Chasing Eden Ch. 10-13

Chapter 10

Three months later...

The initial trial proceedings began for the civil case against Sunshine Industries. Eddie and the team of lawyers he carefully put together were in a heated discussion with the team from Sunshine and the judge.

Although this was just the civil case, it had great implications on the company's ability to avoid bankruptcy. The results of the civil case would also open a lot of doors for the criminal case that would possibly ensue afterwards.

"And as we've expressed several times, Your Honor, we have great confidence that the information we will bring forward throughout this trial will not only reveal the misinformation that was being passed on but will prove it was done with intentions that would ultimately hurt the employees and shareholders."

Though tensions were running high, Eddie's team of lawyers maintained a confident stance that they had everything they needed to prove Sunshine guilty. Marco and his lawyers on the other hand were focused on the information Eddie was using, and whether it should be allowed in court or not.

"Your Honor... there is no way the documentation they claim they can bring forward should even be allowed in an official proceeding like this! Despite the status of the individuals who obtained it, it was still taken in an illegal manner."

"Your Honor, the two he is referring to are either deceased or in a mental institution. Malicious intent can't be proven for either of those cases. At this point, the information was recovered by FBI Agent Kenneth Parks."

"That's bullshit, Your Honor! The information was illegally obtained and they are hiding Peter in a mental health institute so we can't cross-examine him!"

"They just want to cross-examine him to make him look like an unreliable source due to his status, Your Honor," Eddie's top lawyer said with a smirk. "The further we get into this case, the more details of the criminal case will be revealed, and then you'll know why Peter couldn't be a part of this procedure."

***

Slamming his briefcase onto the floor, Marco addressed the rest of his team in their office immediately after they were dismissed. "Those dirty scumbags! I knew they were going to try to pull this shit, but seeing it is infuriating!"

"Do you even know what information they have that they keep teasing?" one of the other lawyers asked.

"I have an idea what it is, but it's best that we continue with our plan for now. We wouldn't want any more surprises popping up."

"So, what do we do?"

With a deep breath, Marco looked through his notes before answering, "We just keep searching for a way to either get the information they obtained dismissed, or we find a way to get Peter involved so we can cross-examine him."

"It's going to be difficult with him in that mental institute," another team member added. "He can't be released unless he and someone both agree they'll take custody of him. That's going to be difficult given the circumstances of this trial."

"I know it's going to be difficult," Marco said with a deep breath. "They did this on purpose... but I think there's still hope..."

***

One month earlier

Prior to the court proceedings, there was an important meeting amongst some of the Sunshine and Moonlight members who had supervisory roles. One by one, the members filtered in, heavy with anticipation.

Camilla had been personally invited by Sasha. Though she technically resigned from Sunshine and her contractual agreement with Moonlight was finished, the president found it important to have her there.

There was a frown on her face as she sat in the corner by herself, hoping to avoid any conversations. Despite all the people around, she continued to look down at the floor as she reflected on the recent events that had taken place.

Suddenly, both of the blonde's former supervisors, Miranda and Jane, noticed her sitting alone and quickly approached. "Camilla, how are you?!" they asked.

Looking up with her blue contacts, Camilla answered, "I'm fine..."

"I didn't know you were going to be here," Jane said with a pleasant smile. "I haven't seen you since... well... the Shareholders' Meeting..."

"Yeah... sorry I've been so hard to reach... I've just been going through a lot..."

"Hey, Camilla," Miranda started, placing her hand on the blonde's shoulder. "Sorry if this is insensitive, but you spent a lot of time with Peter and Eddie... Did you ever have any idea they were plotting against the company?"

Camilla shook her head before explaining, "No... I didn't talk to either of them that much... It was so hard to get anything out of either of them... especially Peter..."

Looking on with big eyes and a heavy heart, Jane asked the question that had been on her mind since the Shareholders' Meeting. "Hey, uh... when you ran off that day... what happened?"

After staring into Jane's eyes for a second, Camilla just shook her head disappointedly and answered, "Nothing happened..."

