FEROX FOREVER 1: Nothing Sinful ✓

Kabanata 18

Veric

Next morning came and it was time for us to depart from the estate to sail across the sea and head for Citadel Island.

There was a reason the Sangria Estate was situated closely to the beach. Because just a few walks away from there, behind a rock alcove, a ferry was anchored ashore in a private dock only intended for Conclave use.

I was restless and hadn't slept a wink. Last night, I'd let Abby retreat upstairs after our not-so-pleasant chit-chats with the Clan members since she'd basically given me a permanent boner all evening, leaving me bothered and high-strung for over two hours. It had also been an impressive feat for me that I'd managed to not come right then and there with all of the delicious friction rubbing along my length.

Instead of following her to our shared bedroom, I'd spent the rest of the evening with the don of the House Ricci. In fact, kaming dalawa lang ang hindi natulog magdamag dahil sa mga pagpaplano naming magtayo ng commercial airline para mas maging madali ang pag-export at import ng mga drug supply sa bawat bansa na nasasakupan namin. It was going to be a joint venture.

Derrano Ricci was an old acquaintance of mine, even before we'd become the capocrimines of Latin America and Southeast Asia. Sicario kaming dalawa noon at palaging nasa parehong misyon kami. Siya lang din ang nag-iisang don na kasundo ko sa Angkan. Maybe because we had shared history. I didn't have a special work relationship with him like I had with my consigliere and sicario, Derrano and I recognized each other's strengths and we knew how we could use them to our advantage.

The trip on the ferry had taken us half an hour before we finally reached the island volcano of Citadel.

"The Sangria Clan owns this island?" namamanghang tanong ni Abby sa 'kin nang makababa kami ng ferry at sabay naglakad sa mabatong dalampasigan. The ferry would go back to the mainland to retrieve the next batch of Clan members. More of them were also coming tomorrow. "How?"

"Don't be so surprised. Even students in Ateneo and LaSalle can own a private island like this," sabi ko sa kanya.

"Bakit may kastilyo rito?" sunod na tanong niya. It was a good thing that we were out of earshot so no one could give Abby the side-eye for being too oblivious about everything. Si Astriel at Hexon lang ang nasa malapit sa amin. Cal was currently slumped over Astriel's broad shoulder, asleep and looking comfortable in my assassin's embrace. It didn't lost on me that it was strange seeing a cold-blooded killer in the likes of Astriel holding the most innocent thing in the universe.

I followed Abby's line of sight. Just ahead, the familiar castle-like infrastructure rose from the middle of the thick forest.

"It's not a castle," I corrected her. "It's just a domus. It's an ancient townhouse prevalent during the rule of the Romans. It may look old on the outside, but on the inside, it has been renovated countless times to appeal to the modern trends."

Abby gasped. "And who is that guy?"

He wasn't hard to miss; the tall man standing at the flat stone roof of the domus, watching us from afar. He was wearing a long black coat. The wind danced around him, swirling his coat, its dark fabric billowed and twisted like a shadow coming alive behind him.

Even from the distance, his figure stood tall and imposing, and it felt like the very air held its breath in his presence.

"Kasteel Hadrian Sangria," I replied. Even his name held a weight on my tongue. "The Godfather."

"He looks so young. I was expecting him to be a seventy-year old man who have a bad case of osteoporosis, smoking his life away in a fancy chair," salaysay ni Abby.