Lahat ng Kabanata ng Shadow of Yesterday: Kabanata 41 - Kabanata 50

Meanwhile, Adam tried his best to come up with the right words before knocking on the door. No set of words in the world could possibly numb Jessica’s anger down. He let out a defeated sigh and knocked. The door abruptly opened the next second and Jessica stepped out of the room with a straight face, staring into Adam’s soul. Adam braced himself for another barrage of abuses and insults. He knew that he deserved it but only wanted it to wait until the uninvited guests had left. “Do I look presentable?” Jessica suddenly asked, straightening her clothes. Adam was taken aback. “There’s a couple of cops who want to talk to…” Adam tried to explain away but he was interrupted by Jessica.“I’m not blind. I saw them getting out of their car,” Jessica said and headed towards the stairs. Adam hesitated for a moment before following her down the stairs. Jessica knew that the arrival of the cops could never mean anything good in her already dismantled world but her anger suppressed her fear. S

Back at Juan Varga’s liquor place…Hugo Ortiz refused to lay on the bed like a helpless person. He stood in front of the mirror and slowly buttoned up his shirt. He tried to move as little as possible to avoid stretching the stitches. Juan had procured a lot of things that he thought his boss might ask for. He was rarely nervous but nothing in his life had ever prepared him for what he was facing today. He stood behind his boss, trying to find the correct words to frame his question. “What do we do now?” Juan finally asked. Hugo didn't take his eyes off the mirror and pondered for a moment. “You know when I was just a boy, I used to keep chickens and roosters. The coop was in the garden of our mansion. There was no greater happiness to me than seeing my flock grow. I used to show my newly hatched chicks to everyone I knew,” Hugo told his story. Juan listened intently. “On Sunday mornings, my father and I used to hang out in the garden of the mansion. My father read the paper while

At Jessica’s house…Night had fallen and the house looked empty. Adam sat idly in the dimly lit living room and stared at the clock as it barely moved. The half full bottle of whiskey stared at him and he stared back. The voices in his head were continuously suggesting him everything ranging from violence to suicide. Recently, Adam had been encountering these thoughts quite frequently and in those times, the bottle had always been his best friend. But today, he didn't crave the alcohol. A part of him wanted the voices to finally consume him. The arrival of police in his already shook up life was not a good omen. It was the harbinger of even worse days to come. With police in the picture, god knows what Hugo would do to get his hands on Jessica. Among the voices, he could hear Jessica’s voice, calling him a liar. It made him break down. Tears fell from his eyes as he sobbed with his face buried in his palms. All this time he had tried his best to convince himself that he had no choice.

The moment Hugo saw that security camera, he was sure that Vladimir was here. Hugo could almost see the scared thug shivering in front of a screen inside the room. When the door opened, Hugo found exactly what he had expected. Vladimir was in his boxers standing in front of a small screen. Behind him was an unconscious naked girl lying on the bed. The room was trashed. Empty bottles of champagne were scattered around. A small table at the corner still had two lines of coke on it. There was slow music and faint red lighting in the room. It was obvious that Vladimir had been making full use of the club’s facilities. It seemed that Vladimir had got the news of their arrival a bit too late. He didn't have a gun in his hands. It was meters away from him on the table and he knew better than to make a run for it in front of those two. He eyeballed and tried to intimidate them. It was no use. Hugo might have been two decades younger than Vladimir but his aura was unmatched. He just stood the

Carl drove swiftly and expertly through the oncoming traffic. At times, he even had to drive the wrong way to avoid the delays. Some of the swerves were extremely dangerous and left the drivers around him flipping him the bird. Wade Johnson was in a world of his own. He didn't give a crap about a beggar’s corpse but the specifics left him intrigued. After a long journey, the car arrived in front of an abandoned tunnel. A bunch of police cars and an ambulance stood by the entrance of the tunnel. The place was cordoned off with yellow police tape. Wade got out of the car and walked towards the crime scene. A rookie tried to stop him from entering but another cop who recognized Wade told the rookie to let him through. The Detective lifted the tape with his finger and walked underneath it. A corpse covered by a white sheet lay at the far end of the tunnel. A forensics guy was snapping pics of the crime scene. There were a bunch of yellow cones scattered around with numbers on them. Wade