As everyone started to settle in, Sasha arrived and began addressing the group. She explained she had a lot of instructions to give with the court proceedings coming up. However, just as she was about to go into detail, the door opened, indicating someone had shown up late.

All eyes watched as the silhouette made its way through the entrance. But then as it became clear who the person was, gasps and whispers suddenly filled the room.

Shaking, Camilla stared from the back as Eddie confidently walked in front of everyone. Then as he stopped before the group, she frantically asked herself, What is he doing here?!

"Greetings everyone," the mysterious man said with a smirk Camilla had never seen from him before. "Long time no see."

With anger rushing through her veins, Sasha yelled out, "Why the fuck would you show up to this?! You're trying to sabotage our company! Get the fuck out of here!"

Eddie stood there for a moment, not even acknowledging Sasha's reaction to his arrival. But then as she continued demanding that he leave, he chuckled before deciding to address everyone.

"You know, I've always admired soldiers for being able to blindly take orders no matter how incompetent those around them are. I, on the other hand, am not capable of that. I only answer to those who are either smarter than me, or are deserving of my respect. And since Peter is no longer here... I guess I have no one to answer to in this room. "

Scanning through the angry eyes of the audience, Eddie noticed Camilla and reacted, "Oh, nevermind. Miss Camilla is here." After making his way through the crowd, he stood before her and continued, "I'll talk to you since I actually respect you."

Furrowing her eyebrows, Camilla asked, "Just what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"What am I doing here, or in general? What I'm doing here; I'm actually required to be here because I'm technically the head of the financial department for Moonlight now that Peter's gone."

As Camilla and the others looked on in confusion, Eddie laughed before further explaining, "I'm still on the payroll so I figured I'd show up and see what was going on. Yeah, that's right; a person who is actively trying to bankrupt the company is still getting paid two months after he announced his intentions.

"The ones who valued Peter and me in the financial department decided to leave after hearing about the Shareholders' Meeting. And the ones who remained obviously don't understanding how to do something as simple as taking me off the payroll. That's how incompetent these people are, Miss Camilla.

"And as for what I'm doing in general... There's so much I wish I could tell you, but I can't. Don't worry though, the trial will start soon, and eventually, everything will be revealed. Until then, let's just say... I'm doing my part."

Gritting her teeth in anger, Camilla looked into Eddie's eyes with disgust. "I don't even know who you are anymore. I can't believe you lied to me the entire time just so you could use me."

"It's funny you bring that up, Miss Camilla. The thing is... this would have actually been a lot easier if we had just come to an agreement and decided to go with a lie. But this sort of became... a game, if you will. We were all competing with each other in a little side game... That's how far ahead we were in all this. Maybe there were times we embellished things or didn't give you the whole truth, but that's only because we knew you had several others in your ear."

"So this was all just a game to you? Did I really mean nothing to you guys at all?"

"No, you were very important, actually. I wish things were different, and I could tell you what a vital role you played in all this, but I just can't do that right now."

"Vital role I played in what?" Camilla asked, looking on in frustration. "Destroying our company? How is that possibly a good thing?! Obviously you have some kind of beef with Sunshine, but that doesn't mean all the innocent bystanders deserve to be jobless!"

Looking back and forth between the group and Camilla, Eddie just shook his head before revealing how he truly felt. "Some of them will retain their jobs when another company buys out Sunshine. However, most of them don't deserve the jobs they have right now, and some of them even belong in jail."

Clutching her fists, Camilla shot back, "And what gives you the right to say something like that?! Just because we aren't up to the standard of you and Peter, you think our livelihoods deserve to be in jeopardy?"

"Let's just put it this way," Eddie started with a confident smile. "There was something very dangerous going on. Some people noticed it and tried to do something about it. Others noticed it and allowed it to happen. And then there were those who weren't smart enough to realize anything was going on at all. Guess which group Peter and I belong to, and guess which group they belong to."

"Why don't you just come out and say it?!"

