Jonathan's POVRollings Designs - Morning
Me and my technical and legal team were cracking every file in the system.
"Run it again."
"Mr. Rollings, the numbers aren't changing."
They never did when something was not going your way.
"Mr. Rollings," my staff said. "The transfer trail doesn't match with the authorization records."
I didn't raise my gaze.
But the air in the office had changed.
This was no mistake.
It was intentional.
"Mr. Rollings, what do we do now?"
"Run them again."
"But–"
I cut his words midway.
"Do it," I said. "It's an intuition."
I made him run it three more times.
Then–
"Mr. Rollings, we cracked it."
"Good," I said leaning over his shoulder.
"Now match them and save to another file."
"I'm on it."
"Mr. Rollings," another staff member called me.
"Looks like Ms. Imelda is gearing up."
"What?" I said going over to him.
"She's changing the passwords."
"John," I looked over to my hacker friend.
"Don't worry, I've already set up the firewall. She won't be able to access them." He said as he was typing some codes.
"Are the copies made?" I asked around.
"Yes." Everyone said in unison.
"John," I asked. "Is everything set up?"
"You can count on me."
"Okay," I said with a smirk. "Let her access them. Keep tabs on every change she makes from now on."
"Yes." Everyone said in unison.
"John, what about the trackers?"
"I should be…"
He trailed off as his phone buzzed.
As he disconnected the call…
"Trackers are in place," he said. "Imelda's and Fredrick's."
"Fredrick's?" I questioned him.
"Jonathan," he said. "It's clear he's the mastermind. We need his whereabouts more than Imelda's."
I exhaled as he did make sense.
Just then my finance head and her assistant's conversation got everyone's attention.
"Didn't we clear these bills in the last quarter?" My finance head asked her assistant.
"No…ma'am. It was still pending but you signed on the document that made the accounts department think it's clear."
"I signed it?" She said looking at the document.
She took a closer look at the document.
"Wait a minute," she said leaning over.
"That's not my signature. And that's an incomplete quarter filing. What the hell's going on?"
Silence.
The kind when professionals realize…
They've been used
"Check the versions," John said typing away. "Give me the time and date."
The assistant instantly said yes.
"April, twenty. Twenty twenty five. Three O clock."
"Got it."
John began typing away again.
"Your computer was hacked around two," he said. "The process took two hours. It was back by five."
He paused.
"You would have noticed on the screen." John told the assistant.
"The day you pointed out, Ms. Imelda made us work the whole morning. Two to five was our lunch break that day. No wonder I didn't know."
He continued.
"I just saw the signature and finalized the quarter filing."
I began to connect the patterns.
This wasn't something random.
One discrepancy could be an error.
Too could be carelessness.
But three…
It's a pattern.
My fingers tapped against the desk. Whoever did this didn't intend to hide it. They buried it here under the trust…
No one would meddle unless told to…
Which no one would.
"Everyone," I called out. "Pull out all official records of the past seven years. Run every file, word by word, number by number."
I leaned over.
"It's time to eradicate the unwanted bugs from Rollings Designs, our company."
"Yes Mr. Rollings." Everyone said in unison.
I was verifying some documents when my secretary called.
"If urgent." I said online.
"It's Mr. Daniel S–"
"Send him in." I said cutting her midway.
The moment Daniel entered the atmosphere of the office changed.
His smile drained half of our tiredness.
"Everyone," he said. "Lunch and drinks for everyone. Go on, take a break."
I nodded so they agreed.
Then he began to remove food boxes.
"Come on, working on an empty stomach won't be good for you."
"How did you know?" I said removing the chop sticks out.
"I've called three times already," he said. "Every time he's busy."
"What? Didn't you say your name, like now?"
"I did but I think whoever picked up before didn't know me." Daniel said.
"He actually–"
"What?" I was shocked. "He?"
"I don't have a male secretary," I said. "When did you call?"
"Around ten and twelve O'clock." Daniel said.
I pulled the CCTV footage of the times.
"Hello," I called my secretary.
"Sack the security team. And–"
"I'll tell mine to send a new team here." Daniel said. "They've worked for me for five years now."
"What's the matter Mr. Rollings?"
My PA asked as he came inside.
I turned the laptop screen towards him.
