Chapter 15: Chapter 15

"Choose your stand, fight for it."

"I think you made the right choice." Mrs Romero honestly answered.

"Really?" Adriana quizzed, doubting her hearing.

She had no idea why she had taken such a drastic step towards her father. She was going to ruin him and for a man.

No! You have to fix this.

Not that she would have the opportunity to fix her mistake.

Nathan was a smart ass and would have a plan of his own to sidetrack hers just in case she failed.

Adriana assumed he had already told someone if he hadn't even recorded their conversation and handed it to a trusted friend in his stead already.

She was freaking out.

"Adriana!" Her mother recalled her back to reality.

" Sorry Mother but that was done in the heat of the moment, I wasn't thinking right."

" I think you were doing the right thing." Mrs Romero maintained.

Adriana gave her mother a groan and continued to pace around the room.

"No mother! You've been against this since the very beginning. Your words must have gotten to me and now I think I'm doing the right thing betraying my father."

"You're seriously gonna make this about you now!" Her mother flared.

Your father killed someone and that against everything I taught you, even against the laws."

The room was tense.

"You're right Mother. I might not have seen it but I inherited this from you, abandoning the family when they need you to most."

Adriana received a smack on the cheek for her vulgar statement.

"You dare blame me, Adriana! Your father—He ruined our family and..."

"No! Nathan did!" Adriana cut in, her face flushed in rage. "Why did I even tell you all this?"

Mrs Romero looked down, drops staining the Persian rug and turning it from tomato red to a darker shade of the color.

" I know that is what you tell yourself every day but deep down you know who caused all this."

Adriana knew her mother's words made sense but it was difficult accepting it.

Her mother's warm hands caressed her face reminding her of old times they had together.

"I trust you'll make the right choice and no matter how it goes, I'll be proud of you."

Adriana turned her face away, guilt was coming back to her.

"But if Father finds out..."

" You do the right thing, Adriana. Your father killed someone and that is wrong. He's lucky you're just doing just this."

Adriana managed a brave smile to keep her mother from continuing.

"I just—Our family is really broken. Adrian's death, You and Dad's divorce and now this. I just don't want to break the only thing I have left."

"It's not your fault. We all make mistakes and—they have consequences, good and bad. Your father made his along with others. This is the consequence."

Adriana could not help but feel her mother was right.

She imagined Claire with an angry relative or friend who knew the truth, they would come for revenge just like she had with Nathan.

She had better save her father from such a torment, even if it meant betraying his trust.

It's for the best.

***

The air was a bit cold to breathe in but luckily Rodriguez's wife was kind enough to turn on the thermostat.

"So she wants to give you the company back?" Rodriguez quizzed taking a sip of black coffee.

Nathan sort of envied him. He worked at home and had a very cooperative wife. It was his dream life.

"Here." His wife dropped a cup of black coffee with cream swimming on top, Nathan could tell his mother made it. No one knew he liked Almond milk.

He took a sip and smacked his lip, savoring the creamy goodness before nodding to Rodriguez.

"And you trust her?" It could be a trap for all we know."

"I know." "That's why I'm telling you and also because I need your help."

Rodriguez lugged his chair closer, his gaze deepening.

"What kind of help?"

"We plan to threaten him since he killed Claire, we'll use it against him."

"I don't understand you, Nathan."

"You will be the blackmailer."

Rodriguez stopped. Nathan could guess why. Thomas still ran the company as of present and if there was any slip-up, Rodriguez was doomed. He could only picture a thousand reasons why.

Nathan knew what he was asking for was demeaning and dangerous. Rodriguez would soon become a family man and the leats he wanted were to ruin him and his small family but Rod was the only one he could trust.

"I know it difficult but I need you and with you involved, it will be difficult for Adriana to back down on her words."

Rodriguez nodded, passing his empty cup to his wife for a refill.

"I really can't say no Nathan... You helped me and without you, I would have never been here. I'll help you."

Nathan swore he heard his wife shrieked.

He ignored it since it eas only the concern of a loving wife. She saw the rational, even if she wouldn't say it.

"Thanks for taking care of my mother. How's she coping?"

"Frankly, she's been withdrawn. She hits well but you know... She hardly talks and she spends a lot of her time upstairs." Rodriguez's wife stated.

Nathan momentarily doubted who made his drink.

"But she made this right?" He asked, raising his drink high for her to see what he was talking about.

"Yes, before she went upstairs."

I have to see her.

"I guess I'll go see her then."

"She won't open." The couple said in unison.

What? Why wouldn't she?

Nathan ignored their pessimist statement and trudged upstairs to see his mother.

Rodriguez's house was small so it was quick to locate her room. The door was made of wreath brass, a subtle protection for Intruders and petty thieves.

"Mother!" He knocked.

There was no reply.

He knew very much she was inside. He could hear her sobs and he could tell she was crying.

" I know you're there and even if you don't answer, u want you to know I'm getting everything back. You'll come home. I promise."

***

" You told him everything!" Adriana yelled not caring if her father upstairs could eavesdrop on the conversation.

"That is irresponsible Nathan."

"We need more help of we are going to be successful with this. The first person hell suspect is me. I was thinking out of the box."

Adriana made her hair into a rough bun and she continued to think.

"But how do we know we can trust him?"

"I trust him!" Nathan upheld.

Nathan could not help but see Adriana as a worrisome green. A lot like his sister.

"Can we stop fighting for once? It almost like you have something else against me."

Adriana walked to him defiantly, her stance screaming 'Don't mess with me!' but even irresistible.

"What do you mean?"

Nathan ran a finger on her plump pink lips begging for his attention unsure of what came over him.

The air became tense and Adriana felt shudders as his hand traced her velvety skin to even tender places.

"What are you doing?!" She slapped his hands off.

"I'm—sorry I must have had a lot to drink."

"Call him."

"Who—Rodriguez? I—'ll do that."

Nathan faced his phone screen just to cope with the awkwardness of the situation.

He had to admit, He had a swing before coming to Adriana but was it the drink or was he acting on pent up feelings he buried deep inside.

He hoped it was not the latter.