Jonathan's POV
Clara's Apartment - Late at Night
Silence fell in the room after Clara's offer.
I studied her without moving my gaze from her.
I was no longer reacting…
I was calculating her possibilities.
She wasn't forgiven.
She couldn't be.
She destroyed four lives in ways, perhaps may never be able to be redeemed.
Her DNA forge destroyed mine, Veronica, and Janet's life.
Her transfers destroyed Daniel's dream, his career, his name as a designer.
Daniel…
May be able to forgive her.
Me…
Impossible.
Even after being on the run for four years…
She still didn't try to reach out sooner.
Even if she was in her first year of running around…
Would have saved Veronica three years of suffering.
And me…
Seven years of living in the guilt of betraying Veronica.
Even though I was so drunk, even till date…
I could never recall my time with Imelda.
With Adrian also, I never felt the bond I had with Janet.
Yet because of the report…
I gave Imelda and Adrian the happiness that belonged to Veronica and Janet.
Daniel's POV
Clara came over with two cups of hot chocolate.
"Great," I said as a pathetic laughter left my mouth.
"You really have the nerves."
"Daniel," Clara said, voice breaking.
"Clara?"
"You destroyed my reputation."
"You ruined my name as a designer."
"You trampled over my childhood dream."
"You made me a painter from a designer"
"You helped the woman who ruined me before, destroy me again."
Jonathan turned towards me.
His head slightly tilted.
He didn't know.
First, when she betrayed me..
Now, thanks to Clara.
"Daniel," Clara said, voice breaking.
"I don't ask for forgiveness," She said.
"But I'm a human…"
"Humans make mistakes…"
"Mistakes?"
My voice was so loud she flinched.
"Mistakes are the ones that can be forgiven."
"That's what 'sorry' is made for."
"What you did is a crime."
"It deserves punishment, nothing—"
Jonathan stepped over and placed his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it a bit, gesturing me to stop.
"Clara," he said.
"What you've done has ruined our life," he continued. "Forgiving is totally out of the question."
Clara's POV
After that the day was just passing its time path.
I kept tossing and turning.
I looked at the clock.
Forty past twelve.
I got up and ran my hands through my hair.
My gaze fell on my empty hand.
I could still feel the touch of my hair.
Once I had long hair, but to hide, I cut them short, hoping I could blend in as a boy.
I don't know when I slept, but I woke up to the smell of fresh cooked pancakes.
It's been years since I smelled anything fresh.
"Come over," Jonathan called out. "Breakfast is ready."'
"After breakfast…" I trailed off a bit.
"I want you both to go with me to a place."
"Why?" Daniel said in a cold tone.
"What's your plan?"
"Daniel," Jonathan said in a calm voice. "Now she's the only one who can help us take down Imelda. As for if she backstabs us,"
He removed the recorder.
"We have this," he said. "Now she's running around. Once this and her system logs reach the police, she can run in her cell as much as she likes."
"I won't backstab," I said, voice steady. "I won't run away. I want to take you to my hideout."
Her gaze sharpened.
"You guys forget, she ruined me too," I said. "Four years, I've been hiding. I'm alive, yet I am dead to the world."
"Okay," Daniel said, placing his fork down. "We'll go."
We got into Jonathan's car, and I told him to stop on the bridge.
"What?" He said looking around.
"Follow me," I said as I got out and went down below the bridge.
I started to move the stones I had stacked.
Until a box could be seen.
I removed it and we went back to my apartment.
I sat down and opened the box.
Both sat in front of me.
"Okay," I said. "Jonathan, this is the forged DNA that was given to you." I passed both reports to him.
"And the other one is the original one, you can see the result for yourself.
Jonathan saw both reports.
In the fake report that I was shown, matching showed 99.9% while the real report showed 0%.
The papers slipped out of my hand.
I looked down as I was out of words.
"No wonder," Jonathan let out a pathetic laugh. "I never felt a thing for Adrian. He never was mine."
I exhaled.
"These are the transactions to the Blue Heart," I said. "How Imelda helped Sanders get them."
"Imelda helped Sanders?" Daniel said, shocked.
"Yes," Jonathan said. "I also found out when I put him in jail. He's Imelda's cousin."
"Great." Daniel said, leaning back into his chair.
"These," I pointed to a paper. "Are names of intermediaries Imelda used for her deeds."
"She has backups for her safety," I said. "But the real transactions, documents…all are here."
I placed a USB drive on the table.
"When the case was closed, she said she'd help me clear my name," I said clenching my fists. "I just got used to running so much, I forgot I had all these."
Jonathan's POV
"Clara," I asked her.
"Who handled the forgery designing?"
"It was a small shop in the suburbs," she said. "If he had money, he could have been richer than the Harmon's, but he died two years back."
"And the money, how did they transfer so much?"
"They used checks and drafts under their family member names." she said. "Imelda had a delivery person, she used to do all this."
What she told me after this made me feel like the floor was snatched from beneath my feet.
"The delivery person was your wife, Veronica," she said. "The reason she did all this was…"
She trailed off a bit.
"Imelda told her you were involved in stealing designs from Daniel, and you could go to jail for that."
She exhaled.
"Veronica did her work, in return to clear your name."
"But—"
"You know you have no connection," Clara said. "Imelda knows you have no connection, but Veronica didn't. She believed because of these."
She showed me documents stating I was involved.
"Damn it!" I said. "Why didn't she ever tell me?"
