Defending Mr. Billionaire (Sandoval Trilogy #1) | COMPLETED

Chapter 44

"No one deserves to bs a battered partner, Sandoval. Lalo na ikaw. Ako nga'y hindi mo nasaktan ni isang beses nang naging magkarelasyon tayo eh."

He smirked and looked at me. Ako naman ay bahagyang namula kaya pinunasan ko na lang ang mga luha ko para maitago ang pisngi ko. Bakit ko ba kasi naiungkat pa 'yung relasyon namin? Punyeta naman oh.

"Do you really think that I don't deserve it?" Bigla niyang tanong habang nakatingin sa kawalan.

Bahagya akong napangiti dahil nakikita ko na naman sa kaniya ang dating Sandoval na minahal ko. 'Yung walang tinatago, yung hindi nagsisinungaling. Yung Sandoval na mahal ako.

"Yes, I do. Just like what I've said earlier, no one deserves to be a battered partner----!"

"No." he halted. "I mean, do you really think that I don't deserve my liberty?"

Natigil ako sa pagsasalita nang sabihin niya 'yon bigla. Bahagya akong napaisip sa kaniyang tinanong. If we talk about his liberty or his freedom, no one deserves to be in this jail when they didn't do something against the law. "My answer dependes on your honesty to us, Sandoval. It depends on whether you will help us gather all the posible evidence and information or not. Before we defend you, please defend yourself first."

He smiled bitterly and looked at me. "I didn't assault my partner, Christine. God knows how much I love her and how I protect her. She's more like a younger sister to me, so I won't think of even killing her in my head. Lahat ng sinabi kong kwento sa inyo sa umpisa pa lang ay totoo. I did nothing against the law."

"What is your plea, Mr. Billionaire?" I asked and smiled.

"Not guilty, Attorney Christine."

Napangiti ako sa kaniyang sinabi. He really deserves his liberty at sa tingin ko simula ngayon ay hindi na ito magsisinungaling. Well, subukan niya lang ulit. Dahil kapag nalaman kong may itinatago pa siya ay bibitawan ko na talaga itong kaso. Tatlong beses akong tumango-tango at ngumiti. "Now, I know that you still deserve to be freed."

"But there's two more thing that you need to know." Sandoval cleared his throat and looked at me intently. "I hid the truth about being a battered fiancé because I know that the prosecution might use this before my counsel, you and Public Defender Jelsey."

"You know that the videos are safe with us, right?" Naging seryoso na ulit ang usapan namin.

"Yeah, a little bit. You know my suspicion of that Jeffrey Skyler, right? Hindi ko talaga siya pinagkakatiwalaan kaya nagawa kong itago mula sa inyo na may ganoong mga scenes."

Tumango-tango ako't inilabas na ang cellphone kong nakabukas ang voice recorder. I need to take this all down para mas maimbestigahan pa namin sa susunod. "What's the other thing?"

He looked down for a second and looked at me again. "There might be a scene from the CCTVs that you will find there, around December last year. I slapped my fiancé."

Nanlaki ang aking mga mata at nagulat talaga sa sinabi niya. Ganoon ka-rare na makarinig ako na pisikal na nanakit si Sandoval ng babaeng malapit sa kaniya. "Even if we found it out, we won't be needing it anyway. There must be some reason why you did that, and it's none of our business, am I right?"

He smiled and nodded. "You won't be needing it, yes, but the prosecution can. That video might conclude that I can greatly assault my partner into a serious extent."

"Ah-huh." I nodded simultaneously. "So you want us to hide that video if we found it right?"

"Yes." he affirmed. "And you're also right, there's a reason why did I slap Charisse on that night." Natahimik siya nang bahagya at huminga ng malalim. "She tried to kill me."

"WHAT?!"

"Yeah. She set up a simple machine in our bathroom. I almost get killed with a shotgun at the end of the pile of simple machine that she made." Bahagya siyang natawa at tumingin sa gulat kong hitsura. "My reflexes were good, nakaiwas ako bago pa makarating sa matapos yung machine at mabaril ako. Then I slapped her out of frustration."

"The reason was valid. Muntik ka nang mamatay, for pete's sake!" Napahinga ako ng malalim dahil sa kinuwento niya. Tumayo na ako't kinuha ko ang aking bag.

Gabi na rin kasi at kailagan ko pang umuwi. It was a long night, though. Nang papaalis na ako'y hinabol niya ako at hinawakan ang aking kamay. "There's one more thing, Attorney."

Napakunot ang noo ko dahil sa pagkakatawag niya sa akin ng 'attorney'. This must be a serious stuff or confession to make. Siguraduhin lang niya na hindi ako hihimatayin sa sasabihin niya. "Ano na naman 'yan?"

"I can't afford to lose you again, Christine. I love you very much."

Then he ended my tiring yet lovely day with his passionate kiss.