Her Con Artist

CHAP-18

It was weekend so we woke up late, after Eric took a shower and changed into fresh clothes. We took a quick stop at my apartment for me to get changed. After all the hassle, we reached the apartment where everybody waited for us.

"Come have breakfast, if you hadn't." Owen said, taking a sip from his coffee.

"I am hungry." I announced as I walked inside the kitchen and took a seat beside Keith.

Keith was kind enough to pass the plate and food towards me. Thanking him, I dug into my food. While I chewed my food, I looked at them to see what got them all gathered around Russell.

Eric had passed them the file which contained Talons picture and some stuff related to him.

"He was Leon's Assistant Director for about 12 years." Owen read out loud with a stun look.

"We got the right man." Russell said, flipping the page to read the next page.

"Tell me about his personal stuff if it is mentioned there." I said, in between eating.

Russell nodded his head, flipping a few pages he stopped at a page. While the rest their seats and had their attention to him.

"He only has a son, who does a job in a small organization." Russell said, with a frown on his face.

"How come Talon had a high rank and his only son has least rank?" Ella pointed it out, looking at us with confusion etched on her face.

"Yes that's weird. As a father he would want his son to be at a good post even if it means to pull some strings. As an assistant director it's not difficult to do so." Eric said, pointing at the picture of Talon.

We all nodded our heads in sync agreeing to his statement. Suddenly my phone started ringing, excusing myself I picked up the phone after wiping my hands with napkin. It was Uncle Edgar.

"Hello Uncle."

"Hello dear. You told me you have over six people doing this work right?" He asked,

I frowned and involuntarily looked back at them.

"Yes Uncle. There are about six of them. Why are you asking?" I was curious to know.

"I have gathered quite a few people who are the victims. I don't have much time, so I want you guys to handle this. All you have to do is gather information from them and take them into your trust. Make sure they trust you and what ever they tell you is true. Not fabricated out of anger or hate. Is that okay with you all?" He asked,

It's not a big deal and it could help look deeper into the matter as we were the ones who were dealing with the main stuff here.

"Uncle I will have to discuss with them and then will you okay?"

"Sure. Take care dear."

Hanging up, I approached them while biting my lips thinking.

"Guys." I called them out to grab their attention.

Only Eric, Owen and Lexi looked at me while the others ignored my call. I narrowed my eyes and walked towards them. Owen and Eric moved aside they knew what was coming. As I came to Russell's side, I slightly pinched his shoulder making him yelp in pain and then looked at Keith and Ella. They quickly nodded their heads at me indicating I had their attention. Smirking, I took a seat beside Russell who was glaring at me.

"Edgar called me right now. He needs our help." I stopped to judge their expression. They all seemed interested to know what the matter was.

"He has gathered few people who are the victims of Leon's doing also. He needs us to gather information from them and gain their trust. Is it okay with you guys or not? I haven't given him an answer, I told him I will discuss discuss you guys first. " I said, intertwining my fingers on the table on front of me.

They all looked at each other in question.

"It would help us see the things at detail. As we are dealing with this stuff long before Edgar." Owen said, putting one of his hand inside the Jean's pocket.

"I agree." Lexi voicing her thoughts to us. I nodded my head at her response and looked at others. Eric nodded his head at Lexi words.

"It's fine with me." Russell said, shrugging

"Same." Keith and Ella said,

"Okay let me inform Uncle about this." I said, dialing his number.

"Hello."

"Hey Uncle. Yes we will do it." I said, making eye contact with Ella, who smiled reassuringly.

"That's great. Where should I send them?" He asked, making me realise we didn't talk about that.

"Uncle wait a second." I said and covered the phone with my other hand and looked up to find them looking at me with confusion.

"He is asking at what place he should send them to?" I asked, making eye contact with Eric's blue eyes.

He looked at Russell and then back at the apartment.

"I think this place will be fine and safe from them as it's out of the business area." Eric said, pointing it out. To which everybody agreed to it.

"Uncle I am sending an address, it's an apartment a bit out of city. It's a mutual place for our meeting." I said,

"Okay good. They will come in the evening. Be careful okay." He said, softly.

I smiled at his fatherly talk and the cut the call.

"I will send him the address." Eric said as I made eye contact with me, understanding what I was about to say. Nodding my head, I went back to my seat to drink my coffee.

