The next day
"Are you not going back to work?" Victoria glared at her youngest. "How long do you plan on staying here?"
"I'm working from home and I'm staying until Dad is okay", Xavier said with a shrug.
"Son, that's really sweet but bro, go back to work. And what about that girl you're seeing?" He nodded at him.
"You're seeing someone?" Victoria's annoyance turned into pleasant surprise.
"Yeah, I thought we all knew?" Stella said as she walked in with a tray of refreshments and snacks. The woman was always making something for everyone to munch on.
"Wow", Xavier started dryly. "I know you found out from Amy, but how did Dad know and mom not?"
"Well", Stella started as she set down the tray on a coffee table. "I thought we were keeping it on the hush-hush so I told Richard."
"And Richard told me but I'm not a big gossiper like your mom is", Henry justified himself making both women gasped in shock.
"Richard! You're always going on about how I have a loose mouth. Now look at you", Stella shook her head while giving him judging eyes.
"Henry! And you think it's okay to keep such crucial information from me?" She glared at her husband.
Both men sighed heavily as they chose to keep quiet. Nothing they'll say will make the situation any better.
"And you, Stella, I'm so disappointed in you", Victoria shook her head. "I thought you would at least have the decency to gossip with me first before your husband."
Stella was left tongue tied while Xavier left the room to the elders. "Toxic, so toxic."
As he walked back to his room, he took out his phone and dialed for George. They had not spoken in a moment.
"Hey man!" George answered on the third ring.
"How's it going over there?" He stuffed one hand in his pocket as he walked making some of the maids in the house swoon at the sight of him.
"Great!"
"Oooooh?"
"Shut up! How's it going over there?" George chuckled. "How's the old man?"
"He's alright. Mom's still acting like a patient while he's still proving he's alright by taking care of her. Weird couple", he shook his head at the absurdity.
"Well, that's love, weird or not."
Xavier found himself nodding in agreement. His parents had come so far with bumps along the way so whatever it is they were doing now, weird or not as long as it was working for them, he would genuinely be happy for them.
"How is it going with your love interest?" George asked curiously.
"So..... I assigned ten bodyguards for her and ten for her brother", he scratched his chin feeling uneasy about George's reaction.
"Dude", he warned.
"I know she's holding back because of that issue, I just want to fix that. Killing two birds with one stone."
George sensed Xavier's sincerity in his statement. That's just it about the man, no matter how many times he's been hurt but once he loves, he loves. He could only give him one advice.
"Don't get hurt."
Xavier could only laugh a self deprecating at that. There was no way of telling with these things....
As the two boys caught up, Zach and Amy were in the sunroom enjoying the peace and quiet that comes with their daughter sleeping. Amy was seated with her head resting on his shoulder.
She had long started to nod off to sleep while Zach simply closed his eyes, keeping his ears peeled for his little one who was sleeping in her crib. Unfortunately, her napping had come to an end.
"I'll get her", Zach said when he heard Amy let out a low groan.
She untangled herself from him and he left to check on the little one. Amy watched through barely open eyes her man being the sweet father to the little girl. It excited the butterflies in her stomach.
"Nope", Zach spoke to himself after checking her diaper. Then he checked if she was too heated up. "Nope."
A vibration sound was heard amongst Roserie's cries. Amy was now fully awake and searched for the source of the sound. Sitting under a cushion was Zach's ringing.
"Babe, your phone", she said as she got up.
"Huh?" He was too immersed in attending to Roserie he barely registered her words.
She reached his side and placed a hand on his shoulder as she looked down at the crying baby. "I'll get her. Rider is calling."
Zach received the phone and swiped to answer when he remembered something. "I think she might be hungry, everything else looks good. Amy nodded and picked her up to see if the little one wanted to snack. Zach relaxed when he saw his daughter feeding and then drove his attention back to the answered call. "Rider?"
"Told you he had a fiancé and daughter", Rider whispered in the background.
"I still can't believe it", Skullface answered.
"Boys", Zach warned.
"Sir!" They answered in unison, now remembering that they had put him on speaker.
"Dude, you can't scare me like that when you're no longer my boss", Rider complained.
"Why did you call me?" Zach went straight to the point. He would rather be helping Amy than entertain the two.
"Oh. We can't call Boss because of lady boss so we thought you'd help us pass the message. Gwen and Peter have been locked away. We received two anonymous tips full of hardcore evidence the other day, they helped us convict them of their crimes", Rider explained.
"Two?" Zach's brows shot up.
"Yes, and they arrived almost at the same and just when we needed them. It felt weird, almost like trap, especially the other one that had every little detail about Gwen Cancino."
"Hmm." He started to slowly pace around the sunroom.
"Yeah, it was very weird and we confirmed that R.J and the team had analyzed the data. Still, it felt weird but it made sense when we saw the signature at the very last word." Rider paused for dramatic effect but Zach never entertained them. He waited for him to continue and he knew that if he didn't conclude the report, Zach would explode. "A.J."
"A.J?" He repeated, looking at Amy who had automatically looked up from her baby.
"Yes, who else would be capable of find such secret yet crucial information?" Rider questioned, practically saying 'duh'.
"Mm. Is that all?" Zach asked.
"Yes, sir."
"I'll pass your message", he said before he hang up. Amy was still staring at him after hearing her pseudonym. He started to walk towards her. "So it wasn't just the 'prodigal son' email that made it to HQ, but another email with every little detail about Gwen in sent by..?"
"Me?" Her brows went up in surprise and he nodded as he sat down next to her. "Can he send to us?"
"It wouldn't make sense for A.J to ask for the very thing she sent, would it? And it would violate protocol if he did", Zach added.
"Okay", she said as she picked up her phone with one hand.
With a few taps, her phone system changed into a dark theme with something Zach recognized to be command prompt but he knew if wasn't.
"What's his number?" She asked and he took out his phone to read it out loud to her.
She continued to type with her thumb, inserting commands. In about two minutes, she had used his number to obtain his personal information, used that to search the FBI information system to find Rider's email and voila! The two emails were staring right at their faces.
"There are certain words we can't use in front of our daughter so I'll say a simple: wow!" He commented making her giggle.
They quietly went through the email that had her name on it. Zach's expression remained neutral but the gossiper in Amy could not help her shock when they reached the Gwen and Peter affair part. Scrolling to the last page, as Rider said it, it was signed A.J. She also analyzed the document and there was no foul play detected.
"So it actually turns that I really did send it to them", she said whist looking at her phone.
"Mm-hm", Zach agreed.
To the FBI's, it would make sense that she sent it since she had been working with them to catch these people. But these two knew she had nothing to do with that email. If she knew all that, why wait until now?
It was obvious who had done so, the question is: why?
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