"Gardez espoir."
-
"Goodbye, mother."
"Lalisa!" Olivia fumed but the line was already cut off. She dropped the phone on her table, furious as she held her temple with both hands.
The girl knew everything.
She definitely knew.
And Olivia has to do something about it now before it's too late for her. Her claws seemed to have already been retracted from the girl, she can no longer control her.
"Secretary Ahn!" She yelled out in frustration. The said woman came in quickly upon hearing her.
"Yes, madame?"
"Change of plans. Tell the men to start preparing now. Now!" Olivia exclaimed, making Miss Ahn nod her head immediately. "What of my husband? Did he respond yet? When is he coming to Korea?"
"He's still in Thailand, ma'am," Miss Ahn nervously replied. Olivia stared at her darkly.
"Well don't just stand there gawking! Get to work! Get my husband to Korea! Contact our men and tell them to blast that thing off by the end of the day! Now scram!" The woman barked and the secretary immediately turned around to do her tasks.
Once more, she was alone.
She needed to get out of Seoul too. She just needed to get one more thing done and she'll be secured.
~*~
"Good morning, Mr. Jeon," Secretary Lee greeted as Jungkook exited the elevator. The latter just gave the former a curt nod before entering his office.
Dropping his briefcase on the table, he began removing his coat, leaving him in his white button-up. With the absence of a necktie, he just left the first couple of buttons undone, revealing a bit of his collarbones.
He began rolling his sleeves up to his elbow as he sat down on his chair. Once he was done with both sleeves, he put his briefcase down and opened his laptop, turning it on.
Miss Lee placed a cup of hot chocolate on his table as he began scrolling through his email.
"What's my schedule for today?" He asked her, his eyes still glued on his screen.
"Well sir, at 10 AM you will have a meeting with the board. At 1 PM..." He listened as Jieun narrated his agenda for the day, but never took off his gaze on his work.
"Thank you, Miss Lee," he dismissed and the woman left his office. He took a sip of his hot chocolate.
He refreshed his email inbox after a while, thinking he already replied to the important ones. He was then done checking his emails. That was until something caught his eye.
A new email notification.
He narrowed his eyes, clicking on it. There was nothing except a folder labeled "Plan".
Eh?
There was no sender address. Or rather it was anonymous. That's odd. Who sent this? And what does the folder contain?
There was suddenly a knock on his door, before it opened, revealing Kim Taehyung.
"What are you doing here, Hyung?" Jungkook asked.
"Just thought I'd drop by and check on you," The older replied, scanning him and his table. "You seemed busy so early in the morning."
"I am busy. I have a company to run, Hyung," Jungkook stated before diverting his gaze back to his screen. He clicked on the folder.
He was even more confused.
The folder contains some sort of video clips and audio. Now, what is this?
"What are you frowning on?" Taehyung asked curiously, seeing the expression on his face. He walked towards Jungkook and stood beside him, the screen of the younger's laptop now on his line of vision.
"What are these?" He asked.
"I don't know either. It was just sent to my email," Jungkook told him.
"Sent by who?"
"I don't know that too. It did not say."
"Well, click on one," Taehyung urged.
"What if it's a virus? I can't risk that on my laptop," Jungkook countered.
"Or porn?" Taehyung raised an eyebrow and Jungkook stared at him with judgemental eyes.
"Seriously, Hyung?" Jungkook deadpanned. "Are you...?"
"No!" Taehyung exclaimed, giving the younger a glare for insinuating such a thing about him.
Jungkook doesn't look too convinced though.
"Oh just click on one," Taehyung moved forward and snatched his mouse, moving the cursor to one of the clips and clicking on it.
"Yah! What are yo-" Jungkook stopped talking when his laptop started playing the clip.
The light mood they have created in the room suddenly dimmed down, Jungkook's expression changing upon seeing Olivia in the clip. The small teasing smile and playful glare were gone.
What the hell is this about?
Both males watched carefully, taking in the conversation between Olivia and someone whose face was not caught in the frame.
They were silent. Until the person whom Olivia was talking to spoke.
Taehyung gasped.
"Oh shit. Is that who I think it is?" Taehyung gaped as he looked at Jungkook, eyes wide in shock.
The voice of that someone, Jungkook knew that all too familiar voice. Even if he doesn't see the face. He can't be mistaken about who it belongs to.
