THE LION ON THE HUNT

ENRIQUE SERRANO’S POV

“Yes, my child. She came in disguise because your father was here. But she spoke to your mother privately. She saw you.”

“I thought I saw her,” he confessed quietly. His hands were in his pocket, and his head was bowed. There was pain in his heart, it leaked into his voice. “I thought I was seeing things because of grief.”

“Rico…I’m sorry. When she told me, I told your mother to tell you. But for so long it was their secret. They didn’t want you to feel guilty…”

Enrique smiled bitterly. “And after the accident? When Mom died…when Father slipped into a coma, why didn’t you tell me then Lalanita?”

His grandmother sobbed, “There was already so much pain in the family. Your mother had just passed on…D.J was having a horrible time. Your father was in a coma. Someone else had died. And your father’s business partners kept giving you so much trouble. There was already so much responsibility on your shoulders, Rico. I didn’t want you to break.”

He felt the tears stinging his eyes at her comment. “And let me guess, Veronica begged you not to tell me, didn’t she?”

Lalanita nodded tearfully. “She didn’t want to add to your burden. I told her, I told her to tell you. But it’s been two years. She’s determined to put it all in the past. To let both of you heal and move on…”

Enrique scoffed bitterly. ‘My daughter is dead, Lalanita! I have a daughter and she is dead!’ He wanted to scream and launch those words at his guilt-filled grandmother, at his younger brother who was watching him with those sad eyes. ‘But what would be the point of that?’ he reasoned finally. Lalanita had only kept his mother and ex-girlfriend’s secret after the fact. Mom would have had to tell her after…after his daughter died…so that Lalanita and Lolo Juan could look after Veronica, and even now, his grandmother had done the best she could with the little courage she could summon without Veronica’s blessing to divulge the truth. By telling D.J, she’d done the second best thing to telling him. After all, D.J could always get through to him.

But then he remembered the conversation he’d had with Lalanita the day he and D.J arrived in Cebu. Everything she had said: ‘I understand that you still have feelings for Veronica-‘

Of course he did. Veronica was the only woman he had ever truly desired. The only woman he had ever loved in that deep visceral way that had always scared him as his father’s son. Once, decades ago, before D.J was even born, his late paternal grandmother had told him that he needed to be careful with his heart because Serrano men only ever truly fell in love once. Even if they messed things up or cheated with other women, there would only ever be one woman whom they wanted to marry and possess completely.

Years later, when the truth of his father’s illegitimate child came to light, didn’t his Aunt Esmeralda, his father’s sister tell him, “You watch now. That stupid Althea Villamor will divorce her husband and expect your father to do the same. She thinks because she has a child for my brother, he will leave your mother and marry her.” His aunt had let out a trilling laugh. “Doesn’t she understand that your father is obsessed with your mother? That’s why he wants to control everything about her. That’s why he’s scared to death that she’ll leave him, despite everything he’s done. You see, my dear nephew, we Serranos, too often, our love turns to dangerous obsession. And it’s not just the men. Just look at me and Richard. I get crazy when I see him talking to other women. I can’t let him out of my sight for more than a few hours. I think I’m suffocating him in this marriage,” she’d concluded before taking swig of red wine. They were at one of his parents’ parties, and even as she spoke, his aunt’s eyes trailed her husband possessively; narrowing into glaring slits when a beautiful woman walked up to talk to him, with a warm smile on her face. “Just look! If she lays one hand on him, I’ll have to go over there and straiten her out. Mark my territory. Then, your Uncle Richard will start saying I don’t trust him. I do trust him, it’s women like her I don’t trust!” She let out a weary sigh and took another glass of alcohol off the tray of a waiter walking past them. “At this rate, I’ll be lucky if he doesn’t ask me for a divorce.”

Enrique stood in place, thinking about all these things in his brother’s hospital room. His mind drifted back again to his conversation with Lalanita: "Rico Jose Serrano, it's been ten years already. Go and find her!"

He’d tried. He’d given his grandmother righteous excuses at the time, saying how he didn’t want Veronica back because she’d walked out on him. Sometimes, it was easy for him to pretend that was the full truth but then there were moments scattered throughout the ten years since their breakup. Moments when he’d seemed to have no choice but to check up on her. Like every lovesick ex-boyfriend.

Except that his feelings were ten times more complicated.

On one hand, he’d loved Veronica fiercely. But she had aborted his child. He’d hated her for that. So damned much.

But on the other hand, would she – an orphan who had already been through so much – have lost her scholarship if it wasn’t for him and his overbearing father? If he hadn’t pursued her so fiercely and tangled with her, would his father – the devil himself – have cost her so much; her jobs, her scholarship, her accommodation, her prospects, her reputation?

He hadn’t just hated Veronica, he’d loved her. And he’d felt overwhelming guilt at the idea that she’d been put through hell just because she’d dared to love him. So, in those moments when he tried to look for news of her, he could almost understand why she’d taken his father’s money and aborted his baby. The only problem was that he’d lost track of her as soon as she’d graduated from university.

There had been nothing. Not a single Facebook post or email address. Not even Brian, with his mercenary contacts, had been able to track her down. Now he understood why.

