#DS6Unwavering #CirCoal #SharkFamily #DaggerSeries

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE: SEE

COAL'S POV

8:09 PM

Thirty minutes submerged in water with no oxygen. No one could survive that.

"Your name..." Tumingin sa akin ang babae. "You're Ashley, right?"

Lumiwanag ang mukha niya. "Yes. You remember me."

"Of course I remember you. In fact, I wanted to see you."

"Really?" she breathed.

"Yes." Binitawan siya ng kapatid ko at lumapit ako sa babae. She stepped toward me as if she were about to fall into my arms. "To do this."

She really did fall. Not just in my arms but on the floor.

Hawak ang namumulang pisngi na gulat na nag-angat siya ng tingin sa akin. "I've never hurt a woman in my life. But I don't consider you a woman. I don't even consider you a human."

"C-Coal... what? W-Why?"

"Ang sabi mo dalawa lang sila. Si Julius at si Rebecca. You said they separated you with the other woman. Lahat kayo kamo pinilit na papasukin sa isa sa mga container van. Then you also said that they're dragging a woman inside a steel casket. Kung inilalagay nila ang babae na nakita mo sa casket, sinong nagpasok at nag lock sa inyo sa mga container van? Pumasok kayo ng kusa? Who locked you in if they have their hands full?" Hindi ko siya hinayaang makapagsalita nang makita kong bumuka ang mga labi niya. "You also talk like you can hear everything that happened. Pero nasa loob ka ng container van. There's no way you could hear everything. It's only hard to answer questions when you have the intention of lying. And from the start you were lying."

"That's... that's not true!"

"You know, your plan could have been perfect. I have to give it to you. You used everything that you can. You didn't held back and you poured all elements that you could muster into your game. You brought my ex-girlfriend Lorraine into this as a diversion and to isolate me and Circe. You made certain that if we look for Rebecca we would really find someone with that identity. You even made sure to look like her. And then there's Julius. Your partner who didn't know that you would be using him. He's money-motivated and you used it to convince him to your plans without him knowing that you will use it against him. Dahil kapag nagkahulihan, siya ang unang ituturo ng mga babaeng biktima niya. Circe would be just one of his victims. He could rat you out but even if he described you, he would only be describing Rebecca. Poor Rebecca who doesn't know anything. Kahit may alibi pa siya kung nasaan siya, the fact that she's being mentioned, will raise a lot of questions."

Lumapit sa kinaroroonan namin si Nevan na may dalang ziploc bag. It has a wig inside and pieces of prosthetics. I watched as different emotions flashed on her face.

"They found Julie, Sir. She's with the other women," he informed me.

I gave him a nod, and I turned to Ashley again. "You bought yourself some time by pretending to be Circe's stalker for awhile. You were counting on the fact that if we realized that the issue is not with her but with me, I would be investigating all my past relationships, but you wouldn't be in it. Kasi hindi ka naman kasama sa mga nakarelasyon ko." Before she could hide it, I saw rage color her eyes. "You know that there's a possibility that the investigation will lead us to you. After all, you're connected to Andrea Miralles, your cousin. Pero kahit mapunta pa sa'yo ang imbestigasyon, hindi ka namin maikokonekta sa nangyayari kay Circe. Or that's what you thought."

"I-I don't know what you're talking about. I'm a victim!"

"You underestimated us. I don't know how long you were watching, but it's obvious that you've been studying us. If I have to guess, aside from watching us from a distance, you also bought the books." When indignation spread on her face, the corner of my lips tipped up. "Do you really think you could learn how we worked through just that? Sa tingin mo ba ay hindi naman alam kung ano ang ilalagay niya sa mga libro na iyon. You only have a fragment of knowledge of how we work. But if there's one thing that is sure from those books is that we only need one single piece and the rest will fall in their right places. Like how a small resemblance that you and Rebecca have led us here."

"You're going to blame everything on me just because of my similarity to a woman I don't even know? I'm innocent!" Hawak pa rin ang pisngi na tumayo siya. "Sige nga. Iharap niyo nga sa akin si Julius. Patunayan niyo na may kinalaman ako."

"Julius? Iyong taong itinulak mo sa dagat pagkatapos niyang ihulog ang kabaong na kinaroroonan ni Circe? He could have fought you, but it's hard to do that when he has a bullet hole on his back." Napapailing na pinagmasdan ko siya. "You never want to risk him ratting you out. You already planned to kill him after he's done following your orders."

