Chloe, upon Samuel’s advice, followed Edward and Hans to the police station. Both of them were curious about why her husband suddenly instructed the police to arrest Nicholas, who, notably, had been Edward’s trusted person for a long time.
In her mind, did this man have any connection to the chaos that occurred in the meeting room a few days ago? Or perhaps there were other issues that Nicholas had caused, leading Edward to report him to the police.
“Ah… you’re curious too, it seems?” Edward, standing in front of the interrogation room, remarked to Chloe as she had just arrived, his tone dripping with sarcasm. He seemed quite pleased to be cold and harsh with her.
“Ed… please stop acting like this. I know I’ve disappointed you,” Chloe said.
Edward smiled. “I’m just behaving as I should. Just like how you used to treat me.”
Chloe chose not to respond any further. Moments later, Hans called from inside the investigation room, “Ed, you need to come in. The officer wants you to give a statement. And, Chloe, you have to come in too. Maybe they need your explanation as well.”
Edward entered first, followed by Chloe and Samuel, who tagged along. Inside, they were all asked to sit and take turns giving their testimonies.
“Mr. Edward, what is this all about, actually? I swear to God, I really don’t understand,” Nicholas, sitting in a chair with his hands cuffed, asked again, feeling confused about why he was suddenly arrested.
“Mr. Edward…” one of the police officers spoke up, “you can give your testimony now.”
Edward stood up and pulled a chair right next to Nicholas. “Before explaining further, I want to submit this as evidence.” Edward handed a flash drive to the investigator. “There are some hidden CCTV recordings inside that I intentionally installed to monitor.”
The police officer began playing the video footage that Edward provided. Everyone in the room, without exception, watched how Nicholas had been carrying out his actions all this time.
In the one-minute video, Nicholas was seen sneaking into Edward’s office, taking the laptop from the table, and doing something there. The second video showed the same thing, with Nicholas carrying Edward’s laptop from the lobby to the meeting room. And when he was in the elevator, he turned on the laptop and seemed to be doing something serious with it, as if working on something. He stopped when the elevator doors opened.
“This is all a misunderstanding!” Nicholas, who was silent before, finally spoke. “At that time, I was just double-checking Mr. Edward’s work before the presentation. Really, it’s not what you’re accusing me of.”
Edward nodded, his face remarkably calm. “Oh, yeah? Then what about this evidence?” Edward reached into his suit pocket and took out his phone, opened a folder, and deliberately showed it to everyone. “Listen to this recording,” he said, then played a conversation between two men.
“Mr. Edward is going to have a big meeting in a few days. What does Mr. Damian want me to do?”
“I want you to sabotage the meeting. Make Emaar remove Quantum from the partnership list, no matter how.”
“Isn’t this part of Miss Chloe’s task to disrupt the meeting?”
“Nic, as far as I know, I don’t really trust Chloe. I did give her the task of deleting files or putting a virus into Edward’s laptop. But I feel like she’s not really committed to her promises to me. Besides, in this world, you’re the only one I trust.”
“Alright, Mister. I’ll make sure everything goes smoothly.”
Nicholas’s eyes widened in shock. Now, he had no more excuses. The recording Edward showed clearly captured the conversation between him and Damian Dimitri.
“Well then?” Edward asked. “Do you still want to deny it? Luckily, I’m smart enough to install additional CCTV to prove my suspicions. And it turns out that you’ve been acting strangely lately. I even asked Hans to tap your phone when you weren’t paying attention a while ago.” Edward paused for a moment. He smiled cynically before speaking again, “I thought, after two years together, I could trust you. Clearly, I was wrong.”
Hans, who was initially standing behind Nicholas, stepped forward and positioned himself right next to the investigator.
“Come on, Nicholas. If you don’t want your punishment to get worse, be cooperative,” Hans said firmly.
