by Kendra Riley
“Right. Mr. Aguirre, you may return after six in the evening. We have things to do around here,” his aunt Anna said, as she stood at the foot of the stairs.
“She’s already right in front of me,” he heard Jose say, eyeing Aniya.
He saw the look on Aniya’s face, and he saw how hard she tried to keep her composure. In all the months they had dated, he had gotten to know her well, and she did not like confrontations like this. He decided to do something about it, not sure if he was going to regret it, or if he was going to thank himself for it.
“Aunt Anna, what’s going on-?” Dante said, as he walked into the gallery. “What the hell--”
He had sort of prepared himself for a long, maybe frustration-filled talk with Aniya, but Jose was a different story. Didn’t Jose know that he was in Santoro territory?
“Ah, Dante. Do you two know each other?” Anna said, eyeing her nephew. The look in her eyes said it all. She was protecting Aniya as best as she could.
He saw that Aniya took one step down, and it was clear that she was relieved he was here. He saw the self-control she had put up, and he chose to deliberately not look at her.
“He was my college schoolmate,” Dante replied coolly. “Are you here to buy a painting, Jose?” The man didn’t have any taste at all, except he flaunted every branded item he could back in their first year of college.
Jose walked up to him, looking him in the eye. “I’m actually here to talk to Aniya.”
Dante shrugged and he feigned disinterest, and he walked up to his aunt to give her a peck on the cheek. “Hello, Auntie.”
“Aniya, we have to talk, now,” Jose continued on. Was the man this persistent? Dante had to give him credit for that.
“Can we talk outside?” Aniya told Jose, her voice low and quiet. Was she in distress, or could she handle this on her own? He came here to talk to her, but fate in the form of Jose Aguirre had other plans.
He watched as Jose grabbed Aniya’s arm, and he saw the look in her eyes, startled, worried, and defiant. He didn’t like the way Jose held her, and then Dante felt a soft squeeze on his shoulder. He looked sideways and saw his Aunt. She didn’t say anything, but he had her blessing.
“Could you let her go? The way you’re holding her, it looks uncomfortable,” Dante spoke up. Jose stopped in his tracks, halfway through the door.
“What?” Jose snapped at him. “What did you just say to me?”
“I asked you nicely,” Dante said, almost sighing.
Jose looked at Aniya, and then he released his grasp of her arm. He seemed miffed about it, a little guilty, even.
“This is none of your business,” Jose told him.
“Of course it isn’t,” Dante continued, “but this is private property, courtesy of Santoro Estates. Anything we deem unfit, we can report to the authorities.”
“We’re leaving,” Jose breathed out, realizing all eyes were on him, realizing that there were CCTVs on him as well.
“I have work,” Aniya told him. “Please, leave.”
“I’m not leaving until I see my child,” Jose insisted.
“Then you can stay outside for as long as you want,” he heard Aniya say. He almost smiled hearing her utter those words. He walked towards the door, a good few inches away from Aniya and Jose.
“You heard the lady,” he said.
“Yes, I heard your secretary,” Jose hissed with a smile. “She’s clinging to you because she couldn’t get to me before.” He pushed a finger against Dante’s chest, taunting him.
Dante shook his head, a bitter smile etched on his lips. He was doing his best to control his temper, but the man was making it hard for him. He hadn’t punched anyone’s daylights out since grade school, the bully had picked the wrong boy to bully. Jose was just another kid who refused to grow up and face realities, someone who couldn’t handle things if they didn’t go his way.
“You might want to try that again,” Dante told him.
Jose pushed him again, this time with his entire palm.
“Is that the best you can do? Or do you feel better pushing around women?” Dante said to him, his eyes narrowed down, readying himself.
“You little son-of-a” Jose began.
And then the bedlam began. Dante punched Jose’s face, sending him reeling for the floor. Jose stood up, unsuccessfully trying to land a fist on Dante’s face, and Dante easily parried it, as his college rival stumbled to the floor, his nose bloodied.