"N-No! You're wrong, Coal." Lumapit siya sa akin at mahigpit na hinawakan niya ako sa braso. "Believe me. Wala akong kinalaman dito. Hindi ko magagawa ang mga binibintang mo. There's no way I could do something this cruel."

"You can't do something like this? Like how you couldn't have poisoned your own brother and mother for money? Like how you didn't attempt to kill your cousin?"

"N-No..."

"Tell me. Paano mo nakilala si Julius? Paano mo nalaman na siya ang nasa likod ng mga nawawalang babae sa Siargao?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she whispered.

"Did you hire him? Ikaw ba ang nagsimula ng lahat ng 'to at dahil alam mong mahilig siya sa pera ay binigyan mo siya ng ideya? Or maybe you're one of his victims. He was planning to sell you too, but you offered him something more. More money that he wouldn't just get from your bank account. Money he couldn't access without alerting anyone. You have your family's money." I let disgust show on my face as I looked at her. I know what to use against her. What makes her tick. It was obvious in the way she acted the first time I met her. Sometimes the poison we try to inflict on others is the same poison that is killing us. With people like her, it's a high possibility that her words against other women are a reflection of her insecurities. "But I don't think that's likely. All his victims are beautiful women. Mga babaeng madaling makakakuha ng atensyon. You, on the other hand, are too plain. Someone you wouldn't even look at. Probably someone you couldn't even see—"

"No!" she screamed, her nails biting into my skin. "Don't tell me that! See me... see me!"

Inalis ko ang kamay niya sa akin at napaigik siya nang higpitan ko ang pagkakahawak ko sa kaniya. She tried to pull it back, but I didn't let her.

"You hired him, didn't you? How did you find out about him?"

"Can't see me, can't see me... can't see me..."

Jesus. This woman is far more gone than she already is. "Where?"

"No, no, no!"

Malakas na sigaw ang kumawala sa kaniya nang bitawan ko siya para lang haklitin siya sa leeg. With my hand on her neck, I pushed him hard on the wall of the container van behind her.

Her face went red, and she clawed my arms to pull it away so she could breathe.

"Where?" I repeated.

"I can't... let me go! I can't breathe!"

"Did you think about that when you confined my woman inside a casket to drown her?" I asked, with an edge to my voice. "What makes you more worthy of breathing than her?"

"I—"

"Where?!"

"Rant..." she gasped. "Rave."

"What's that?"

"Group," she breathed.

Binitawan ko siya at basta na lang isinalya. Nilingon ko ang kapatid ko. "You got that? Is that all we need?"

"Yeah. I think we have everything. Even if that man doesn't wake up, we'll have the full picture now."

We all looked at Ashley when she started laughing. There were tears in her eyes as she threw her head back, laughing at all her black heart's contents.

"You can throw me in prison, but it's all useless." Nagniningning sa kasiyahan ang mga mata na tinignan niya ang braso ko na may malaking paso. "You found your daughter, didn't you? You almost didn't make it, but it looks like you did since you're here."

I want to break her neck. I want to throw her into the ocean and drown her. I want her to burn in the same way she planned to burn my daughter.

We managed to get information about her recent purchase of property. May kinuha siya na malapit sa daungan ng mga cargo ship. But she was right. We almost didn't make it. When we arrived at the small dump of a house, Kaise was already awake.

Thankfully, she didn't fall from the table they placed her on, or the fabric tied around her neck would have strangled her. But she probably pushed one of the candles surrounding her on accident, and like this bitch had already expected, it started a fire. It followed the trail of gasoline-soaked fabric they wrapped around the house instead of burning just one spot below where Kaise was.

Ashley wasn't just planning to burn her. She planned for it to take awhile so she would suffer.

I got to her just in time. She took in a lot of smoke, but she was unharmed. On our way out, the ceiling collapsed and caught on my arm.

"If I can't have you, then no one will." Her laughter filled the place. "Especially not that bitch because she's dead. Thirty minutes. She's been in the water for thirty minutes. She won't survive that."

"You're right. Thirty minutes submerged in water with no oxygen. No one could survive that. Except if she wasn't inside when it sank."

"W-What?"

