67

67

Damien Martinez —

"I got some names," Tristan said, leading me into the building.

I felt a rush of excitement go through my veins. Finally, I had names he knew were behind all this. That was wonderful.

And suddenly, I felt hopeful again. Everything became clear to me on my ride back to the station. I understood Diego's role, and suddenly everything else made sense.

I couldn't take down Cal in my underhanded ways. As much as talking faster got me what I wanted with twice the satisfaction, I couldn't risk him harming Clarissa because of me.

There was only one way to do it now, and that was through the police.

Cal might have the advantage now, but in reality, no one could go above the law. If I could get some evidence against him, then I had him hooked.

Although I would have loved to see the mother fucker dead, but I would have to settle for jail for now.

Tristan led me to his office and stepped aside as I entered. He closed the door behind me, then went over to his table and began searching through the files.

"You mentioned that the plate number on the car belonged to a certain company, right?" he asked, doing a background check. "I'm making sure I remembered everything you said before."

I nodded eagerly for him to get straight to the point.

"Well," he continued, "I linked it up with some of my colleagues and booyah, we have a gang of car thieves on our plates," he said.

"Are you sure that they are the ones?" I asked.

Tristan gave a small smile. "I was hoping you could clarify that for me," I said.

With that, he nodded towards the wall.

I turned towards it, curious, and to my surprise, there was a board pinned on the wall.

Many images were pinned on it. I realized this was our case. Tristan was really investing a lot of time into it.

He stepped forward, and I drew closer to the wall to inspect the pictures that were painted on it.

"Those are our suspects," Tristan said, pointing. "Now tell me if you recognize them from the security footage."

I stared at the pictures, my brows creased in concentration.

"But the men wear glasses," I thought, "and gloves. We could use the match their fingerprints to see if it gives us the same thing."

I looked at the first one, trying to recognize something, anything.

But I had a gut feeling that what Tristan told me was right and they were the ones we were looking for.

Or maybe that was just me clinging to every bit of hope.

"I don't know, Tristan," I said at last with a sigh.

"Don't worry about it, it's fine," Tristan said, patting my shoulders. "I already sent copies to the investigators, and they'll be able to find matches if they are the ones," he added.

"I do think they are, though. They are one of the only gangs of car thieves that we haven't caught yet, and they were found around the car company too. So there's a good chance," Tristan mused, talking more to himself.

Anyway, he walked away from the wall and motioned for me to sit down. "Do have a seat," he said.

"Now, tell me how the meeting with the unknown number went," he drew up a free chair and sat beside me, looking ready to listen.

"It was terrible," I sighed in defeat.

He quirked up an eyebrow. "Things can't possibly get any worse than they are right?"

"What they just did," I said, "and I know who is behind the kidnap, or at least I know the mastermind behind it. It is Karl and Morgana."

He stiffened at the mention of the name. "She just had to get involved, didn't she?" he muttered.

"I should have seen it coming after all. She kept on sending me threatening messages. I just didn't think that she would go for Clarissa," I said.

"And about Karl, he wanted to negotiate with me, but I think I blew it," I said, dejected.

"Come on, you know it couldn't have been that bad," Tristan offered.

"Trust me, you don't know all the details. I went to find my games and play the heartless CEO a bit too well. Now he's going to harm Clarissa because I told him that I didn't love her and there was no way he could use her to get to me. I think he wants to test her through that," I said.

"He was probably going to do that either way," Tristan said meaningfully. "So it doesn't matter what you told him in the first place."

"Jeez, thanks. I feel so much better now."

"Well, if you're being sarcastic, then probably not," he laughed.

"I wish there was a way that we could get evidence against him before he makes his move," I sighed.

"I don't know how I'll be able to do that because I can't even bring him in as a suspect until I have concrete evidence against him. You know how high up he is on the social ladder, and I might even lose my job for it," Tristan explained.

I nodded, understanding. They would accuse Tristan of making baseless accusations, and that wouldn't sit too well with him. If we wanted Carl to go down, then we needed to have all the evidence we could get.

"Now if only I had my phone during the meeting, I would have made you record it, or that would be something to start with. They might say that it was all forged, but there would still be a lot of people believing that it was true. After all, he was her ex, and even the public knows that there was a lot of bad blood between them now."

"It's not enough that you know that Karl is the one behind it," Tristan said, standing up.

"I need someone else who is going to affirm that fact. If that person comes from his circle, then it will be an even better confession."

Then he turned to me, suddenly remembering something. "If I could somehow get the suspects behind the kidnap to confess that Carl is their boss, then that will be about all the evidence I need to cuff him and bring him in as a prime suspect. This case might be over sooner than we all think," he said.

"Can you do that?" I asked hopefully.

"I will try, Damien. Right now, we're in this together, okay?"

I nodded. "Thank you for everything, Tristan. You're a real brick," I said, patting his shoulders in gratitude.

I had some hope now. Somehow, I convinced myself that everything would be fine.

Tristan's eyes sparkled with determination. "Let's get to work, then. We need to find a way to get evidence against Karl that's irrefutable."

He began pacing around the room, his mind racing with ideas. "We need something concrete, something that will convince the DA to take action. Just the men admitting that Karl is their boss might not be enough. The little snake is going to weave his way out of it, I already know it. We need something more, his own confession."

I watched him, feeling the tension build up in the room. Getting Karl to admit that he kidnapped Clarissa was like trying to pin clouds to the ground.

It was nearly impossible, and I knew that the fucker would rather kill himself than do that and end his own company for good. "Tristan, what if we could get a recording of Karl admitting to the kidnapping?"

Tristan's eyes snapped towards mine, a grin spreading across his face. "That's it, Damien! That's the ticket!"

I stood still, trying to think. I knew for sure that he was the one, but even so, I knew that I couldn't forge the recording; otherwise, no one would believe us. Was there any way to make him do it himself?

He strode over to his desk, pulling out a small device. "I have a friend who's an expert in surveillance. I'll get him to bug Karl's office. We'll get that recording, and then we'll have him right where we want him."

I nodded, still unsure of how we would make him talk.

As though sensing my questions, Tristan continued. "I will ask Isabella if she would help us. She might just be able to charm him into speaking."

My eyes widened in shock. I didn't think she would do that. But thinking of it now, she was Clarissa's best friend, wasn't she? That meant she was more than ready to do anything to save her.

"Thanks again, Tristan," I said, shaking hands with him.

"We'll get Clarissa back no matter what," he said firmly.

I smiled, feeling determination, and made my way out of the station. Finally, we had a means, a plan. Finally, we were going to get what we wanted. And that was Carl behind bars.

"I will come for you, you motherfucking asshole," I thought.