“Cassie is my sister. Our DNA samples are a match. It means that daddy was the one who räpëd Romina. He was going to take the blame to save me. There’s no way in hell I’ll let Romina find out the truth. Dëäd men tell no tales. I just have to make sure that the truth stays buried with dad.”
Cassie asked her mother if she was okay. Romina said she was fine and she had already anticipated that Daniela would react the way she did since she had been accusing her of being after her father’s money from the start. “I will prove to them that they are wrong about me,” Mina said as Bernard joined them in her office. “I will not accept any of the inheritance that Robert left me.”
Bernard and Cassie were taken by surprise as Mina went on to say that Daniela would never let them live in peace if they accepted the inheritance. “Ma, no matter what you decide on, I’ll support you,” Cassie stated.
“Are you sure about this?” Bernard asked.
“All I want is to live in peace with Cassie. If giving Daniela all of the inheritance is what will achieve that, then I’d gladly do it.”
“But Robert did that to ensure that you and your daughter can have a comfortable future.”
“I know that. And I also know that Robert would understand. Please, just draft the transfer papers.”
“Alright. But I just want you to be sure about this, because once it’s finalized, you can never get your inheritance back.”
“I’m certain.”
Daniela was ranting to Savannah, her bratty lapdog in the marketing room about her father always choosing Romina and Cassie over her. “Why are you mad? He left you an inheritance,” Savvi reasoned.
“That woman doesn’t deserve a single thing,” Danny girl complained. “She inherited more than I did.”
“She didn’t care about you treating her horribly because in the end, she knew that she and her daughter would end up with everything.”
“Well, I won’t let her win. I will strip her of everything – my family’s name and the wealth that comes with it.” Daniela then had a phone call.
“What did you tell the police?” Alvin asked. “They came to my place.”
“If you’re innocent, then just answer their questions. I already have enough problems, so stop wasting my time.”
Romina was about to leave her office to get Cassie some ice cream when Bonita came in and told her that the police were there to see her. Bonita was leaving with Cassie as the officers came in. “We’d like to invite you to the station to answer a few questions,” an officer said.
“Is there a problem?” Mina asked, confused.
“No, ma’am. This is part of our investigation on Mr. Mondragon’s dëäth.”
Cassie came over. “Ma, what’s going on?”
“Don’t worry. They’re just going to ask me some questions. I’ll be okay.”
Gino asked his father if he was okay. Kulas said he was worried about Carlos since he hadn’t been picking his calls and Gino told him that it was to be expected since he was at Camila for the reading of Robert’s last will. The misëräble one-eyed-old man stated that Daniela and Marga were the only rightful heirs to Robert’s properties since they are his blood relatives. Marga confronted Cassie about her mother being invited to the police station. “I guess what they’re saying is true?”
“What do you mean by that?” Cassie asked.
“You and your shameless mother, you’re taking everything that’s meant for my mom.”
“You think that’s what’s important to us? I’d rather be with daddy again than have all the wealth in this world.”
“Bravo. You’re such a drama queen. I’ll wait for the day your mother gets what she deserves.”
Cassie grabbed Marga’s hand in annoyance. “And she deserves peace and happiness.”
Daniela walked in on the scene. “What is going on here?”
“It’s nothing,” Marga said. “I’m just reminding Cassie that you’re the true Mondragon so she shouldn’t interfere in your affairs.”
Carlos came over and Daniela asked him to leave with Marga. At the police station, an officer interrogated Romina and asked whether she had noticed anything strange about her husband before the incident.
“Our family has been through a lot,” Mina said. “The girls were kidñäpped. It’s only natural for him to be more vigilant.”
“Did anything change in your relationship?” the officer asked.
“Our children were kidñäpped. Do you think after that, everything would go back to normal right away? My case was also reopened.”
“Was that the cause of your fight?”
“We had some quarrels but that was because he was defending his daughter, Daniela. I have a strong feeling that she’s involved in my case.”
“So did you fight?”
“No. We straightened things out in the end.”
“Can someone testify for you?”
“What are you trying to imply?”
“We’re just looking at all the possibilities, so we’re asking if you and Mr. Mondragon had problems.”
Romina recalled her last conversation with Robert. “We didn’t. Things were all fine before the accident.”
Back at Camila, Bonita notified Cassie that the car was ready for them to leave. Daniela told her to leave so she could have a talk with Cassie alone. Bonita reluctantly left when Cassie gave her the go-ahead. Daniela then began with her ‘good sister’ act. “After everything Marga went through, I don’t want anymore trouble,” Daniela claimed.
“But I’m not the one who starts the fights,” Cassie pointed out.