"Quite frankly, if you haven't figured it out by now, you don't deserve to know. But just watch what happens in the trial. Sunshine will try to say things are looking good, and everyone will believe it because they are sheep... Everyone except you, Miss Camilla.

As Eddie started walking away, leaving everyone in silence, Camilla ran in front of him and cut him off. "Where exactly is Peter?! I'm not done with him either!"

"Peter? Oh, he is in a mental institution right now."

"A mental institution?!"

"Did you not notice how much he was suffering?" he asked, looking at the blonde as if he were disappointed in her. "We all knew he would break, eventually. Anyone who suffered what he has would. But he did his part and got us here. Now, I'm doing my part."

Before Eddie left, he made one final comment that only added to Camilla's confusion. Looking around at the group one last time, he smirked before pointing out, "I see Hawthorne and Jack were too chicken-shit to show up. Go figure." He then closed the door, leaving the group silent for several minutes, wondering what the hell had just happened.

***

When the short meeting ended, Sasha asked Camilla to follow her into her office. Now alone, the former Sunshine worker and the Moonlight President were sitting across from each other.

Handing over a folder, Sasha took a deep breath before explaining, "I know this might be a bad time, but with everything going on, I figured I might as well do this now. We've decided to offer you the Area Director position you applied for last month."

Camilla's big blue eyes lit up as she opened the folder and looked at her official offer letter. "Wait... Really?"

"Yeah, we were a bit surprised you put in for that position, considering you've never been a branch director. However, the more we thought about it, the more it made sense to have you in a position like that where you can cover multiple projects at a time."

Scanning through the page quickly, Camilla could feel her heart racing. After years of being rejected for branch director jobs, she couldn't wrap her head around being the head for an entire area.

"Do you need some time to think about this? It's obviously going to be a drastic change in responsibility and in money for you."

"Yeah, let me think about it for a little," Camilla responded as she fixed her eyes on the last paragraph of the offer. This position is contingent on the company avoiding bankruptcy. This offer may transition into a lower position if the company no longer has the proceeds to provide compensation for it.

"That's totally understandable. But let me make myself clear, we really want you for this position."

With a deep breath, Camilla looked up and nodded her head. "I understand... And thank you so much... It's a very generous offer... with everything going on right now..."

"Don't worry, Camilla. We don't associate you with those two fools trying to bankrupt our company. In our eyes, you were the only one actually doing work out there. You were the one saving our company."

"Thank you, Sasha," Camilla responded, placing her hand over her heart. "I really did my best."

"It must have been difficult with you having to deal with Peter so much. He probably came off completely crazy to someone with your judge of character, huh?"

"Uhh... I don't know if I'd call him crazy... I'm shocked at how this has turned out, of course. But at the time, I figured his instability was connected to Irene."

"Irene in accounting?" Sasha asked, almost exactly the way she did the first time Camilla brought that name up months ago. Then, as a light bulb went off in her head, she started to chuckle as she corrected herself, "Oh that Irene... Irene the criminal."

Furrowing her eyebrows in confusion, Camilla took a second before asking, "Wait, what did you say?"

"Oh, it's nothing," the Moonlight president replied, waving it off like it was no big deal. "Irene Parks just wasn't a cup of tea herself, either."

"I guess that makes sense... but do you mind me asking another question? Eddie mentioned Hawthorne and someone named Jack not being here. Who is Jack?"

"Oh, Jack is our CFO. He's actually the one you'll be reporting to if you accept the job."

Hmm... I've rarely heard Peter and Eddie even mention the CFO before, Camilla thought to herself and she looked down at the offer again. I would have thought Peter would mention this Jack guy a few times since he used to be the head of Sunshine's financial department...

"Is everything okay, Camilla?"

Snapping herself out of her deep train of thought, she replied, "Yeah... I just have a lot on my mind... I think I need to go home and lie down for a bit..."

***

When Camilla got back to her apartment, she immediately tossed her jacket to the side before climbing onto her bed. Letting out a deep sigh while staring at the ceiling, she groaned, "This really sucks..."

