tears. Acting like she didn't just get the bag.