The next morning came and they all sat in a round table.
June, Liam, Lucy and Mrs Evelyn. Everyone wore a sober expression as June spoke. “I need to know what’s going on, Liam. What happened yesterday?”
“You need to be more careful. No more walking around carelessly, work from home if you must. My men will be around to guard the house until I sort out this mess.” Liam fired off, and it only aggravated June’s anger.
“I didn’t ask you to order me around.” She gritted. “This is my home. You don’t come in here and throw orders or get thrown out. Capiche?”
Liam smirked, and Lucy swooned. June wore a blank look.
“What the hell happened yesterday, Liam.” June asked, “Who are those people? What do they want from me? Why did I get a bomb attached to my car?”
Evelyn nearly had a heart attack. “B-Bomb?”
“Darn it,” June swore under her breath. “Can you speak already?”
Liam looked around the table with raised brows. As if to say – In front of them?
“You better get talking mister,” June answered out loud.
“Arnold is on the loose.” Liam didn’t miss the slight shock on June’s face at the mention of his brother’s name. “I need to sort things out and until then, you need to be careful.”
“Who is Arnold?” Lucy asked the thoughts of Evelyn.
“No one you need to know.” It was June who covered up this time. “Does this mean I can’t go out? What would he want with me?” She looked genuinely confused.
“To get back at me.” Liam was upfront. “Arnold has always been a sore loser.” He joked. June did not find it funny.
“Does he know my house?”
Liam was caught off guard by her questions. “I hope not.” He muttered. “That’s why we have to be careful. No more running around until it’s clear.”
June took a minute to respond. “I can’t.”
“What do you mean?”
“I am currently in the middle of a court war. I can’t just sit at home. I have a lot of responsibilities.” June explained. “Mrs Dora died because of me. She could have walked away and protected herself but she sacrificed her life for the mission I have.”
Liam shook his head. “No, she was a double agent. Always been on the neutral side. Sheila handed things over to her for safekeeping. I bet when my brother found that you were all about the twins’ case, he set an ambush for you.”
“How could he possibly have known where Sheila kept the materials” June doubted. “It’s not like they were best of friends.”
Liam tutted. “It’s embarrassing how little you know, darling.” He pulled out his phone. “In this world, it takes as little as a tap of my finger to find out anything. Much less when it’s a worker of mine.”
“Sheila worked for my brother. He isn’t stupid to go in blind. Besides, if he made her an offer to take her sister out of jail, he should know of the darned evidence.” Liam tutted, “Although I doubt he’d be going about it the legal way.”
June let out a deep breath. “Whatever. Thankfully, I got the package. I just need to verify what’s in it.” June brought out the package with a smile on her face. The brown bag was torn from all that running but she was thankful everything was in one piece.
The others watched silently as June got a laptop and inserted the flash drive. She made copies of the information for safekeeping before finally opening the file. It contained audio and video files of April admitting to her crimes of killing June’s father, Ethan’s family, Lucy’s father as well as her attempts to kill June at the hospital.
Evelyn listened to the audio with tears in her eyes. She had been the one who gathered the evidence. April had said it to her face and threatened to have her sent to the Psychiatric hospital on her husband’s memorial.
Follow-up videos from the Lontoc household which featured how she watched Ethan’s father die from his stroke and other inhumane treatments meted out to the closed Lontoc family were also revealed.
At the end of it all, the room was quiet as they all reminisced all the evils April had caused and how much pain she had inflicted on them all. Lucy spoke first.
“She will pay.” Her tone was small but firm.
A noise of approval escaped June’s throat while Evelyn looked down in shame. She had once been on April’s side while she perpetuated these evils. What right did she have to speak?
June could not be stopped. Liam could tell from the look on her face. “I’ll get the detective and see what he thinks.”
Liam left the living room after June disappeared into her room. He walked out of the house but was stopped by Lucy. “Where are you going? We’ve not had breakfast.”
“I have work to do.” Liam spent his days with his men, mapping out places they could find Arnold. If he could not get June to remain steadfast while he handled things, he had to act faster and bring his brother to book.
Meanwhile, the shootout in the rural areas of South City was on the news. The police were investigating the matter and everyone was questioned about the ruckus from the previous day.
Thankfully, Liam covered his tracks properly and they were able to get out of police scrutiny. Instead, Liam used the police to seek out his brother. Arnold was declared a wanted man by the South City police unit.
As a result, Arnold was restricted, giving Liam more time to suss him out and take care of him. Meanwhile, Clarence was in prison, awaiting trial. Rafael received the footage from the night at the hotel. He was blown away by the results following the investigation.
He couldn’t believe she lied to him.
Clarence was excited when she heard of a visitor. Her excitement doubled when she saw Rafael seated behind the glass. She immediately feigned distraught. “Oh Rafael, thank goodness you are here.” She cried, “I can’t take this anymore. I need to get out of here. My stomach hurts so badly. The food here is not good for our baby.”
“Whose child is it?” Rafael asked without twitching an eyebrow,
Clarence was taken unaware. “W-What?”
“When I ask a question, I demand an answer.” He spoke calmly, hiding the storm inside him. “Who’s child is it?”
Clarence broke into tears, “You… I can’t believe this… After forcing yourself on me that night, you dare to ask me such questions?”
Rafael was unmoved. He remained in his seat, waiting for her to fuss up. When Clarence found that he wasn’t moved, she felt scared. This was not the Rafael she knew. Did something happen? Was she found out?
“Rafael..”
“You should be ashamed of yourself.” He wore a wry smile. “Taking advantage of a drunken man and yet still managing to fail at that. You are a disgrace to womanhood.”
Clarence: !!!
“This is my promise.” He said with blazing eyes. “You will raise your child in prison. Grow old in prison, and die a miserable death in prison.”
Clarence wore a panicked look on her face. “Rafael! Please! I can explain!”
It was too late because Rafael left the room, having every motive to make do with his promises. Meanwhile, June invited the detective to speak concerning the recent events.
The detective was furious after assessing the evidence. “This is enough to put her behind bars forever.” He said. “I will intensify the search. The case would be stronger if all the parties involved could testify.”
June nodded, she checked in with her mother, Lucy and Sharon, and they were all ready to take the stands if it meant getting April put behind bars forever. The only problem they faced was April hadn’t been found.
“There has not been any sightings of April Lontoc.” The detective said. “We have contacted the international police, just in case she slipped away from South City.”
“She would need money to do that,” Lucy said,
“We kept watch on all the accounts associated with her or the company she built. Everything is under watch.” The detective said. “She can’t access them even if she tried.”
“Where would you go if you were April Lontoc, broke and with nowhere to stay?” June muttered under her breath.
Over time, she learned that the best way to catch a thief was to think like a thief. April was a smart one, June found it hard to believe she would remain suffering for a long time.
The April she knew would be finding alternate solutions to get out of the ditch. At this moment, she was vulnerable, which meant she could either be doing something very bold like threatening someone, or something stupid.
June leaned towards the former. The detective was well on his way when she suddenly spoke. “I need to see Clarence.” She requested. “I have a feeling she might know more than she lets on.”