The blonde was emotionally drained, and wanted nothing more than to take a nap. It had been weeks since she was able to get a good night's sleep. However, just like any other time she tried to get some rest, her mind was too worked up to let her.

Why would they offer me that position now...? And why was there a contingency on the contract offer? What were they trying to cover?

Sitting back up, Camilla grabbed the folder with the official offer inside it. As she looked at it again, she reread the contingency at the end multiple times, wondering what was in store for her.

I've been confused for a long time now, ever since I met those two. But now... it feels like I'm more useless than ever.

After changing into more comfortable clothes, Camilla took a seat at her desk and opened her laptop. I need to know more. I can't rest unless I know more. And I definitely won't be able to help anyone if I feel this useless.

The tired woman spent the rest of that night typing on her keyboard, looking through directories and articles, and making phone calls, hoping to find any answers she could. However, the more she searched, the more questions she realized she had.

Why the hell wouldn't Peter and Eddie bring Jack up even once during our trip? And Eddie said they were all playing a game... How many of them were in this? He wouldn't have phrased it like that if it were just him and Peter...

Speaking of Eddie, was that even him I was talking to? He seemed like a completely different person... It reminded me of the last time I saw Peter...

I knew something was off as soon as I saw him that day... I could see it in his eyes when I talked to him in the hallway... I'll never forget what I saw...

Camilla closed your eyes and rested her head on the desk as her mind went back to that day.

That day, after Peter took off, Camilla rushed into the hallway, hoping to intercept him. She had no idea what she was going to say to him, but she felt a need to see him after his big revelation.

Running through the halls, not even knowing where she was going, Camilla suddenly decided to stop at a certain spot. Luckily for her, a few seconds later, Peter came rushing down that very same hall before coming to a stop right in front of her.

"What are you doing here?!" he asked, showing an intensity in his eyes the blonde head yet to see out of him.

"Peter, I don't understand!" Camilla responded, shaking as she looked into his unfamiliar eyes.

"What's there to understand? You heard me down there. I'm the mole. I'm the bad guy. Now get out of my way."

"No, Peter!" she screamed, jumping in front of him once again. "Why did you hide this from me?! Didn't our friendship mean anything to you?!"

"Get this through your head right now, Miss Camila," the raging man said as he stepped past the teary-eyed woman. "You and I were never friends! Now get out of this building because things are about to get ugly."

"Ugly?!" Camilla reacted as she watched Peter run away. She took a step forward, hoping to catch him, but several others ran into the hallway, evacuating everyone from the building.

As she was being pulled away, with tears going down her cheeks, she suddenly heard a loud scream down the hallway. Although she had never heard Peter scream before, she knew it was his voice, and she knew something had happened.

Camilla reached her hand out one last time, wishing she could have helped Peter in that moment. She didn't know whether it was her still showing care for the man she thought she knew, or if it was her reaching for a memory. Either way, she was physically escorted out of the building.

Away from the supposed danger, Camilla just stood there, staring at the building with tears welled up in her eyes. She was frantically shaking from the sound of that scream ringing through her head, over and over. All she could do was stand there and watch helplessly.

Eventually... several months later... Camilla would find herself standing in front of a different building. With that scream of anguish still replaying in her mind, and several questions still in her heart, she stood in front of the mental institution holding Peter. Still fighting back tears, the blonde woman took a deep breath before taking her first step towards the building.

"I'm here, Peter... and I'm prepared this time."

To be continued...

***

Chapter 11

The night before the group returned from Los Angeles, Peter spoke on the phone with Sasha.

"Are you sure everything is looking good, Peter? With the Shareholders' Meeting coming up, we need to make sure we have a strong presentation."

"Yes, Miss Sasha. I have everything I need."

"Okay, Peter. Just let me know if anything comes up."

"I will. Bye."

"Okay, we'll talk later."

As Peter hit the End Call button and dropped the phone from his left hand, he looked over to his right hand, which was pointing a gun straight to his head. He was in his room, lying on his back, and his shirt was off, exposing several cuts all over his body, both old and fresh.