Hours passed in a blur as we were making plan on how to bring Leon's wrong doings to the media. We decided to take a break and eat our food. We were just laying down in the launch, when the door bell rung.

"I got it." Keith said, standing up from the carpeted floor and walked towards the door.

"Oh come in." We heard Keith say loudly and a few foot steps coking our way. As a reflex we all straightened our selves and looked at each other with the same thought.

It must be them. The people Uncle send.

"Please come in. You can take a seat here. Yes yes." Ella and Lexi stood up to greet the people as I, Eric and Owen quickly picked up our laptops and papers.

We put the stuff on the table and greeted them too.

"Edgar send us here to meet you all." A 50 year old women informed us.

"Yes he told us about you all. I hope it find the place easily." Owen said, to which they all nodded their heads.

They were about five of them. Three men and two women. We all made them comfortable and started the work. Only I was free there, while all other were busy interrogating the people.

"Guys come here. I found something!" Keith yelled at us from across the room. We all including the guest approached him.

He was sitting on the dining table with a middle aged man. Keith rotated his laptop towards us and played the video. In the video we all could see Talon ordering a man beside him to transfer the money they got from the deal to his personal account and then later to remove the record. Talon in the end threatened him if he tells this to anyone he would kill him.

We all looked at each other with excitement. We got our hands on a tape. Talon can't deny anything if he tries too.

"You can see he is doing embezzlement. It's a crime. He can be easily charged for this." Owen said, as a matter-of-fact.

We all nodded our head in agreement.

"How did you get this." I asked the man,

"The young man you see in the video is my brother. He was killed in a car accident and the killer was never found. My brother showed me this tape when he was kicked out of the company for false chargers of embezzlement. I kept it safe with me after he died. I even showed this to the police but they turned blind eye to this." He said, anger and frustration evident in his eyes.

""Don't worry. They won't walk freely on the streets now." Lexi said,

I heard my phone ringing, excusing myself I left to talk in private. The caller was Uncle.

"Hello?" I said, leaning my back against the room wall.

"Monica. We found the address of Talon. Eric and you must go to him right away, I am sending the address to you. Okay." He said, voice filled with excitement.

"Oh my. Okay okay Uncle." I cut the call and looked down at my phone bin surprise. My whole body was humming with adrenaline rush. Not wasting time, I rush to the launch and called Eric over.

"Eric. Please come here for a second."

I walked into the kitchen to talk in private with him. Eric had a frown on his face as he came inside the kitchen.

"What happened? Is everything okay?" He asked, coming towards me with a confused expression.

"Uncle has send me Talons address. We need to move before anything happens. " I said, grabbing his hand I mine in anxiousness.

His blue eyes widen in surprise and I see victory shining in his eyes.

"Let me inform Russell. You go grab stuff that we might need." He said, leaning forward and pecked me on the lips.

Nodding my head, I walked towards the fridge and grabbed water bottle and then a tape recorder, knife just in case if things get out of hands we could protect our selves. I walked towards the room where the important papers were put in place. Putting my hair into a ponytail so that they won't disturb me, I searched for the file I needed. Putting the file and other stuff into a bag and walked out of the room towards where Eric and Russell were standing near the main door.

"Be careful. Call us if anything happens." Russell said, with a stern expression.

Nodding our heads we stepped out of the house and into the elevator. We both were both tensed and could only think of one thing.

We need Talon to be on our side.

I put the address on the GPS and Eric started driving the car. In an hour we reached the place and we decided to stop the car a bit far away from his house. Worst case scenario there might be someone else looking for him and it would be bad if we run into them. Grabbing the bag, we looked around the street, after finding everything clear. We approached his house, Eric walk forward to ring the bell while I looked behind me to see if everything was clear. The door was opened by a woken who was in her late 40s. She frowned as she looked at us, unable to recognize us.

"How may I help you?" She asked Eric, her eyes slightly narrowed.

"Hello Ma'am. I am here to see Mr. Talon Hudson. He called me over for some-"

"Yes yes. Come in." She said, with an irritated sigh and opened the door wide for us.

Eric looked back at me with a raised eye brow and shrugged. As I passed the woman I gave her a kind smile to which she returned with her soft smile.

"He is in the study. Follow these stairs and then turn left, you will find the door." She said, pointing to the staircase to her right.

