Chapter 73
Jonathan’s POV
Rollings Designs – Early morning
Veronica kept asking me the whole night why I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t tell her about my meeting with Lena, at least not her.
So, I dodged the question saying it was work related.
I left for the office early in the morning and stormed into the office as I had to begin cracking down on Fredrick.
The door clicking sound could be heard as I stormed into my office with my PA following me behind.
The air in the office felt tight as Lena’s words were still lingering in my mind.
“Mr. Rollings, should we use the standard internal servers and run a background sweep over the Harmon’s?” he said, pulling his digital notepad out to jot down the notes.
I had already spoken to him on the phone yesterday night, so he had a hunch on what I would want to be done.
I turned sharply around as my gaze hardened into ice.
“No. Absolutely no.” I said.
“Even if she’s alone, she still has her eyes permanently glued on our metrics, and internal networks. If she traces even a single query that links back to us, she’ll redirect her resources and target Veronica p>
I got up and walked over to the large glass window, and stared out into the city skyline.
For seven whole years I was in-active, blind and constantly on defence mode.
But now I was done fearing as now I won’t give her or anyone a chance to hurt them anymore.
“Only use incognito, and VPN,” I commanded coldly. “Avoid any digital track or shared corporate contact p>
“Yes,” my PA said. “I’ll bypass the agencies John gave me,” my PA said, scribbling down the notes.
Then he removed a hard-copy ledger he was holding in his arm.
“These are the manual ledger printouts of the cash withdrawals Mrs. Rollings did before she left p>
I took the file as my eyes glanced over the black type writing on the paper. I noticed the numbers were minuscule.
All were routine local bills, groceries, Janet’s school fees and medical bills. To a normal auditor, these would look like a standard household expense ledger, but to me now…it was a brilliant survival chain.
“Veronica learned how to track metrics while working for Imelda,” I observed quietly as a faint smile escaped my lips.
“She purposely chose low-frequency cash routes over swift online quick transactions so she could avoid the flagging the corporate gip. She transitioned her leave in a pre-planned way p>
I placed the document with a decisive hand setting it squarely on the marble desk. For a brief moment my mind drifted off to a darker territory.
“Leave the extraction trail to the private network,” I muttered as I looked at my PA.
“There’s another shadow we need to dig up if we need to make sure Veronica and Janet are safe even when I’m not around p>
My PA looked up as his brows furrowed with sudden tension.
“Mr. Rollings,” my PA asked. “Who are we talking about p>
I leaned over the desk.
“Marcus Vane.” The name hung heavily in the quiet air.
“Marcus was an incredibly sharp private investigator. He also was Lena’ sworn brother before his so-called sudden hit-and-run near my mansion p>
I exhaled.
“According to these,” I passed the file Lena gave me.
“Marcus has been digging too deep into what Veronica was doing and had the leads on exposing Imelda p>
“Mr. Rollings,” my PA said worriedly. “Are you saying that this hit-and-run could be her p>
“No,” I said, cutting his words. “She may be manipulative, but she never had a mind to create a hit-and-run to clear her path. And Marcus was hired by Fredrick p>
That’s when I recalled John left me a flash drive I kept in my safe, so I got up and removed it. I plugged it into a detached, non-network laptop.
Local police files regarding Marcus’s fatal accident flashed onto the screen.
My PA was right behind me.
“Mr. Rollings, I’ll get on them right away p>
I nodded as he left as I knew my PA always thought what I wanted to tell him.
The report in front of me stated it was not a routine late-night-single vehicle collision due to poor visibility as it was raining.
I scrolled down to the forensic photo attachments of the collision and the wrecked car.
My law clenched tightly.
The brake lines didn’t erode naturally. They were cut clean, precise and completely in a professional way.
“Fredrick Harmon,” I whispered, his name tasting like something bitter I would never want to taste.
Ever since I knew him, I knew he was a man who was the absolute master of creating public illusions when he needed to clear his obstacles.
Being an experienced private investigator, he was not an amateur driver. So getting hit like this would be out of the question.
But with his link to investigating Veronica, going against Imelda, infuriating Fredrick, the two people who ruined my wedding, I had to deal with this.
I don’t know why but my mind drifted towards Sanders.
Even now if I recall those seven years, they were interlocked with terrifying absolute precision. According to the contract, Sanders acted as the independent rogue who targeted Veronica. Over all he was nothing but a money-minded puppet whose strings were in the hands of Fredrick.
Marcus had discovered the exact details of the files Veronica was dealing with before he was silenced forever.
I knew Fredrick had ordered Sanders to stage the lethal threats against Veronica, forcing my hand, ensuring Imelda forced me to keep my marriage hidden away as if it were a shameful secret, all along relying on the Harmon empire to get the Blue Heart.
I closed my eyes as a wave of profound boiling anger rushed through my veins to calm down.
Lena practically begged me to get justice for Marcus, and I would do exactly that.
Till now I had only locked Fredrick away for corporate malfeasance and stock manipulation, but I would soon convict him of first-degree murder.
Just then my PA came back with a document that needed my reviewing.
“Look at this,” I said, pointing to an encrypted line. “This is from seven years ago. It’s an off-book corporate expense from the Harmon Designs and it’s dated exactly three days after Veronica left, and look, it’s authorized directly under Fredrick’s private digital signature p>
I exhaled.
“Mr. Rollings,” my PA said. “Look here, the funds bounced three separate shell companies in Panama before they safely landed into Sander’s alias account p>
“This is definitely a paper trail,” I muttered as I held the paper in my hand.
