Deadly Romance with a Billionaire

Chapter Five

I stare through the floor-to-ceiling fixed glass window of Chaz’s bedroom which overlooks the beautiful city’s skyline. The purple, pink and orange lights flicker magnificently against the blackness of the starless sky, the structures compete in shapes and sizes and the cars and people are so small beneath from where I stand. It’s almost midnight, hours after speaking to Bianca about Chaz’s ‘unknown’ behavior, but her words still bother me.

'So what if he gets mad from time to time? It’s normal, people gets mad. But why the need to save myself?'

I try to brush the unwanted thought out of my head by listening to classical music through the MP3 players while relentlessly roaming around the bedroom. My body is sweating even though the air-conditioner is turned on so I descend to the living area, lie down on the couch and turn the TV on, hoping that it would make me feel much more comfortable. My finger keeps on pressing the remote control to change the channel but my eyes just unheedingly stare at the screen. I lay the remote on the glass center table, take a seat and a deep breath then I reach for my cellphone inside my evening robe’s pocket and start typing a message to Chaz.

[Sun, 11:48 AM - Where are you? What time are you going home?]

My thumb quivers before it could touch the send button. I read my message one more time, stares at it, read it again. After so much hesitation, I delete the first sentence…and the second one and retype a new message.

[Sun, 11:52 AM - I know you’re busy but don’t forget to eat and rest.]

Seconds after sending my message to Chaz, my phone rings. I grin, thinking it’s him but when reading the caller’s name, I squeeze both my eyes and mouth in panic. How can I forget about her?! I slowly place the phone over my ear.

“Hello, ma?”

There’s no response but her breath is audible and sharp.

“I’m here in Chaz’s place. Sorry I forgot to inform you,” I say, biting my lip.

-“Where is he? I wanna talk to him.”-

“He’s not here. He has a business meeting.”

-“At this hour? So you’re alone in there?”- Her voice manifests both concern and annoyance.

“I was with his cook and secretary until ten. Don’t worry about me. I can handle myself plus this place is safe.”

Again, she just sighs but doesn’t say anything.

“Ma, it’s late so please take a rest, I’ll do the same.”

-“Alright. It’s enough for me to hear your voice and know you’re okay. Goodnight.”-

“Goodnight, bye.”

I can’t imagine that Bianca’s statement would make me this unfocus to the point that I forgot to tell my mother that I won't be going home tonight. And Chaz might have been very busy to also not call my mother. With nothing else to do, I lie down on the sofa again and patiently wait for drowsiness to take over my entire being.

“Hey sweetie,” whispers a very familiar voice.

Though my eyelids are too heavy to fold open, that masculine scent that’s whirling in my nose and that soft full lips that’s pressing my skin make me smile.

“Been waiting for you.”

“Been calling you since I read your message but you’re not picking up your phone.”

I scratch my eyes and open them as widely as I can and quickly look at the large 3D wall clock above the TV, it says 4:22 in the morning. I frantically stand up and look at the time on my phone, it says the same thing.

“You okay?” Chaz asks.

“Yeah. I just can’t believe that I’ve fallen asleep.”

Chaz sits next to me and rests his head on the back of the couch while pinching the sides of his forehead with his fingers. After swallowing the lump of air in my throat, my curiosity slides between my lips.

“How’s your meeting?”

He doesn’t look at me and continuously massaging his forehead. “There were some couple of mishaps that I had to fix. But all in all, the project is making a lot of progress.”

I put my hands on his head and let my fingers flirtatiously interlace his dark locks. He smiles but that smile instantly diminishes when he slants his view on me.

“What’s wrong?” he asks.

My mouth puckers as I raise my shoulders before slumping them again.

“Come on tell me. Did something happen?”

“About yesterday,” I pause. “It’s on the news.”

Chaz lowers his head and lifts my chin so we could meet each other’s gazes. “I’m sorry for putting you in this situation. I should have controlled myself but I couldn’t.”

