Chris And Hazel - Volume 1 Chapter 54 53

 

‘Hi mom hey dad..! I am back!’ Hazel declared entering the house with her suitcase finding her dad and mom seated in the hall, deep in thought.

‘Mom..?’ Hazel called out looking at their disturbed faces.

She just got home for the weekend and there they were sitting there with no reaction at all.

She called out again hoping to hear a response,

‘Huh..? Oh, hi Haze. When you did you arrive?’ her mom asked shaking off her previous thoughts noticing her daughter standing in front of them.

‘You didn’t see me walk in?’ Hazel asked raising a brow in question.

“What’s wrong with them? I’ve never seen them like this” Hazel asked herself in doubt as she watched her parents.

‘Sorry hon! We were thinking about something else’ her mom answered looking away. There was a pinch of sadness clearly visible on her face.

‘Dad, what’s wrong with mom?’ she asked turning to look at dad only to find that he was more devastated than her mom.

‘Both of you, stop with the silent treatment and tell me what’s wrong’ Hazel demanded unable to take up the tension in the air.

She knew definitely something was up. What was bothering them so much?

‘Your dad got cheated by his partners in the business he started a year ago’ Gloria answered finally opening her mouth to answer her daughter.

‘WHAT..?’ Hazel asked horrified by the news.

‘When did this happen?’ Hazel asked trying to recover from the news she just heard.

‘Two weeks back’ Gloria answered looking away from Hazel.

‘And I get to know about this now? But…weren’t they your friends?’ she asked looking at her dad who was still quiet.

‘I thought so too’ he spoke after a few minutes of silence.

Her dad looked clearly broken. He was just so much excited to start a new company after his voluntarily retiring from his previous job, he was even gladder to do it with his three friends. Though it was him who invested more than the others he put in equal says for everyone to feel like the right owners of the company.

“How could they do it? It’s just been six months?” Hazel thought to herself trying to find the right words to console her dad there.

‘Dad..!’ Hazel started in a sympathetic tone understanding how torn her father was.

She slowly went and sat near him taking his hands into hers.

‘Why didn’t you just tell me earlier? We could’ve done something’ she said in a low voice.

‘I thought I could scr.a.p.e up something to prove my innocence but all of it, all of it has my name signed on it approving that I have checked  it in person before passing it. I mean people trusted and invested in my company and now everyone thinks I just looted them off’ he answered as anger built up within him.

‘What happened?’ she asked slowly wanting to know what really happened.

‘I don’t know Haze, they gave me controlling rights over everything and I thought it was because I invested more but it doesn’t seem that way now, does it? Everything seemed to go well but suddenly few weeks back there were too many customer complaints claiming for a refund with reasons that our product’s quality was destitute. When we looked further, it seemed like our manufacturer was a fraud and kept robbing us off without improving the product’s quality. I questioned the shareholders in the company who were responsible for the manufacturing part but failed to get any convincing answer. Since I was the one who signed and approved everything I am responsible for it too. The court hearing is in three days and I don’t know how I am going to prove my innocence plus the time I had is gone now. Guess, there’s no way out’ he explained looking at Hazel.

‘What happens if we are framed guilty?’ she asked in a serious tone.

‘We’ll have to compensate every customer twice the times they invested in the product and if we do that we’ll be left with nothing’ he answered his face clouding with anxiety.

‘Dad, don’t worry! We’ll find a way out now tell me what about the money we made from the company?’ Hazel questioned trying to gather all the information she could before scratching up a solution to save her family.

‘Gone..!’

‘What? How..?’ Hazel asked startled by his reply.

‘I don’t know but the account had nil balance when I checked it and the shareholder quickly blamed me for taking it and that’s another case filed against me’ he told her looking into a distance clueless of what to do next.

Though Hazel tried to be positive in this situation, she pathetically failed but she knew if she loses heart her parents would lose the rest of the hope they have. But what could she do? She came back home after three months and have no clue how her dad’s business was flourishing in the past months. She was there when her dad decided to start a company and help him prepare a contract for all the shareholders to sign in before going for it.

