Chapter 1435: Agreement - I fucked up.
If things couldn’t have come at a better time, it’d be better for my peace of mind to have a much better hold on this place where a part of my family lives on. This place would surely fall if left to such "capable" hands that would throw everything and anything away just for a dumbass plan to get her husband—who she fucking cheated on—back.
Since most of my crew were still standing up, it didn’t take long before we set up a few tables and chairs to discuss things moving forward.
It’s basically this place giving me the leadership position without any of them leaving their actual posts.
"So how would that work? And my husband?" Mrs. Valdez asked.
I shrugged my shoulders at her last remark, "It means what it says, this place will be under my name, you follow the shit I tell you to do, and if you make good on it, it’ll come with a series of benefits everyone will be happy with."
"And that is?" Captain Malapitan cut in.
"If we’re talking about you, the first order of business is that this will be your permanent residence. Any and all family members from whichever part of the country you’d like to have, we’ll bring in via ship or helicopter."
"You can do that?"
"Already did with most of my soldiers back home. We can’t just function with pure firepower and vice versa. Some have to stay back and keep the upkeep. That means guarding our bases, cooking food, laundry, cleaning, farming, maintenance, counselling, training, etc. Like the way the old world works."
Mrs. Valdez cut in again to inquire about her husband, "How about my—"
"Yes, we have access to our radios still, and we’ll have this place set up. We’ll add your husband in the mix we broadcast every single day—" I turned to Captain Malapitan, "How many groups do you have scouting outside and doing runs?"
He answered, "One group alternates the way towards the Town of Macalelon and the Town of Catanauan, while two others sweep the mountain on foot. Also, there’s a group by the sea, but they only go out once a week; we’re more focused on having big hauls of fish and saving gas."
I nodded, "Great. We’ll hook you up with a few gallons but have more fish ponds set up. Also, regarding your farming enclosures and fields, one suggestion is to also work vertically. We need rice as a staple but we should have a variety of things we grow that needs to be planted only once or grow in a much shorter time."
I was imparting things we do back at our home base that this place— I mean, my place now technically speaking, could implement—but Mrs. Valdez had once again cut in to get more information as to how we’d locate her husband.
"I have our family picture here with our daughters, he started to be a little forgetful as of late but I’m at least a little more certain that he chose the road towards Macalelon, and I suggest using more people to frequent that area with a wider range and a smaller group that would go further and further."
I just looked at her with a blank face before sighing, "I understand that you’re trying to do everything you can to get him back—"
"His name’s Robert—"
"Right, to get Robert back and I— everyone sees that clearly, even your affair partner, mind you..." I trailed before glancing at Captain Malapitan, who put his hands up, giving me this look that what I said had no offense at all, even the tiniest bit.
I continued, "You’re a cool guy, huh? Anyway... back to what I was saying, we’ll do just that if you also do me these three things."
"I’m ready," she gave me an earnest look as she nodded.
"First: You stay here and assume the position while actually DOING what your job entails. You’re a fucking counsellor, right? Counsel more actively and openly, not as passively as what we saw you doing earlier. How the fuck did you win Barangay Captain for?"
"I was Vice Captain, actually... current one died and I defaulted..."
I couldn’t be more surprised, "Huh. Well, fuck. You’ll eventually get there but you should be working closely with Captain Malapitan here— not that way, I mean— fuck. Oop, wrong choice of words there but you know what I meant, right? I mean, I’m not saying your husband has already kicked the bucket but if he had to pack and leave with all the shit’s going around, it’d be easier to hate-fuck you in the ass multiple times or pay you back the same way. Him being alive is actually higher than him forgiving you."
"I... I’ll still take on those odds."
"Sure. Have that fucking spirit leading this place moving forward. Now for my second order..."
"That’s just the f-first one?"
"That’s how we get ya, I can still make you do this shit without this deal, mind you. This is me giving you face after the shit you pulled. Now listen, I want you to learn another trade, fishing, sewing, whatever. Just learn one, pretty easy. Right? And for the last one, don’t be a fucking asshole. I don’t care if you wanna fucking take your life by going outside and looking for your husband you cheated on— dying from a bite or whatever’s gonna hit you outside to atone for shit, but that just creates more problems for us. You’d be another dead we’d be wasting our bullets on. If you don’t care what happens with your life, then give it to me. I basically own you now and you’re my responsibility. I’ll try to get some use out of you but yeah, I’ll know when to stop and I’ll just fucking send you on your way if you’re really aren’t worth shit. Understand?"
At that point, she just paused for a long while before she slowly nodded into submission.
And to keep the same mistake from earlier happening again, she decided to write up a contract between the two of us—highlighting the importance of the ’attempt’ or the drive to look for Robert Valdez.
I would usually just opt for some spit and a handshake since I can remember everything to the dot, and I value someone’s word as much as a written agreement, but yeah, the circumstance earlier made me go with this form of agreement.
Mrs. Valdez nodded firmly, "Okay, I’ll do my best to fulfill my end of the agreement— I do have more pictures at my office, would you like to accompany me— and please, don’t. My daughter’s reading inside, she won’t take kindly to such crass jokes. She already hates me as it is."
I did try to sneak in one more quip, but I ultimately stopped myself because of the look Kaley gave me. In any case, she wanted to file her copy in the cabinet she had in her office so I followed her to see if I can have more copies of everything and everyone in their fold.
It was a usual routine I do if I ever get ahold of more people but little did I think that this shit was planned from the start.
I fucked up.
Closing a deal and swinging my big dick around from the get-go had me in a headspace that I had everything in this place under control but that headspace caused me to be fucking careless.
I never personally scouted the whole place with my group and I never had a briefing or a full report from my crew that stayed over in this town yesterday.
Going back, when Mrs. Valdez and I got to the door, she knocked ever so slightly as not to disturb her daughter, who was supposedly reading inside. Without hearing a reply from her knock, she slowly turned the knob, and I just saw a very unassuming petite girl wearing headphones, reading something from her charged tablet.
She didn’t even spare us a glance as we made our way into one of the corners of Mrs. Valdez’s office, which had three filing cabinets and some wall decorations with her degree, awards, and some family pictures.
I already caught a glimpse of Mrs. Valdez’s daughter from the picture she showed me earlier, but the moment my spider senses started tingling, it was already too fucking late.
The last thing I remember was a quick tug from my shirt, and the moment I looked back, she... she was already looking straight at me.
She was smiling.
She never had any features that stood out from the pictures or from the time I glanced at her but her eyes carried something inexplicable that couldn’t be translated by mere photos.
’Fuck...’
That brief eye contact felt like the longest time and I just felt my body losing control and my consciousness fading more and more.
After that, I never knew how much time fucking passed as I woke up in complete darkness with the cold touch of metal binding my neck, arms, legs, and torso.
