CHAPTER 8 - THE FAVOR
1421 Words
The Favor
TWO WEEKS LATER
QUEZON CITY...
Gian stared up at the mansion. Old, but still grand.
Weeds crawled up the walls. The gate had rusted shut. The fountain out front sat dry, choked with dead leaves.
This was the house that had thrown out his parents. He had come hoping to find the family from the photograph.
No one was home. No one had been for a long time.
He remembered what his grandmother said when he searched for relatives at fifteen, still in high school.
"Don Manolo was cruel. He opposed my niece marrying your father because we were poor. When your mother got pregnant, he cast your father out. They hadn't even finished school. They came to me, so you were born in Bulacan, though your grandfather lived in Quezon City. My sister was buried there too."
"Let's go see them, grandma."
"When you're older, hijo. We'll visit them then."
He turned his back on the gate and walked. He hadn't gone far when he pulled out his phone and called the investigator.
["Sir,"] Rex's voice came rough, as if he had just been shaken awake.
"I'm at the address you gave me." Gian kept walking. "Nobody's here, Rex. The gate rusted shut."
["That can't be. My contact said the Villareals live there."]
"They still own it. They don't live in it." His jaw locked.
Paper rustled on the line, then the creak of a chair.
["Okay. There's a barangay captain nearby, Mrs. Carbajal. She might know where the family went. I can talk to-"]
"You said the same thing about the last three leads."
The line went quiet.
["I'm sorry, sir," Rex said. "It's not easy. Families like that can bury a scandal and leave no trace for thirty years."]
Gian stopped at a corner he didn't recognize, in a city that didn't feel like his.
"How long, detective? The truth."
["Months, maybe. Could be longer."]
Silence.
The hope he had carried all the way here drained out of him.
"Don't stop," he said, cold. "Keep looking, no matter how long it takes."
["Understood, sir."]
He ended the call. Luzon was vast. He was in Manila, his investigator in Bicol, and still nothing in his clan.
Zamboanga was waiting. So was the goodbye. But first, one more stop. A quieter place, where a gravestone stood instead of a locked gate.
---
BULACAN CEMETERY...
Gian stood before his grandmother's grave and laid the flowers beside the stone. His thumb brushed the rosary wrapped around his right wrist.
Erika Y. Marasigan
"Thank you for loving me, for raising me, for guiding me, grandma."
He ran his palm over the cold marble. She was the only one who had raised him. He had lost his parents young, and she had carried him alone.
He remembered her words in the hospital before she died.
"Gian, hijo... when I'm gone, find your father's family. They're the only relatives you have left. But don't hold any resentment."
"Yes, grandma. I promise."
She was gone, and the promise was still unkept.
His phone buzzed. He answered.
"Vince, bro?"
["Bro, how are you? You've been gone almost a month. The team's miserable. Chief misses you."]
A laugh broke out of him. "It's been two weeks. Are you the one who missed me?"
["Honestly? It's Hailey."]
The smile died on his face while Vince howled on the line. He drew a long breath.
Tomorrow he would fly to Zamboanga and formally resign.
Two weeks of recovery was enough. He would come back to Manila and stay.
---
PHOENIX AGENCY...
"WELCOME BACK, CAPTAIN!"
The Alpha Team swarmed him the moment he walked in, hands slapping his back, arms hauling him close.
"Thank you! Miss you too, boys!" He grinned, shook free, straightened his jacket and headed for the chief's office.
"The best asset is back!" Vince pulled him into a quick hug.
"I'm heading to the head office, bro."
"Go. I'll wait outside."
He took a deep breath before stepping inside, but the sharp screech of a woman made him turn back.
"Sir Gian!" She suddenly threw her arms around him, and he just let her. "I thought you weren't coming back."
"Hailey, what are you doing?" he asked, prying her arms from around his waist.
She pulled away. "Welcome back, sir."
"Thanks." He turned his back on her for good and walked into the chief's office.
Gian breathed in before he pushed the door open.
"Welcome back, Villareal!" the chief said, smiling.
"Thank you, sir." Gian saluted and sat.
"How was your vacation?"
"I went home to Luzon, sir."
"That's good. Did you hear Don Jaime's granddaughter almost got kidnapped?"
Gian shook his head. Rich kids and kidnappers. Nothing new.
"But I doubt how that ransom case ended," the chief said, letting the words hang in the air.
"What do you mean, sir?"
"Gian, I know you came to say goodbye. I'm asking for one favor. The last one. After this, you can go back to Manila."
"What is it, chief?"
"Your assignment. Simple. Easy." The chief slid a folder across the desk. Gian flipped it open. The face of the most powerful old man in the region stared back at him.
His heart slammed against his ribs. Did the chief suspect Don Jaime be the head of the syndicate? Was this the mission?
"Don Jaime Lopez?"
"The granddaughter."
Gian blinked. What could he possibly do with the granddaughter of the most powerful man around?
"What kind of assignment, chief? How many days?"
"You'll know tomorrow. Rest for now."
He wanted answers. He nodded anyway. Whatever it was, it had to be quick and easy.
---
LOPEZ MANSION...
"What did you say?" Ellah snapped at the company CEO as she crossed the garden.
He sat across from her grandfather, who was sipping coffee.
"Ms. Ellah, Chairman, we lost BMG. Mr. Garcia raised the percentage on their product."
"What? Why?!" Her voice rose before she could stop it.
Romulo Garcia managed BMG, their would-be supplier. Their mine was running short on product, which meant buying from outside. BMG's was the best quality on the market.
"We're finding a way to talk to Mr. Garcia again," the CEO said.
"And do what? Beg?"
"It's not like that, Ms."
"Mr. Go, are you even doing your job properly?" Her voice was calm. Too calm.
"Ellah!" Don Jaime shot her a hard look.
"I think I should come back to work, grandpa. I should be the one to talk to BMG."
The anger drained from the old man's face. Worry replaced it. "Are you ready?"
He turned to the CEO. "Mr. Go, thank you. You may go."
The man stood. "Of course, Don Jaime, Ms. Ellah. I'm glad you're coming back."
When he was gone, grandfather and granddaughter faced each other.
"If you're set on returning, you need a new guard."
Her gaze hardened on nothing. "This time I want only one. He'll be my driver too."
"Hija, I've found one, but you need more. Ten guards, at least."
"What's the use, if they just die?"
Don Jaime fell silent.
Two weeks away from work to recover from the trauma had been enough rest for someone like her.
Within a week they learned it was a kidnap for ransom by nobodies, now jailed.
"All they wanted was money, and they still killed." She drew a breath. "Thank you, grandpa, for helping my bodyguards' families."
"I pity them, hija."
"I only need one now. If he dies, at least it's just one."
"Hija, don't say that."
Her stare cut through the air. "And I will never get close to that guard. It was enough that Homer and the others. If he dies, it won't hurt me."
---
PHOENIX AGENCY...
"You can count on us, Don Jaime."
The chief's voice carried down the hallway as Gian approached the chief's office the next morning.
"Chief Romero, your asset is good, isn't he? I only need one. Otherwise I'll have to search abroad for a replacement."
Gian stopped short at the door. That was an old man's voice.
His jaw tightened. He pushed inside.
"Ah, there you are, Gian. Come in."
An old man sat in a wheelchair facing the chief, another man standing behind him.
"Gian, this is Don Jaime Lopez," the chief said.
He breathed deeply to calm himself. This man was among the most powerful in the area, and Gian did not welcome the visit.
"Don Jaime." He bowed slightly.
"Gian, I have a favor to ask-"
"No."
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