“What are you gonna do? I’m sure your parents are…”

“Don’t know and don’t care. I don’t regret what I did. I was so mad at him that I wanted to kill him,” he says, while clutching his fist. “I will never allow anyone to mistreat the person I treasure.”

To lull his emotion, I put my hands over his broad shoulders. “You know what, you should sleep and I should take a shower. It’s Monday, I have to report to work.”

Chaz smirks which causes my eyebrow to raise. I can't read what's on his mind and without a delay, he carries me on his arms.

“Wait! What are you doing?! Put me down!”

He dismisses my protest and ascends on the stairs until we reach the master’s bathroom. The water that’s pouring down from the faucet is like needles, prickling my skin. The scents of my sweet floral body wash and his woodsy citrus one soothe my senses and his skin against mine sends weave of positive sensations from within. I step out of the bathroom a couple of minutes before he does since I still have to blow-dry my hair and put a little make up on. I slip on a pair of jeans, a pair of white sneakers and a denim short sleeves polo shirt then tie my hair into a ponytail, allowing some of my loose bangs to fall over my forehead. On the other hand, Chaz wears his jogging pants, a grey fitted shirt and a pair of white sneakers that matches mine. Even though I told him to take a nap instead, he insists to escort me to work which is a fifteen minute drive from Empire Elite Tower.

The sun begins to boast its brightness on the horizon by the time we reach our destination, the National Police – Crime and Investigation Unit’s headquarter. I give Chaz one more kiss before stepping out of his white Ferrari then wave my hand as his car reduces in size then disappears from my sight.

My colleagues welcome me with a smile and a ‘good morning’ as I make my way to my work station. I always come to work at least ten minutes earlier and spend those few minutes drinking a hot coffee. However, that’s not the case today when I notice a sticky note on my desk, instructing me to head on my senior’s office as soon as I arrive. So I follow as it says. I knock on Detective Jerimiah Hipolito’s office and enter it when I hear him says ‘come in’.

“What’s up?”

“We have a new crime to solve,” Nico Fajardo, a crime scene investigator, responds.

“Cool! What is it about?”

He walks towards me and hands me pictures that are taken from the crime scene. I lay all the photos on the desk then rest my hands on my waist without removing my sight from them.

“The victim’s name is Rhian Ruiz, 28 years old, a handkerchief seller. Her corpse is found earlier today at 4 inside the Archdiocesan Shrine of the Divine Mercy,” Detective Hipolito explains.

One photo piques my interest when I notice something weird so I point my finger to it. “The wedding dress she’s wearing looks brand new. There’s no rip or cut but it has blood stains all over it.”

“That’s also what we wanna figure out. According to the initial investigation, she died due to suffocation. And there’s no scheduled wedding of anyone in that church today or the day prior,” says Nico.

“How about this one?” I take one of the photos and waggle it in between my fingers.

Both of them look at it with intensity as fine lines form on their foreheads. The photo shows the bloody and swollen right forearm of the victim with the word ‘jealousy’ carved on it.

I reiterate the word in my head over and over again. It could only mean two things, her killer is envy of her or she was a resentful person that’s why she was killed.

“Do we have a suspect?”

“Actually, we have two persons of interest, her alleged lover,” Nico says, while handing me two more photos. “And her husband.”

The first picture is a skinny young man and on its back, his name and age are written – Buboy, 19. The next picture is an older man with a well built body. His eyes are as black as coal while his hair is as grey as quarts.On the back of the photo says, Arturo Ruiz, 33.

“This guy looks familiar,” I say, raising the photo of Arturo Ruiz. I stare at it again and my back reclines a bit when my memory trips me back to what happened yesterday. He looks like one of the men in black suit whom Chaz fought, the one who apologized to me and offered me his…oh my goodness his handkerchief!

For some reason, my stomach tightens but I manage to compose myself. “Is Arturo Ruiz related to a powerful business man?”

“Yes. He’s one of the personal bodyguards of the owner of an overseas multi-billion peso corporation.”

I bob my head and shift my view back to the photos. “Let’s go meet these suspects, now.”