Jose took off his necktie, and then he bulldozed his way to Dante, and they both fell to the marble floor, with Jose on top of Dante now. Jose pummeled his clenched fists on Dante’s face, as Dante crossed his arms to prevent any of the blows landing on his face.
“You think you can be Isabella’s father?” Jose whispered to him.
Somewhere through the punches, he heard women screaming for them to stop, and he saw them for a split-second, Aniya trying to pry Jose away. She fell backwards, as Jose roughly pushed her away.
That ticked Dante off more than he expected, and he found himself kicking Jose in the stomach with his knee, and Jose groaned, falling to the floor, clutching his abdomen in pain. It suddenly felt like a blur, and then he saw Jose accosted by the building’s security officers. Aniya semi-crawled for him as he sat on the floor. No one dared approach him at first.
“What are you all doing?” Anna’s voice interrupted the sudden silence. “Get some bandages and towels. Ándale!”
“Dante,” Aniya began, her hands hovering over his face. He could see the tears welling in the corners of her eyes, and he didn’t look at her, for fear he would lose self-control over the multitude of emotions raging in him.
“Don’t touch me,” he told her. “Please, just- don’t.”
Of course, he couldn’t be Isabella’s father, not with Jose around, defending his sudden territory like that. Aniya and Isabella were not territory, but if Jose was her father (and it was highly likely from Aniya’s own admission), then Dante knew it was a lost cause, trying to reestablish himself in the lives of the mother and daughter. It stung more than the blows he got.
Aniya backed away, tears spilling onto her cheeks. “I didn’t want for any of this to happen,” she said, “Excuse me.”
He watched her run away from him, out into broad, harsh daylight. He tried to stand up, but he couldn’t. His legs felt like jelly. He came here for a possible, pleasant conversation with her… who was he kidding? He wanted a reconciliation of sorts. He missed her, he missed Isabella; that had been more or less easy to admit, but it wasn’t easy confronting Jose like that. It would bring more trouble, even though CCTV footage would show Jose pushed him first, just like how he had calculated it would happen.
Jose wasn’t the only one good at manipulation, apparently he was a notch better- but there went the reconciliation with it. Jose wasn’t going down without a fight, and he wasn’t going to stop pestering Aniya until he got what he wanted.
“Get up,” Anna told him. “Your mother has the right to know about this, you know. This is under her branch of the corporation.”
Dante shook his head. “Tell her what you want.”
“Aren’t you going after her?” Anna asked him.
“What for?” he continued, looking at the half-open glass doors. It’s over.
Chapter12
“What in the hell were you thinking?” Pilar gasped to him. As soon as she had heard, she and Carlos forced themselves into his home. His ex-girlfriend and faithful friend of more than six years was raging in front of him as he held an ice pack to his cheek.
“You aren’t my mother,” he mumbled. “And aren’t you supposed to be on her side like you said? As ugly as that sounds.”
“We went to her first,” Carlos chimed up.
“The news will get wind of this,” Pilar said, looking at Carlos.
Carlos grinned. “Well, we can make a case out of it, and win it, should you want that to happen.”
“Thanks, attorney, but I’m fine,” Dan
te said. “I have a feeling he’ll sue me first.”
“We’ll wait,” Carlos said, “it only shows what a defensive twat he is.”
“So you went to her first, huh,” Dante sighed, propping his legs up the table in front of him. “Who told you this happened? When did it happen? An hour ago?”
“Anna called me.”
Dante nodded. He realized his aunt didn’t tell his mother at all. She had been that mindful of his concerns. He almost smiled, were it not for the pain that throbbed on his left cheek. That was a good punch, he thought.
“Don’t you want details?” Pilar said, flopping onto the couch across him.
“Of what?”
“Of what happened with Aniya.”
“I was there, of course I know.”
“I meant in her apartment. Isabella--” Pilar paused. “She looked for you, you know.”
Damn it, he thought. Amazing what emotions could do to a person, and he wasn’t even the father, he wasn’t even the long-term boyfriend. They were just exclusively, quietly dating, and then the whole thing blew up.
