When Darryl reached the par line, the Guntas freed him and watched him climb back into his bridge safely before they bid him farewell.

Soon enough, Darryl was all alone by himself astonished by the fact that the bridge was already empty. The tents they previously used as offices were gone, the equipments that used to scatter around and his employees evaporated without a trace. There was no sign of any ongoing activities there and the construction obviously had been abandoned.

​​

Darryl was thoroughly bewildered. He made clear instructions to his foremen and lawyer prior to entering the island and there was enough provision to last five years of wages for his employees. How come his team abandoned his site?

Darryl looked back at the Manggan Island as a worried look flushed into his hazel eyes. Looked like things got out of hand when he was gone, and he needed more time to check whatever was going on. Still, he wanted to stick to his original plan of going home after a week, but if worst comes to worst, then plan B should be taken with outmost consideration.

Darryl carried the things he could with him and left the rest at end of the bridge. The first thing he needed to do was to walk far across his bridge to the mainland as there was no ride available. The journey from the mainland to the par line would take six hours by boat and if he were to take it by the bridge, it might take him longer than that, so he started his journey with thorough determination.

He reached the par line by late afternoon, so the sun was about to set when he was walking on his bridge. When the sun had finally rested and darkness went in, Darryl saw a small light from afar, growing and growing toward him. It was a car and it halted just right when the driver noticed there was a man walking alone on a forbidden site.

"Engineer?" The driver leaped out of the car and ran to check if it was really him.

"Foreman Loi," Darryl recognized him as he was one of his well trusted foremen.

"You're alive?" He gasped as if he couldn't believe it. "Thank God you are safe! We are all worried about you"

"I had given instructions before I left," Darryl told him, confused and eager to know why his construction site was abandoned.

"You were gone for too long," He replied with a complicated face. "Why don't we go inside the car first before I'll tell you everything,"

"Alright," Darryl agreed and allowed the foreman to help him with the ones he was carrying "I left a couple of things at the edge, help me load it in your car"

"Sure engineer," The foreman obeyed as he went on and helped the Lagdameo heir.

***

The dou, Darryl and Foreman Loi were already traversing the road back to Hampshire. Darryl decided to look for Ziggy right away to secure the healing plant and the letters his wife entrusted to him.

"The week after you left, everyone was already worried, and people thought that the Manggan Tribe had killed you with their poisonous arrows " Foremain Loi started narrating to Darryl what happened, "You were the nation's topic the last three months that you were gone. You were always on the news and people and the media had been following on our activities here in the bridge. There were even rallyist on the entrance demanding us go and look for your body…we tried to stick to the plan despite the pressure, but things seriously got out of hand specially when L Empire get into picture,"

"What did my father do this time?" Darryl asked, his eyes on the road, his ears were with Foreman Loi but his mind was somewhere else as if he had been contemplating on something.

"He launched off rescue operations and made attempts to cross the par line," Foreman Loi almost didn't want to say the words. "Of course, the government intervened and send off an army to guard the par line blocking off L Empire's men and there were violence and chaos after that...L Empire was put on the hot seat, called off for being violent but instead of apologizing your uncle Franco threatened the Ministry and—"

"So, it was L Empire versus the government," Darryl cut off foreman Loi's words. He had never once imagined that things will go this bad. He knew L Empire was a powerful, but never did he once thought they were that powerful enough to challenge the government head on. All this time, he thought he only had to deal with his father but the chaos that took place when he went missing had gone off pretty bad that big decisions had to be made. Darryl could not help but close his eyes and pressed the bridge of his nose. Was he really that important to cause all that violence?

And what was his father thinking?

All these times he thought he was a good businessman but what he did the past few months would cause the downfall of L Empire.

Was Manuelle Lagdameo that mad that he was to sacrifice their family's business just because his pride cannot be tamed?

"When did the construction stopped?" Darryl inquired.

"Just last month after you went missing," Foreman Loi replied. "Your friend, Lawyer Yu tried all his best to make a stand and do everything as you wished but your father and uncle went above and took over the management. When they succeeded, they fire out all the employees and the bridge was abandoned"

"…you might be wondering why I am here when L Empire had already fired me out." Foreman Loi added "…Lawyer Yu and I come here alternately to do some patrol…he was hoping you'll come back…L empire put some guards on the entrance, but they had allowed us to come and roam around every now and then with you father's consent"

*

"Thank you," That was all that Darryl managed to say after all the information he gave him "You got Lawyer Yu's number, right?"

"Yes, I do," Foreman Loi said and gave Darryl his phone while his other hand was maneuvering the steering wheel. "Here, make the necessary calls you need"

Everything was in mess and Darryl needed to fix things before they messed up further. He took foreman Loi's phone and dialed Lawyer Yu's number right away.