Chapter 32
I'm disoriented as I come to, the left side of my head is throbbing in pain. It takes me a couple of seconds to focus on where I am and also realize my body is immobile. I look down to see my duck-taped hands, feet, and torso with the tape wrapped around a pillar behind me; it's wound so tightly I'm surprised I haven't lost circulation yet as I wiggle my fingers. I've also been stripped of my jacket and bulletproof vest leaving me in only my long-sleeved shirt. I'm also obviously missing my gun but I thankfully still have my pocket knife in my bra.
My eyes look around my surroundings to see crates around me, seems like I'm in another warehouse and most probably this isn't the most recent one we know of. I'm broken out of my thoughts when I hear footsteps approaching me and I'm not surprised as a figure stops a couple of feet away from me and crouches down to my level where I'm on the floor.
"So you're really going to do this?" I ask as I glare at the person in front of me, someone I thought I could trust.
"I can't have you running around and ruining things for me, I haven't gotten caught these past years and you need to disappear," they reply coldly. "I have to make sure to clean things up nicely, the other one messed up earlier by letting you go." The fact I got caught is such a rookie move that I want to continuously hit my head against a wall. I wish I could go back to hours ago or else I wouldn't be in this mess, especially without backup.
《 Flashback, hours earlier
"So you were right, he did end up asking for a deal if he cooperates with us," Jason says as soon as I enter his office.
"Oliver you mean? I knew he would, besides we both know that he wasn't the one that planned all of this," I reply as I close the door behind me. Not even a week has passed before he cracked, most likely he's regretting ever going along with this. It's too late to have regrets after everything has happened. "Since he's talking now I can assume you want me to go get started with the next phase."
"I want you to go down and hear what he has to say, I'm sure you have an idea of what he'll probably tell you," he says to me and I nod my head.
"Who am I going down with?" I ask him as I walk back to the door.
"Jax will be joining you, the warrant to search Oliver's house came through so I just sent out Nash and Felix along with three other officers to go through his home," he answers just as my phone buzzes in my pocket. I take it out reading the message from Nash saying the exact same thing Jason just told me. "As for our other warrant, that's also been put through and I'll be leading another team to that location."
"I'll get going then, I'll be waiting for their update on what they find," I tell him as I pocket back my phone before walking out of his office. I walk downstairs to our interrogation rooms and find Jax with a folder in hand talking on the phone already waiting outside for me.
"I have to go now, love you too, I'll talk to you later," I hear him say catching the tail bit of his conversation and from the sound of it, I know it's Charlotte.
"Ready to get to work?" I ask him as I approach the door.
"Let's get this over with," he replies as I open it and walk inside.
"Well Mr. Ashford it seems you're ready to make a deal," I say aloud as I take a seat across from Oliver and his lawyer.
"Mr. Ashford will cooperate only if life in prison is taken off of the table and a maximum of five years will be served," the lawyer tells the two of us but Jax and I glance at one another already knowing that that isn't going to happen. Jax opens the folder he was carrying earlier and starts reading it to the two of them.
"The lawyer wasn't able to make it here today because an emergency came up but she did fax us her notes. The only deal she is going to negotiate is fifteen to twenty years and nothing less than that. It's up to the two of you to decide if he should take it," Jax says before placing it back down. I was wondering where the prosecuting lawyer was but it seems she has everything planned out even to the point in case she might not be able to make it. Oliver and his lawyer lean in towards one another, whispering to each other as we watch them.
"He's going to take the deal, his lawyer knows that if this goes to trial whether it's just the judge or with a trial with a jury, nobody will be sympathetic to him," I say quietly to Jax as Oliver looks at us with a grim expression.
"I'll take the deal but only if parole is on the table," he says as Jax pulls out another sheet.
"Parole can be offered after serving two-thirds of your sentence," Jax tells him while he looks confused at the wording.
"Basically you'll only be eligible for parole after twelve years, of course that comes down to good behaviour and if the judge feels it's okay for you to have parole," I explain as his face sours when I say that.
"Fine, I'll accept those conditions," Oliver says begrudgingly.
