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KATALINA
Her face swiftly changed again. One moment, it was stern and cold. The next moment, she was smiling with eyes glittering like sunshine.
“Good girl.” She moved close and cupped my chin tenderly.
Caught off guard, I tried to back away, but she was surprisingly strong.
“Mum, let go!” I grunted and grabbed her hands.
“You’ve always been sensible. Mum was wrong to suspect you like that.” She patted my cheeks apologetically and dropped her hands.
I quickly backed off, but my back hit the wall.
“Mum, what was that all about? What’s going on? Why are you here?”
I looked around and it was another very quite corner. How did she know all the nooks and cranny of this place? I couldn’t even remember how we got here because I was too dazed to notice.
“Nothing. I just wanted to come check on you. How is he treating you? Is he asking you any questions?” Her eyes searched mine earnestly. She seemed worried.
“No. He just wanted to know if I saw you, but I didn’t tell him anything. Mum, what’s going on?”
“It’s good you didn’t tell him. He must not know. Else, you will be in danger.”
“Mum, what’s going on?” I repeated exasperatedly.
“What’s going on is that Mum is try to safe you, but things got complicated. Now, I need your help to find something.”
“What?” I blinked in confusion. “What did you do Mum?” My heart raced as I searched her shifty eyes, unable to make a head or tail of her words.
“Listen.” She reached out for my hands, but I instinctively avoided her. For some reason, I just felt uncomfortable each time she touched me.
She frowned then scoffed. My sweat mother has never scoffed at me before. This was the first time. At this point, I wasn’t even sure she was my Mum anymore. Like all her gestures and her appearance was Mum, but she was simply messed up.
“Mum, are you doing drugs” I blurted out, interjecting her in panic.
“What? Why will you say that?” she snapped angrily.
“Because I don’t understand you anymore. Look at you Mum. Just look at yourself.” I snapped back, unable to hold it together anymore.
She suddenly came closer and grabbed me. There was no way out for me because she intentionally blocked the only escape space between us. She grabbed my arms and aggressively hit my back on the wall. Her eyes were sparkling with malice and suppressed anger.
“Mum!” Shocked, I gasped.
“Listen. I am doing this for you. Huracio is a murderer. He is using you to blackmail me. I can’t stay here, and I can’t leave you behind. He has something against me. As long as you can help me get it from him, we will be able to leave. If you can’t, you can only wait for him to kill me. That’s if he doesn’t kill you first. Do you understand?”
She was so close to my face that I could feel the heat of every breath she took while speaking.
“Do you understand, KATALINA?” She snapped loudly, jarring me back to my senses.
Of everything she said, only one phrase got me.
“Why will he kill you? What did you do? Why are you calling him a killer?” I rambled in confusion, and fear.
It wasn’t that Huracio being a killer surprised me. No. After what he did to Amber, it will be stupid of me to think his hands are clean. But, I seriously doubted that he would kill me. He may not be crazily in love with me like I would have liked, but I know that I am safe with him. This isn’t wishful thinking. It’s something in the way he looks at me. The way he holds me in his arms while we sleep…
What worried me was the possibility of him killing Mum. She left him at the altar after all.
My Mum might not be so great right now, but her death would be the end of me. She’s all I have got.
“It’s a secret.”
“Mum, please.” I tried to beg, but she suddenly turned stern again.
“Kata, I can’t tell you. The only reason to you are save is because You don’t know anything. If I tell you and he finds out, you will be in danger. Huracio will kill you. So, stop asking, okay”
Those words sounded familiar. Huracio had said something similar to me, and I have said something just like that to Emilia.
Realizing that I was backing the wrong tree, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
“Mum, what do you want me to do?” I asked in a low, tired voice.
“Good girl.” She instantly relaxed and gave me e a small smile. She brought out a colored sketch of a company’s logo. No name, no address, just the logo.
“Take this. Find files with that logo. Once you do, bring them to me.”
“You want me to steal files from Huracio? How? I hardly go to his office unless he took me there. I don’t have access, Mum.”
“Hm.” She scoffed. “If it was at his office, I wouldn’t be needing your help. Check his study. I am sure it’s there.”
“You have checked his off…”
A burst of light went off in my head. I gasped, covering my mouth with my hands. “Mum, that was you?” I whispered.
“Once you get the files, remember your favorite MacDonald on Becker street?” She ignored my words and just continued what she was saying. She didn’t even blink.
I nodded in astonishment, still couldn’t believe that my Mum was involved in a robbery and arson. Remembering how pissed Huracio was the other day, I see how he could really kill her if he should catch her.
“There is a white utility truck with opened windows in the car park. Go to the shotgun and drop it there.”
“Mum, what if I can’t find this file?”
“I am sure he is keeping it at home. You just have to find it. If you don’t, I will have to leave the country without you.”
“I don’t understand. You are leaving?” My eyes widened in shock.
“What choice do I have? You are the only reason I am still here. Just get that file and let’s get out, okay.” She implored me . If not for how shifty her eyes were, I would have believed her. But those eyes couldn’t even look me in the eye.
“The only way to safely leave this country is to have that file as a bargaining chip. You must retrieve it. You can do this, Kata. Mum trusts you.” She said, suddenly losing that overbearing tone and sounding motherly.
I had the urge to chuckle, but I suppressed it. How am I supposed to access Huracio’s study?
“Kata, you have nothing to be afraid of. As long as they don’t catch me, you will be safe. But once you get that file, we will leave together. I promise. Just do this one thing for Mum, Okay?”
“Okay.” I nodded absentmindedly.
“I have stayed here for too long. I have to leave now. Kata, remember what I said. Don’t trust Huracio. He is a murderer.”
“Yes, Mum.”
She lean forward and kissed me on my cheek. She then turned around and started jogging off. Within seconds, she made a corner and was gone.
Unlike the last time, I didn’t run after her. I just stood in place with hundreds of thoughts running in my mind. The most important one being, ‘How do I bypass those cameras?’
I stayed in place for five minutes before moving. In those minutes, I came to a conclusion. I am going to get those files, and I am going to keep them for myself. Mum kept telling me not to trust Huracio, but My guts kept warning me not to trust her. Especially, those shifty eyes. If she wants to leave me behind, she should go ahead. She is the one Huracio wanted dead. I know for a fact that he wouldn’t kill me. So, why should I run?
Determined, I called Emilia. “Do you know how to bypass cameras?” I asked her.
“What are you talking about now?” She asked, sounding befuddled.
“The whole house is wired, Emilia. I can’t get into his study because the cameras will catch me.”
There was a short silence on the other side, …
“Is the invitation to come to your house still open?”
“Of course. The apartment is yours whenever you want it.” I replied, wondering why she was asking about it.
“Then, I will spend the weekend at your place.”
“Really?” I gasped.
By then, I was at the lecture hall’s door and was staring straight at her in pleasant surprise. She turned around with her phone to her ear, and rolled her eyes at me. She then disconnected the call and walked up.
“The lecture has been cancelled. Let’s go home.”
“Now?” I asked, looking dazed.
“Is there something else you want to do today?”
“No. But it’s weekend. Today is Friday. You just said you would spend the weekend at my house. Does that mean we are going to my place?”
I was almost skidding as I followed her down the corridor.
“Lets go to my place first. I need to pack a bag.”
“You are really coming to my place?” I hugged her excitedly. She was shocked and just stood there until I was done.
“So dramatic.” She snorted when I let her go.
“I thought you would never come over.”
“Well, how am I supposed to tell you how to bypass those cameras if I don’t know their placement?”