"For someone who created a game like this, you lack attention to details," Kuya Trace, who was walking towards us, said. "Coal described to you what you exactly did to Julius. Binaril mo tapos tinulak mo. Sa tingin mo paano niya nalaman 'yon?" Itinuro niya ang kinaroroonan ng iba pa naming mga kasama. They all stopped pretending to be busy, and now they're just watching us. "Sa dami namin, sa tingin mo lahat kami didiretso lang sa isang lugar? That we will all go to the house where you were planning to burn my niece?"

Dumilim ang mukha ng kapatid ko sa huling sinabi. He stepped forward as if he had lost his train of thought, and he planned to light the woman on fire on the spot instead. Pinigilan siya ni Kuya Thorn na umiling.

Kuya Trace's eyes flashed dangerously, but he restrained himself. "You didn't ask us how we got here. Why we thought that Circe would be here when you staged that house perfectly. You even made sure there's a disturbed bed of dirt and a shovel as if you buried someone there. Kasi inaasahan mo na lahat kami nandoon at maghuhukay habang sinasalba ng ilan sa amin si Kaise."

I turned to the woman who was looking at us with wide eyes. "Sa simula pa lang, alam na namin na ihihiwalay mo siya. You're the one who gave us the clue, remember? One will fall into the deepest sand. One will burn to dust. And in the end, everything will return to ash." She started trembling. This, though, was real. She wasn't acting anymore. "One will drown, one will burn, and in the end, you expect me to return to you, Ash."

It was her own game that got her played. This is the problem with people like her. They're narcissistic when it comes to the event they created. They don't want to get caught, but they want to feel the satisfaction of being known to have designed it.

Humakbang ako palapit sa kaniya at yumuko. "But you should know, everything could burn down and the whole world could be flooded with water, but I will never be anyone's except for Circe. In this life or not, she owns me. She's the only one I will return to."

"No!" she screamed. "No! She's dead! You're not hers! She's dead!" Tinakpan niya ang mga tenga niya. "She's dead! She's dead! She's dead—"

The slap that hit Ashley's face was far louder and harsher than the one I gave her. I was surprised that her neck didn't snap at the force of the strike she was given.

"Is that enough proof that I am not dead, or do you want me to repeat it again?"

Towering over her is a woman seething with unmistakable anger. Her curly hair was wet and in disarray, her skin pale under the moonlight, and yet... she's still the most beautiful woman that I have ever seen.

"I wanted you to look at me like that," Ashley whispered.

I forced myself to look away from Circe to turn to the woman. "Not a chance in hell."

She clutched her hair, almost pulling it from the roots. "Look at me, look at me, look at me."

Circe's fiery eyes went to me. "Turn around and don't give this cray cray the satisfaction."

I miss her. I miss her so terribly. I want to wrap her in my arms. I want to feel her close so that I can erase the hours of nightmares that we both suffered in.

"Later," she whispered. "Later, when I can fall apart."

I swallowed the lump in my throat, and I did what she asked me to do. I turned around so I wouldn't have to look at the other woman.

Ashley's shrill scream echoed around the place. "No! You're dead!"

"Yeah. Sorry, but no," Circe told her. "You want to know why? I wasn't even three minutes in the water when I got pulled out. Coal's brothers told me that they were already here. Right, Trace?"

"That's right. Iyong iba sa amin nandito na sa taas. Iyong iba nasa baba kung sakaling may mangyari. We're the second group. We were feeling the situation before we made a move. The first group went to save Kaise. Coal went with them because it would have been what you wanted."

"It is. I wanted him to save our daughter first. I never doubted that he would."

Another blow sounded, and based on my brother's reactions, I just knew that Circe struck the woman again.

"Don't zone out on me. I still have something to say to you," Circe snarled.

"No, no, no," Ashely chanted.

"I pity you. I know the feeling of being ignored. I know the feeling of not being wanted. I can't say that I don't have issues because you nearly drove a wedge between me and Coal by using his ex and it reminded me of all the fears I have. All the times that I've been rejected and abandoned. But unlike you, I didn't hurt people just to feel something. I'm not sick like you who feel happiness from the suffering of others. When the people that should have loved me couldn't see me, I made sure to learn how to love me. Kahit wala pa sa buhay ko noon si Coal, nakahanap ako ng paraan para maging masaya. Was it easy? No. Was I always happy? No. Because I'm human and that's life. Happiness is not serve to you on a silver platter. You worked for it. Every day you try to earn it. Every day is a continuous process. Every day is a conscious decision of not giving up."