"That I don't know." She said frankly.
"Fredrick…" Clara trailed off. "Is the mastermind behind Imelda, or rather the one who pulls the strings."
"For him," Clara continued. "The designs weren't the only things he wanted." "They both wanted to control you for long-term use."
"Adrian was the perfect bait."
"That night, you had drank too much, and were escorted to a room." Clara said.
"You spent the night alone, she came in the morning, set the stage."
"A year later, she came forward with the report, whereas Adrian was already two years old, only his growth was slow so he looked smaller than he was."
"For Fredrick, you were a promising name." she continued. "He knew you would make it big, even bigger than him. He needed a name for Adrian, a safe support for Imelda. He got that in you."
"They used Adrian to force you away from Veronica and your daughter Janet."
"Imelda's real plan was to force Veronica to the level, she'd divorce you."
"She didn't think Veronica would disappear like this."
"How do you want to handle Adrian's matter?" Daniel asked me in a soothing tone.
I felt a slight pang in my heart.
After all, I did raise him for seven years as my son.
Even though I never felt a bond with him, still.
Then I shook my head.
"No," I said. "Adrian's matter we'll deal later on, first Imelda."
Joint Scene - Third Party POV
Jonathan was validating Clara's evidence so they could be used in court.
While Daniel tracked Sanders current operations, and his dealings that were related to Blue Heart.
The first step the trio began was to reclaim Blue Heart from Sanders.
Clara pointed out Imelda's weakest link.
Reynolds.
Reynolds was a distant cousin, so she favored Sanders over him.
But he knew everything Sanders did, even what he hid from Imelda.
Now they had to come out with a Blue Heart and force Sanders to bring the original out.
Daniel began adding the technical and design angle.
Jonathan executed the next step.
A press conference releasing the Blue Heart design.
Daniel's POV
The stars were twinkling in the sky.
Jonathan was sleeping from exhaustion.
I was too, but my mind was elsewhere.
"Sorry," Clar said, coming over.
"I mistook your rejection as a betrayal."
"I couldn't understand why you rejected me at the time."
"Clara," I said. "Imelda was a topic I had forgotten. I never wanted to recall her again. At the time, I had just gotten my feet back on the ground. A relationship was the last thing on my mind. I told you, 'I see you as a friend, but …"
"I don't know why, but I believed everything she said," Clara said.
"She said you betrayed her, and Jonathan used her for his benefits…"
She paused.
"I thought we both were in the same boat…betrayed."
"Clara," I said. "I met Isabella two years back."
"My paintings got me an acclaimed name."
"I ranked first in the bright painters of the future."
"Everything was going great."
"That's when I met Isabella."
"With her, I felt it was time to settle down."
"We dated, I proposed, she agreed."
"Now we're getting married in a few months."
"She has a daughter…"
"I know," I said smiling. "I adopted her a year back, now she's mine."
Clara's Internal Thought
"I didn't lose to love. I lost… to time. Had I waited for him…maybe what Isabella has today, could have been mine."
Jonathan's POV
We both were about to close the door behind us.
Clara called out.
"You're leaving?"
"Clara," I said.
"You did your part, we'll do ours."
"The police will come here to give you your record. You're free to go wherever you want. Bye."
"Daniel?" Clara called out.
"Goodbye." was the only thing he said to her, and walked off.
I followed him, leaving Clara behind.
Certain this was the last we'll ever see her.
Press Conference - Jonathan's POV
"Everyone here in my hand is the real Blue Heart design."
I said holding the design up in front of the camera's.
"That's a fake!" Sanders yelled from the back.
"I have the real design right here."
Daniel was about to get up, but I placed my hand on his shoulder.
"Oh really," I said with a smirk.
"Can you prove it?"
"Yes," he said. "My timestamp is older. Dare to show yours?"
I let out a laugh.
"Sure."
I tapped on my laptop and displayed the design on the large screen behind me.
"Zoom four hundred, left corner, up."
I did.
"See!" Sanders practically jumped in his place.
"See! The date is…hahaha…two days back."
Whispers erupted in the hall.
"Dare show yours?" I said.
"Sure," he said, handing his design to the co-ordinator who displayed it on the screen.
On zooming in the timestamp showed:
Date: May, 2012.
And below the date were initials: D.S
A reporter said," Isn't his full name Sanders Harmon? Why D. S?"
"Isn't it obvious," another one said. "That isn't his design."
"Hey!" another reporter said. "Look at the comparison. The DS under the current design and the older one. The 'S' is identical. Daniel Staf!"
"Can you tell the purity of the sterling silver used in the Blue Heart?" "Yes," he said. "It's Nine hundred twenty five."
"Wrong," the coordinator said.
"It's point nine hundred ninety nine."
"Correct," the coordinator said.
"Can you tell the weight of the gems used in the circle?"
"Yes, ah…ah…ten."
"Wrong," the coordinator said.
"Seventeen." I said.
"Correct," the coordinator said.
"How does Mr Rollings know?" A reporter asked.
"Cause the metal and the gems are Rollings Designs private property that was stolen years ago. Daniel bought them from a small shop, and made this design. That Sanders stole and claimed as his."
"I didn't steal it," Sanders began yelling around. "It was Imelda who gave it to me. Yeah, she's the one."
I and Daniel leaned back into our chairs with folded arms.
Operation Imelda down…success.
But this was only the beginning of dismantling everything she did to us over the years.