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Angela didn\'t want to believe that Gael was responsible for Herman\'s disappearance. He was capable of it—after all, he was a mafia. But he wouldn\'t do that, would he?

The way he was at the moment made him look a bit cocky as if he wanted to know if she was judging him. And she wasn\'t sure if she was. Sure, she wanted Herman to pay. But would she really look away and keep mum if Gael did something to that man?

"What do you think I did?" he challenged.

"I don\'t know. Why did you say \'maybe\'? So you must have done something."

He subtly looked around—probably to see if someone was eavesdropping. Then he spoke in a voice low enough for her to hear.

"I will admit that I wanted to...hurt him. But I didn\'t. Do you believe me?"

Angela nodded and then waited for him to continue. Gael placed a hand on the small of her back and guided her towards a corner of the room where there were fewer people. Her heart started to race, causing her to swallow the lump in her throat. He\'s making her nervous, and the way he was delaying it made it worse.

He took a sip of his drink, his brow wrinkling because of the sweetness. Then he said, "I didn\'t do anything to him. Physically, I mean. Despite wanting to. I couldn\'t… I wouldn\'t do that here."

"Just tell me what you did," she urged.

Taking a deep breath, Gael began to explain, "The day after we went to the orphanage, I paid our boy Herman a friendly visit."

Angela\'s eyes went wide. "You went to see him? Wait… That\'s the day you took me out on a date in the evening. I can\'t believe you didn\'t tell me anything."

"I swear I was going to tell you once it was over, but...it didn\'t work the way I planned it."

"What exactly happened? How did you even know where he lives?"

He finished the last sip of his drink. "I did my research. Not important. Anyway, I went to see him at the crack of dawn—more like sneaked into his bedroom while he was asleep…" Angela furrowed her brows but didn\'t interrupt him. "Anyway, he woke up—and I can tell you, it wasn\'t a pretty sight." 

The man slept in his briefs without a blanket. And the temperature inside the house was higher than what Gael would have tolerated.

He continued, "Long story short, I made him a deal. I let him think I will buy all the kids from him at an exorbitant price and in cold cash." The crease between Angela\'s brows went deeper but her eyes were laced with curiosity. She was adorable.

"What did he say?" she asked.

"He was skeptical at first. But I brought a briefcase full of cash with me. I showed it to him and his eyes lit up like Christmas lights at the sight of it. I was pretty sure right then that I got him."

Herman wanted money and Gael had lots of it. It was pretty straightforward.

"And?"

"Herman said that even if he wanted to make the deal with me, he\'d already agreed to other clients and it will take a while before he could cancel it." Gael flagged down a waiter nearby and asked for two bottles of water. He felt the sweetness of the cocktail starting to decay his tooth already and he needed to wash it down.

Then he faced Angela again. "So I told him I\'ll give him a day to decide or the money goes to another orphanage. He didn\'t even ask what I was planning with the children. Herman took the bait and told me he\'ll get back to me in twenty-four hours."

"Oh, my god." She gulped down the rest of her drink and imagined the scenario in her head. "You think you know the person because he\'s \'doing a good deed\' but in reality, Herman is nothing but a piece of nincompoop walrus who hates the greens in a salad but eats dollar bills for breakfast. What a piece of turd!"

Okay. Gael wasn\'t sure he understood what insult she was trying to say because she downplayed it with words that weren\'t as vulgar as he would have said it. "I\'m sure you meant to say Herman is a shithead."

When she bit her bottom lip, he lightly elbowed her and said, "Come on. It\'s okay to curse."

"Fine. He\'s a fûckin\' shîthead."

He chuckled. The waiter came back with the bottles of water. Gael opened one for Angela and gave it to her.

"So what happened then? Did you see him after that?" She asked after taking a gulp of the water.

He shook his head. That\'s when things ended in his plan. "I never heard from him after that. I asked one of my men to check up on Herman, but all we knew was that he didn\'t come home that day."

"What were you going to do if he actually agreed? Were you just going to give him money and let him get away with it?"