Ashley's repetitive words quieted down into a whisper. I have no doubt Circe will smack her again if she doesn't focus on her.

"I treated you as a friend, but you tried to hurt my daughter. For that, I hope with all my heart that you never find anything close to happiness again. I hope that you'll never breathe free again."

I heard the hitch in her tone, and without looking at the other woman, I gathered Circe in my arms and pulled her away.

Naramdaman kong mahigpit na humawak sa akin si Circe pero nananatiling nakatingin pa rin siya sa babae. "I want you to remember this night. Because while in prison, you will repeat what happened here again and again. Pero kami? We would move on. You will be nothing but just a memory that will fade overtime. You made this day a nightmare for us, but it would be just that. We wouldn't get stuck with this like the future waiting ahead of you. But even if it does, even if this night will haunt me, it's just one against the million dreams that I have waiting for me. It's something you wouldn't understand. It's something you wouldn't experience. Because you don't know what it's like to be loved by a Dawson."

My brothers moved, and Ashley started screaming again as they pulled her away. But I didn't look back. I didn't look at her again. That's the last thing she will see. My arms around the woman she tried to take from me, my back on her, and my eyes not seeing her.

When we could no longer hear her, I felt Circe lean her weight on me as if her knees were giving out. Sinalo ko ang bigat niya at niyakap ko siya ng mahigpit. I buried my face in her neck as I heard her quiet crying.

"Kaise's safe. She's with Tala," I said to her gently.

"I know she is. I know you'd make sure that she'd be safe."

Hinalikan ko ang tuktok ng ulo niya. I miss her. The weeks that I've been acting like a fool ridden with guilt, the days that she wasn't with me knowing that she was hurt by what she saw with Lorraine—all those times felt like pure hell.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Baby, there's nothing for you to be sorry about. This is my fault."

"Not this again," she snapped. Her eyes were sharp at me, while her face was red from crying. "This is not your fault. Her decision is not our burden to carry. That's all hers."

"Then why are you saying sorry?"

Tears dropped from her eyes, and I immediately wiped them with my fingers. "Because I believed the ploy she did. I was so angry when Eleazar showed me the screenshots. I felt like my heart was being ripped out of me when I saw you kiss that woman. After everything you showed me, I broke that easily."

I cradled her face between my hands. "Baby, you saw that I had my arms around her because I was foolishly taken by surprise when she jumped on me. You also saw her lips touching mine. If it happened to me, if I saw you in that kind of situation with another man, I would be angry too."

"But not at me."

"Don't give me so much credit. You were there when I was pissed off about Augustin."

"You were giving me the silent treatment. I just pushed you to talk. Still, you weren't really angry at me. Kay Augustin ka galit."

"He just kissed you on the cheeks. If it's more than that..." I could already feel my head threatening to explode, and despite her tears, she couldn't help the laugh that fell from her lips. "Anyway, you also gave me the silent treatment for three days. I deserve more. For weeks, I know I worried you when I could have just talked to you."

"Oh. Right."

"See? You have every reason to hate me and put me on the wringer." Hinawi ko ang buhok niyang tumatabing sa mukha niya at inipit ko iyon sa likod ng tenga niya. "I'm willing to do anything for you to forgive me. Just don't ask me to let you go. That's the only thing I can't give you."

"Do I look like I want you to let me go?" she asked, and pointedly looked at her hands clutching my shirt. "I don't hate you. I was hurt, but I never hated you. In fact, I decided that I'm going to forget that kiss ever happened."

"You would?"

"She's your ex. She's part of the past," she stated.

"She is."

"Well, I'm Circe Isle." Niyakap niya ang mga braso niya sa balikat ko. "Circe Isle soon to be Dawson."

I don't know what I did right in this life to be gifted with someone like Circe. Even if she argues with me, I know that I'm not worthy of her. But the thing is, there's nothing I wouldn't do, there's nothing that would be too hard if it were for her, because I will do everything to make sure that every moment of my life is offered to becoming someone who deserves her.

I kissed her lips gently. "Let's go. Our babi shark is waiting for us to come back home."

________________________End of Chapter 35.