Chasing Eden Ch. 07-09

As the microphone came on, and all the listeners from around the world were opened up to the conference call, Peter began his presentation. Camilla tapped on Jane's shoulder, excited for her to hear from the man she had been working with so closely.

After going through a couple slides of almost mundane announcements, Peter took a deep breath before addressing the crowd. "I can say with confidence that the things my team did over the past month were substantial to the company's success."

A big smile came over Camilla's face, feeling proud of what the team had accomplished. However, what made her even more proud was seeing all these important execs, listening so carefully to every one of Peter's words.

Then, after a brief pause, Peter changed slides before continuing, "But as for the numbers that Sunshine Industries has done over the past quarter, they're similar to the numbers that were produced over the last several years. Unfortunately, this was another awful quarter income-wise, revenue-wise, and profitability-wise."

Gasps could be heard all around, causing the presentation to be stopped momentarily. Peter just stood there as chatter became widespread amongst the people in the audience.

After groaning to herself, Sasha stood up and addressed the shareholders in the auditorium from her seat. "Hello everyone! Peter is just joking around. He's actually quite a drinker. He's only presenting because our CFO called out today. Please don't mind his jokes."

As members from the audience began laughing at Sasha's words, she looked over at the man presenting and addressed him before taking her seat. "Peter, honey, will you please just read the script we gave you? No more joking around, okay?"

Peter stood there for a moment, staring at Sasha and Marco with an intensity in his eyes Camilla had never seen before. Then, as the clouds moved out of the way, and a ray of light illuminated him through the window, something happened that Camilla never expected to see.

As the light came through, shining on the man who was presenting, a smile came over his face, forcing Camilla to gasp. "I've never seen him smile before," she whispered as she looked back and forth between Jane, Sasha, and Marco. "What's going on?"

"That's where you're wrong," Peter started, while using a slightly more aggressive tone. "I haven't had a drink since I got back. I can see everything clearly now and I know exactly what I'm doing."

Going back to his serious expression, Peter continued, "I was never a drinker, but for years, I forced the alcohol into my system, hoping it would suppress the devil inside me. But the moment I've waited for is finally here, and there's no more hiding what I really am.

"For three years... you've done everything in your power to stop me... and yet, here I am, with all the power in my hands. It took a long time for me to move the chess pieces around, but the board is finally set up the way I need it."

As Peter continued to talk, Camilla's eyes only grew larger. The smile on his face was scary enough, but now hearing the words he was saying, despite not understanding exactly what they meant, sent chills to her core.

"Cut the feed!" Sasha yelled, jumping up from her seat as she turned towards the production members in the background. "Turn the microphones off!"

"It's too late for that," Peter said, as he started messing with the cufflink of his sleeve. As the production members just stood there, continuing to allow the live feed, Peter explained, "I'm already one step ahead of you. This is going live no matter what you demand."

Then, rolling his sleeve up to reveal all the cuts, both old and new, Peter continued, "There's nothing you can do to stop me. I've been dreaming of this moment for three years now. The only road left for me to go down is the one that leads to the end.

"I was just an accountant. I wasn't a coder or an engineer. Yet, with enough determination and unwavering will, I was able to disassemble every algorithm that was made into creating these fake numbers. The mole's numbers were correct. It just took me three years to reverse engineer them."

"He's lying!" Sasha screamed, addressing the entire crowd. "He's mad at the world! Don't listen to him!"

As Camilla watched on with her eyes bigger than ever before, Peter announced, "Allow me to prove these numbers are correct." Then, as he undid the top button of his dress shirt, and reached underneath, she could see the gold chain that she witnessed in his hotel room now firmly in his grasp.

Without ever changing the expression on his face, Peter pulled the chain, snapping it from his neck, and leaving it broken in his hand. Though his neck was now bleeding, he never winced from the pain of breaking the gold against his skin.

As Camilla watched on, she noticed that not only was the wedding band attached to the chain, there was also a flash drive attached to the ring as well. She thought back to the moment she saw it in his hotel room when she snuck in, and said to herself, That wasn't on there before!

