AFTER Regenio spoke with his fellow former intruders, he walked into the Ibarra mansion with heavy, stomping steps. He could not accept that just when he was ready to face Manuela—to tell her the truth of his identity and what lay behind this novel—his companions had chicken-out.
He was drinking water when the memory of their conversation resurfaced.
"Son of a whore! Cowards!" he shouted, throwing the glass he held to the floor.
"What did you say? Crisostomo showed himself to you earlier?" Dr. Carlos asked as the four of them conversed on the shore, outside San Diego, where they were free to discuss the said protagonist of the novel—who was, in truth, the antagonist of their lives.
The four were aboard William's boat. Dr. Carlos and William sat together on the right; on the left were Regenio and Jerome.
"Yes, he just popped up like a mushroom," William said, shaking his head.
