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Chapter Five
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2025-11-16 12:27:10Back at her desk, Sofia stared at her inbox. A blank email draft blinked on the screen, the cursor waiting. Her hands hovered over the keys, clammy and stiff.
To: Jacinto Group Communications
How did one even begin? Dear Sir or Madam, I am not the woman your billionaire heir was photographed with in an alley…
She pressed her palms against her eyes and exhaled sharply. The lawyer’s voice echoed in her head. Their job is to protect him. That means untangling you from this mess.
Her phone buzzed again. Kuya Elias. Singapore.
She almost let it go to voicemail, but guilt won. She swiped to answer.
“Sofia!” His voice was frantic. “What is this? Why are you all over my feed? Inang is crying, Tatang cannot even look at the neighbors, and my inbox is full of screenshots. Tell me this is not true!”
“It is not true,” Sofia said quickly. Her throat burned. “Kuya, I swear. I have never even met Tristan Jacinto. I only edited his interview. That is it.”
“But the pictures—”
“It is not me!” she almost shouted. Her voice cracked, thick with exhaustion. “Please, you have to believe me.”
Elias sighed, the sound harsh in her ear. “I believe you. But you know how it is back home. They will believe what they want. The whole barangay is talking already. Even the next town. And you know how people are now that they have F******k and TikTok. It is all they do.”
Her heart twisted. She could picture it too clearly. Neighbors on plastic chairs outside sari-sari stores, scrolling their cheap smartphones, trading gossips like cigarettes. Her parents, red-faced with shame, forced to hear whispers they did not deserve.
“I will fix it,” she whispered. “I promise.”
Before she could hang up, another call came through. Her mother.
She answered, her stomach dropping. “Inang.”
“Piang,” her mother’s voice cracked. “Why are people saying these things? Why are they putting your face beside that man?”
Tears pricked Sofia’s eyes. “It is not true, Inang. It is not me. You raised me better than that. Please, believe me.”
“We believe you,” her mother said softly, but the sadness in her tone was heavier than accusation. “But the neighbors… they are saying all kinds of things.”
“I will fix it,” Sofia repeated, her voice breaking. “I promise, Inang.”
By the time she hung up, her seafarer brother, had messaged her too. What is this sht I am reading? Who is this Jacinto guy? Tell me where he is, I swear I’ll—*
She dropped her phone onto her desk, pressing her forehead against the cool wood. The world was closing in from every angle.
With trembling hands, she turned back to her email.
Subject: Clarification Request — Urgent
Her message was short, factual, painfully polite. She explained the false rumors, the mistaken identity, and asked Jacinto Group Communications to issue a statement denying her involvement. She read it three times, terrified of sounding desperate, then hit send.
For good measure, she dialed the number listed on their website. A secretary picked up, her voice smooth but distant.
“This is Sofia Reyes from Echelon Magazine,” she began, her voice shaking. “I… I need to speak to someone about the statements online linking me to Mr. Tristan Jacinto.”
A pause.
“I’ll forward your concern to the appropriate department,” the secretary said flatly. “Thank you.”
The line went dead.
Sofia sat there staring at her phone, her pulse pounding. No reassurance, no urgency, no acknowledgment. Just polite dismissal.
She folded her arms on her desk and lowered her head, fighting the urge to scream.
Her family thought she was ruined. The internet thought she was infamous. And Tristan Jacinto’s world, the one place that could clear her, did not even care.