Nicholas swallowed hard. With his head down, he finally spoke, “I did deliberately apply to be your assistant because of a mission from Mr. Damian Dimitri. He asked me to report on all the activities that Mr. Edward has been doing all this time.”
“Oh my goodness…” Edward exclaimed. “No wonder Damian knew every piece of news and work schedule I had.”
Nicholas nodded weakly. “I was sent to Quantum to do that. And as for sabotaging the meeting, I did put a virus into your laptop.”
“I had a feeling,” Edward quickly responded. “That’s why when I arrived at the office, I deliberately gave you my work bag and pretended to call Matthew, who hadn’t arrived at the meeting yet.”
“Forgive me, Mr. Edward,” Nicholas pleaded. “I was just following the task given to me.”
Instead of forgiving, Edward smiled cynically again. “But you still owe me another explanation, Nic!”
Nicholas lifted his head, turning to face Edward. “What do you mean, Mister?”
Hans took out a sheet of paper from the folder he was holding and pointed it right in front of Nicholas’s face.
“Do you know who this woman is?”
Nicholas squinted his eyes, examining it for a moment, then shook his head. “Sorry, but I don’t know her.”
Hans nodded. “Really? Then why did you take a photo with her?”
He then pulled out another sheet from the folder – a selfie of a man kissing a beautiful woman on the cheek next to him. “Nathalie…”
It wasn’t Nicholas who spoke up but Chloe, who had been observing quietly all this time. She was taken aback by what she saw. “How is this possible?” she asked.
Edward leaned back, smiling clearly on his face. He was delighted because he didn’t make a mistake in asking someone to help him uncover this complicated case.
He remembered last night, when he returned from the nightclub, Hans suddenly visited him at his apartment. The man made sure that he brought important news that Edward needed to know immediately.
“Hans, why visit this late? Can’t it wait until tomorrow morning?”
Hans, already sitting on the living room sofa, chose not to respond. Instead, he busied himself by taking out various items from the bag he brought.
“You have to see this,” he said, handing Edward a piece of white paper to look at. “This is a visual representation of the characteristics of the man suspected of having a relationship with Nathalie.”
Edward received the sheet from Hans and examined it closely, trying to recognize the man in the image. “Why does this drawing look so familiar, Hans?”
Hans smiled. “Have you ever seen this man before?”
“I don’t know, but it seems familiar to me.”
Hans pursed his lips, forming a smile. “Well then, you have to brace yourself. I’m going to show you something that might shock you.”
The big man reached into his bag again, pulling out a book wrapped in golden brown cover. He handed it to Edward to examine.
“Open it and read its contents,” he ordered.
Edward took the book from Hans and began to flip through the pages, reading each sheet carefully. His eyes stopped on one name written on the navy blue paper.
“Dio Frost?” he asked Hans.
“Do you recognize that name?” Hans smiled with meaning, acting as if he already knew who the man in question was.
“Dio Frost, as far as I can remember, that’s my assistant’s middle name.”
“Gotcha!” Hans exclaimed joyfully. “Now look at the previous drawing again. Look closely.”
Edward complied and soon joined in the exclamation, “Oh my God, so the man who has been close to Nathalie all this time is Nicholas Dio Frost, my own assistant?”
Hans nodded. “The world is indeed small, Ed. We searched all over the place, but it turns out the culprit was right beside you.”
Because of this revelation, Edward couldn’t sleep all night. He couldn’t wait for morning to come so he could unravel all the mysteries he had been investigating.
“For God’s sake, are you my brother’s killer, Nic?” Chloe screamed hysterically. She had risen from her seat, wanting to approach, but her steps were held back by Samuel.
“Let me go, Sam!” Chloe cried out loudly, struggling within her assistant’s embrace.
“Nicholas, do you still want to deny that you know Nathalie Arley? Her diary is filled with photos of you. It’s written clearly in the book that you had a relationship for quite some time,” Hans bombarded Nicholas with numerous pieces of evidence.