The pieces were finally falling into place.

"I can't-" He broke off the words. “I don’t understand how you could keep this from me. I understand why you needed to keep it away from Father but he’s…not a factor anymore. Why?”

“Rico…after your parents’ accident, Veronica made it clear that she no longer wanted anything to do with you. She wanted to move on.”

There were so many questions in his head. But it was clear that Lalanita was the wrong person to ask.

“Where is she now?” He finally asked his grandmother. “What name does she use now? Lalanita, I need you to tell me everything.”

And so she did.

That was why as soon as the doctor said D.J didn’t have to spend the night in the hospital, he arranged for Ignacio to drive them home in his grandmother’s car. Then he drove himself to the address his grandmother had reluctantly given him.

Enrique parked his Bentley and stared up at the two story building with grass-green gates. In the apartment at the very top, there were lights on. And as he kept staring in the dark, he could make out the silhouette of a woman moving around the room. As he watched, she came over to pull the curtains down, as if she could feel that she was being watched. In that single moment when he caught a glimpse of her, Enrique could see that her hair was longer now. She still wore glasses. And she was as beautiful as ever. Even more beautiful than he remembered.

His body reacted too, as the memories of long passionate kisses filled his brain. He still loved this tiny woman who had shattered his heart with the force of a bulldozer. And the same possessive urge to protect her, that had filled his mind since the day he’d set his eyes on her overcame him now.

“Hello, Veronica,” Enrique Serrano II whispered.

And then, he began to plan.

The first call he made was to Brian, his trusty lawyer, fixer and best-friend. He picked up on the first ring.

“Rico-”

“I need you in Cebu. Now.”

“I can’t just leave everything and start running whenever your father’s business partners start barking, Enrique,” his friend said disapprovingly. “I’ve already told you that. Besides, I’ve already found dirt on most of them for you, haven’t I? And Arturo Godenzano is on your side. I don’t think any of the board members will want to raise any motion to have you ousted as CEO after the last time. So, just calm down.”

Brian’s tirade had him thinking of his business affairs suddenly. “Actually, I’m not having trouble with any of them just yet. Even though Aunt Esme has been making some funny moves lately, I didn’t call to ask you to do anything about that yet.”

“Yet,” Brian echoed.

“Yet,” Enrique said firmly. Ever since his father entered a coma and the CEO position went to him, Aunt Esmeralda sometimes shook things up whenever he made company policies that she didn’t like. His latest decision to move the headquarters of Highlander Incorporation to Cebu had really angered her. But whenever his father’s sister made trouble for him, she never went too far. Enrique knew that she only wanted to punish him for not taking her advice and plans into consideration. At her core, Aunt Esme was fiercely loyal to the family business. And he believed that she cared for him, perhaps as much as she was terrified by his comatose father who she seriously thought would wake up any day now; as a matter of fact, Aunt Esme’s belief was one of the reasons they hadn’t pulled their father off life support yet, despite the fact that his condition wasn’t getting better even after 2 years.

‘Dear nephew,’ his aunt had said, ‘you know as well as I do that we Serranos never give up on each other…even if we hate each other to pieces. My older brother may be an asshole, God help us, but he deserves all the medical treatment money can buy. Our family is rich enough to keep him on life support for as long as it takes, and that’s exactly what we’ll do.’

The funny thing was he didn’t disagree. No matter how much he hated his father, they would keep him on life support as his fearsome aunt wanted. But he also knew that Aunt Esme wouldn’t mind taking control of the business if he ever let his guard down. Still, he could handle her.

He’d lived with Enrique Serrano Snr. Esmeralda Serrano-Castello was nothing.

“I’m handling it,” he told Brian finally. “I need to talk to you about something else.” He sighed. “I need to talk to you about Veronica.”

“Ah, Enrique…you need to let her go.”

“No, Brian! I need to know...I need to know how long you’ve been working for my mother.”

For a moment, Brian didn’t say anything. But Enrique could feel his shock through the phone.

“My mother and Veronica…Lalanita told me such interesting things. But it’s one thing for them to come up with the idea that Veronica should disappear without a trace, and it’s another thing for them to actually execute it perfectly. So perfectly in fact that you, Brian Fuentes could not unravel it. So, tell me, did you help them plan it or did you simply discover what they did and let them be?”

“Rico, I can explain. It’s not what you think.”

“Hmm. You’re in Singapore on an assignment, aren’t you? Let me guess you’re helping that socialite rescue her kidnapped daughter from her ex-husband-“

“How do you know? Never mind. Rico, you know I can’t discuss other clients’ businesses with you. My dad would kill me,” he rushed out in hushed tunes.

“Well, it’s been two weeks since you landed in the country, and you’ve just booked a flight to Cebu for two days time. Cancel it. There’s an unmarked jet waiting for you at Changi International Airport. It leaves in 4 hours. Say your goodbyes and be on it. I’ll be waiting in my office.” He cut the call, and went back to staring at Veronica’s window.

His Veronica. Even if her name was Martina Dela Reyes now, she was still his.

As he watched, she dreamt of him. If he knew that, he would have been pleased.