Jonathan's POV
Rollings Designs - an hour later
I stormed into my office, PA following me.
"Mr. Rollings," he said walking over.
"Is everything alright?"
"No," I said, taking my seat.
A pause.
"Track everything related to Veronica,"
"Right from the day she left,"
"No, from the moment she left."
Silence fell in the office.
"Mr. Rollings," he said.
"Do you think—"
"I don't think, I know," I said.
"Imelda will definitely begin to track her."
A beat.
"I don't want to be behind,"
"I won't let her harm Veronica ever again."
"Before… I was late."
"This time…I'll be there for her."
Silence filled the office.
"Because this time I won't be late."
My PA didn't say a word.
He didn't need to.
"This isn't just about finding where she is,"
A pause.
"It's about finding her before Imelda does, and bringing them back."
My gaze hardened slightly.
"I have to reach Veronica and —"
I didn't need to finish the sentence.
"Mr. Rollings," my PA said.
"Don't worry,"
"Mrs. Rollings, and baby Janet are our priority."
"Another thing," I added.
"Don't use our internal systems," I said.
"Imelda will have her eyes on them."
My PA frowned.
"Then what should we do?"
"As far as I know Imelda, if she planned for Veronica to leave, she'll expect me to track her."
"Especially after she worked with Clara,"
"She will definitely use internal and external ways to track Veronica."
A pause.
"Use a private network,"
"No digital trail should link back to us,"
"We can't afford Imelda's suspicion."
"Yes, Mr. Rollings,"
"Be careful not to hire any shared contacts,"
"Don't give a contract to anyone whom Imelda can hire."
A pause followed.
"If Imelda traces even one contact…"
"She'll redirect everything back to us and reach Mrs. Rollings before us," my PA completed.
"Yes."
I leaned back slightly.
"She doesn't just track people."
"She tracks every movement."
"We can't at any cost let her near Veronica."
Silence.
"Therefore we won't give her the chance."
"What she will get is…we're normal."
"Yes."
"And confidentiality is extremely important."
"Yes sir,"
"Also check the last delivery day,"
"Check who was the client, what did Veronica deliver or bring back to Imelda."
My PA nodded.
"Mr. Rollings," My PA said.
"It was in December, Mrs. Rollings brought a document back to Harmon Designs around three A.M."
"After that?" I asked, leaning forward.
"No more work."
"Three A.M, huh?"
"What's the matter Mr. Rollings?"
"This isn't normal,"
"If it was only a pickup, it was before one A.M."
"If at or around three, it was a delivery and return to Harmon Designs,"
"Why was the last document only one way from a client?"
"What type of document did he send to Imelda?"
"That's not clear Mr. Rollings."
"Then find out."
My fingers tapped the desk slowly.
"Now that I come to think of it,"
"That delivery could be the beginning of everything that happened in our lives."
A pause.
"Another thing Mr. Rollings," my PA said.
"About a few days after Mrs. Rollings left, Ms. Imelda filed the FIR about Mrs. Rollings using funds to buy those luxury items."
"Imelda filed the FIR?"
"Yes," my PA said.
"I thought it was Fredrick
"She made sure it remained active."
A pause.
"That's because she never needed it to jail Veronica."
My PA looked up at me.
Silence fell in the office.
"She wanted to limit Veronica's options, control her movement and trap her."
My jaw tightened.
"She made sure I wouldn't get the time to question her movement."
"The report is now with the police."
"You mean Imelda gave the original FIR to the reporter?"
"Yes,"
My gaze lowered.
"That means only one thing,"
"Imelda made sure I wouldn't look for her."
"Mr. Rollings," my PA said.
"These are the withdrawals Mrs. Rollings made before she left,"
"I had the intuition you may need them, so I had a run on them."
I took the file.
"Good,"
"As you can see," he continued.
"The were regular,"
"Small amounts for bills, school fees, grocery."
"To the world it looked like she was saving money."
A pause.
"In reality she was only buying some time."
"Each withdrawal was only a step forward to leaving here."
"Every step was calculated in a way no one would notice."
My gaze lowered.
"Not even me."
"No panic, just routine."
"Slow preparation."
A pause followed.
"She never planned to escape,"
"She was only transitioning herself to a new place."