“Please, Nic, just confess,” Edward added.
“I swear to God I’m not Nathalie’s murderer.”
“Liar!” Chloe yelled again. “You must have been the reason my sister lost her life. You must have been so violent that even the baby she was carrying became a victim!”
Nicholas shook his head. “I swear it was purely an accident,” he tried to defend himself. “I didn’t kill Nathalie!”
“Mister…” one of the police officers reprimanded. “Please ask your female friend to calm down a bit. Give the defendant a chance to explain.”
Samuel pulled Chloe back to her seat, and Hans once again allowed Nicholas to speak. “Then please tell us the whole truth. As I promised before, if you cooperate with the investigators, you will get your legal rights.”
Nicholas nodded weakly. There was nothing more he could hide, as all the evidence pointed to him. “Nathalie and I indeed had a relationship several years ago.” He spoke with a soft voice. “I truly loved Nathalie -”
“If you loved her, why did you hurt her? I’m sure you caused the bruises all over Nathalie’s body until she lost her life,” Chloe attacked Nicholas again emotionally.
“Chloe…” Hans warned. “Please, calm down first. Let Nicholas give his testimony.”
Nicholas seemed to take a deep breath. Sweat dripped down his forehead. “It all started when Nathalie became pregnant. She kept forcing me to marry her. At that time, my career was doing really well. I tried to persuade her to be patient, but she kept demanding it. One night, we had a big fight. I accidentally pushed her, and she fell down the stairs and lost consciousness.”
“And you just left her like that?” Hans asked.
Nicholas shook his head. “No… I even called an ambulance for her. Confused about what to do, while waiting for the medical team to arrive, I called Mr. Damian, asking him to help me find a way out.”
“What about the business card and Edward’s handkerchief? Did you put them there?”
Nicholas nodded. “Mr. Damian ordered it. Nathalie always kept a photo and my business card in her wallet. On Mr. Damian’s advice, I first disposed of all the photos and any identity belonging to me in the apartment and Nathalie’s wallet. Then, intentionally, I placed Edward’s business card and handkerchief there so that her family wouldn’t suspect, let alone look for me.”
“But why did it have to be Edward?” Hans continued to question.
“Because Mr. Damian wanted to frame Mr. Edward as the mastermind behind all of these events. Even if this case is uncovered, it would undoubtedly become a massive scandal. And once again, I swear I had no idea that Nathalie was your wife’s sister. Throughout our relationship, she never introduced me to her family.”
Edward clapped dramatically and even laughed upon hearing Nicholas’s confession. “How could you do all of this to me, Nic? I even treated you as a special assistant.”
“Hans…” Edward turned his face. “Have you asked the police to arrest Damian? That man needs to be taught a lesson. I want to press charges and have him locked up.”
Hans nodded. “I have already asked the police to find his whereabouts. He has been reported missing since yesterday.”
Edward looked sharply at Nicholas. “Nic, as Damian’s right-hand man, you must know where that scumbag is!”
Nicholas shook his head. Regret was evident on his face. “I swear I have no idea where Mr. Damian is now.”
Edward sighed heavily, rising to leave. “It seems everything is clear here.” He glanced briefly at Chloe. “It’s also clear that I’m not the one responsible for the death of Miss Nathalie Arley.”
“Ed…” Chloe responded, filled with remorse. “I’m truly sorry,” she said with sincerity.
Edward smiled bitterly. “Don’t worry; I’ve forgiven you. But getting back together? I think it’s too early to decide, darling.” There was a hint of mockery in his words.
Choosing to ignore Chloe, Edward then approached Hans. He patted the man’s shoulder and said, “I’m handing this case over to you, Hans. Please find Damian wherever he may be. I must settle the score with him.”
Hans agreed with a nod. “You can rest assured. There’s no case I can’t solve. Just wait for the latest updates from me.”
Edward then left without a second glance at Chloe, who was looking sadly in his direction.