An hour later, he went out to visit his father. It was already half-a-day after they taken care of Avery De Leon, and something unexpected to happen. It wasn't what Prince would have wickedly accepted, but it's a disappointment on the behalf of the plan. Bryce was such a nuisance. He knew he shouldn't have taken care of him from the start.
He paid the taxi cab, retrieved the fruit of baskets, and headed inside the prison. Prince logged on his name and waited for his turn. Inside the correctional center, nothing is biased. Everything is fair and just. He was left alone with two middle-aged women, conversing on each other, and Prince heard it.
"Do you think Ian Gomez and Nathan Fajardo will still bail out of the prison? It's been 2 decades since they got imprisoned."
"Yeah, I know it was just a wicked fate on them. Look at what happened to the two of them after the death of Zion Cortez. They're the ones who got unlucky."
Prince knuckled his fists. He doesn't want to turn, but his 90 percent in rage, waiting for the conversation to subside. Prince eavesdropped even more, not even giving subtle clue he was the son of one of the former cabinet members of the past administration.
His father is a legal adviser who didn't have time to explain about what happened after Zion Cortez's death, and just placed inside the prison without any resistance. Ian Gomez was just a true figure.
"Ian Gomez is stained, too. I know all of the things he has done along with Nathan to abet Zion's death. Those three friends have been intact from the start, but their greed destroyed their friendship."
"Yeah, people are scary."
Prince had gone nowhere from the line, but he's getting indulged in the story once again.
Ian Gomez is his father, friends with Nathan Fajardo and the late Zion Cortez. Nathan is Bryce Fajardo's father, his colleague and a distant friend, and he was the one who supposed to kill Aria, the one she rescued.
They had been best friends since they're kids, and they're born with a silver spoon.
One day, they found themselves linking with the upcoming elections, and they found the highest national government position fascinating to work at. Zion Cortez was the solicitor general, Nathan Fajardo was the chief justice, and Ian Gomez, his father, was the legal adviser. All of them were inclined by the laws.
The elections came, and they all filed their candidacy for presidency a month before the campaign. Before they apply, Ian Gomez made a pact for his friends to have an election bet. Zion and Nathan have come up with the bet's condition, and they all settled with the millions of money placed inside a card as a reward prize.
A black card no one can use until the elections are over and the new president is proclaimed.
When the campaign period began, the three of them headed out to win the hearts of everyone. They're still fusing to the people the three of them have a strong and iron foundation that no one can break. There are no walls distilled in their relationship, and that their friendship will still continue after the election.
But the day wasn't always sunny. It has to have a storm, and dark days started to come.
The surveys are up, and the one leading it was Zion Cortez. Ian and Nathan joked around their rallies about their uptight, solicitor general friend who had all the knowledge and that he also deserved the position, but… Nathan started to get jealous of Zion.
Nathan was the third one in the surveys, and he's not that attractive enough to cast their votes.
Zion didn't know Nathan had a hidden agenda to destruct his identity before the election. Soon enough, Ian Gomez started to fill in the gap. Nathan confronted Ian about Zion, and that they're just trash after their friend lead the surveys. Even though they're presidential candidates, one must prevail, and the rest will be forgotten.
In the middle of the rallies, the disinformation spread through the social media.
Nathan and Ian all too back their initiatives to have a healthy campaign, and started to turn against Zion. The rallies have been bloody hell, and the words were hurtful. The insults have been thrown out to each other, destructing their dignities and characters. They are friends in the start, but become lone strangers in the middle of the campaign period.
Zion didn't back down from the fight, even though it's heartbreaking to see Nathan and Ian turning away from him. Zion still continued to lead the surveys, and he had a concrete plan to change Vasteria.
The 2000 elections came, and not surprised, Zion Cortez won…
"… Mr. Gomez! Mr. Prince Gomez!" The police called him out, but it's too late to even block his mouth pronouncing his name from the two women. They got astonished, turned horribly to Prince, plotting that they have the same name as Ian Gomez. Prince held on the fruit basket, stood up from the chair, and signed the visitation paper.
As he sat down on the other side of the glass, he waited for the officer to come inside, holding his father's cuffs. Prince pushed the basket inside the tray, and let the officer take care of it.
The door started to open, and a bald man with whitish beard came in, wearing clean, orange printed jumpsuit especially made for men who got 60 years of punishment. It was already halfway, but there was 40 more years to repent at. Ian went, limping with his injured feet due to the shovel whose wounded his toenail, and settled on a seat in front of Prince.
"Dad," Prince smiled.
"My lovely son," he responded with a delighted beam.
Prince watched as the officer removed his cuffs. Ian massaged his wrists, whispering, "Has been long since you visited. Wasn't the day yesterday is the big one for you?"
Prince raised his eyebrows, taking a huff, knowing it would be hard to explain it all to his father. Ian swallowed, adding, "Did you carry out the mission well?"
It was the biggest question in his mind. He hasn't talked to Bryce since yesterday, and they lost signal to what happened. Prince had done an exceptional thing, and it was to rescue Aria De Leon…
"I did it, Dad," he lied. This is the best way to have it finish. Prince could go on with his life with Avery's soul lingering around, suffocating him, or even planting a ghostly pain of bullet inside his head.
Prince swallowed, staying innocent with his face, as if he had that triumphant look and nothing at this moment seemed victorious enough than killing the two of them.
Ian dropped his jaw, looking at the side if the officer was still present, and he isn't. Prince grinned, reassuring, "No one can know what we talked about, Dad. We both know exactly how to use the codes. We're friends to the law."
Friends to the law but his father got imprisoned? Prince guessed there's no escape when you got cornered.
"Did you do it well?" he egged on.