George reclined on a chair and watched as Tony settled on another chair. Tony quickly opened a briefcase he held and pulled out some documents, sorting through them.
Tony sighed “I didn’t expect that it would take this long to finally come around. I’m really sorry about that. Your father suddenly sent me on a two week business trip to sort out some issues in the company…”
“I heard about it. Anyway, you are here now. That’s all that matters.”
“During my stay overseas, I was able to compile all the information in one place regarding Arthur Reeves case a-”
“Wait a minute. I remember you said that there was a reason why Rachel was acting weird to me. Well, she is still acting strange but I want to know what you meant when you said that.” George said
Tony grabbed the stack of papers on his lap and passed it to George “The answer you need is in that document. I am shocked by everything, honestly…”
“Shocked by what?” George grabbed the document and flipped it open, skimming each page carefully. “Tell me everything you know…”
Tony stared at him “Are you sure you’re ready to hear it?”
“Come on. Spill it, already!”
“Arthur Reeves is innocent. Of course, we both know that. Also, The person who fabricated those lies and fake documents against Arthur is no other person than Morris Scott, your father.”
George snapped his head sharply and glanced at Tony. “You’re not serious. What sort of joke is that?”
“Not at all. Morris Scott is the one behind Arthur’s Downfall” Tony replied. “Turn over to the 4th page, what you see at the top is the code we got after hacking into the encrypted file”
George flipped over quickly and skimmed through. His breath hitched the moment his eyes landed on the words in bold letters ‘THE JAGUAR’. No way could this be…
“We both know that there is only one person with that nickname in this company…” Tony affirmed his thought.
George gripped the document tightly, his vision blurred a little and he felt dizzy. What sort of nonsense was this? This made no sense! Was this what Rachel discovered before she changed? Is this the reason for her strange behavior? Why would his father cause such damage to someone he called his friend?
“None of this makes any sense…” George voiced out.
“I know how you feel. There are some other things you have to know regarding this case.”
“Go on”
“I was not the only one that got access to this file. I believe Rachel’s friend, Sophia, the detective you told me about, also hacked into it. It seems like your father found out because he sent men to kidnap her and br-”
“What? Are you serious?” George almost screamed “you mean all these things have been happening under my nose and I couldn’t even tell. My goodness!”
“Yea, one of my sources stated that she was able to escape, though Morris still has his eyes on her, so she is not really safe. From my observations, it seems like Sophia already suspected Mr Morris right from the beginning because as at when I hacked into the file, someone else had already hacked into it.”
George held his head, breathing harshly. How was he supposed to face Rachel after this? It was almost as if he was the one that ruined her life, her father’s life too. For a moment, he wished his father never came in contact with her father, at least Arthur Reeves would not be in jail for a crime he never committed.
“Do you think that Rachel knows my father is after her friend?”
“I think so…” Tony replied “It has been a long while yet, her friend has not come here to see her and she seems cool about it. It’s possible that they made an agreement that Sophia would stay low until all of this comes to an end.”
“I can’t believe that at the end of the day, my family ruined her family. And to think I chose to marry her without knowing the damage that had been done…”
“George, it’s not your fault. You are not to blame. Everything is because of your father, Morris Scott. There’s a possibility that Judith is aware of Mr Morris’s dirty actions.”
“I wonder if my mother knows about this yet. If she does, she would be in so much shock”
“I am not sure about that. She has been too quiet and withdrawn lately” Tony answered “Anyway, I still have some information about how your father carried out his dirty plans almost six years ago. From the bank official he bribed to create the fake transaction to the police officer he also bribed to arrest Arthur Reeves without properly investigating…”
George adjusted on his chair “Go on. Tell me everything you know”
~~~~~*~~~~~
Rachel wiped the dust off the small bookshelf she had brought into her bedroom. After she was done, she stacked some books on it, arranging it in order of ‘favorite books to least favorite books’.
Reading had helped her keep her mind off the restless thoughts she had been getting frequently. She hoped that Sophia was safe and so was her mother. She didn’t want to lose anybody in the process of getting her father’s freedom. It wouldn’t be worth it if she lost someone else as a replacement for her father.
She stood up from where she sat on the floor and turned around. The door to her bedroom opened forcefully and George barged in with an unreadable expression on his face. He paused when he was a few steps in front of her.
Rachel could tell that something was wrong but she didn’t know what it was. When she stood still for a while and he didn’t say anything, she turned to leave.
George grabbed her hand and pulled her back till she was standing in front of him again. “That was why you had been acting strangely, right?”
“What are you talking about?” Rachel asked, completely confused.
“Why did you hide it?” George asked, his voice rising and his eyes growing teary with anger, sadness and disappointment. All because of his father. “Why did you hide the fact that my father was behind everything that happened to your father? Why didn’t you tell me? How long were you planning to hide it?!”
Rachel pulled her hand away from his grip and yelled at him. “So you’ve finally found out? What were you expecting me to do? Were you expecting me to actually break this kind of news to you? Do you know how many times I wished and hoped I was dreaming? That it wasn’t real? Do you know how many times I wished the person behind this was not your father but someone else? What were you expecting me to do?!”
George spoke even as his voice broke “I-i don’t know. I can’t still believe any of this”
Rachel moved her gaze over his face. From his teary eyes to his sunken cheeks, he looked exhausted, confused, lost. It was obvious he had not been sleeping well. It also seemed like he didn’t know anything about what his father did, until recently.
What is going to happen now? Where would she go from here? She didn’t have much time left to stay here. Time was running out. She couldn’t let her guard down right now, anytime from now, they would march to court and the final result would depend on who George and his mother decided to stand for.
If her father won, his family would crumble to dust. If he chose to fight for his father even with everything showing he was the real culprit, she was going to fail woefully. She might even end up in jail just like her father depending on how they twisted the evidence. She couldn’t trust him, at least not at the moment.
“Since you’re already aware of this, you should know your father is also after my friend’s life. Sophia, the detective I introduced you to when I first moved here.” Rachel muttered “What else does your father want? Does he want to wipe out every single person around me just to save his name? What did my family ever do to him?”
George moved forward to hold her hand but she swayed her hand away, stepping backward.
“I can understand your hatred for my family. I understand, really. I am goi-”
Rachel sighed. “I don’t hate you or ‘your family’. I just want justice for my father. He has been trapped there for almost six years for a crime he didn’t commit. Isn’t that unfair enough?!”
“I am going to help you get justice for your father in every way I can”
Rachel remained silent, a look of disbelief on her face.
“I understand you don’t trust me right now. It is expected of me to protect my family at all costs in a situation like this. But I don’t agree with that way of thinking. I know what is right and what is wrong. I am going to set things right.”
“How will you do that?”
“I have all the evidence that you also have, including the details of the bank official and police officer he bribed. But most importantly, I have money. Lots of it. Enough to face my father, no matter what he tries. I just have to talk to my mother about all this to know where she stands. It would be good to know if we are fighting this together or I am fighting it alone”
“I see…I’ll take your word for it then”