“Well, there’s nothing we can do about it now, can we?” Dante told her. “I’m not the father, Pilar, and I never will be. Jose, bless the asshole’s bruised ego and face, is her real father.”
“Look who’s talking. You provoked him, didn’t you?”
“I had to have my revenge in some way, as petty as it sounds,” Dante admitted. Carlos excused himself to get wine for the three of them. He came back with three glasses, and he filled Dante’s to the brim.
“You look like you need it,” Carlos told him.
“You could have just given me the whole bottle,” Dante quipped, and he and Carlo laughed aloud, until Dante realized he was in a lot of pain. He held his cheek gently, grimacing once more. Well, this wasn’t going away anytime soon.
“What will you do about this?” Pilar asked him.
“Nothing. Let it die its natural course,” Dante replied. “I’d be an idiot to even want this all.”
“Aren’t you that idiot already?” Pilar sighed.
He knew what she meant. Aniya was everything to him, as was Isabella. “I don’t want to hear anything about her. I’m not obligated to.”
“Right, because everything has to have an obligation,” Pilar sighed, knowing full well how obligation had been rammed into their throats since childhood.
“It has to be one,” Carlos corrected her. “Shouldn’t we let Dante rest now?”
Pilar looked at Dante, and she shook her head. “I don’t know how to help you.”
“I don’t think this is something I want to deal with,” Dante replied. It was something that had never happened to him before. As a businessman, he had always been prepared, the mantra of being two steps ahead stuck to him. This time, he was at a loss. A severe loss.
Pilar and Carlos had dinner ordered for him, and they made sure he was stocked with medications before they left. The silence of his home began to ring in his ears. Walking for a window, Dante opened it wide, to let the breeze in. At least he heard the rustling of the leaves this time. He imagined the sound of Isabella’s laughter as she ran around his home. The little girl thoroughly enjoyed it. Was that why she thought he was her father? Because she felt welcome here?
He thought about Aniya as he stared at the leaves swaying in the wind. The scent of frangipani filled the air. He thought about how she always made sure he ate during work, he thought about how she’d message him at random hours just to check up on him. It was strange. She showed him love, real love, and yet they never said those words to each other. He couldn’t bring himself to say it.
Did that mean he didn’t really love her? Maybe he was on his way to loving her, and Jose just happened to shed some light into their situation. It happened every day, single mothers who dated, but it was something that was taboo in their family, in their society. Screw society, he thought, but it still was something they did not take lightly, and all those years of being cloistered in their comings and goings affected how he handled his relationships… Why was he blaming himself for this? The situation presented itself, he just happened to react to it. He had been calm at first, but there was only so much a man could take, right?
His phone rang and he ignored it for a few rings. Finally he huffed and picked it up. “Catalina, look, I’m not-“
“TV, now. Channel 48,” she said to him. “Now, Dante.”
“Why are you people so demanding,” he snapped, walking for the next room to turn on the TV. He pressed for channel 48 and plopped down a chair.
His eyes widened, seeing footage of him being beaten to the ground by Jose. At first, he was filled with rage, and then he realized it was a PR stunt of sorts. “Catalina,” he began, “Aunt Anna was the only one who knew about this.”
“You forget she has other staff under her employ,” Catalina told him. “Someone told mama. Mama demanded for it to be released.”
“Legal ramifications underway” the reporter blared on.
“What in the hell-“ he stopped. This was a PR disaster and a PR stunt at the same time for him. Save face, protect the Santoro name.
“Dante Santoro was said to have been brought to a private hospital, as was Jose Aguirre. Witnesses say that Aniya Compton walked away from the scene shortly thereafter.”
Aniya wasn’t a criminal, he thought angrily. They painted her like a harlot, a gold digger, someone who had played them both at the same time. He recalled the way her hands trembled, wanting to touch him, and yet he didn’t want to look pitiful, so he brushed her away, dismissed her like she didn’t really matter to him. He saw the hurt in her eyes. Only now did his anger over everything slowly abate.
