Kabanata 6

Nagising si Dante sa lamig ng aircon na humahalos sa kanyang hubad na balat.

He reached out his arm instinctively, expecting to feel the soft, silky skin of the girl from the bar. Inaasahan niyang mararamdaman niya ang init ng katawan nito na tila naging mitsa ng pagsabog niya kagabi.

But his hand hit nothing but cold, empty sheets.

Agad siyang napadilat. Ang kanyang penthouse ay maliwanag na dahil sa sikat ng araw na tumatagos sa malalaking bintana. He sat up, his muscular back aching from the intensity of the previous night. He looked at the pillow beside him—may bakas pa doon ng bango nito, isang amoy ng vanilla at mamahaling pabango na tila nanunuot sa sistema niya.

"Fuck," he hissed, running a hand through his messy dark hair.

He looked around the room. Her black silk dress was gone. Her heels were gone. Even the scent of her skin was starting to fade into the smell of the expensive cigars in the room. She left without a word. She left without leaving so much as a name.

Dante stood up, his tall, tattooed frame casting a long shadow on the floor. He walked toward the floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at the busy streets of Manila. Thousands of people were moving down there, and one of them was the girl who had the audacity to use him—a man feared by everyone—for a one-night stand and disappear before dawn.

He remembered her eyes. Those eyes were darker than the night, filled with a mixture of innocence and a desperate, burning rebellion. He remembered the way she trembled when he first entered her.

A virgin.

Hindi siya makapaniwala. A girl like that, someone who looked like she belonged in a palace or a boardroom, chose a dark bar and a dangerous stranger to give her "first" to. She didn't want his money. She didn't want his name. She just wanted him to ruin her.

"Boss?"

Bumukas ang pinto at pumasok ang kanyang kanang-kamay na si Marco. Nakayuko ito, bakas ang kaba. Alam ni Marco na kapag ganito ang aura ni Dante, parang may paparating na bagyo.

"What?" Dante's voice was like gravel, low and dangerous.

"The meeting with the southern clans is in an hour. And... we found the SUV. The girl was seen leaving the building at 4:00 AM. She took a taxi."

Dante didn't care about the meeting. He turned around, his eyes piercing Marco like a blade. "I want you to find her."

Napaangat ng tingin si Marco, halatang nagulat. "Boss? It was just a one-night stand, right? You usually don't—"

"I didn't ask for your opinion, Marco. I asked you to find her," Dante cut him off.

He walked toward his bedside table and picked up a small, silver earring—the only thing she left behind in her rush to escape. "She’s not a nobody. Look at the CCTVs. Look at the guest list of every high-end club in the city. Find out who she is, who she belongs to, and why she was crying when I took her innocence."

Naalala niya ang bawat ungol nito. It wasn't just pleasure; it was a release of something deep and painful. It bothered him. It captivated him. Sa buong buhay niya, lahat ng babae ay lumalapit sa kanya dahil sa takot o dahil sa pera. But this girl? She looked at him as if he were her only escape.

"Get the Private Investigator on the line. I want a full profile by tonight. Bawat galaw niya, bawat taong kinakausap niya," Dante commanded.

He gripped the small earring in his fist until the metal bit into his skin. No one walks away from Dante Valez. No one treats him like a tool for revenge and just vanishes into the morning fog.

He was the Shadow. And shadows always follow you, no matter how fast you run.

"She thinks she can go back to her perfect life after what we did?" Dante whispered to the empty room, a dark, possessive smirk forming on his lips. "She's wrong. I haven't even started with her yet."

Nang umalis si Marco, naiwan si Dante na nakatingin sa malayo. The hunt had begun. And for the first time in a long time, he felt something other than the cold bitterness of his past betrayal. He felt a hunger that no whiskey could satisfy.

Dante Valez was a man who got everything he wanted. And right ngayon, ang gusto niya ay ang babaeng nagnakaw ng kanyang gabi at iniwan siyang naghahanap sa dilim.