“I understand. I hope you understand our situation too.” Danny girl then hugged Cassie, rolling her eyes like the modern witch she was. She recalled the will reading and the cufflink Alvin had shown to her. Daniela rolled her eyes again and gave someone a signal to come over. Back at the station, the officer brought up the statement Daniela had made. “She said Mr. Mondragon even got injured.”
“It was just an accident,” Mina said, incredulous. “We were able to patch things up before he died.”
A moment later, Bonita met up with Romina at the station and told her that she had already taken Cassie home. Bonita asked why she had been called in by the police and Mina said she had nothing to hide. “I think they’re trying to connect our fight to what happened to Robert,” Mina said.
“What? That’s ridiculous. Why would you try to k!ll your own husband?”
“They’re just looking for someone to blame.”
“Maybe someone told the police that you had a fight with your husband.”
“It’s Daniela.”
“What?”
“Daniela is the one who told them.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I have nothing to worry about. What I need to know is why Daniela is shifting the focus of the investigation onto me.”
At the marketing room, Daniela stared at a hair sample and made a call. “I’m sending you a DNA sample. I need you to compare it to mine. Send me back the results as soon as possible.” Later that night, Marga asked her father at home whether her aunt would go to jail. Carlos told her that the police didn’t have enough evidence and that Romina had løvëd her husband. Marga took offense and started ranting about him taking Romina’s side again and her mother being the victim.
“What did I witness earlier?” Carlos asked. “Did you have another fight with Cassie?”
“I was just protecting mommy,” Marga claimed.
“There are other ways to do that without starting a fight. I’ll always be here to protect you and your mom. I won’t let anything happen to our family.”
At Camila the next morning, an employee gave Daniela a document sent by Bernard. Daniela went through it, saying that she didn’t understand it. “It’s a document stating that Mrs. Mondragon is transferring her inheritance into your name.”
“What? Are you sure about this?”
“Yes, ma’am. Attorney Tejada has already processed the necessary documents. We just need Mrs. Mondragon’s signature to finalize everything.”
Danny girl scoffed. “I didn’t think this was going to be that easy. Apparently, she’s not a golddigger. She’s just a stüpïd bïtçh.”
Romina came in a second later and Daniela started mocking her. “So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead. Sign it now and stop wasting our time.”
Romina gave her a look. “I will sign the papers on one condition.”
“What?”
“Why are you implicating me in the case? Why are you shifting the focus of the investigation onto me. Tell me the truth, are you protecting someone else involved in Robert’s dëäth?”
The chief of police interrogated Hector about the accident leading to Robert’s dëäth. Hector said he knew nothing about it. A guy came over. “Who is he?” the chief asked.
“Just an old friend,” Hector replied. He turned to the guy and asked him to wait for him inside. “Do you have anymore questions? I have to buy some food.”
“We’ll come back if we have anymore questions.”
“Okay, sir. You know where to find me.”
Back at Camila, Daniela tried playing dumb but Mina didn’t believe her. “You’re shifting the focus of the investigation onto me. You wouldn’t bother doing that if you weren’t hiding something.”
“How dare you accuse me. Never in my life would I ever hurt my father.”
“Why are you doing this to me? Is it because of the money? Or to protect yourself because you’re somehow involved?”
“How dare you, Romina! How dare you. Everything I told the police was true. Why are you being so defensive? Guilty?” Danny girl started smiling as Mina put pen to paper.
Romina allowed the pen to hover over the transfer document for a moment. Suddenly, she started designing the entire document with ink. She then sprang up to her feet and tore the document. “I was willing to give you everything so that you will leave me and Cassie alone. But for you to manipulate the investigation because of this, it just proves that you don’t deserve to have everything Robert left behind.” Mina stormed off. Roxy asked her father what he had done since she had seen him talking to the police officers he hated so much.
“It’s nothing,” Hector said. “They just asked about Robert.”
“Cassie’s dad? Why would they ask you about him? Are you involved in his dëäth?”
“What’s with all the questions? Stop being nosy.”
“I’m just worried about you, pa. Are you involved in his dëäth?”
“No. Stop asking questions. You’re pissing me off. I’m warning you, Roxanne.”
Daniela met up with Savannah and complained about how Romina had made a føøl out of her. Savvi mentioned that Mina probably suspected her being involved in her father’s dëäth. “I’m not involved in dad’s dëäth,” Danny girl declared. “I’m not that wicked.”
“But you did something wicked, and that makes you a suspect. What if she learns about your involvement in her räpë case?”
“That cannot happen. I can never let her find out what I did.”
“She’s determined to know the truth.”
“That’s why I need to find some evidence of Alvin’s involvement in dad’s dëäth.”
Cassie was worried about her mother’s feud with Daniela getting worse. Romina told her that she could have given all their inheritance to Daniela for them to have peace but then they also had to get justice for her father’s dëäth. Cassie smiled. “I trust your decisions ma. I know it’s for the best. And for daddy.”