"Of course not." Gael would never let Herman walk away. If they weren\'t in Esmea, he would have done things differently. He wouldn\'t even give Herman the chance to think about it. Gael would have forcibly taken whatever he wanted to take. No questions asked. But he couldn\'t do that here because he respected the concord and had no plans on breaking it. "Thank god for Esmea\'s state law. I would have made him sign legal documents first, transferring his rights or custody of the kids to you—since you\'re a local and I\'m not. Then I would have handed him over to the police via a limousine, letting him think I\'d give him a bonus of a long vacation somewhere tropical since he liked heat so much."

Angela swallowed. The whole thing wasn\'t exactly what she thought she would have done. But Gael—the mafia prince that he was—had his ways. He didn\'t act impulsively and she appreciated that he didn\'t.

She must have been silent for a while because he gently brushed her arm to catch her attention and told her, "I swear to you, I didn\'t do anything to him. He was still breathing when I left his house. I\'ve had my men keep a lookout after he didn\'t contact me when he was supposed to, but things happened yesterday, and…he\'s the least of my concerns right now."

Looking back at his hopeful gaze, she could feel that he was telling the truth. Despite her trust in him wavering, Angela knew that Gael knows how much this meant to her. So she chose to believe in that. She nodded. "Okay. I believe you."

Relieved, he let out a sigh and reassured her, "Don\'t worry. I\'ll continue to look for him. He can\'t get away from what he did."

Aunt Linda got on stage and spoke for a couple of minutes, welcoming the family to tonight\'s occasion. Then everyone was asked to move to the dining area of the hall where dinner would be served.

Gael took Angela\'s hand and planted it around his arm, taking her towards the dining table where her father and brother were seated. At first, she was reluctant to hold him, but she eventually relaxed and held him like she usually did. It was the little things like this that kept him going. He believed that everything between them would go back to normal—whatever that was.

***

The main table was a long rectangular one right in front of the stage. The head of the Su Clan—Charlie\'s brother, the host of tonight\'s party, and Charlie\'s family sat in it. Angela sat to Gael\'s left, then Lyra sat to his right, followed by Lyra\'s fiancé. In the middle of the meal, a server came to their side of the table bringing an unusual-looking bouquet. The server announced that it was for Lyra, given by her fiancé. It was a dollar bouquet—about two dozens of rolled hundred-dollar bills arranged into a bouquet.

"Aww, Josh! Honey-bunch! What is this surprise?" Lyra had freakin\' tears in her eyes. 

"Just taking care of my fiancée. Why don\'t you treat yourself to a spa tomorrow?" Josh replied with a smirk.

Some of the aunts around them gave compliments while Angela rolled her eyes. What a load of crap.

And Lyra, being Lyra, purposely raised her tone and asked Angela, "Angie. Isn\'t my Joshy sweet?"

Angela softly giggled but dying inside when she agreed, "Like sugar!"

Then Josh glanced at Gael as he said, "We gotta take care of our woman, don\'t we?"

Lyra then boasted about how Josh invested in a new oil company that was coming to Esmea. 

Gael chuckled silently. What kind of stunt was this? If he wasn\'t mistaken, this Josh probably invested in De Luca\'s oil company that was about to enter Esmea in a few months.

He knew this was a petty rivalry between the cousins, but would he just sit there and let this woman bully his Angel? Of course not. 

Retrieving something in his inner jacket pocket, he winked at Angela and said, "Don\'t worry, babe. I got you."

"What are you doing?" Her eyes flitted here and there. She was worried about what sorcery he was up to now.

All eyes on the table were on Gael as he slid a signed blank check and a black platinum credit card towards Angela. Then he said, "I know you don\'t need money, and I\'m proud of that. But what\'s mine is yours."

\'What the hell is this man doing? Is he insane?\' Her jaw dropped.

A nervous laugh escaped her lips. In a voice that\'s almost a whisper so that only he could hear, she muttered, "Perhaps I\'m not saving a man\'s life today after all."