On the laptop screen
A man is seen entering as a delivery person and my secretary left to get a file. He received Daniel's call. Then hid under the stairs. My secretary called out but he didn't come out. He attended every call she wasn't there for. At twelve again he attended Daniel's call.
Then he left.
"He must have thought after calling twice, you'd stop." I said.
"But why?" Daniel said with pinched eyebrows.
"Obviously, so you don't come over to help."
"Jonathan, this man…he has to be–"
"Imelda's?" I said "Don't have any doubt on that."
"Send it to the chief," he said.
"Daniel, it's too soon," I said. " We can't–"
"Jonathan, by now Imelda must be on her feet. She may not be telling you this to your face. But she knows you're onto her."
"And this," he said pointing to the screen. "Is your first legal proof. Once he's caught, he'll be your first base."
I nodded and told my secretary to send the CCTV footage to the chief.
"Come on, eat first." Daniel said smiling.
Imelda's POV
Harmon Designs - Morning same time
I don't know why, but today I had an uneasy feeling.
I even sent my man to stop Daniel from helping Jonathan.
"Ms. Imelda, Rollings Designs legal team is asking for the archived approvals."
My staff called out.
"What?" I said looking around. "Why is his legal team asking for the archived approvals?"
No one answered.
"Am I the only one in this damn office?"
Her voice echoed through the hall.
Still no answer.
She turned around, her gaze full of fury.
"Ms. Imelda," a staff member said.
"We don't know," he said. "Till today, no one from Rollings Designs ever asked for any approval file."
"Then why now." I said in a rumbling voice.
I paused for a brief moment.
Then..
"Something is moving…"
"Something that I don't know of…"
"And I don't know who's hand is behind this…"
I banged my hands on the table.
"Get cracking on them, find them."
"Ms. Imelda…the files?" A staff member said hesitating.
"Send the upper ones."
"That should suffice them."
A few minutes later…
"Ms. Imelda," the staff said. "They want all records from the past seven years."
"What?" I was shocked.
"What's gotten into them?"
"Get them on the line."
"Ms. Imelda," my staff gestured towards the phone.
I picked the receiver.
"Hello, what with the seven—"
The receptionist cut my words midway.
"Ms. Imelda, we're only following our bosses orders."
"I want to speak to Jonathan now."
"Sorry, Mr. Rollings is having lunch with Mr. Staf. We can't disturb them. And please send the approvals from the past seven years. Mr. Rollings is waiting for them."
She disconnected the call.
I swung my arm across the table sending the phone sprawling across the floor.
"Damn you!" I cursed under my breath.
For the first time in my life I felt disturbance around me.
I felt like things were falling out of my grasp.
And…
This made me think again…
Why is the legal department asking for the archived approvals?
That too past seven years.
Jonathan's POV
Rollings Designs - Morning a few hours later
"Who took the approved files from here?"
"…Veronica did, Mr. Rollings."
Her name landed quietly.
Too quiet.
I didn't react instantly.
But the time had come.
"Everyone, I have an announcement or rather a confession to make."
I exhaled.
Daniel came over and stood beside me.
A smile crept on his face.
He probably understood what I was going to say.
I removed our certificate and held it up so everyone could see it.
Everyone's eyes were wide open.
"Veronica Smith…is Veronica Rollings, my legal wife, and Janet Smith is my, Jonathan Rollings' real biological daughter, the real Rollings, heir to my empire."
"Imelda used a night seven years ago saying Adrian was the result of it and made me keep Veronica's identity hidden for—"
"Mr. Rollings," a staff member said.
"Are you talking about the client meeting with the stone dealer, the one where they made you drink so much?"
"Yeah," another one said. "We took you to your room."
"Yes, that's the night Imelda told me about."
"She came in the morning and said she'd take care of you, so we left." A staff member said.
"She did just that." I said in a low voice.
"Damn!" he said. "Why did we leave?"
"Okay," I said. "Dwelling over the past is no use. Veronica is my wife, Janet is my daughter. Now, I'm going to make Imelda and Fredrick pay for everything they ever did."
"Mr. Rollings," a staff member said. "They only gave the upper one's."
"Looks like we—"
"Mr. Rollings," another staff member said. "Just give me ten minutes. I'll access them."
"You can?" I asked.
"Yes," he said.
"Mr. Rollings," another staff member said. "I think now I understand why Veronica, Mrs. Rollings…"
I smiled on hearing her being called Mrs. Rollings, her deserved title.