“Thank you for understanding, Cassie. I løvë you so much and I would do anything for you. There’s no amount of wealth in this world that can match my løvë for you. I will always protect you.”
“Thank you, mamma. I løvë you so much.”
The next morning, Romina was pacing around the room and Bonita asked whether there was a problem. Mina told her that she was just thinking about her conversation with Daniela. “I think she’s hiding something,” Mina stated. “I think she and Robert had a conversation before the incident. I think it had something to do with me.”
“What makes you say that?” Bonita asked.
“Before he died, Robert tried to conceal Daniela’s connection to Hector. He asked me to meet him at the police station. Robert knew something and that’s what I have to find out.”
“And how will you do that? You know Daniela. You can’t force the truth out of her.”
“I will have Daniela investigated. And I won’t stop untill I know whether she’s really involved in this case or not.”
Daniela ranted to the lead investigation officer for making no progress so far in her father’s case. She then had another phone call. “Hello.”
“Mrs. Daniela. The DNA test is ready.”
“Alright.”
Daniela and Savannah met up with the guy who had called earlier. He asked her to be careful with the DNA result since it was illegal. “I know that,” Daniela said. “You think I’d do something to implicate myself?” Daniela read the result : positive.
“What does it say?” Savvi asked.
“Cassie is my sister,” Danny girl said in disbelief. “Our DNA samples are a match. How is this even possible? No wonder he kept taking that girl’s side. He’s been treating her like his real daughter all this time because Cassie is his daughter.”
Savvi was surprised as much. “But if Cassie is your biological sister, then that means…”
“It means that daddy was the one who räpëd Romina.”
“Then why was he planning to go to the police if he was the real culprit?”
Daniela recalled her last conversation with her father. “He wasn’t planning to turn me in,” she sobbed. “He was planning on turning himself in. He was going to take the blame to save me.”
Romina entered the marketing room and asked where Daniela was. A guy reluctantly said that she had left the office. “She’s supposed to be at work,” Mina said. “Does Daniela often leave the office?”
“Yes, Mrs. Romina. But we keep quiet because Mr. Robert is her father.”
“On the day of Robert’s incident, was she in the office at that time?”
“Yes, ma’am. But she left all of a sudden. We all assumed that she went home because she didn’t come back.”
Mina stormed out. Back at the rendezvous place, Daniela told Savannah that it was evident that Robert had left majority of his inheritance to Romina and Cassie to atone for what he had done.
“What you going to do now?” Savvi asked.
“What do you mean?”
“This changes everything, Daniela. Romina is his legal wife. And her daughter is your father’s flesh and blood. How will you contest their inheritance if they have everything right to it? What if Romina uncovers everything – that it was your father who actually räpëd her? It will be the beginning of the end.”
“Dad is not here anymore, Savannah. There’s no way in hell I’ll let Romina find out the truth. Dëäd men tell no tales. I just have to make sure that the truth stays buried with dad.”
Romina was sitting at the waiting area of Maxwell when Marga came up. Mina asked her about her grandpa. “Was your family at home when you heard the news?”
“Yeah,” Marga replied. “But it was a very crazy day. I remember mommy wanted to leave for some reason, and then we saw the news.”
Mina was surprised. “Daniela wanted to leave? Where was she going?”
Before Marga could give a straight answer, Carlos arrived and sent her off, telling Mina not to involve his daughter in her case because in her search for justice, Robert had ended up dëäd. Cassie came over and Mina asked her to take the lead. As soon as Marga saw Cassie, she started ranting nonstop about Mina trying to get information out of her to use against her mother.
“You don’t deserve the inheritance you got from grandpa,” Marga barked. “If mommy finds out about this, I’m sure she would do everything to take back what you inherited, so enjoy it while it lasts.”
Carlos and Romina arrived on the scene. Carlos left with Marga while Mina told Cassie that she would let the driver drop her off at home because she had something to do at work. Daniela went to Alvin’s place and asked about the night Romina had been räpëd. “I’m curious to know who Cassie’s father is.”
“If I knew, I would have told you already,” Alvin said. “It was dark that night. Everything happened so fast.”
“Just tell me everything from the very start.” Flashback : Alvin waited for Romina to come out after the bachelorette party. He then grabbed her as she fainted and drove off. Robert saw them and followed in his car. Present : “That guy must have seen and followed you,” Daniela commented.
“I guess,” Alvin said. “But since Cassie was born, we all know what happened after I left them in there.” Flashback (from Daniela’s Point of View) : Robert walked into the cabin and stared down at an unconscious Romina. “Now I understand why you fought for Cassie like a real daughter,” Daniela thought to herself, crying silently. “I promise that I’ll do everything to keep your secret. No one will find out what you did. Especially not Romina and Cassie. Even in your dëäth, I won’t let anyone ruin your name.”
