Chapter 20: A Glimpse of the Past

Robles Construction Company...

'Today is the meeting with the partners. Antonio should be here soon. I haven't heard from him since. I bet he's still upset,' Lauren thought, fidgeting with her fingers nervously. She looked to the package on her desk. It was a box of cookies. 'Gifting him this as an apology seemed like a good idea when I was making them. He'll definitely see me as pathetic for that. Even the fifty thousand dollar watch I had saved for his birthday would be even worse. What do I do? Just apologize?' she thought and began sulking. She was still baffled by his reaction. Who on Earth is Andrea was the question eating her up.

Snapping Lauren from her thoughts was a call from Wanda. "What the heck do you mean by he's not coming today? There's a board meeting in a few hours. Is he unwell? I bet that filthy woman in his house must have infected him with something," Lauren spat out.

"Quite the contrary. He's fine health wise but he's staying to take care of the Miss," Wanda said calmly, smiling to herself.

"He's taking care of her? Is her condition that bad? And what are the doctor and nurse for? For crying out loud, what are your uses in that house?!" she screamed and immediately, the call ended. 'She hung up....on me?!' Lauren thought furiously. "Damn you! All of you!" she said through gritted teeth.

★★★

"Godfather? Don't you think that woman would be a problem?" Rachel asked over a phone call.

"How on Earth could a poor naive little YouTuber be a threat to us, Rachel?" the Godfather asked in an extremely hoarse voice.

"I don't know but I have a feeling she'll be a big prob..."

"Stop getting your feelings involved. You had better not be thinking of ever being with Antonio again," he said angrily.

"No no no no, there's no way I'll ever get back together with him. Once we're done with him, he'll be nothing more than dust," she said and following was the beeping of the phone. 'It's not like he'll ever want me back. He hates me to the core and would probably kill me if he ever laid his hands on me again,' she thought dejectedly.

***

About a year ago...

The night he found out of her betrayal....

"Rachel!" he yelled once he entered the mansion.

"What's wrong my boy? Why are you so upset?" Wanda asked worriedly.

"Where the heck is Rachel?!" He asked through gritted teeth and with red blazing eyes.

"Calm down fir..."

"Answer the damn question woman?!"

"She went out not too long ago," the old woman said trembling with fear.

Suddenly a thought crossed his mind. Rachel believed Antonio had been keeping the documents of the shares he was taking back from partners in the safe in his study. Apparently, her plan had been to get her hands on them and take possession of them. Those shares were shares of various companies he owned. Since Antonio hadn't officially taken possession over them, anyone who did possess them, could buy from the owners of the shares and be the legitimate shareholders...or so she believed.

Antonio rushed to his study instantly. To his shock, adding up to his rage, was a surprise awaiting him. There was a cake, on his desk and decorations all around. "Surprise!" Wanda yelled from behind him, adding up to his fury.

"How dare you?!" he said through gritted teeth, turning and staring daggers at her. "I expressly said to not give 'anyone' access to my study, no matter what!"

"S-She had e-exciting news for you a-and wanted to s-surprise you," she stuttered.

He went over to his safe and opened it. Someone had been to it. To his horror, his fear was right all along. Once he found out that someone was plotting against him, he investigated his partners and seized the shares of all the partners with corrupt results. Per the contract, if a shareholder was found to be disloyal to the company, Antonio could seize possession of the shares and pay the shareholders half of its worth. Although the results were negative, they didn't point out to any of them directly betraying him with an intention of taking his position as the head. It had to be someone close. That was when he had Rachel tracked daily and found out she was being shady. She constantly received calls from a private number on a phone she thought Antonio had no idea she had.

"She did it. She actually fell for the bait," he whispered to himself and sat on his desk's seat, dejectedly, staring at the almost empty safe behind his desk. The love of his life, the woman he was about to get married to, had betrayed him... for money?

"Antonio? What's going on?" Wanda asked worriedly.

"Hand me your phone," he said coldly and opened up his palm behind him. She immediately placed her phone in his hand and immediately regretted doing so without a second thought.

A message popped up on her phone. 'Thank you,' it said from Rachel. He opened their chat and realized that Wanda had informed her that he was upset with her.

"Pack your things Wanda. You're fired," he said coldly, not even turning to spare her a glance.

"B-But why? What have I...."

"I will not repeat myself," he said swirling his chair 180 degrees to face her. His face was expressionless yet the aura he emitted, murderous. As she was walked out, his eyes fell on the cake in front of him. Though his expression did not change, Antonio was indeed shocked. He placed a call to Rachel on Wanda's phone.

"Hello love, I was expecting your call," she said gracefully. A smile was surely on her face.

"I hope my beloved fiance is indeed happy now," Antonio said emotionlessly.

"I am but I'm afraid my beloved fiance must be quite sad. Are you missing me already? I could always come over, you know?" she said and chuckled.

"I bet you wish you could," he said with a scoff.

"You have no idea. I'm already missing your scent. I took your perfume to cure that. I hope that's not a problem," she said cheekily.

"I'm glad you helped yourself Hun," he said with a cold chuckle.

"My only problem is that I'll miss the warmth of your embrace and..."

"Well don't you worry because the next time I see you," he said emotionlessly and paused for a little while, enabling the intensity of his next words to hit Rachel as he wished it to, "...you'll surely feel my embrace around your neck."

Rachel was silent, just as he had anticipated. "You wouldn't...."

"We're yet to find out, aren't we? You, love, know for a fact that if there's something I don't take lightly, it betrayal," he said with a hostile chuckle.

"I had no other choice Antonio...."

"Save your speech for the next life. One wrong turn deserves another. After that, you can explain yourself... whenever we meet again. Oh by the way, that's a pretty cake you got me right there. Too bad I bet it's infected with all your filth," he scoffed.

"I know you're upset Antonio..."

"What happened to addressing me as 'love'? Are you worried now?"

"Antonio, you can't possibly kill me. You'll..."

"Go to jail? You better than anyone know that's not gonna happen..."

"Did you read what's on the cake?"

"You and I both know you're not pregnant so don't even bother."

"I'll hand to the results personally when I assume my place as..."

"As what? A wannabe shareholder? Take a look at those fake documents and think again. I had been on to you for awhile now. It was all just a setup so get off your imaginary high horse and start running. Your clock is ticking. I'll find you and when I do, you'll regret the day you laid your eyes on me," he said and hung up.

***

"Antonio Leonardo Robles, if only all this hadn't happened. We would have lived a happy family and I would have been the most envied woman in the world," she said and sighed dejectedly, reminiscing the times they spent together.