Chapter 35

The rest of the trip back to Manila went well. We stayed on the phone with Mayu and Luz and made it safely to the predetermined police department. Baluyot was already there, having arrived before us by a quarter hour, and he was already taking care of the minutiae.

I was under house arrest until further notice. No leaving the apartment complex for any reason. The girls were under no such limitations, though, nor were there any charges leveraged against them.

Baluyot did say that they’d need their own counsel that was not him, to make sure there was no conflict of interest. That would be necessary in case they were asked to testify against me for the sexual assault allegations.

Baluyot was worried the cops might try to force testimony out of them since this case was very high stakes for everyone involved. Mrs. Gallardo was already in the process of taking care of that, though, so I wasn’t worried.

Once that was done with, it was time to go home. With Mayu and Luz now speaking with Mrs. Gallardo to arrange their pickup, it was just me, Paz and Tala in the car again. And our police escort. One car leading us, this time.

“So...” Tala said, turning around in her seat to peer at me in the back. “How do you think this is gonna go? Are you in any trouble? Like, for real? You seem pretty relaxed, and while I know you’ve got a plan and all ... are you sure it’ll work out?”

“Mostly, yeah.” There was always danger, but I was reasonably sure I had prepared as well as I could. A couple more moves, and then it was out of my hands.

“Between all the stuff we dug up, the detectives’ findings, the fact that their accusations against me are provably false while mine against them are not so weak...” I yawned. It was past midnight already. I was looking forward to finally being able to rest. “I have a lot of important people on my side as well. That’s not to say nothing can go wrong, but this isn’t too far from the best-case scenario.”

“Yeah, okay,” Tala said, turning back around. “I guess I’m just a bit worried, after...”

“The allegations against your brother might be connected,” I said. “It’s possible that if I win hard enough, he’ll get to go free as well.”

“Really?!” Tala jumped in her seat as she turned back toward me. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah, Baluyot seemed to think so.” He also thought that whoever was behind this had some high-ranking cops on his leash. “I’m inclined to agree with him.”

“That’d be so great...!”

“Don’t worry, Tala,” I caressed her cheek and mussed up her hair. “We’ll get through this fine. Your brother too. Then we’ll enjoy our spoils.”

“Mhmm...” she purred, closing her eyes and leaning into my hand.

“Don’t get too chummy,” Paz said. “The cops are watching.”

“Fuck ‘em,” Tala said. “I can make my own decisions. Edward isn’t even married yet either.”

“Paz is right,” I said, leaning back and taking my hand away even as Tala whined. “No need to antagonize them.”

Tala harumphed and turned back away.

Conversation died down until we got back to the apartment. I took the opportunity to call Mrs. Gallardo after Luz got in touch to tell us they’d be going back home in half an hour max. Rosita was a bit angry at Paz having been put in danger, and I was entirely apologetic. I should’ve seen it coming.

Regardless, she told me she was looking at having the sex crime charges dropped completely. She was in contact with the Prosecutor General, and while he wanted to do some perfunctory investigation, he was willing to dismiss them, which was excellent news.

It was only a few more minutes but, after one final check with the cops in the lobby and a final rehash of the rules I’d have to abide by, they left and we went up to the penthouse. Paz questioned whether they should stay at the suite for the time being, but I honestly didn’t care about appearances that much. There’d be just as many people who’d take them leaving as admission of guilt as would them staying. And I knew which choice would make us happier.

Once inside, I gave Paz and Tala the mission of taking down all the cameras. Someone had somehow gotten access to the system, after all, and I had already saved the week’s worth of innocent footage to the cloud.

While they were busy with that, I locked myself in my office and retrieved my backup phone and called up my old boss. He picked up immediately, as if he’d been waiting for it. He likely was.

Over FaceTime, Pete looked the same as always. The older man wore a disheveled sort of business casual whenever he wasn’t on camera and always had an easy smile under his bushy beard. He was not smiling right now, though.

“Edward,” he said, half relieved and half furious. “What the fuck is happening over there?”

“It’s a long story, Pete,” I said, sitting down on my chair with a relieved groan. “Get comfortable, because this will take a while.”

We’d been friends for years now, Pete and I. Ever since that first interview all those years ago, when he was a grunt team leader hiring grunts like me for his grunt team. We hit it off instantly, and together we saw our stars rising.

He was my mentor and oldest friend. So, of course, I told him everything. The whole sordid tale, no details skipped. My arrival, the state of the Philippines branch, the girls. Everything.

“God damn,” he said when I was done. “You lucky sonuvabitch.”

“Thanks,” I chuckled. “And now I think we can turn this around as a PR win for TI. We need to act fast, though.”

“I think I see the shape of it,” he said. “But do tell, I want to see if I’m right.”

“Sure,” I said, smiling. “I’ll beat the allegations, and we can have the PR be how you sent me to fix the company, and I pulled out the corruption by the roots, which caused the attacks on my good character.”

“And we’re both heroes,” he said, chuckling. “Yeah, I figured that was your angle. It helps that you’re positioning yourself as the only person clean enough to do that. Despite the ... unconventional romance you’re experiencing.”

“A bit of a blemish in the story of the knight in shining armor, sure,” I admitted. “But I think I can work through it. I couldn’t have done any of this without the girls’ support, regardless.”

“And I believe you,” Pete said. “You need those sexual assault allegations dropped, though...”

“My new mother-in-law is working on it,” I said. “I think we’ll need a few interviews with the girls to confirm it’s all bogus, and then the Prosecutor General will just drop those charges.”

“Good. How long will that take?”

“She hopes it’ll be on the news by tomorrow evening.”

“Right,” Pete hummed as he stroked his beard. “I’ll start laying the groundwork. You sit tight and don’t do anything suspicious.”

“Wasn’t planning on it.”

“And keep me updated on the allegations. The moment you hear anything at all, call me to let me know,” he said. “Even if it’s a tiny update. I’ll need to be completely on top of it.”

“Will do.”

“And don’t get too complacent,” Pete warned. “You just fucked up someone’s easy money scheme. If whatever probe they do over there doesn’t catch whoever it was—and it won’t, let’s be honest—you still have an invisible enemy on the loose. And now he hates you personally.”

“I’m quite aware, I assure you.” I had my fingers crossed that the mastermind would get caught, but judging by the complicity of the cops in this, I couldn’t help but agree with Pete’s conclusion. “I’ll deal with things as they come, though.”