A smile slipped my lips.
"No large transactions."
"No sudden movements,"
"No traceable spike."
A quiet conclusion formed in my mind.
"Over the time she worked with Imelda, she learnt how tracking works."
"She didn't learn it in a formal way,"
"She observed those around her,"
"How the systems reacted,"
"What flags the system,"
"What the system ignores."
A pause followed.
"She adapted to her surroundings."
My PA exhaled slowly.
"That's not normal."
"No," I said quietly.
"It definitely isn't."
"It's the most basic tactic for survival."
My PA looked up at me.
"Mr. Rollings," he said.
"Are you saying Mrs. Rollings planned for you to look for her?!"
"Yes," I said.
"She knew a time would come when I would begin to look, and for that she left a clue."
"She would never leave without a path,"
"A path?" my PA asked, confused.
"A path for me."
Silence followed.
"She knew the moment I found out, I would begin looking."
A pause.
"And she knew…"
I exhaled slowly.
"…We think the same way."
"Now I only have to find it."
"But Mr. Rollings," my PA said.
"Mrs. Rollings didn't use any ID when she left,"
"Everything she did was minimal,"
"One last visit to the bank,"
"Baby Janet's school,"
"The unknown taxi."
"She just cut herself from the world," I took over from his conversation.
"I know,"
"But that's what she made everyone believe, but she made sure I could and would track her down."
"But Mr. Rollings—"
I cut his words.
"I know, she didn't use any transport that could be tracked,"
"No direct bookings to track, no train reservations,"
"That means she didn't leave behind any booking, or ticket,"
"No logs of where she went,"
A pause.
"She made sure no system could trace her."
"How?" my PA asked.
"Simple methods."
"Unregistered transport."
"Cash routes."
Silence.
"She chose invisibility over speed."
Silence.
"She used a mean that would leave no trace,"
"For others, it doesn't matter,"
"But if I can't find her clue, I don't deserve to be her husband."
"Mr. Rollings," my PA said.
"Mrs. Rollings never worked before."
"Yes, the delivery work for Imelda was her first work."
"Before that she didn't have any corporate exposure, no work or field experience."
A pause followed.
"And still…"
"She avoided any obvious trace so no one could know where she went,"
My PA looked up at me.
"Mr. Rollings," he said.
"That means Mrs. Rollings was forced to learn fast because…"
"Because she knew Imelda would take her out like a dead meat one day soon."
"Then do we send people to find Mrs. Rollings?"
"No use,"
"She left prepared to leave for a long time."
My PA looked at me with pinched eyebrows.
"She purposely left with only five hundred dollars,"
"She had her finances planned or even a job waiting for her."
"She didn't plan to leave for a week."
"She planned to build a new life,"
My PA looked up at me.
"That means Mrs. Rollings had something already waiting—"
"Yes."
"A home…work…a new identity…everything."
Silence fell between us.
"She didn't step out into an unknown world."
"She stepped into a pre planned world, one that she might have already known was waiting for her."
"She didn't just leave, she planned to leave for a long time."
"She knew I would look for her the moment I was free,"
"She also knew Imelda would track her the moment I announced Veronica is my wife,"
Another pause.
My fingers curled into fists.
"She knew if she stayed, she might go to jail,"
"She knew Imelda wouldn't let her be,"
"It wasn't fear," I said
My voice remained steady even as my emotions were cracking.
"Yet, she still chose to leave."
"It was the only resolve she saw in front of her,"
"She didn't disappear from the world."
"She just removed herself from my world."
My fists tightened.
"From me."
A pause.
"From the danger around me for the sake of Janet."
Another pause.
"From everything that could destroy me and Janet."
I leaned back slowly.
"This wasn't a sudden move,"
I settled into my chair.
"It was planned."
"She understood everything she did."
"She knew the risks, the loss, the consequences."
A pause followed.
My voice lowered.
"She chose to leave."
Silence filled the room.
"She didn't hesitate this time."
"She did wait for me,"
I recalled the seven days.
"But she knew wouldn't be in time to stop her,"
My fingers curled into fists.
"And she was right."
"I didn't notice she was planning to leave,"
"If I had, I could have stopped her,"
"But now…."
"I will bring her back before Imelda finds her."