“What? Where is Dad?” When my mother told me the location, I immediately pedaled to where my father was.
“Son! Where are you going?! Come back here! Son!” I ignored my mother’s shouting and hurried to where my father was.
There were many police officers scattered in front of a four-story house, where a man could be seen on the rooftop, his back turned.
“Aedrian, what are you doing here?” a police officer asked me. His face looked familiar—he was the same officer I had instructed to call the fast food restaurant supervisor during Marco’s case.
“Where is Dad?” I asked.
“He’s on the rooftop talking to that man,” he said, pointing upward. I got off my bike and immediately went inside the house. I could hear him trying to stop me, but I ignored him and headed straight to the rooftop. Police officers were also scattered there.
And there I saw my father’s back and a man holding a woman with a knife pressed against her neck. Even though the man was far from me, I recognized his face.
He was Ronaldo Villamor, a former police officer and the man who killed Nica’s mother. I couldn’t stop my anger from rising, especially seeing that he was about to do something terrible again.
“You used to be a police officer, you know what you’re doing is wrong, Naldo. Let go of your wife,” my father said calmly.
“Let her go? No! She deserves to die because she’s fooling me! She’s cheating on me! My wife has another man!”
“You’re wrong, you don’t understand… Please let me go and let’s talk properly…” the woman begged.
“Shut up! Talk? Don’t fool me! I know your tricks!”
“Ronaldo, your wife is right. We can talk this out properly. It shouldn’t come to this. Put down that knife and let her go,” my father said.
“You too! Don’t order me around! You should understand how I feel! You’re a man too! What if you were in my situation? What if your wife had another man? Wouldn’t you do this too?”
A brief silence filled the rooftop. All I could see was my father’s back.
Then I heard the man laugh. “Women destroy our pride! Shouldn’t they just die?”
“You’re wrong, Ronaldo. If you truly love someone, you wouldn’t hurt them. Even if they betray you repeatedly, you would still forgive them. Because love is forgiveness…”
“So let go of your wife and talk it out properly. You can still fix this.”
Slowly, Ronaldo released his wife. She immediately ran toward the police. But Ronaldo remained at the edge of the rooftop. Was he planning to kill himself?
“Friend Ricardo, I’m glad we met again… but I have to end my life now. I’ve become too evil. Thank you for stopping me from killing again, but now I must end my life as payment for my sins.” He closed his eyes and jumped into the void.
“No!” I immediately ran, hoping I could stop him.
“Aedrian! What are you doing here?”
Luckily, I managed to grab Ronaldo’s hand in time. He looked up to see who was holding him.
“If you really want to pay for your sins, this isn’t the way! You’re only adding more sins to your name. Under human law, you must be imprisoned and face the consequences. This is the price… this is the punishment… so don’t run from it!” I shouted. I pulled him with all my strength, but his grip was slipping because he wasn’t holding on to me.
Thankfully, the police helped me. “Ronaldo Villamor, come with us to the station.” They immediately arrested him and put him in handcuffs.
“Son…” I turned to my father when he called me. He immediately hugged me and patted my back. “You’re my son.”
We were greeted at home by my mother’s hug. Actually, she only hugged my father—because I got slapped and lectured instead.
“You brat! Who told you to follow your father? I was almost losing my mind worrying something might happen to you! You stubborn child!”
“Mom, don’t worry about our Aedrian. He’s well-trained by me. He’s tough enough, he could even replace me at work,” my father said with a smile. I smiled back at him when he said that. I could feel he was proud of me.
“You two are impossible! You deserve each other!”
We went inside. Food was already on the table. Because I was hungry, I immediately sat down and ate without changing first.
“Dad, what will happen to Ronaldo’s case?”
“Even though he admitted his past crime, we still need evidence to prove he shot Mareth Silvania. And for his current case, we arrested him for assault.”
Evidence?
After eating, I went upstairs to my room.
“Oh.” I picked up my phone when I felt it vibrate. A text message from an unknown number.
From: +639353821***
Sorry about what I said earlier. I just didn’t know what to do because I lost the tape. I don’t know how to apologize to you. I hope you can still forgive me. Can we still be friends?
-end of message-
Even though he didn’t reveal himself, I already knew who texted me. Where did he even get my number?