Fck. It was that person all along? The one who's secretly working for Olivia and betraying him?
He couldn't believe it. This person would be the last person he expected to betray him and JEG.
The person continue to speak, spewing things he had least expected. Such as hating him and his family.
"I can't believe this," Taehyung continued to state, gaze never leaving the screen now.
Jungkook remained silent. He was surprised and betrayed but he did not show it on his face. He just ended up drawing his lips into a thin line.
They continued to go through the folder, watching the given clips and listening to the recorded audios.
This finally gave him a bigger picture of what Olivia had in mind.
And most importantly, strongly confirmed his suspicion of the woman.
"Holy shit, Jungkook," Taehyung exclaimed as the last clip of the bunch stopped playing. He looked at Jungkook again, pointing at the now black screen of the laptop. "This is it, is it not? The evidence that you need. Solid and true."
Taehyung's right.
These clips and audios were worth more than the shredded pieces of evidence that they once had. This folder contains all that they need to finally make a big move.
"I'll call Namjoon Hyung," Jungkook pulled his phone, dialing the said male's number.
He answered on the third ring.
"Jungkook?"
"Hyung, come to JEG. Immediately," He instructed him. "There's something important that you should see."
Namjoon did not question it and agreed to come. Less than thirty minutes later, he was already there, inspecting the folder that Jungkook received.
"Who sent this?" Namjoon asked, eagle eyes momentarily leaving the screen.
"I tried to check but there's nothing there. The person did not want to be known."
"There's a protective mask on this one. Indeed, we can't check," Namjoon exhaled after failing to get through. "It doesn't seem edited or anything. But I'll have this check with my team. Just to make sure."
"But with this though, Hyung, confirms everything, right? You can use this against madame Olivia?" Taehyung quered.
Namjoon nodded once and then looked at Jungkook again. "Whoever sent this, they just save us a lot of time and effort for this investigation."
Jungkook agreed.
"I want to go check the building," Jungkook uttered as he stood up from the couch, a serious expression showing on his face. "They are planning to destroy it, for whatever reason that does not make sense. Build then destroy? I mean they made effort to steal only to waste it just like that?"
"That we need answers to. Which is why we should find Olivia Manoban and arrest her as soon as these pieces of evidence were made sure to be raw and unedited. For now, I have sent the files to my team and have already tasked someone to go check on the woman and keep an eye on her again. Though, we have to be more careful now, as this confirms they are indeed aware of us," Namjoon stated, fingers busy clicking on the keyboard as he does what he was saying. "We will receive verification by the end of the day."
"While waiting for that, we have to check the building, Hyung," Jungkook insisted. "I have to secure it as soon as possible. Because if something does happen to it..."
"It'll be your loss and not theirs," Taehyung continued for him, biting his bottom lip after.
"Yes," Jungkook nodded.
"But how do we know where the building is exactly? It was not stated there on the files," Taehyung questioned.
"There's another email, Jungkook. Look," Namjoon spoke and the latter immediately went to his side to check. Taehyung did the same.
"It's a message this time."
Olivia Manoban will be blowing up the project sooner than you think. You have to hurry. The project's in Gwangju.
[Exact Address]
"I have to go," Jungkook stated, jaw clenching.
"We are coming with you then," Namjoon told him, also standing up. Taehyung did too. Jungkook nodded once before he started to walk towards the door, followed by the other two men.
He cancelled his schedule for the day in the process.
They opted to use Namjoon's black range rover. Jungkook was in the passenger seat while Taehyung occupied the back seat. Namjoon's driving. The travel from Seoul to Gwangju will take about three hours.
"Don't you have work, Hyung?" Jungkook asked Taehyung in the back seat. "You sure it's fine for you to come?"
"I called in and told my staff I have somewhere to be today. It's fine," Taehyung informed him. Jungkook smiled a little, grateful to have the older male's support around.
"Jungkook," Namjoon called his name after a while.
"Yeah?"
"About the Manoban twins," Namjoon began, his eyes briefly going to the younger then back on the road ahead.
He was replied with silence, not a word uttered by the younger.
Jungkook's gazed out the window, "what about them?" He asked after a while.
"Is Mara Manoban still staying in your mansion?" Namjoon asked him, already knowing that Jungkook have moved out of the house. He also already knew about their confrontation.
"No."
"Do you where did she go?" He asked again.
"No."