"That's a wise decision and now that we have that out of the way make sure to give us in detail everything you know," I tell him as I sit straighter, hands folded together to show I mean business.
"It all started when Georgia said that she wants to retire soon but she felt like she hadn't made any big accomplishments in her career," Oliver starts explaining. "Before she leaves forensics officially she wanted to do something so great that she would end up being awarded or getting some monetary gain. She reached out to me one day saying that she had an idea on how to get what she wanted."
"Making that drug right?" I ask concluding what he's going to say.
"We put a plan together that I would make the drug and later when she was asked to investigate it, she would pretend to be the one to see what chemicals would be in it," he continues and I'm holding back my anger of punching this piece of shit in the face. Because of their selfishness, people got sick and some died from this. Their greed affected so many people.
"You must have calculated that there would be deaths because of this," I ask bluntly and he sighs as he nods his head.
"We did, it was a calculated risk but one we decided to take. I got one of our plants to produce the tablets, gave them a fake story that a new drug was going for clinical trial and there were no questions asked. After they were produced we put them into two warehouses, the ones you raided earlier and another that has our larger quantity," he tells us and as soon as he says that Jax is handing him a piece of paper and a pen.
"Write that down for us," he instructs Oliver. He picks up the pen and he quickly notes down the main warehouse address before passing it to Jax.
"Alright, continue," he tells Oliver as he glances at the paper before sliding it over to me. I look at the address and recognize the street already having a vague idea where they left everything.
"And distributing those tablets? You got Lucas doing that for you?" I say as I connect everything that's been happening for the last couple of weeks.
"Georgia said that she found someone to take care of that and that someone else also caught on to what we were doing and wanted to join in," he tells us.
"Who are you talking about?" Jax questions but Oliver shrugs his shoulders in response.
"Mr. Ashford doesn't know who joined in this situation with Georgia because she simply refused to tell him," the lawyer speaks up. Well of course he wouldn't know, after all, in my opinion he was just a doormat for her. There's no way she would tell him, especially considering who in particular that person is.
"What happened after the drugs were put out to the public?" I ask him.
"She called me and told me an investigation started into looking at what the drug does and that she's working on finding out what exactly was in those tablets," he says, his fingers quoting the word work. "She's been buying her time in putting everything together when all along she's had this information ready but it wouldn't make sense if she all of a sudden gave a report on her findings just hours after the investigation was opened. Two days from now she was supposed to present her findings to your boss and then she was thinking that she would now be hailed as a hero or some shit like that. But it doesn't matter now," he concludes.
"What do you mean it doesn't matter now?" I ask in confusion.
"Well now you know she was a part of this so whatever fantasies she was having isn't going to happen now. And besides, she told me she erased everything from her computer," he says in a scornful tone. "You won't be able to find anything on her."
"Well you were the idiot that decided to help her. You should have used common sense that this was a dangerous idea and the minute she brought this up you should have walked away from it," Jax tells him as Oliver drops his head into his hands.
"You don't have to worry Oliver, Georgia will be getting her day in court as well. She might think everything was erased from her computer but there's always a way to track back information," I tell him as I push back from my seat to stand. "Take him back to his cell Jax."
"Wait, I'll officially get the deal since I cooperated right?" Oliver asks and my hand stops just above the door knob. I turn around and smile at him but my face is full of contempt, I don't miss how he flinches from my expression.
"Since you cooperated we will hold up our side of the deal but Mr. Ashford make sure to remember that you will be sitting in a jail cell for the next fifteen to twenty years thinking about the lives you ruined because of your selfishness of not being able to do the right thing, I don't know how you'll be able to live with that," I say to him before turning to open the door and walk out of the interrogation room.
"You and Jax are finished?" I hear a voice ask from behind me.
"Yeah we just finished, Jax is just taking him back to his cell," I answer as Jason falls in step with me. "I wanted to punch him in the face."
"Thankfully you didn't because I wouldn't want to put you in jail with him and I know if Nash found out he'd probably do something stupid so he could be with you," he says as we enter his office.