"Now I understand why Mrs. Rollings left." he continued. "She said her husband is technically dead, if she doesn't leave…he'll be really dead."
"At the time it didn't make any sense," he continued. "But if you're her husband, then why—"
I cut his words midway.
"Veronica was made to believe I was involved in stealing designs from Daniel. If found out, I'd go to jail for a long time."
"But Mr. Rollings," a staff member said. "Mrs. Rollings changed her signature when she was doing these transfer documents."
"Yes," I said.
"She used to write V. R. S," I said. "Veronica Rollings Smith. But later on she began to write V. S only."
"Before I thought she changed because she was angry with me, but now…"
"I think she was forced to."
"Imelda?" Daniel asked.
"No one else." I said. "She was pushing her away bit by bit."
Imelda's POV
Harmon Designs - Later on Afternoon
Frustration just reached a new level with me today.
I didn't want to believe this but…
I had the feeling seeing Daniel was not a coincidence.
Now I think I was right.
Ever since I've seen him, things have been going haywire.
"Get me every document that passed through my office in the last six months."
"Ms. Imelda, that's a lot."
"Then begin now…fast get on it."
My tone didn't rise.
I didn't get angry.
Because I knew control wasn't about anger or volume.
It was about timing.
And…
Now…
Someone was trying to control my timing.
Jonathan's POV
Rollings Designs - Close to lunch hour
"Mr. Rollings," a staff member said. "Harmon Designs are asking for every document that is passed by Harmon Designs."
"Send the ones that don't involve Veronica," I said, letting out a little laugh.
"What's the matter?" Daniel asked with a slightly tilted head
"She suffered for seven years," I said. "I won't give Imelda that chance again. Now the only thing she'll get is payback in Veronica's name."
"Everyone,"
I said leaning over my desk.
"Dig as deep as you can into the systems…"
"Rollings and Harmon's."
"No internal alerts."
"If she gets alerted, we won't be able to get her."
I said looking around.
"Mr. Rollings," a staff member said.
"Don't worry," she said. "Till now…we were only going to help as an employee. Now that we know about you and Mrs. Rollings, we want to fight with you. And we're sure once Mrs. Rollings finds out the truth, she'll come back."
"I do hope so…"
I trailed off a bit.
"But I hope not before Imelda is down."
"We won't react to what she's doing."
"Carry on with what you have and gather every evidence possible."
Third Mulit-POV
Rollings Staff - After lunch hour
"Hey," a staff member said. "We just received a compliance inquiry."
"What?" Jonathan's PA said.
"From who?'
"There's no name," the staff said.
"That's not good," the PA continued. "Named enemies can be fought, but nameless…we can't plan ahead."
Imelda's POV
Harmon Designs - Later afternoon
They didn't send any files related to Veronica.
Coincidence…
No.
Jonathan ordered…
Yes.
"Damn!"
"Freeze access to all archived financial logs, Rollings Designs included."
"Only keep legal ones…"
And they will go through me."
I leaned back into my chair, eyes narrowing slightly.
Someone is digging in deep.
But I will decide what they find and what not.
Jonathan's POV
Rollings Designs - An hour later
"Mr. Rollings," a staff member said. "Access denied, twenty minutes ago."
"Wait," John said typing away.
"I've activated the VPN," he said.
"Don't worry."
"Now Imelda can't block you guys."
"Great!" the staff said.
"Let's get cracking!"
Jonathan's internal thought
So Imelda is getting hyper because I'm restricting her from getting files related to Veronica.
My gaze fell on a paper that had Veronica's signature:
V. S.
Veronica had a habit, when she was nervous, her hands would tremble.
But these signs…were done in control.
"She did it on her consent."
"That's the worse part."
Imelda's POV
Harmon Designs - Later at night
"Ms. Imelda," a staff member called out. "We've been blocked."
"Get back in then."
I yelled in a controlled pitch.
"We can't," he said. "They've activated a VPN or something. It's high level."
"Trace the IP."
"We are Ms. Imelda…"
"But…"
He trailed off.
"They're using layers."
I said cursing under my breath.
A thin sharp smile touched my lips.
"Good," I said.
"Finally, someone of my level is playing a game with me."
"I wonder how many years of experience he has?"
I laughed out loud.