"What about the other twin?" Namjoon shifted his gaze briefly towards Jungkook again.
Jungkook turned to him, quite annoyed as he did not want to talk about them right now.
"Why are you asking these?" He questioned Namjoon.
"Well, I'm just wondering if you're gonna leave their deceit behind you or you're gonna do something about it. After all, they did deceive you. You can file a case for that too, just so you know," Namjoon said.
Jungkook paused, weighing that information from his Hyung.
"I'll... think about it," Jungkook uttered, looking away.
"Do you know where Lalisa Manoban is?" Namjoon again shot a question to the younger.
"Hyung," Taehyung finally spoke from the back seat, glaring at Namjoon. They made eye contact through the rear view mirror. Namjoon raised an eyebrow at him.
"Don't push it," Taehyung mouthed to the older male, glancing worriedly at Jungkook. He knew this was a sensitive topic for the younger.
"Do you want me to find her for you?" Namjoon still did not shut his mouth and Taehyung would've smacked him if he was not the one driving right now.
"No," Jungkook replied coldly.
Taehyung sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Namjoon hyung, seriously.
For the remainder of their travel, they did not talk anymore. Taehyung just reached over to the monitor and played some music, just so it was not too quiet the whole car ride.
Three hours later, they're finally in Gwangju.
As they were nearing the city, they heard a loud boom outside, in the direction of the city they were heading to.
Namjoon stepped on the break quickly.
"What was that?" Taehyung uttered out, shocked by the sudden sound.
"The city," Jungkook spoke, eyes glued on the city ahead. He narrowed his eyes, catching something from afar. "Is that... smoke I see starting to rise in the sky?"
"This isn't good," Namjoon grunted, once again stepping on the gas and driving towards the heart of the city. He was going faster than they were earlier now, wanting to know what just happened and what was that loud boom they heard.
It almost sounded like something... exploded.
Exploded.
Wait... what?
Shit?!
Namjoon's eyes widened, glancing at Jungkook for a second. The younger two seemed to have also come to that conclusion.
Could it be?
"Look there!" Taehyung exclaimed, pointing at what seemed to be a burning building from afar, right in the direction that they were heading. It looked destroyed, with its remains now being eaten by flames.
"And shit, the GPS is turning towards that direction," Namjoon muttered, turning right towards the direction of that destroyed building now.
It was chaos in the area.
Fire trucks have already arrived, trying to put out the massive fire consuming the building. Ambulances and Police cars have also arrived in the area. People were being assisted away from the area. It seems that a couple of nearby skyscrapers were also affected by the impact of the explosion.
They exited the range rover hurriedly.
Namjoon immediately approached a nearby policeman.
"What happened here?" He asked, showing his ID in the process. Seeing that he's from KNPA, the policeman did not hesitate to tell him what happened.
Jungkook, on the other hand, walked towards the signage just a few feet away from the building.
LSA Hotel Project:
The future "Citadel of Asteria".
That's what it says.
"We were too late," Jungkook uttered dryly, hands forming into tight fists on his sides.
"Jungkook."
He turned to Namjoon and Taehyung with, no doubt, visible anger in his eyes.
"What did they say? What happened?" He questioned in a controlled voice.
"A bomb exploded in the unfinished building," Namjoon regretfully told him. "We have to leave the area. They're asking all civilians to step away from here as they continue to control the situation. Come on."
They all went back to the range rover. But Namjoon has not yet started the engine.
"A lot were injured, especially the men working in the said building," he revealed further, "What's worse is that... they have already found casualties while they are still trying to put out the fire."
Shit.
The rage Jungkook was feeling about this was unexplainable. Not only that the stolen JEG money was poured onto that now flaming building, but there were people... innocent people were affected and died from this horrible disaster.
Was this what the Manobans wanted?
~*~
Olivia was packing up.
As soon as it was confirmed by Secretary Ahn that the plan had already taken place, she fled LSA and went straight back to the Manoban mansion to pack her things.
She was furious as she did so though. As this was not what she had planned from the beginning. She had to rush everything now.
She was supposed to leave first before she execute her plan for the project.
But because of her daughters, everything was jeopardized.
She does not know if Lisa indeed sent the recorded files to the Jeons, but she's not gonna risk it. She has to leave as soon as possible.
She will deal with them after she was secured somewhere else.
"Madame, the helicopter is waiting for you now," Secretary Ahn informed her, standing at the front of the master's bedroom's door.
