Judah nodded and forced a smile. They closed the office door. Rob and Judah walked to his waiting father. Judah let out a heavy sigh and embraced him.

     "Papa, I...Regina..." Judah didn't know what to say next.

     "I understand, son," Papadeo said.

     A long silence.

     Rob walked to the window, leaned on the pedestal of the 1800s Maria and Child statue, and lit a cigarette.

     Papadeo and Judah sat on the Italian Venetian carved sofa facing the 15th century tapestry of the Death of the Lamb on the wall. It showed Satan slaying a white lamb on a sacrificial altar while angels and saints looked in the background. The devil was not looking at the lamb but at someone or something in the foreground with eyes that glowered at anyone viewing the tapestry from any angle.

     Pogi brought a tray with three cups of tea and a plate of homemade cookies, and set them on the piecrust-top mahogany tea table before us.

     "Thanks, Pogi," Papadeo said.

     Pogi gave Judah a concerned glance and walked back to the kitchen. Judah tried to take a cup with his shaking hands but when it rattled against the wood, he changed his mind. He locked stares with Satan instead.

"When?" Judah finally asked.

     "Saturday night," Papa's voice cracked, tapping his white cane against the floor. "Regina married a...mysterious man. A faith healer..."

     "Papa, he's called the Holy One," Rob interrupted.

     "Regina called me last week, crying, obviously under duress," Papa said. "She was able to tell me that she was being forced to fulfill an obligation for his father's life. Somebody took the phone from her and cut the connection. That's why I asked you to come home, son."

     Judah clenched his teeth. Regina hated being told what to do.

     "Uncle Vicente suddenly collapsed in his office and was declared DOA at the hospital," Rob said. "The Holy One came and raised him from the dead."

     Judah turned to Rob, frowning in disbelief.

     "Jude, believe me, I was there when it happened," Rob said. "Regina and I watched the Holy One perform the miracle at the hospital. He said: 'Vicente Patriarcha, I command you, rise!' My uncle opened his eyes and rose like nothing happened. Following tests proved that his prostate cancer was gone."

     "Apparently, the 'miracle' did not come gratis et amore Dei," Papa said. "The healer asked for Regina's hand in return."

     "Just like that?" Judah protested. "We're engaged."

     "Jude," Rob said, "you must remember that even though Regina was born and raised here in America, the family still adheres to strict Filipino cultural traits. She's bound by traditions that define the core of Filipino psychology. Ever heard of the phrase 'utang na loob'?"

     "No."

     "We studied that in cultural profiling at the academy," Rob said. "Literally, it means 'a debt of one's inner self.' It's a tradition of obligation, duty, and honor involving a deep internal dimension of gratitude that compels Filipinos to repay a person who has done them a favor of massive value. Filipinos will do anything, sacrifice, even kill or die, to fulfill that debt of gratitude."

     "We are talking about love, Rob."

     "All bets are off," Rob said. "A huge favor that puts 'utang na loob' in a Filipino's heart is a game changer."

     "Regina will not turn back on us."

     "They did something to her—with her father's consent." Papa dropped his walking stick on the floor.

     Judah bent down to pick it up, and put it back in Papadeo's hand. Then Judah asked Rob: "Did Regina tell you anything?"

     "No," Rob said, shaking his head. "The last time I talked with Regina was at the hospital. After that, no one was allowed to see her anymore. Not even me."

     "If her mother were alive none of this could have happened," I said. "Where is Regina?"

     "She disappeared after the private wedding at Reverent Dick Badden's Nirvañana Church."

     "And the healer?"

     "No one knows where the Holy One lives," Rob said. "Now you see him, now you don't. Comes and goes through walls and doors as he pleases."

     "Like a demon?"

     "Like God."

     Judah sighed and stood up. "Papa, I must find Regina."

     Papadeo groped to put his hand on Judah's hand. "If you must."