He wanted to wait for the right time to screw Jose over. His mother had other things in mind, apparently. To think it only happened hours ago. Couldn’t the day go by without him being emotionally tortured? This was a weakness he did not expect. In just mere months, he had morphed into something he thought he had welcomed- apparently, he wasn’t ready for all the changes.
He had been rehearsing what to say to Aniya, and all those thoughts dissipated seeing Jose, seeing him manhandle her like that. Sure, she was no damsel in distress, but he hated how Jose treated women. Shouldn’t I be glad Aniya came into my life?
“Dante,” Catalina continued. “You still there?”
The news faded into a commercial, and he nodded absentmindedly. “Yeah, still here. Well, looks like I can’t do much now. Let them say all they want, however they want.”
“The video said it all. He pushed you around first. He provoked everything.”
Good, he thought. And he suddenly wondered how Aniya was.
***
Aniya heard a knock on the door. She violently hoped that the landlord hadn’t let anyone in from the media. She couldn’t even get out of her apartment, hating the cameras clicking away. Isabella had been stuck in the apartment for days now, and they were each other’s only source of comfort. There was an unknown man in suit standing outside her door. “Who is it?” she called out.
“Miss Compton, I’m Atty. Delgado, of the Delgado, Delgado and Vega Law Offices,” he began. “I’m here in behalf of my client, Mr. Jose Aguirre.”
“I don’t want to see you, or anyone related to him,” Aniya replied, her hand pressed against the door. She willed for him to budge, to leave, but he stayed there, immobile, doing what he was paid to do.
“Please, leave,” she repeated again.
“Miss Compton, in the interest of everyone’s happiness, it would be best if we talked in person, and not behind a door. Trust that I am handling this concern with utmost care.”
“Well, I’ll need a lawyer of my own,” Aniya told him, not wanting to meet up with him defenseless and unarmed in terms of barrister jargon. “So you’d better leave.”
“Alright, Miss Compton. I’ll leave a business card underneath the door. Hope to hear from you soon.”
She watched as he walked down the hallway, and
she breathed out heavily, her head against the door this time. She quickly grabbed the card from underneath the slit of the door, and she stared at it. Where could she find a lawyer she could afford? Where could she find someone who wasn’t afraid to butt heads with the Aguirre family? She saw the news, she saw how they had vilified her once more. She didn’t want Dante hurt. For a split second, she actually thought Dante was there to talk to her.
There was no way she could defend herself, she couldn’t afford to. She found herself staring at Pilar’s number, and she remembered that horrible Friday night, when Pilar and her attorney boyfriend had the decency to take care of her when she felt lost and alone. Pilar wouldn’t turn her down, would she? Would Carlos turn her down? She barely knew them, and their only connection was Dante, Dante who looked at her like she had been the most disgusting person in Madrid, well- in the planet.
Aniya looked at her sleeping child, with her long eyelashes, and skin that was paler than hers. Her chin was a little pointed, almost like Jose’s, and her fingers were long and elegant, like her father- and the man had probably never washed clothes by himself his entire life.
What could she do? He was Isabella’s father, and yet, she still thought of Isabella as the most beautiful child she had ever seen. Her love was fierce for her child, despite the fact that half of her daughter’s DNA was from Jose Aguirre. She didn’t want to share custody, even if she knew he had a right to it. She had raised Isabella alone-
She knew she was being selfish. Why am I being selfish? This isn’t like me. She thought she had made peace with the man who had gotten her pregnant, and the funny thing was, he didn’t even know it, until she spilled the beans herself. She had thought he’d be too drunk to remember, but boy, did he remember.
What of Isabella? She couldn’t keep this forever. It was going to scar her daughter one way or another. With a father like that-?
Aniya found herself calling Pilar, despite the late hour. Pilar’s voice sounded very wide awake by the time she answered the fourth ring.
“Aniya? You okay?”