Olivia slammed her suitcase and had the maids carry it for her.
"Have you contacted the bank?" Olivia questioned the woman as they made their way out of the mansion and towards the helipad not too far away where the helicopter was indeed waiting.
"Yes, madame," Miss Ahn hesitated to continue, knowing she will be delivering bad news and possibly angering her already raging boss.
"And?" Olivia turned to her, intimidating eyes looking down on her.
"I failed to withdraw," the woman muttered in a small voice.
"What did you say? I did not hear you," Olivia demanded.
Miss Ahn cleared her throat, preparing herself for what was about to come.
"The bank... Uhm... I was not successful in withdrawing the amount of money you stated, madame," she said in a louder and clearer voice.
"What?!" Olivia barked. "And why not?! I thought you already worked on this?!"
"Madame, it's the joint account that has a problem. I w-was told it was already emptied," Miss Ahn explained nervously. "Though they did not state specifically, I think Mr. Manoban seemed to have taken out the money, madame."
Olivia's eyes turned wide at that. Her husband did that? Then where the fck is he now?!
"Where is my husband?"
"Still in Thailand, madame," Miss Ahn answered.
"What about my solo bank accounts? Were you successful in withdrawing from there?" Olivia asked now rather calmly but her gaze was still menacing.
"N-no, madame."
"You useless fool! That was already an easy task and you still did not succeed in doing it?!" Olivia glowered.
"Madame, with regards to your bank accounts, they were frozen by the bank," Miss Ahn revealed, further infuriating her boss.
"For what reasons did they do that?!"
"They did not disclose it to me, m-madame."
If Olivia was not in a hurry, she swore she would've dealt with the withdrawal by herself and not relied on this secretary in front of her.
She doesn't know why they froze her bank accounts, but she had a feeling it has something to do with her husband emptying their joint account. Why would her husband do such a thing?!
Unless...
Unless Lalisa has also sent those clips to her father.
"That good for nothing child," Olivia seethed in anger. Her sharp gaze met Secretary Ahn's once more. "Find Lalisa's whereabouts. I need to know immediately! I will also deal with her."
She had no choice but to leave Seoul quickly. Good thing she had some money saved up in the safe. It was more than enough, but she have to get her money from the bank as well.
But it seems that she won't be able to do that easily. But she had no time to think about that right now. What's important was to leave Seoul first.
"Find Lalisa. And do not fail me this time."
~*~
Jungkook and his hyungs did not leave the scene. Instead, he had ordered assistance from his people to help as soon as the fire was already put out.
He wanted to help in any way he can here. There were innocent people affected and became victims of the Manobans' wicked plan. He and his family, as well as their business empire, were the target but others suffered from it.
He still doesn't know if it's just Olivia Manoban or the whole Manoban clan who were involved in this one. But he could just assume that they all were. After all, the twins were also involved in the plan of deceiving him.
"Jungkook-ah," Taehyung spoke, placing a hand on his shoulder before sitting down beside him.
"I've called my father and informed him of what happened," Jungkook disclosed. His father was not happy learning about the destroyed building being the fruit of the swindled Jeon Empire billions.
His father was frustrated with this but he did not hesitate to tell Jungkook to lend help to the affected people in the area. Which he already did, even before his father told him to do so.
"And? Did you tell him about the folder?"
"Yes," Jungkook nodded. "He wanted to see it for himself."
Namjoon walked towards them.
"They're still looking for casualties in the building. They can't move quickly on it as they're not sure the building was sturdy enough to enter after the bombing and the fire, the building was still incomplete after all. It will take a while," Namjoon shared.
"Also," Namjoon added. "I have received verification regarding the clips we had. Turns out it's not at all altered or edited. And Olivia Manoban's whereabouts, I was informed by my eye that she left LSA almost around the same time as the explosion took place. Seems that she had the intention to flee as soon as this plan was executed."
"Did they find where she's planning to go?" Taehyung asked.
"They're still trying to check on that. Hopefully, we'll receive new information soon."
"Alright," Jungkook nodded, grateful for all the help they acquired. It took him a while before he say what he's been thinking about earlier. "Hyung, we have what we need. Let's do it."
Namjoon furrowed his brows, not catching what the younger meant.
"Do what?"
"Formally order the arrest warrant of Olivia Manoban."
-
"Keep the faith."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
To be continued.
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