They had to draft it very carefully and it took months for everything to be perfectly ready before leaping into the business. Hazel knew how much her dad put in for lifting up the company amidst the competitions. Usually, everyone knows how much competitions small business face and her dad worked hard taking it all up. She heard that the business was taking off well from her mom a few months back and she believed her dad had it all.

Hazel never dreamt of such a situation in her life. Her family was breaking apart and she has two days to fix it, just two days.

“What can I do in two days?” she kept asking herself as she stared at her ceiling thinking real hard.

Who can she ask for help? Even if she finds someone how will they help her?

‘There had to be some way we could get out of this, right?’ Hazel asked hoping for a silver lining.

‘No, I tried and failed. Since all the passed decisions were solely signed by me, it goes without saying that I am responsible for everything. I should have read the doc.u.ments before signing it, my fault!’ he said in a helpless tone.

‘There has to be a way out’ Hazel said hoping her dad could recollect anything.

‘Only if they confess the crime, other than that there’s no way out’ her dad said in a low voice shaking his head in dismay because he knew that was a no go.

‘What did you say?’ Hazel asked looking up at her dad; he might’ve just given her an idea now.

‘I can only get out if they accept it was their fault’ he repeated.

‘…’

 ‘Hazel?’

‘Yeah..?’ she responded hearing her dad call out.

‘What’s wrong hon? You froze after hearing the last sentence’ he asked worried over her rapid changes in behavior.

‘Nothing dad..! I will be in my room’ she answered getting up and made her way to her room.

‘Rich, I feel like Hazel isn’t responding well to this news’ Gloria said as she worriedly looked over at her husband.

‘Don’t worry, I’ll talk to her’ he replied assuring her.

Hazel turned to find her dad at the doorstep of her room.

‘Dad?’ she questioned as he walked in.

‘Look honey, I know I am in a tough spot right now but I don’t want you to worry about it, ok? Dad will find a way, so don’t get involved. Do you understand?’ he asked looking at Hazel.

Richard definitely knew that he was going to sink but he didn’t want Hazel to worry. After all he cared so much for his baby girl and he just couldn’t bear to see her get heart-broken because of him. If she did, it would crush him. Although Richard tried his best in the past weeks to find a loop hole to prove he wasn’t guilty it was of no use. He knew everything was gonna go down the drains in three days but he wanted Hazel to be bold till that so he kept building in hope within her so that she’ll continue to believe.

‘…Yeah!’ she answered after a minute of silence.

‘Good, now take some rest. I have to go and meet my lawyer’ he said sighing a little. He tried his level best to hide away his pain but it wasn’t that easy.

‘Mom, I am going out to meet some friends’ Hazel said coming out of her room after two hours.

‘Okay honey. Come back soon’ her mom replied not coming out from her room.

‘Bye mom’

‘Come on Hazel, you need to do something. Dad was just trying to cheer you up. He got nothing. You have to do something’ Hazel kept telling herself as she reached her dad’s office.

He wasn’t allowed in till he was proved innocent and so his other partners were looking after the company. They managed to quiet down the customers by telling them that Richard was going to compensate them and told their other customers that Richard was out of the picture and the company was safe.

She had no idea who did it or why they did it but if she wants the answers this is the only place she’ll get it from.

‘Hey, you are Richard’s daughter, right?’ a man asked coming out of his office. He found her sitting near the reception and recognized her right away.

‘Yeah, I am Hazel White. I am here to meet Mr. Miller’ she answered getting up to greet him.

‘I am David Miller. What can I do for you Ms. White?’ he asked introducing himself.

‘You were one of my dad’s business partners, right?’ she asked as he led her into his office.

‘Yeah..! I know why you are here Ms. White. Look, Richard was my close friend but in this matter I can’t help you in any way’ he said directly getting to the point as she sat down in front of him.

“How did he know I came here to ask for help? It does seem like he knows a lot about this” Hazel thought to herself silently staring at him. Well now that she knew that he’s involved she just couldn’t leave empty-handed, she had to get something out of him.