Thanking her, we followed the stairs and turned left as the woman said and found a door. I brought up my hand and knocked on the door waited for his call. I looked back at Eric to find him looking around the upper part of house.

"Hey! Focus." I whispered, grabbing his shirt to have his attention.

He nodded his head and narrowed his eyes at me to indicate he is focusing. Giving him a blank expression I walked inside the room as we heard him call us inside.

We walked in and found him siting on the couch in the corner of the room, reading a newspaper. I grabbed Eric's shirt from behind as we walked froward, I was a bit nervous and having him close to me gave me a sense of calmness.

"Hello Sir." He also out to which Talon lowered the newspaper down to look up at us but blinked back in surprise.

"Who are you?" He asked, putting the paper down and standing up from the couch.

"Stay seated Sir. We are here to safe you from some dangerous stuff. Monica lock the door." Eric commanded as he walked forward towards Talon.

I quickly rushed back towards the door and looked it. Then I looked around the room to find cameras or anything but found none.

It's clear." I said, taking a seat beside Talon.

He gave me a stern look and looked back at Eric.

"Who do you think you are? Ordering me around in my own home?" Talon said, seething with anger.

"I am the son of Norman Lewis. Who was killed by you and Leon."

"You know him?" Surprised I ask Eric.

"Yes I remembered as soon as I saw his face now. While Leon was killing my father, he was waiting outside our house in the car for him." He said with a disgusted look.

While Talon looked like all blood has drained from his face. His eyes widen in shock as he took in Eric but he quickly composed himself.

"Who said I killed him? I don't know anything about this. I was only waiting for my boss that's all." He said, denying the fact with in a second.

"Deny all you want. We have proof of you doing dirty work for which you could easily go to jail if we submit this to the police." I said, sternly.

Talon narrowed his eyes at me and then gave out a humours laugh.

"No one can bring Leon down. He could easily destroy you all." He spat out.

I looked at Eric and gave him a I got this look. I stood up and looked back at Talon with a smirk.

"Oh I pity you. Who is talking about Leon right now? It's about you. You worked for him for how long? 10 years?" I said, with a frown on my face..

It was all an act for him to fall into our trap.

"12" as expected Talon corrected me. I started pacing back and forth in the room.

"Oh yes. 12. You devoted your time to him, sell your dignity for him. You stoop so low just for him and what did he gave you in return?" I asked, stopping for a second to make eye contact with Talon. I had caught his attention by now. Not giving him time to answer, I continued.

"Nothing. He used you like a fool. And you were just his puppet. It's a blessing he has left you alive now after all the dirty work you have done." I said as a matter of fact.

Talon clenched his jaws as the anger in his eyes were like flames.

"You think you were his assistant for a long time and did all the stuff for him so Leon will spare you. He won't. He kicked you out, then he will torture or worse kill your only son then make you suffer alone." I said, throwing out my last blow to him.

Talon stood up and yelled.

"Shut up! Leon won't do that." Talon said,

"You know the answer better than us. He is a heartless bastard who isn't afraid to kill his close friend just for money. So who are you in front of him?." Eric took the bait and pulled Talon under our control.

Talon casted his eyes down in anger and frustration.

"There's one thing that's bothering me. Talon how come your son is at such a low rank?" I asked,

"Stay out of my son's live!" He spoke, giving me a furious look. He had his hands closed into a fit.

"Oh chill old man. We are here to safe you and your son if only you help us bring Leon down." I said, walking towards him.

"Who are you?" He asked me.

"I am Leon's first daughter. Monica." I told him with a nonchalant look.

He was surprised again and looked at me closely.

"Leon is a sick person who needs to be put in place. Think of your son. If he comes to know that his father kills other people just for the sake of money. How will he react?" I said, with a shrug of my shoulder.

"Don't you dare!" He said, glaring down at me.

"I will. If you don't help us." I said sternly. I walked forward towards him until we were chest to chest.

I glared into his eyes.

"I will make you and your son suffer. Just because of money, you destroyed tons of lives." I spoke in low stern voice

"I did it only so that my family could live peacefully and luxuriously!" He spat with anger.

"And did you get what Leon promised you? I bet not." I said with a smirk, adding salt to his wound.

Eric only watched us and nodded at me to go on.

"You fool. He only lured you and made you his puppet. And look where are you standing now." I said with a chuckle.