"Nash wouldn't do something stupid, he's always level-headed," I answer with a laugh but Jason just gives me a look of disbelief.
"You've just never seen him drunk before," is all he says and my eyebrows raise in curiosity but he shakes his head. "I'm not saying anything and I know that if you ask him he won't say anything either so don't bother."
"Fine but anyways, he took the deal and gave us a rundown of why they did it," I tell him and I pass him the paper Oliver gave us earlier. "Get us a warrant for this place, it's their main warehouse."
"I'll get that done right now, you go take a break for a bit. Nash and Felix should be back soon," he tells me and I shake my head.
"I have something to take care of first," I tell him as I pull out my phone. "I forgot I had something to tell Camryn and since I'll be busy later best do it now."
"Alright but Natalia," he says and I stop walking to look at him. "Don't do anything stupid."
"Who do you take me for Chief, as if I would do anything to cause you trouble," I tell him before turning to walk out. I take my phone out of my pocket as I go to my desk to grab my jacket and dial Camryn.
"Girl, aren't you supposed to be working?" she asks when she picks up.
Of course I'm working, I'm just taking a small break," I reply as I put on my jacket.
"Okay, what do you need?" she asks me as I walk towards the entrance and out of the precinct towards my car.
"Can you take Jade for the afternoon? Nash and I are going to be a bit busy later," I ask her as I unlock my car and get inside. "I'm waiting for a warrant to come through and I'll probably be sent out to deal with it," I say lying straight through my teeth. Yes I'm going to wait for the warrant but before that I have some business to take care of. Knowing everything that's happening I know that there is a one-hundred percent chance Georgia is planning to leave her job and before she does I'll be there to make sure that doesn't happen. I know Jason will be getting an arrest warrant ready and it would be such a pain in the ass if we had to go and search through the city for her and I'd rather not do that.
"Yeah I don't mind, I'll send you my address when you or Nash is coming to pick her up," she tells me as I start my car and drive out of the lot.
"Thank you, you're the best. I'll talk to you later," I tell her before hanging up the phone. I drive as fast as I can to the forensics building and as soon as I'm parked I start going through everything I need before going inside. I reach behind my seat for my bulletproof vest and when I have that on I double-check to see if my gun is loaded as I hook it to my holster already having my pocket knife on me.
"I don't think anything is going to happen but better safe than sorry," I murmur to myself as I get out of my car. I walk into the building nodding my head at security as I pass by, it seems there's a new face today. I walk through the building to Georgia's office but as soon as I reach it the first thing I notice on the door is her name missing. I open her office and see cabinets are open and empty with not a single piece of paper inside. Immediately I rush to the next door knocking on it rapidly until someone opens it.
"Can I help you?" a man asks me.
"I need to know where Georgia is?" I ask in a firm voice showing I don't want any bullshit.
"She said she wouldn't be in the office today, is she in trouble?" he asks me in confusion.
"No, I just needed to speak with her about something, thanks," I tell him before pivoting on my foot and taking out my phone to dial Jason. He doesn't pick up so I decided to leave him a voice message instead as I start to leave the building passing by the security guard from before. "Jason we have a problem, Georgia isn't at her office. We need-" Before I can continue the message a voice startles me and what I hear next sends chills down my body.
"Have a good day Ms. Natalia Sanchez." The moment I turn around I'm hit across the temple with such force I drop my phone and stumble to the ground. This man shouldn't know who I am as he approaches me. "It's lights out for you," he says as he hits me in the head again and before I fall unconscious I already know that I'm being dragged into shit once again.
End of flashback 》
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A/N I haven't updated this story since July of last year and I'm shocked. I know I did go on a hiatus for a bit when it came to this story but I honestly thought my last update was in October. On top of all that I ended up forgetting what's happened in the story so far so it was a bit of a refresher for me. Anyways I'm officially back and I'll be blunt, as you can tell the story is going to be ending soon. And I had to leave the story with a cliffhanger because as you all know I love drama. Look forward to the upcoming chapters and be sure to leave your thoughts of the chapter in the comments!!
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