‘I am not here to ask for your help Mr. Miller. I know you equally have your part in the plan in framing my dad’ she answered glaring at him. She felt disgusted the way he acted.

Till she got to the place, she was kinda hoping to get reasonable with them and ask them to pull her dad out of the mess. But just from his tone, she knew it was gonna result in vain. They were never gonna give in.

‘I don’t know what you are talking about. It was your dad who did everything’ David answered in a panicked voice looking around the place.

Hazel understood right from his tone that he was guilty. They all had a part in this.

‘Don’t worry Mr. Miller. I am not here to record our conversation. I don’t see any need to gather proof to prove my dad’s innocence’ Hazel answered wearing a positive smile as she looked at him.

“When you can’t convince them, just confuse them” she told herself after finishing her sentence.

‘What do you mean by you don’t see the need? The hearing is in three days and you people could lose all your savings with your dad going to prison’ he spoke out disturbed by how cool Hazel was at the moment.

‘My dad isn’t going to prison if he is then so will all of you’ she replied firmly not bothered by him.

 ‘Do you take us for a fool, Ms. White? All the signed doc.u.ments passed had your dad’s signature and the manufacturer also accepted that it was your dad you asked him to prepare cheap quality products. The evidence we have is perfect. There is no way your dad could escape imprisonment. He is guilty’ Miller said letting out a mocking laughter.

Hazel burst into laughter on hearing his delineation.

‘It is perfect…’ she said getting up from the chair.

‘… a little too perfect’ she whispered slowly smiling as the smile on Miller’s face faded.

“Where on Earth is this girl getting the courage to talk like this?” David thought to himself surprised by how calm she is.

‘Look Ms. White! If you are here to confuse me it’s not happening. I am not gonna fall in your empty trap. We know you have nothing. We had it all planned there’s no way your dad can escape from this, our plan is flawless. No one would suspect it was us who did it’ he answered turning to look at her.

‘I love how confident you are Mr. Miller’ Hazel said after he finished.

‘But…’ she paused as she took a look around the office.

‘You guys are missing the important piece here’ she said smiling slyly.

‘What do you mean?’ David asked slowly falling into her trap. Just the fact that she was standing there with zero percent of fear bothered Miller so much.

‘Well you guys will figure it out. If you don’t, call me. I am more than glad to explain it to you all but be quick you only have two days’ she answered walking out of the door, her face held up high.

‘I am sure I got into his head’ Hazel said smiling to herself.

‘What’s her game?’ Miller wondered as he watched her walk away.

‘There’s no way she has something against us. We had been planning this for months. We knew one day we would get caught and that’s why we had been giving Richard the authority over everything. Everyone knows that a start-up company wouldn’t profit a lot and we didn’t have patience like Richard. Trust me Miller! The girl is just trying to get into our heads. She got nothing’ another member of the board said as they all sat in the meeting room after David Miller called in for an urgent meeting once Hazel left.

‘But she just seemed too confident’ Miller said still unsure on whether to let go or not. Something about her aura really spoke to him and that didn’t let him settle on this matter easily.

‘I think she’s just messing with us’

‘You guys will understand once you talk to her’ David said looking at the other two sitting next to him.

‘She definitely has something’ he mumbled as the others kept debating within themselves.

‘I don’t have anything’ Hazel said out loud as she sat on her bed tired from trying to collect some evidence.

She didn’t know what to do. Where to go? Whom to ask? It was a dead end everywhere. She was losing hope slowly.

She kept building up courage to face it but it didn’t seem to work; her whole world came crashing down.

She was hoping for a ray of sunlight. But when she looked up all she could see were dark clouds surrounding her life. She just needed to know there was light somewhere and was ready to look for it no matter what.

‘What are you gonna do?’ Charlotte asked sitting next to her, she rushed back once she heard the news.

‘I am not sure but I am pretty sure they all are confused by now so they will start making some mistakes I hope so. If they don’t call me then seriously I have nothing. I only got one more day Char’ Hazel answered still beating herself up trying to find something.

‘I thought your dad told you to stay away from this’ Charlotte said trying to remind Hazel.

