Robert clenched his fists. He hadn’t prepared for what the woman just said. His suspicion was right after all. She knew the truth. He wouldn’t wonder anymore why. Azora was smart.
He had been sitting in his chair earlier, carefully studying her gentle face. It seemed she had returned to her senses. He wasn’t entirely sure though if her actions were completely free of ulterior motives at times. But he believed her anxiety and fear were genuine.
He sighed. “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.
He thought he would be safe from her questions, but he hadn’t expected Azora to ask again. “It was you who carried me when I was poisoned in that room, am I right?”
He furrowed his brow. How long would she continue to suspect? He sighed again and nodded. Her guess was correct. He was the one who carried Azora on the night she was poisoned.
He had been outside the mansion that night, waiting for Alibata Briones, when he heard some servants asking for help. He had voluntarily entered the mansion and went upstairs to her room. When he saw Azora lying unconscious on the floor, pale as paper, he wasted no time. He lifted her and immediately brought her to the De Lapaz-owned hospital. He only informed Alibata of what had happened to the girl after successfully removing the poison from Azora’s body.
That was also the way he saw to save her. He thought that if he had informed her father without being sure if Azora was safe, the person who poisoned her might not have spared the girl he was facing. So he took Azora to the hospital alone.
It was also true that the hospital didn’t just accept patients. He needed to use his connections with the staff. He knew Alibata had started to suspect his identity, but the man didn’t investigate further and thanked him for immediately bringing Azora to the hospital.
And when he realized that someone really wanted to poison the girl, he realized he had made the right decision. He just didn’t expect that the person behind the poisoning was Alibata’s woman, Simmy. That was why when he first saw her at the mansion, he had a bad feeling about the woman. He tried to avoid her despite seeing her wanting to approach him.
Their agreement with Alibata not to disclose Azora’s location seemed correct. Initially, he didn’t tell Alibata that Azora had contacted him for help to escape from the hospital.
But when he saw Azora bid farewell, planning to escape using the sticky notes she stuck on the wall, he decided to inform her father that he had helped Azora escape. However, he didn’t reveal his true identity or why it was easy for him to evade hospital staff.
Alibata was angry, but when he reasoned that Azora would not stop planning until she escaped from the hospital, Alibata could do nothing. So he advised him to carry out their plan long ago. He didn’t understand why Alibata planned to take his daughter to a distant place to hide.
And straight from Azora’s mouth that Alibata killed someone. He laughed weakly. Alibata made him a scapegoat. His teeth clenched in anger as he stared at Azora, who was now staring blankly at his face again.
He smirked. That’s why he agreed to let the girl escape because he knew someone wanted to poison her. That was the original reason.
“You seemed… amused,” she whispered.
He hid his surprise on his face and smirked. He thought she was stunned by his face like she did in the past few days, but he didn’t expect her to observe his expression. He looked away. “I just remembered something,” he said.
“I guessed, you’re thinking about the Clasiso. Why did you lie to me? Why did you say that they contacted you?” Azora asked.
He exhaled. “I just wanted to know the connection of Clasiso’s family to your father.”
“So you tricked me?” Azora’s face crumpled. “But you know Skylar!”
Robert shrugged. “I met her when she visited your father’s mansion.”
Azora’s eyes narrowed, as if remembering the day Skylar visited Alibata’s mansion. Robert curved his lips into a tight smile. Alibata seemed to have many secrets. And he would only get that information from Azora.
Robert sighed. Truthfully, he didn’t want to step into Alibata’s secrets, but since he didn’t say he killed someone, he wanted to hide Azora in a distant place. That was reason enough to pique his interest in the girl and her father.
“So you never knew Clasiso?” Azora asked. Hope gleamed in her eyes, widening his smile.
“I know them. The Clasiso family isn’t a secret, unlike the De Lapaz.”
Azora fell silent for a moment. Robert reached for the open beer and took a sip. The coldness soothed his throat. Then he turned to Azora. She was staring at the setting sun in the distance. Its faint rays touched her face and shoulders, but she didn’t seem to mind. He sighed and shielded his hand in front of her face to protect it from the sunlight.
Azora turned her face towards him. “Don’t do that. I’m looking at the sunset.”
“It’s bad for the eyes to stare at the sun.”
He saw her eyes roll towards him. He furrowed his brow.
“Come on,” she said, pushing his large hand aside. “I can. The sun’s rays aren’t that strong.”
He didn’t debate with her further. He also looked at the setting sun. He guessed it was five o’clock in the afternoon. A few minutes more and it would be completely dark.
“So… you’ll keep me here for two months?” Azora suddenly asked.
“If you want to leave, I won’t stop you.”
“Really?”
Another silence passed between them before Azora asked again. “So I didn’t really escape Dad’s watch?”
“He didn’t know I brought you to Alcantara.”
“But still, he knew.”
“He has the right to know, Azora. Didn’t you tell him you were going to escape because you knew Simmy wouldn’t leave you alone?”
He heard her sigh. “You did tell him I’m with you. That’s why you leave the house every day.”
He raised his lips at what she said. Why does Alibata’s daughter know so much?
He smirked. “I travel to other municipalities to talk to your father. That’s why he doesn’t know the location of this house in Alcantara.”
“But why did someone approach me in that supermarket and claim that I knew Skylar?”
“I don’t know,” he shrugged again and started to feel lighter, knowing that the beer was starting to take effect. “Maybe someone just happened to recognize you.”
Azora let out a laugh. “I don’t believe in coincidence.”
“Neither do I,” he admitted. “That’s why I didn’t believe it was a coincidence that someone saw us behind the hospital that night, and it was not a coincidence that someone gave Anthony Clasiso’s autopsy report to the police.”
Azora quickly turned to him. “It was you and Dad who deliberately spread word about our escape from the hospital. I just don’t understand why you two did that.”
“To flush out the mastermind behind everything.”
“Are you saying Dad is suspecting Simmy now?”
Robert shrugged again. “Possible. Also possible not.” He glanced at Azora. “Because not long after, someone released an autopsy report that everyone believed was genuine. Now, what do you say about the person who went to the police to release the autopsy report and disappeared like smoke afterwards?”
Azora held her breath. “W-What are you…”
Robert noticed Azora trembling, so he furrowed his brow. It seemed Azora wasn’t the only one who could bring out the truth using just words.
Now, he knew why the girl had been anxious in the past few days.