Talon only looked away, he looked defeated.

"Be a man. Instead of rotting here, you should take revenge against him. After all you were the closest person to him, who knew everything about him." Eric said, giving him a suggestive look.

"How do I trust you?" Talon asked him.

"Our motives are same that's how you could trust me. And I can assure your son's safety." Eric said, rolling a pen in his hand that he picked up from the table.

"I don't trust you." That's all he said and stood up to unlock door.

I looked back at Eric in question to which he shook his head. Gesturing towards the door, I walked behind him towards where Talon stood at the foot of opened door.

"I am sure you are a smart person and will give this a thought. This is my number. I will wait for your answer." Eric said, handing him a small chit on which his number was written.

Talon looked down at the chit and nodded at us with a blank expression. Pursing my lips, I walked down the stairs and out of the house.

"Is he stupid or what?" I commented as soon as we were seated in the car.

"He must be having trouble trusting people after what Leon did to him." Eric said, starting the car.

Sighing I laid my head against the head rest and closed my eyes in tiredness.

"You did great there." He said, making me look at him to find him smiling in proudness.

I chuckled and covered my mouth as a yawn hit me. My eyes were heavy with sleep and as soon as I closed them, I was in another world.

"Monica. Wake up."

I blinked trying to adjust to bright light and turned my head towards my right to find Eric looking at me.

"You must be tired." He said softly, brought his hand up into my hair and caressed my scalp.

"I am fine. Took my dose of sleep." I said with a small smile.

"Let's go. They must be waiting anxiously for us." Eric said, caressing my cheek.

Nodding my head, I ran my hand into my hair to make them look presentable.

"I hope we find something useful from the people up there." I said with a sigh as we stood in the elevator.

"We will." Eric said with confidence.

Pursing my lips, only hoping that our plan goes the right path as we have planned it to go.

The people had left when we came and the rest of them were resting. Eric and I decided to wake them up for the lunch and the news we brought.

After eating and having ourselves refreshed. We gathered again in the launch, Eric informed them about our encounter with Talon.

"If he really is a smart person then he will surely come around." Russell commented.

I nodded my head along with others.

Russell and Lexi informed us about all the evidences that they had collected. The video tapes, voice records, bank statements which clearly shows their fraudness. Edgar also send us the evidences he collected from some employes from within TSB construction. We were shook on how did he even got that to which he told us. Dalton caught a few employees hating on Leon and Talon in a cafe where he was having a meeting, so he approached them and gathered information. So now we have some people from within the company with us which will greatly help us.

"Okay so. Let's finalize our plan to invade the company." Ella said, standing up with excitement.

Eric as usual distributed the roles. Ella and Owen will go as interviewers. Lexi will create a scene, then few employees that are on our side will help Russell and Eric to sneak into the company. Then later I along with Edgar will come with police for arrest.

We just need Talon on our side and the evidence for Norman's murder.

After five days, we were all ready to achieve the goal that they have been thinking of for years now. I only joined recently so I wasn't able to reciprocate their feelings at the moment. Uncle Edgar was also here with us, just in case we need him at the moment he would be there. I got in the car with Uncle, while rest of them in their usual van.

"Are you nervous?" Uncle asked as we followed the van.

"Slightly." I said, with a sigh.

While they all will go the company side Uncle and I will go to the police where our people are present. All the evidences had been submitted to the police and having Edgar on our side just skyrocketed our chances of winning. Edgar had some close friends within the high rank police officers and they assured they will arrest Leon today. And you ask why we all were going through chaos to arrest him when we can only arrest him simply. The thing is they want to confront him and make himself come as his ture selves in front of them before the police comes. And he might run away if police comes for him so that's why there's all the hassle for that.

I was nervously biting my lips as I looked at the clock on my phone. I was in the car having a conversation with Keith who was informing me about their status while Edgar was finalising some stuff at the police before we are ready to go.

"They have gone in the building. You must reach here in fifteen minutes. Okay?" Keith said,

"Okay. I will inform Uncle." Cutting the call, as I was about to open the door, Eric's phone rung, an unknown caller Id was shown on the screen.

Eric left him phone with me just in case Talon decides to help us.

"Hello?" I asked as I attended the call.

"Is this Eric?"

"I am Monica. Are you Talon?" I asked, my back straightened with anticipation.

