The Mistress

Chapter IV

Agatha’s POV:

I rushed into her room as soon as I arrived at the hospital.

"Tita Veron, are you okay? How are you feeling?" I held her hand and caressed her hair.

"I’m fine, no need to worry." she gave me a reassuring smile.

I heaved a deep sigh before asking her. 

"Who did this? Your crazy ex again? I’m gonna make that bastard pay—"

"No, it’s not him." she shook her head

"Then who? Who else hold grudges against you? Is there anything I need to know?" she closed her eyes and held my hand tighter.

"It’s your mother—your biological mother." she blurted out with hesitation. My grip on her hands loosened.

"M-my biological mother? Then who is Karen? Why did she raise me?" I am so confused right now. "No one ever told me about this." I almost raised my voice out of frustration.

"Listen." she let out a deep breath before continuing 

"Karen is your mother’s best friend. Your mother didn’t even bother to tell us the reason why she’s giving you away." 

Karen died without telling me the truth. She was able to hide the truth for so long. I love her but why did she deprive me of the truth?

"Who is she? And why would she do this? She gave me away and now she’s trying to harm the only person left with me?" I could hardly control my temper.

I have a bad feeling about this.

"She’s Catherine Gray. Formerly, Cara Delavin. She is a fugitive and a leader of a huge organization dealing with illegal drugs and smuggling. You don’t want to meet her." I can’t believe what I just heard.

"You told that she did this to you, care to tell me the reason?" we were staring at each other’s eyes, I could sense her fear and hesitation.

"She wants you back. I refused so she did this. This is her way of doing things." 

"I want to meet her—" I haven’t finished what I wanna say when she cut me off.

"No, Agatha! That woman is nothing but a trash. When she gave you away, she cut off her ties with you. She lost her rights, and you don’t have to see her. Unless you want me to get upset with you." her words were final, no one could change her mind.

"But Tita, I cannot let her do this again. I wanna face her, I don’t want to see you lying in a hospital bed again because of her." she looked at me disapprovingly.

"You don’t have to do this, my dear. This is between me and her, I don’t want you to get close to that filthy woman." she stared into my eyes and caressed my hair, as if trying to convince me.

I just nodded at her and plastered a small smile on my lips.

At the back of my mind, I was planning something. I wanna meet that woman.

———

I waited for her to fall asleep before leaving her.

I walked out of the room and straight to my car.

I fished my phone from my pocket and dialed Harold’s number.

"Send me the footages and all recordings the bugs had picked up." I abruptly told him.

"They found the bugs, Ms. Agatha." he told me

"What the hell! How did they manage to find those?!" I closed my eyes and leaned my head to the seat.

"They had tighter security now. It would be harder to re-install new ones. What would we do?" 

"I’m gonna find other ways to re-install them. Don’t do anything for now, just send me the footages and recordings." I’m completely pissed off. 

"I’m gonna send them right away, Miss." 

I cut off the call and checked the tracker on Von’s car.

I smiled. It’s still there.

I turned on my car’s engine. 

Wait for me, Von.

———

It led me to a hotel.

I wore my sunglasses and scarf before walking out of my car.

I saw him heading to the fire exit, he shut the door behind him. I walked towards the door. Before opening it, I wiped off my lipstick and make-up, messed up my hair and stomped my foot hard on the floor to break the heel on my shoes. And to complete the act, I put eyedrops on my eyes.

I peeked on the door and saw him smoking at the corridor.

I pushed the door open and started crying and sobbing loudly. I fell on the floor because of my broken heel. I removed my shoes and threw them away while crying and wiping off my eyeshadow. 

He walked over and handed me a handkerchief.

"Miss, are you okay?" he threw his cigarette on the floor and stomped on it.

I looked up at him and covered my face with my hands. "Just...pretend you didn’t see me." I said between sobs.

"Come on, I can’t do that. I can’t leave a crying woman alone." he kneeled on his knee before me and put my hands away from my face. "Let me help you—" he paused upon seeing my face. 

"A-agatha Verdana? Is it really you?" I nodded my head slowly.

"Y-you should’ve left. You don’t have to see me in this state." I said as tears were falling down my cheeks. I should be awarded the Best Actress, I’m so good at it.

"Care to share me your problems? To somehow lift the burden off your chest." he said while wiping off my tears and the smudges of make-up on my face.

"My fiancé broke off our engagement. He cheated on me! He chose that b***h over me!" I snatched the handkerchief on his hand, covered my face with it and cried harder.

"So you have a fiancé? The world doesn’t have an idea about it." he said as he settled on the floor in front of me.

"I keep my relationships confidential." I fixed my hair and stood up.

"Could you...please drive me to my condo?" I asked while looking straight into his eyes.