Holding the flash drive up, Peter grimaced at the crowd before announcing, "Here it is. This is what you've all been looking for." He then moved the flash drive towards the computer, with his arm that was still unexplainably full of cuts. And now with the top of his shirt unbuttoned, there were cuts on his chest that were revealed as well.

"I fucking knew it!" Sasha yelled, shouting in the direction of the lawyer. "I fucking told you he was the mole, Marco!"

Hearing those words, Camilla was left completely frozen as she sat there and watched Peter plug the flash drive in. Then, and only then, did it occur to her that maybe she had just been a pawn this entire time in Peter's big scheme.

As the flash drive went into the computer, and the projector showed all the numbers that Peter had explained, pandemonium spread amongst the crowd. They were all talking back and forth and even grabbing their cell phones to call their companies. Although Camilla didn't know exactly what the numbers meant, just seeing the reactions of all the shareholders made her conclude that the numbers were, in fact, terrible.

"That's right," Peter said, gritting his teeth. "I'm the bad guy. I just needed the perfect moment to present it to the world. It's a good thing everything came together this way, or I wouldn't have been able to tell everyone all at once. Unfortunately for Sunshine, they were left in a position where they had to rely on me. That result has backfired on them, and now the company will die."

Camilla began shaking as her jaw dropped into her lap. Her back was pressed against the seat, and her breathing was heavier than ever before.

How did I not realize any of this?! she asked herself as she felt anxiety and panic rushing through every inch of her body. How could I have been so stupid?!

As if things weren't bad enough, Eddie stepped up to the mic and addressed the crowd with his own news. "Oh, and by the way... while I was in Los Angeles, I assembled a team of lawyers to make sure Sunshine Industries is guilty of all its wrongdoings. That's right, the entire company is going bankrupt, and there's nothing any of you can do to prevent it."

With an intense look in his eyes that Camilla had never seen, Eddie stared at Sunshine's lawyer before continuing his speech. "Marco, we have everything we need to win this lawsuit and destroy the company to its core, both civilly and criminally. After reviewing the info on the flash drive, all I can say is... checkmate."

Several people took off from their seats, including Sasha and Marco. Camilla, on the other hand, was too shocked to move a muscle after realizing the true character of the men she had been working with.

In that moment, for the first time in her life, Camilla realized that not everything her eyes and her heart had told her were true. There were things beyond her recognition that just didn't make sense with her principles.

She learned a valuable lesson in that moment; that there was more to life than what her heart wanted to believe. She had been with two men for a month that were both hiding something from her. And only now, while part of a greater audience, did she realize the dangers she had truly been in the entire time.

Grabbing the microphone once again, Peter looked up towards the top of the auditorium and asked, "You didn't expect me to get this far, did you?" Then, with an evil smile that sent shivers down Camilla's spine, he continued, "Some say this information... might even be worth dying for."

A sudden focus came over Peter's eyes as he noticed something happening in the audience. As he took off running, Eddie grabbed both suitcases and looked through them with panic.

After a moment of rummaging inside them, Eddie looked up at the crowd and focused in on one particular person. "Kenny, he switched out the briefcases!"

In that moment, the fear and panic amongst the crowd was too much for Camilla to withstand. Fighting her way through all the people that were running around, she gritted her teeth and declared to herself, "I need answers right now!"

As she ran towards the hallway, all the clues the two men had said over the past month started to resonate in her head.

"They think I'm the mole, since I hate the world so much."

"Sometimes you need to play the role that's necessary, not the role you want."

"Don't go into my room anymore."

"You already know that they thought Peter might be the mole, right? Well, there is a little more to the story, but for a legal reasons, I can't tell you everything."

"I'm confident in what I'm going to do."

As Camilla forced her way to the exit, she was desperate to get answers. Peter... Eddie... how could you? she asked in her mind. How could you lie to me like this?

To be continued...