“I know Fredrick paid Sanders using embezzled corporate finance disguising it as monthly pay.” I said with my jaw clenched.
“Marcus had clearly intercepted these bank transactions and had precise evidence to eliminate Fredrick and Imelda. The Harmon family’s arrogance was their ultimate vulnerability.” I said continuing.
“They always believed they could buy silence with clean wire transactions and staged events p>
I picked up my encrypted satellite phone and dialed John’s proxy number. He answered on the first ring.
I could hear high-powered cooling fans in the background through the receiver.
“John, I need you to break completely into the legacy firewall of Fredrick’s personal archive files from back when Marcus was alive and exactly before Veronica left,” I ordered without any preamble.
“Be it any deleted email, encrypted note, voice logs matching Sanders’ operation timeline p>
A brief pause followed by clicking of mechanical yes typing away.
“Fredrick’s personal vault uses a rotating triple layered encryption,” John replied coldly.
“But his team left a back-door when he liquidated the Harmon Designs secondary servers p>
My fingers gripped the phone tighter as my voice dropped to a dangerous whisper.
“Find the defective link that connects to Marcus’ hit-and-run. I need unassailable forensic evidence ensuring he doesn’t see the day of light in this life p>
As John hung up, I looked up at my PA.
“Get me the pay transaction list we have under Rollings-Harmon for Veronica p>
As my PA left, a bitter sorrowful realization engulfed me. Veronica intentionally leaving me wasn’t only out of pure fear, but she removed herself completely as an active hostage for Fredrick to use against me. She found out as long as she was within my immediate perimeter, he would continue using her safety to crush my corporate decisions and force me into his unwanted alliance with Imelda as her fake fiancée. Veronica sacrificed her life as the legal wife for a meager, hidden life just so I could live a free life without being caught in the crossfire p>
I paused for a brief moment.
“Nicky, you protected me for fifteen years and stayed in the dark,” I whispered to myself.
“Now it’s my turn to protect you for the rest of my life p>
My phone buzzed and a message popped on my screen.
I got up, picked my keys and left.
Small Cafe – Two hours later
I pulled my Cadillac into the rear entrance of the small cafe and walked over to where Lena was waiting for me in the alley with her hands tucked deep inside of her long brown trench coat.
I stepped closer and exhaled.
“Why here p>
“At the present…I don’t even trust my shadow,” she looked inside the cafe through the window.
“How can I trust them?” she said looking at the customers.
Without saying a single word, I handed her a hard-copy file that had details on the severed brake lines of Marcus’ car.
Lena’s eyes widened as a mix of sharp grief followed by burning rage in her eyes as she scanned the forensic report.
“I knew it,” she whispered, her voice trembling slightly as her fingers touched at the edge of the report.
“Marcus was a professional driver. There was no chance he would get his from the side while crossing p>
“It was Sanders who executed this under his order p>
“Are you she trailed off.
“Can you help me to prepare so we can tear down the entire Harmon legacy and avenge Marcus’ death?” She asked as her sharp gaze was pinned on me.
“Fredrick still holds immense political leverage, the reason he lives like a king inside,” I said.
“Even after his corporate bankruptcy, he’s still living rich.” I didn’t flinch. The guilt that I carried hunting down my conscience for fifteen years had completely turned my mind into a cold, lethal resolving one.
“I will strip Fredrick Harmon from his name, freedom and his absolute sane mind,” I replied with a steady voice.
“He made my wife live like a fugitive, and murdered Marcus indirectly cause of me in cold blood.” I continued.
“I won’t rest until he is sentenced for this crime p>
Lena was a thirty-year old woman who had seen a lot of unexpected events in her life.
She identified Marcus’ body after the murder of her brother. The first time she met Veronica was when she had collapsed at the station with a seven year old Janet crying beside her. She arranged for Veronica to live a new life.
I made a call on my satellite phone with a calm, precise voice to John.
“John, I need a full digital autopsy on Harmon Designs. Open every back door, get me every offshore account, every email both father and daughter sent and received. In forty-eight hours p>
It was only when I looked at Lena I realized my voice was a bit terrifying as well.
“No wonder Fredrick feared you,” she said.
“When you get into action, you’re like a general who’s giving orders p>
“What do I do?” Lena asked me.
“Make sure Veronica and Janet are completely under maximum security till this matter is resolved,” I told Lena as I walked back to my car and she walked away.
I got into my car and drove off.
I recalled Imelda’s proposal at the auction.
“Imelda is becoming increasingly erratic; she already threw a desperate tantrum at the auction and attempted to track Veronica’s coordinates again.” I said to myself.
“Lena said her safehouse is off the grid,” I continued.
“I must keep them entirely focused on their corporate survival. For now Imelda thinks she still has a psychological hold on me, with that she’ll remain predictable. I need her to be completely blind to the fact the police will soon be standing in front of her with a federal arrest warrant for being an accomplice to her father’s deeds that include a murder p>
I sank back into the leather seat of my Cadillac as I watched the rain start to drop on my tinted glass window pane.
I glanced at my rested silent phone in front of me. I knew Imelda could launch her new manipulative plan at a moment that could force me into compliance.
I looked at the road with determined eyes.
Let her try all that she wants. She can deploy every single deceptive leverage she has in her hands.
Now nothing matters anymore. Her father is stained with Marcus’ murder and no one can save him from that.
Finally the chess pieces are laid to my requirement. The countdown to their absolute ruin has officially begun.
I gripped onto the steering wheel as I sped the car smoothly forward on the wet road.