I texted Hans to meet me at Tout Soriare at four in the morning. My sleep schedule is a wreck, but it doesn't matter. I had to pull some strings to get someone to start the cafe early in the morning. I waited for ten minutes before Hans barged into the place.
Hans and I go way back.
I first met him when I was five, we have been childhood friends, but after he reached the age of fifteen, he shut me out all of a sudden. I did try to reach out to him a couple of times after he moved away but he didn't bother replying, so I left it and didn't overstep his boundaries. He became a whole new person after that, I miss the person that he was, but maybe he has grown into the best version of himself and is happier this way.
I always hope that he is fine, but I feel like something is off. I want to help him and so, I always assign the cases to him. This way I get to tear his walls down and reach him. I know that something has happened, something dark, which he is trying to bury. I had known him for ten whole years, but I was a kid and so was he, and I couldn't do much at the time. He came back to the city about a year ago, and pretended like everything was normal, so, I flowed with the same river.
I take a look at him:
His hair was messy and he flapped a file under his arm. He was wearing a checkered patterned red shirt which brought out his black eyes complimented by his thick glasses. He dressed up a lot different than usual. He sat down far from me and placed the file on the table. There were no greetings between us. More like, I got ignored for trying to say hi to him. He is always cold, but right now, he was colder than usual.
General pov:
H: Ivy Marbiz is the culprit.
C: Good morning to you too, Hans.
H: Shall I let you in on the whole story?
C: Just what I needed for breakfast today, hurry up, I'm getting hungry!
Hans was indifferent to C's sarcastic remarks.
H: The day Rick got shot, Ivy was out in a club. She had gone there to carry forward an illegal transaction with the same gang that had shot Rick. From insider news, I found out that she has been using the trainees to make money in several ways. She forces them to model on the side with underground agencies, trades the trainees in bids, and goes against all the work ethics which have been laid down by you.
The company can gain fame in the wrong direction as this will cause a scandal, but we don't want that. As proof, I have the contracts with me, those signed by Ivy and the other agencies. Now, to save the company, we should try and push Ivy out of the job first, and only then, can we take action against her. This cannot be brought forward to the public eye. Also, we should ensure that this stays between us, causing the trainees to be safe. Besides, the whole process might take about a month."
C's pov:
I am at a loss for words, I can't believe that she would do all that to teens. I wonder how many more agencies are doing such things across the globe. I don't want the downfall of the company, I will have to expose her soon enough to save them, but if I do that, then the trainees might be at risk. Ugh! I hate this feeling of helplessness.
Hans continues, "Look, we have to act as though we know nothing as of now. I will try to put a hold on the malpractices of the training center by keeping Ivy busy with other errands, but I will have to dig in deeper to get a hold of who else is involved as well. Until then, we are stuck."
I adjust my watch and stroke my hair, gently. Then, I say, "Thank you for investigating and taking this up. As usual, we will have to stick together and make sure that we put a full stop to this." Hans didn't reply and then left, without any more words spilling out of his mouth.
He is strange with his ways but I am no one to judge. I go on about my day as though nothing ever happened. So, Ivy might as well be the reason my brother got shot.
I meet Ivy about two hours after releasing my anger against a punching bag in the gym. I am sweating with rage as I look at her brown eyes which display a fake show of innocence and her straight short black hair looks like it hides a lot of secrets. She speaks, "Good morning Cynthia, let me run through your schedule for the day."
I can't hear a word coming out of her mouth, I just want to kick her out of here and lock her away in some dungeon forever, but I cannot. After she is done with her blabbering, I ask her to leave. It accidentally slipped from my mouth. I was freaking out with a poker face on.
She asked me, "Are you okay? I am sorry about your brother, I empathize with you, and I wish there was something that we could do." Oh, she surely wishes that she could finish him off. I clench my fists. I then calm myself down and say in an angry tone, "I met Blaze yesterday. He is the reason for my behavior, I am sorry if I hurt you but I can assure you that my pain is worse." She said, "Want to talk about it?"
I said, "No, I hate him anyway, there is no point in wasting my time." I pretend to divert my rage towards him and it worked well as she did not suspect a thing. She left the house and mailed me my schedule as I had asked. It is my PA's job to do this, but she is covering his shifts as well, I bet it is to make more money.
Being born into a rich family, I have never experienced financial problems but I empathize with those who are not born rich. Rich in terms of material. I have met so many who are rich in morals and I respect them, but we all know that the world runs with and behind money. It is inevitable.
Having more money brings in more advantages over those who don't have it. I know the importance of money, but I also believe that being rich in morals is harder than being rich in terms of finance. Ivy needs money, right? Right. I have the perfect plan to lure her out of the job and into jail.
I trust Hans on this. My gut says that he is right and everything adds up perfectly. Even the proofs that he has presented are legit. Now, if Hans and I secretly get another company to offer her a surplus amount of money to leave us and take up their work, then she would be out of our path.
After that, we should display her such that she harasses her clients and then, it would be super easy for us to bring out her dark side. I know that it is wrong to put false blames on her, but she leaves us with no choice.
She has been risking the youth's lives for her selfish needs and that is unacceptable. I am someone that they look up to and I will not tolerate her wrong ways. With this plan, we will be able to execute it in weeks and the teens will be safe as well.
I will have to meet Bee to get more information for this case, but it might just cause her trouble. Yeah, no, that is not a good idea. I will keep her out of it. Who knows what Ivy is capable of?
I call Hans right away. I ask Ivy to cancel my meetings for the day and cover up using Blaze as an excuse. When I hear a car's engine turn off, I stare out the window as Hans makes his way through my rock garden filled with roses. He was holding the same file, but it had more papers inside. His hair was now neat and he had a grey coat covering his upper body.
He looked...New...A good kind of new. I opened the door and asked him to wait for me in the discussion room. He set forth the file, it was filled with all sorts of papers related to Ivy.
General pov:
C: Wow. That's a lot of information.
H: Uh-huh.
C: Seriously, though, why are you in such a bad mood? Is there something you want to talk about?
H: No. I don't want to talk about it. But let me in on your plan.
C: I am in no mood to tell you.
H: Okay, then, see you later.
He stood up. Cynthia grabbed his arm and pulled him back onto his chair. He pushed her hand off her.
H: Don't touch me. It makes me uncomfortable.
His eyes were darker than usual and his expressions showed that he was in shock. Cynthia apologized after noticing him, and then, they moved past it like nothing ever happened. She, then, explained her plan.
H: This will work but we will need over a month to execute it.
C: Uh-huh.
H: I will try to short-list as many companies as I can.
C: Uh-huh.
H: About earlier...I don't know what came over me...I just...I can't...Bye.
Hans walked out of the room, and then out of the house. Cynthia was confused about what had happened but she moved on with her day as usual. She has to put on a fake smile and save her tears for another day.