‘Well he also told me to give up on Chris so…not gonna happen’ she replied turning to look at his picture on her wall.

‘You still have his picture on your wall?’ Charlotte asked walking over towards the picture.

‘Yeah… well that’s not important. I really have to find some evidence to prove my dad’s not guilty’ Hazel said sighing as she went deep into thought.

‘Hey I got it! There must be surveillance cameras around maybe I can get something from that’ Hazel announced delighted with the idea.

‘I will go with you’ Charlotte offered getting up.

‘No, I will take care of it’ Hazel said denying her offer. She didn’t want Charlotte get into any trouble because of her, just as she was about to leave her phone rang.

‘Ms. White? This is Miller’

‘Mr. Miller, never thought you’d call’ Hazel answered with a facetious smile hushing Charlotte as she was about to speak up.

‘We would like to talk to you’ he said ignoring her comment.

‘Well I don’t see the need to come by to talk to you guys’ she said bluntly.

‘We can negotiate’ he replied trying to get her to come there.

‘Fine I will be there’ she accepted finally as she waved Charlotte bye.

‘What do you want?’ Hazel asked sitting in the meeting room facing the other two shareholders.

‘What do you mean by what do you want? You are the one who told us that we’d be going to prison with your dad’ David spoke out ridiculed on hearing her question.

‘Are we here to talk about the obvious? It’s you guys who framed my dad so obviously you’ll go behind bars’ she replied looking over at them.

‘There’s no way you could prove that we framed your dad’ a person spoke out confidently.

‘I wasn’t saying that I would prove you guys framed my dad. I was just telling you guys that you will go along with him to prison’ she replied with a smile.

The members looked at one another on hearing her comment. Tension increased among them as she sat there calmly observing everything.

‘Don’t try to play us Ms. White. We know you have nothing’ Miller said looking at the commotion between his colleagues.

‘If you really thought it was nothing then why did you invite me all the way here?’ she asked raising a brow.

Her plan was working perfectly, if she maintained this act for a few more minutes they’ll break.

Everyone quietened down, they didn’t believe that she was up to something when David mentioned it earlier but now that they have seen it they are pretty sure that she was trouble.

But what did she have against them? They just couldn’t understand that.

‘Look Ms. White! You are a smart girl but not smart enough to expose our plan. We had been planning this for months now, wherever you turn at the end it all comes to your dad, our plan was flawless and still is. There’s no way you could get something to bring us all down. so stop with your silly mind games and go and think about what you’ll do after your dad goes off to prison’ another one of the shareholder spoke out threatening Hazel in a calm voice telling her to give up.

‘Well…since you all think I am bluffing. I will tell you what I have. I can give you a clue, you guys forgot about a very important doc.u.ment that could bring all of you down with my dad, if I turn that up you all will face the consequences. And I also have the some dirt on the manufacturer guy who is supporting you. Anytime he can change his side. I still have more but I am waiting to surprise you guys in the court’

By telling them all this Hazel got up and left the meeting room not bothering to wait and answer their questions anymore.

‘She’s right! We can’t trust that manufacturer, he might switch sides. But we still have the doc.u.ments that he approved to manufacture the low quality products, won’t that be enough?’ Miller asked after making sure Hazel left the room.

‘It might be but it depends upon the doc.u.ment she was talking about. If she really has a doc.u.ment like she mentioned we might need a more solid proof’ a person replied looking at everyone.

‘I will  go bring the doc.u.ments from my office after that we’ll see what more we can do to make our case more strong’ David said walking out of the meeting room.

‘What are you still doing here?’ Miller screamed as he noticed Hazel walk out of the control room.

‘I was waiting to get the surveillance footage I asked for’ Hazel said stopping to answer him.

‘What footage? You won’t find anything here’ David answered trying not to sound alarmed.

‘Go in and see for yourself’ she answered walking away, feeling contented.

‘You really think that they would just give the footage since you asked?’ Miller asked in distrust.