Bab terbaru
Entangled Epilogue
Her file landed on my desk with all the weight of a nuisance.Sofia Reyes. Lifestyle writer. The kind of name that drifted through company directories without leaving ripples. Forgettable photo clipped to the corner, hair straight, smile forced, eyes that looked like she’d rather be anywhere else. The sort of eyes that belonged to someone who’d learned to endure fluorescent office lighting and polite small talk. The image lacked personality, lacked presence. It was the kind of picture people take when they are told they must, not when they wish to be seen.Ordinary. Forgettable. Unlikely. That was my first impression. A quick assessment, easy to make. The world handed me hundreds of faces a year and most of them blurred together. I expected hers to do the same.But Andrew Lorenzo had called, and when a Lorenzo called, even I listened. They were not people you ignored or dismissed. Their influence stretched across industries, politics, land, histories. Too many doors in Manila had hing
Entangled Chapter Seventy-Four
When the balcony door finally opened, the room fell quiet again. All eyes turned toward Sofia and Tristan. They didn’t hold hands, didn’t exchange looks, but their calm faces were enough. Whatever storm had raged between them was over.Elias studied them with the sharp eye of an older brother, then gave a single, approving nod. “Well. The roasted pig is waiting,” he said simply, breaking the tension. Laughter rippled through the guests, though everyone kept sneaking glances at Tristan as if he might disappear if they blinked too hard.Tristan cleared his throat and turned to Elias. “Mr. Reyes… may I bring in the Christmas tokens I prepared?”Elias arched a brow, wary but polite. “Christmas token?”“They’re downstairs,” Tristan replied, almost sheepishly. “I’m… not good at this. My family never really made much of it. But I didn’t want to come empty-handed.”Minutes later, his driver reappeared, arms stacked with identical yellow-ochre boxes stamped with the unmistakable gold Louis Vui
Entangled Chapter Seventy-Three
Sofia gripped the railing, her chest heaving, her mind spinning. The sheer, terrifying scale of the crisis in the news clip, the looming $1.5 billion liability, made her past accusations about his priorities feel unbearably small.“I’m so stupid,” she whispered, shame clawing at her. “I’m supposed to be a critical thinker, and I let that spectacle convince me I was nothing. I believed all of it.”Tristan stepped closer, his eyes pleading, his voice low but unwavering. “You are not a mistake. You were never collateral. Never a detour. You’re the only thing in my life that hasn’t felt like a transaction.”He moved until he was right in front of her, his words pressing into the fragile space between them. “I said those things because that’s all I knew. Business. Deals. Strategy. But you…” His voice caught, then steadied, softer than she had ever heard it. “You made me forget strategy. You made me reckless. You made me care. And for the first time in my life, I wanted something simply bec
Entangled Chapter Seventy-Two
The living room was suffocating with silence. Tristan Jacinto stood inside Elias’s apartment like a storm that had broken through the door, and no one could look away.“Balcony,” Elias said, his tone brooking no argument. His hand gestured firmly toward the glass door. “You two. Talk.”“Kuya—” Sofia’s voice was sharp, panicked.“Now,” Elias cut her off.The command was final. Reluctantly, she rose from her chair, fury boiling under her skin. Tristan followed, his shadow stretching long across the floor.Behind them, the crowd of family and guests pretended to busy themselves with food and drinks, though every eye tracked their steps. Elias noticed immediately. With a sharp tug, he drew the curtains shut. “Respect my sister,” he announced. “She doesn’t need an audience.” His voice carried weight, enough to snuff out the whispers.Outside, the December air hit Sofia like a blade. The balcony lights cast a faint glow over the city skyline, Christmas lights blinking far below. She gripped
Entangled Chapter Seventy-One
Sofia’s stomach didn't just drop; it plummeted into a void. Tristan Jacinto stood framed in the doorway of her brother’s Singapore apartment. He was clearly bothered by the spectacle of the silent, staring crowd. But tonight, his usual fortress-like composure wasn't just strained, it was visibly worn down.He looked like a man who hadn't seen the inside of a proper bed in days. His face, typically clean-shaven to a severe perfection, was shadowed by a day's worth of dark stubble. His impeccably cut hair was a little too long, brushing his collar, and there was a noticeable loss of weight around his severe jawline. His eyes were dark, tired, and deeply troubled. He looked like the one who desperately needed sleep.The room froze, the collective paralysis absolute. Forks hovered mid-air like startled birds, wine glasses paused halfway to lips. The soft, rhythmic blink of the Christmas tree lights, red, green, red, green, mocked the sudden, profound silence that had fallen over the entir
Entangled Chapter Seventy
Elias and Lia’s apartment in Ang Mo Kio was the kind of space Sofia’s Tomson Road flat could never compete with. The living room was wide and welcoming, its walls painted in warm neutrals, a decorated Christmas tree standing proudly in the corner. The smell of adobo and lechon kawali drifted from the kitchen, mingling with the sweetness of bibingka baking in the oven.Her roommates settled in as if they had been coming here for years. Lani staked out a corner of the couch with a plate piled high with pancit, while Marco and Pia gravitated toward the stereo to queue up music. Sofia’s nieces darted in and out of the crowd, shrieking with delight every time one of their titas tossed them a candy from the dessert table.Elias had gone all out, inviting not only family but a small circle of Filipino friends and colleagues. Some were couples, others single, and the living room buzzed with the familiar cadence of Tagalog laughter, the kind that filled every corner until it felt like Manila h
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