As Daniel replayed the footage, he clearly saw that there were certain times that were not recorded in the CCTV footage. It was as if there was a gap in time missing, where the footage jumped from one time to the next with no trace of activity in between.
Daniel’s brow furrowed, suspicion crept over him that there was a deliberate attempt by the mysterious person to manipulate the CCTV footage by deliberately deleting certain times.
“He has erased this footage,” Daniel muttered. His jaw hardened with his hands clenched tightly, holding back the anger that was about to overflow inside him.
Daniel quickly pulled out his cell phone. His fingers danced over the keyboard keys until he found the contact number of someone who could help him with this, the head of the IT team at his company. With decisiveness, Daniel dialed the number and waited for the connection to call for help.
“Hello,” came the voice of the head of Winston’s company IT team.
“Hello, I’m Emily, Mr. Daniel Winston’s secretary. Mr. Daniel is away on business and he instructed me to contact you on an urgent matter. Can you help us recover the deleted CCTV footage?” asked Daniel, who was forced to lie because his soul was currently in Emily’s body.
“Of course, I’m ready to help,” replied the head of the IT team with confidence.
After speaking with the IT head of his company, Daniel disconnected the call. His mind drifted to his previous conversation with Olivia, where she mentioned that the mysterious person had called his grandfather ‘Dad’.
As his memory brought back that moment, a sense of confusion swept through his mind. Who was the mysterious person? Why did he call his grandfather ‘Dad’? These questions plagued his mind.
Daniel’s eyes traced the CCTV footage at the time of his grandfather’s death in the garden, where Jake’s birthday party was held. Determinedly, he replayed the footage, observing every movement and expression that occurred. The atmosphere of the garden that was crowded with invited guests was clearly visible on the monitor screen.
Daniel continued to observe every detail carefully. And among the crowd of people, he noticed an oddity. Michael disappeared from the footage at a crucial moment.
“Where is he? Could Uncle Michael be the mastermind behind all this?” Daniel muttered.
***
“All shares of the Winston family company owned by the late Jake Winston will be transferred to his eldest grandson, Daniel Winston,” the lawyer concluded while looking at Emily, who was now trapped in Daniel’s body. It was the last message implied in Jake Winston’s will.
After the Winston family lawyer announced the division of the inheritance, the conference room became tense and silent. The announcement of the division of the inheritance sparked disappointment and disapproval among the Winston family present. Expressions of restrained anger and disappointment were clear on the faces of Daniel’s uncle and aunt.
The silence that enveloped the room provided an opportunity for complex and diverse emotions to swirl in the hearts of the heirs present. After announcing the division of the inheritance, the lawyer respectfully excused himself from the room.
“This division of inheritance is unfair! Why does Daniel get the biggest share?” Sophia hissed sarcastically, her voice piercing the silence of the conference room. A look of disappointment and dissatisfaction was clear on her face. The cynical glances from her two uncles, who also felt dissatisfied with the decision, reinforced the tension that pervaded the atmosphere of the room.
“You must be very happy now. God has really blessed your life,” Robert added in a scornful tone, implying the disapproval hidden behind his words.
“All those shares and some huge properties? Is that believable?” said Michael in a sharp tone, unhappy with Jake’s decision to divide his inheritance.
Emily struggled to contain the wave of emotions that swept through her soul, making sure that anyone in the room did not realize her soul exchange with Daniel.
“Sorry. It looks like I have to go first. Excuse me,” Emily said in a firm tone. She tried to be the authoritative Daniel with firm footsteps towards the exit.
As Emily’s steps moved further away from the room, the angry whispers from Daniel’s aunt and uncle could still be heard. However, Emily ignored them.
“They are so greedy,” Emily thought to herself.
While outside the conference room, Emily took out her cell phone, intending to call Daniel and talking about the situation that had just happened. However, the surprise came when she realized that her phone battery was almost dead.
“Oh my. I forgot to charge my phone,” Emily whispered as she patted her forehead lightly, feeling a little annoyed at herself for such negligence.
With the battery almost dead, her fingers typed in Daniel’s number that she had memorized. However, after a while, the call remained unanswered. Emily sighed heavily before stepping out of the firm’s office.
“What exactly are you hiding from me? Why can’t you be honest with me? So many secrets that you hide,” Emily muttered in an annoyed tone.
Finally Emily arrived at the office parking lot. Daniel’s personal driver kindly greeted her, helping to open the door for her.
The private driver asked Emily kindly, “Where are you going, sir?”
However, Emily did not hear, as she was lost in her reverie. The private driver was forced to call out to her in a slightly louder voice. “Sir.”
“Uh, what’s wrong?” asked Emily, finally waking up from her reverie.
“Sorry, sir. Where are we going?” asked the private driver.
After thinking for a while, Emily finally remembered what happened last night in Daniel’s study. There, she had found a photograph of Fred, her father and another man smiling, raising curiosity in her heart. But at that moment, she couldn’t ask Fred because her soul was still trapped in Daniel’s body.
Emily finally answered hesitantly, “Let’s just go home.”
The private driver gave a polite reply. “Yes, sir.”
***
Meanwhile, Daniel continued to look for the evidence in his grandfather’s study. After checking every corner of the room, his eyes fell on a small decorative lamp that looked unfamiliar to him. Something he had never seen in his grandfather’s study before. With cautious steps, Daniel approached the object and found that there was a hidden camera installed inside. He was sure that his grandfather was the one who installed the camera to trap the mysterious figure, and the mysterious figure did not know that his grandfather had planned all this.
Without hesitation, Daniel immediately played the footage on the hidden camera. The footage took him back to the tragic moment of his grandfather’s death. In the footage, his grandfather was seen looking at his cell phone with a worried expression.
Daniel stared at the camera screen with an intensely focused gaze, examining every detail of the events captured in the footage, until suddenly the mysterious figure walked into the room. When he zoomed in on the video footage, a big surprise hit him. The mysterious figure who entered the room in a black robe turned out to be someone familiar to him. That figure was his own personal driver.
“Emily!” Daniel exclaimed in a breathless voice, his mind drifting back to the firm’s office, where he had advised Emily to go home with her personal driver. In his panic, he realized that his decision had endangered Emily’s life.
His body shook as he pulled out his cell phone and saw a missed call from Emily. With an sped up heartbeat, Daniel immediately tried to contact Emily again, but Emily’s cell phone number could not be reached. His panic crept in as uncertainty crept into his mind.
“Why can’t the number be reached?” muttered Daniel. He tried to dial the number of his personal driver. However, with the same surprise, that number could not be reached either.
***
In the back seat of the car, Emily felt confused when Daniel’s personal driver suddenly chose an unusual path to Daniel’s residence. Her puzzled look was clear as she looked at the unfamiliar scenery from the car window.
“Where are we going, sir?” asked Emily, a look of confusion on her face