‘You seriously think that I collected all this evidences all by myself, Mr. Miller? I have been getting help from people who thinks my dad is innocent. So getting a small footage isn’t that big of a deal’ she replied flashing her pen drive in front of him.

‘You didn’t find anything’ Miller answered smiling.

‘Just go and see for yourself. I am busy. I don’t have time to explain everything to you’ she answered calmly walking away.

‘Oh no!’ he exclaimed rushing in.

‘What do we do now?’ Miller asked his colleagues as they sat in the middle of scattered files trying to find what evidence Hazel had.

‘We went through everything. Did you find anything from the security footage?’ another one asked trying to get past his throbbing head ache.

‘No but there was day which was deleted from the record maybe it was her and I didn’t know whom to suspect for helping her, no one seems to have a clue about it’ Miller replied still searching through the doc.u.ments.

‘Guys, I found something’ his colleague shouted holding up a doc.u.ment.

‘I am here to meet Mr. Nick’ Hazel said standing outside the house of the manufacturer.

She was led into the house and she sat in the hall waiting for Nick to show up.

‘Who are you?’ Nick asked walking towards her.

‘I am Hazel White. Richard’s daughter’ she introduced.

‘What are you doing here?’ Nick asked as his reaction changed once he heard whose daughter she was.

‘I am hoping we could negotiate Mr. Nick’ Hazel said with a friendly smile.

‘There’s nothing to negotiate about Ms. White. It was your dad who paid me’ Nick answered avoiding eye contact.

‘I know; it was my dad who sent me here to talk to you. Since it was you both who cheated everyone it is evident that you’ll both suffer imprisonment. So he said there’s a way for both of you to escape’ Hazel replied cheerfully.

‘What are you up to?’ Nick asked confused.

Everyone knew it wasn’t really her dad but why is she here accepting the crime? Nick couldn’t understand a thing.

‘See that’s what Mr. Miller told me. He would blame the entire thing on you both so that the company could be safe and they’ll be safe too’ hazel answered wearing an innocent expression.

‘Mr. Miller told you that do you take me for a fool Ms. White?’ Nick asked laughing at her.

‘So you’ve decided your side, huh? But don’t blame me if you go to prison. I am just here to help you but you don’t believe me. The truth is if you tell the truth in the court there is a possibility you’ll escape while the others get caught but since you won’t give in, I can’t do anything’ Hazel answered getting up to leave.

Her genuine way of talking really got to him but he was having second thoughts too. He was pretty sure she was lying.

‘You don’t believe me, do you?’ she asked looking at him.

‘Why do you wanna help me?’ he asked in suspicion.

‘Because you too are just a pawn like my dad in their game’ she answered walking towards the door.

‘Think about it Mr. Nick. If you still don’t believe me, just wait and watch all the three will come here to ask you whether you switched sides. They don’t trust you Mr. Nick but I do’ she said turning to look at him.

She smiled gracefully at him and walked out.

‘David, why are we here to meet Nick?’ his colleague asked as they entered Nick house.

‘We need to see whether he really did switch sides. I am sure Hazel was lying to us’ David said as they walked towards the door.

‘Mr. Miller, what a surprise?’ Hazel asked coming in contact with them.

‘Ms. White?’ all the three asked in shock as they saw her leaving the gate.

‘What are you doing here?’ Miller asked as she happily made her way towards them.

‘I just came to say hi to Nick…I mean Mr. Nick’ Hazel answered correcting her sentence mid-way purposely.

‘Did you find the evidence I was talking about? You all look so tired’ Hazel asked looking at their worn out faces.

‘Don’t worry Ms. White, we did’ David said smiling proudly.

‘There’s no way you did’ she answered not believing it.

‘We did’ another one answered as she rolled her eyes in disbelief.

‘It’s the contract, right? We saw it’ one among the three shouted on impulse.

Hazel expression changed slightly as she heard him but she didn’t react.

‘Shut up!’ Miller said hushing the two.

‘So what if you did, I have it with me. So there’s no use of you guys knowing about it’ Hazel said maintaining her cool.

‘How could you have it? The original copy is in the company’s safe’ David said on hearing her explanation.