At the gambling den, Alvin worried that the police wouldn’t stop until they found the culprit for Robert’s dëäth. Hector said that they needed a plan because his business wasn’t going so well due to the constant visits of the police. “What should we do then?” Alvin asked.
“Think of a solution. Roxanne is starting to ask questions too. We need to figure out what to do to cover our tracks.”
“Why don’t we tell on Daniela?”
“Are you crazy? You can’t rat her out. If everyone finds out, you won’t be able to get close to Cassie. We finally got rid of Robert for good.”
“What about Daniela? If she really told on us, shouldn’t we be dealing with her now?”
“Let’s solve this problem first. After this, I’ll deal with her myself.”
Daniela and Savannah arrived at Camila’s parking lot to find Hector waiting. Daniela asked Savvi to go ahead before storming over to confront Hector. “Who said you could come here?” Danny girl began. “Should I send someone to escort you out? Guard!”
“Say it louder,” Hector mocked. “Guard!! Do you know how much trouble you’ve caused me bacause of your big mouth? My business is getting disrupted because of you.”
“I didn’t tell on you. It’s not my fault that you look suspicious.”
“Do you really want me to believe that? I’m not an idïøt.”
“Believe whatever you want to. I don’t give a crap.”
“You’ve got nerves. Do you want everyone to find out about your secret?”
“What makes you think Romina will care about that? She is focused on finding the person who k!lled my dad. She wouldn’t even care if she found out that I paid Alvin to räpë her because it didn’t even happen. Romina and I both want to find my dad’s k!ller. Why are you so scared all of a sudden?”
Romina stormed into the marketing room and faced off with Daniela. “Are you the one who had Robert k!lled?”
Daniela took offense. “Why would you even say that? I may not have been a good daughter to my dad, but that’s not enough reason for you to accuse me of mürdërer. Why would I do that to my own father?”
“You tell me, Daniela. Everything is finally starting to make sense now. Why is the police investigating me when you were the one who had planned to leave the country the same day Robert died? What were you running from?”
“That has nothing to do with the case.”
“Are you sure about that? There’s only one reason you would do that – so that you could run away from what you did.”
Daniela raised her hand to släp Mina but she caught it in midair. “We’re talking about my father here. Those are nothing but baseless accusations.”
“Baseless?!” Mina hissed. “If so, then tell me why you wanted to leave!”
Daniela laughed. “You don’t have any proof to back up your accusations.”
“I don’t have any proof yet, but I won’t stop investigating.”
“Until then, stop accusing me because if you push me any further, may dad forgive me but I won’t back down.”
Hector was pretty upset upon his arrival back at the gambling den. One of his guys mentioned that the police couldn’t link him to the explosion because he hadn’t been there. “Are you stüpïd?” Hector asked. “Daniela knows I have the means. She would find a way to link me and Alvin to the explosion. What we need is a new suspect.”
“I followed Robert around until the explosion,” the goon began. “I saw some things. There’s someone we can pin the blame on.”
Daniela was ranting back home about Romina accusing her of k!lling her own father. She asked Carlos how Mina had found out that they were leaving the country that day. Carlos told her that Mina had spoken to Marga at Maxwell. In her room, Marga listened as Daniela kept on ranting. “She dragged our family into this. So I’ll do the same thing. Let’s see who cries first.”
At the mansion, Romina revealed her suspicions about Daniela being involved in Robert’s dëäth. Esther was doubtful and Mina told her that she wouldn’t take her eyes off Daniela until she found some answers. “But I know Daniela,” Esther said. “She’s not capable of k!lling Mr. Robert. She truly løvës her father.”
“I know it’s hard to believe, but this is the only thing that makes sense,” Mina argued. “She didn’t want Robert to tell the police that she was working with Alvin, so she had him k!lled.”
“Is she really capable of that?” Cassie asked.
“Daniela’s pretty determined,” Neil cut in. “I wouldn’t put anything past her.”
“Mamma, I’m worried. This is what I meant by the fight getting worse. Daddy’s not here anymore to intervene.”
“Cassie, I’ll face whatever the outcome may be. When I find that she’s involved in Robert’s dëäth, she would be brought to justice for what happened to your dad and me.” At the police station, a guy went to give a statement on Robert’s case. A goon met up with him later and paid him off to keep his end of the bargain.
At Camila’s parking lot, another goon planted evidence in Romina’s car. Meanwhile, Hector used a disposable phone to make a phone call. “Hello, station 12. I’m calling about Mr. Mondragon’s dëäth. I saw someone suspicious on the day of the incident.”