"Yes. It's me."

And it felt like I had won against all the odds.

"I would like to help you. He has done wrong to my son I can't slide that aside." He elaborated.

"Talon do you have any evidence regarding Norman's murder?" I asked, having no time to waste.

"Yes. Norman had a cctv in his study room where he was killed. Later Leon told me to get that tape to him. He has it with him in his house, in his study to be precise." He said,

"Talon. We have put our plan into action. If we grab that tape, it will be stronger our case and we will surely win."

"What do you want me to do?" Now he was talking what I liked to hear.

"I need to you to take me into his house." I said, exiting the car.

"I am sending an address. Meet me there as soon as possible." Talon said,

Cutting the call, I rushed inside the building to inform Uncle about this.

"Uncle!" Grabbing his arm, I almost dragged him to the side for privacy.

"Talon called, he is agreeing to help me." I said, Uncle frowned.

"Without any deal?" He asked, uncertain

"He said Leon had done wrong to his son and he can't let that slide." I told him.

"It's not promising."

"Uncle he told me that Leon has the evidence of Norman murder. He himself gave the tape to Leon and he has kept it in his study. I have asked him to help me get into the house to steal that." I told him.

Uncle nodded his head slowly while thinking of the situation.

"I can't trust that man. Take one of the police officer with you." He said, putting a hand on my shoulder leaving no room for argument.

Nodding my head, I head out with a young police officer with me. Uncle gave me his car to take so that we can reach their on time.

Talon was there as I reached the place where he had told me to. His eyes narrowed as he found police officer with me.

"It's for safety." I said to him.

Talon didn't comment and pointed at a large bungalow a few steps away from us.

"You are my assistant and we are here to collect some files that Leon had asked us too bring the office." Talon said, putting the plan in front of me.

"He can't follow us inside." Talon said, nodding to the police officer.

I nodded my head and asked him to stay outside and come inside when I call him.

I covered my face with a mask, just in case if any one them or the worker there recognize me.

Talon rung the bell and Guard came to him. Guard upon recognising him, owned the gate for him.

"She's with me." Talon said to the guard who was looking at me with caution.

Nodding their heads they let us go inside.

"Don't speak unless you are supposed too." He whispered as we walked inside the house.

"Hello Sir. How may I help you? Ma'am is not in the house." The butler informed Talon of the situation.

"Not an issue. We are here to collect some files for Sir Leon. He asked me to bring them from his study." Talon said, smoothly like he has done this hundred times now.

"Ah. Sir you know the way." Butler said and left.

I raised my eyebrow in surprise as I followed Talon up the stairs.

"I am surprised they didn't knew you gave been stripped of your post." I whispered as soon as were inside his study.

Talon didn't comment and looked around the study.

"Come on. We don't have time to waste." He laid with a glared my way.

Nodding my head, I looked around the room and suddenly my eyes fell on a large picture frame hung on the wall. Suddenly a flashback came to my mind.

When I used to live here. One night, I was sneaking past my bedtime to play with my stepbrother when I saw Leon going into his study. The brothers room was across his study so I had to be extra careful to pass through his study to the room. When I was crawling my way pass his study room, the door was ajar and was able for me to see what was going inside. Curiosity got the best of me, so I peaked inside and found Leon moving the big frame to the side and a locker appeared behind it. He put in the number which I could see from the glowering numbers and then after it was opened. He put something inside. Realising someone might see me, I rushed back to my room.

I looked up at the frame and found it was the same. Walking forward, I carefully moved it aside as as I expected the locker was there.

"Oh. How did you find that!" Talon was astonished at me for finding it.

He must not have seen this nor knew about it.

"Guess you weren't so close to him after all. " I said, throwing knives at his wounded heart.

I pinched in the number that I remembered from my memory hoping it was the same as before.

The locker opened with a small click, making me and Talon standing there with wide eyes. Inside of the locker were bunches of money. Moving things aside, I found the thing I was looking for. He had put it in the corner, taking the small black thing out. I looked back at Talon to show him and to confirm if it's the right one. He nodded his head rapidly.

"Grab some random files and go." I said, as I pocketed the tape and quickly closed the lock and out the picture frame back to its original place.

Making sure everything was in it's place. We decided to talk about some stuff which was on the file so that we were not suspicious that we spend so much time inside.

..

Rest in the next chap.