‘That’s what you think. The original copy is with my dad, the one in the company is just a copy’ she professed looking at the three.

‘Bye everyone..! Good day’ she said with a bright smile as she walked away leaving them speechless.

‘Do you think..?’

‘Oh I am damn sure now! All we have left is Nick! We need to talk to him or in case threaten him’ David announced as they walked through the driveway to Nick’s door.

‘Hazel, where did you go? It’s almost 11 p.m.’ her dad asked rushing towards her as she entered the house.

‘I was out with Charlotte dad’ she answered trying to calm him down.

‘Why did you ask for the combination to the company’s safe?’ he asked recalling that she called a few hours back.

‘It’s nothing. And dad, don’t worry about tomorrow. We’ll be fine’ she promised smiling reassuringly at her dad.

‘I know honey. Go take rest’ her dad replied smiling.

‘So?’ Chris asked waiting for her to continue.

‘So what..?’ Hazel questioned back unable to understand what he was expecting from her.

‘Did you prove that your dad wasn’t guilty?’ Chris asked hoping to hear a positive response.

‘Yeah..!’

‘Was it because of the footage, right?’ Chris asked looking at her.

‘What footage?’ Hazel asked puzzled.

‘That footage you got from your dad’s company?’ Chris said reminding her.

‘I didn’t get any footage. They didn’t let me go through the footage’ Hazel answered calmly looking at the sky.

‘Then..?’ Chris asked totally confused.

‘I know I couldn’t anything that’s why I decided to confuse them in the first place. They totally believed I got something against them and panicked. It turned out as a positive for us’ Hazel answered elucidating the events one by one to Chris.

‘How..?’ Chris asked completely confused.

‘I had no doc.u.ment like I mentioned to them. It was them who voluntarily told me that the contract had something so I right away went to the company to get it from the company. The good thing was no one recognized me there. I was afraid that they might have changed the password but since they didn’t suspect the contract they didn’t’ Hazel explained.

‘Then..?’

‘I went through the contract and found that if the company faces any loss because of a business partner all the four has a share in it irrespective of who did it, meaning that the others are responsible for it too. And this applied for the manufacturer too so he caved in and accepted the crime but…’ she stopped.

‘What..?’ Chris asked as the suspense was too much for him to take in.

‘They submitted the files my dad signed’ she answered.

‘So what..? The contract stated that it concerned them to, right?’ Chris asked not understanding what the problem was.

‘Well, all that files clearly mentioned that my dad took the decision on him own and doesn’t concern other shareholders and though it wasn’t that strong they had a chance of escaping the case’ she continued.

‘Then what happened?’ Chris questioned in a serious tone.

‘I submitted the video I recorded’ she answered looking at Chris.

‘What video? I thought you told that guy you weren’t recording anything’ Chris said puzzled.

‘I didn’t but I did record the conversation we had in the meeting room and at the end one person would’ve clearly mentioned that they did plan everything’ Hazel responded putting it out clearly for him.

‘Oh my god..! That’s amazing honey’ Chris said pulling her into a hug.

Chris couldn’t just believe it, she did all that?

It was like he was looking at a whole new person.

‘Thanks’ Hazel mumbled fighting back a smile. She didn’t want to get all giggly just because he complimented her well…at least not in front of him.

‘Hey wait, you have my picture hanging beside your bedside?’ Chris asked remembering recalling suddenly.

‘That’s what you remember from the entire flashback?’ hazel asked opening her mouth in disbelief.

‘Yes or no..?’ Chris asked demanding for an answer.

‘…well’ Hazel struggled for a reply.

‘Well you do too’ she argued interrupting him before he could question her further.

‘…Wait! How do you know that?’ he asked suspicious of how she knew.

‘I…I saw it in your room’ Hazel blurted out managing to come up with a lie.

‘Impossible..! I put it back into my wardrobe when you came to stay here and there’s no way you saw it before that’ Chris replied not buying her excuse.

‘You know what? I need to check on the kids’ she said running out before he could find out the truth.

‘Hazel…Wait!’