The Montelier Bride

Chapter 23: Ultimatum

I HOPED to say the same. I hoped to say that I am not as easily swayed as she argued she is. I hoped. And with this hope, I tried to surround myself with walls higher than I'd already built after seeing the ends of the rest of my family. I was so sure there was no hole in sight for nostalgia to seep in. I was so sure there'd be no cracks for a ray of sun to slip into. I was so sure... until I wasn't. I wasn't exactly sure what am I running from.

Am I running away from the girl who saved me or the woman who she resembles?

"Take these with you, Ms. Gruen," I called my great-grandmother's secretary before she reaches the door. "I won't be needing them." I pushed a pile of investigative reports onto the table's edge, and everyone stared at me as if I was unbelievably returning something I shouldn't have.

Tumikhim ang dalaga at pinagkalso ang mga kamay niya. "With all due respect, Master Caesar, nag-aalala lamang po si Madame Vassily sa mga hakbang na ginagawa ninyo." She sighed for a second and then, proudly lifted her chin as she went on. "The fact that this Quinzel de Agustin is basically Jane Doe is already alarming enough. Your situation is precarious, sir, and we can't have a third female con-artist leave us limping again."

"Mind your tongue, Ms. Samantha Gruen," agad na nagtitimping banta ni Eldridge.

The woman, however, didn't flinch. Instead, she scoffed, blatantly mocking the doctor's effort to avoid bringing up the past. "Why? You didn't mind Violet Augustus, did you?" Samantha taunted. "Oh, was that even her real name in the first place? Her, I mean, your ex-girlfriend."

Ticked, Pherenn rose from his seat and marched to where the secretary stood. "And yet, V is the one who tipped us about the few bodies belonging to Neutral 13. The families would've been deprived of burying their children properly if it wasn't for her," he argued, eyes blazing and fists closed.

"Did she ever tell you how she knew where to find them?" She rolled her eyes. "Did she ever reveal to us how she got a hold of that intel?"

"She wasn't ready! You know she's seeking our protection because speaking could be dangerous for her! Para namang hindi niya naikwento sa 'yo 'yon!"

"But did she also reveal to any of us who she's seeking protection from?" I watched as the same fire in Gruen's eyes sorrowfully looms in Pherenn's. It's dancing according to the same tune. It's glowing for the same cause. The fire is the sense of betrayal all whilst longing for the one who prompted it.

The silence the doctor cannot answer grew louder than all the time we've ignored it. We knew the story, yet we cannot speak of its ending. Just as how Dr. Eldridge Cain Pherenn was once a lover of Violet Augustus, Samantha Gruen was once a confidant as well of that vivacious woman who similarly fell right at our doorstep as Quinzel Agustin did.

"She didn't..." the woman gulped bitterly. "She just left without a word like she never existed at all."