Winning My Ex-Crush

Fenella’s POVPlease check at N/ôvel(D)rama.Org.

“Woohoo! Awesome!”

Matthew cheered loudly in the living room of my house. He rubbed his palms together with fiery excitement in his eyes. Matthew bit his lower lip and waited for the next instructions.

Laird, Matthew, and I had opened the online meeting room on my laptop to stay connected with Dave. Meanwhile, Matthew had opened his own laptop with an online gambling page clearly displayed on the screen. The sound of slot machines jingling disturbed our concentration.

“Calm down a bit, buddy. I still have to break through one more defense on your favorite website,” Dave mumbled, his fingers tapping on his keyboard in New York.

“Come on, I can’t wait to try it.”

“Patience, Matthew. Let him work.” Laird warned the man with a firm voice.

I could only watch them in silence, hoping that Alan wouldn’t know anything about all this. My mission to steal Alan’s credit card data had succeeded, but we still had to obscure our digital trail from Alan during the card’s usage. Truly, this was criminal activity, and Alan could sue us!

“Done!”

Dave signaled that the card could now be used without being detected by Alan. There would be no notifications sent to the cardholder’s number or email, no PIN requests, and Dave had blurred our location to make it harder to trace.

“Showtime.”

Matthew cracked his knuckles with a wicked grin. Then, swiftly, he used the card on the online gambling website. Virtual slot machines, lottery tickets, horse racing, boxing matches, illegal goods in the dark web market, and various other forms of illegal money transfers.

“Is this really safe, Laird? Aren’t we going to get caught by the FBI?” I asked with a pounding heart and eyes fixed on Matthew’s laptop screen.

“If Dave says it’s safe, then it’s safe. Besides, the money on that card is also illegal. What goes around comes around,” Laird tried to reassure me.

“Will this immediately provoke the reaction needed by Prosecutor Golden?” I asked Matthew.

“Yes, of course. It’s the fastest way to get the FBI, OFAC, and Prosecutor Golden out of their hideouts.”

“Oh…” I bit my nail. I didn’t know, but a sense of anxiety haunted me. The guilt and sympathy for dragging Alan to court began to weigh on me.

“Relax, Fenella. This is just a small bait to expose the case.” Laird squeezed my hand. I nodded and trusted him.

Indeed, minute by minute felt like years. I still couldn’t believe we were involved in such a major case. It felt like a dream.

I knew billionaires like Mallory West, politicians like Peter Morgan, and businessmen like Alan Schmidt might have dirty criminal secrets. It’s just that I had never experienced it myself. It was all just news I watched on TV dramas or online news.

I could only imagine how Alan’s face would look when it was reported. It might be as heartbreaking as when he apologized for that DUI case.

“Alright, I think that’s enough. We just need to wait for their reaction,” Matthew chuckled.

“Well, we don’t need to wait.”

Laird took out his phone and called someone. He placed the phone on the table and turned on the speaker so everyone in the room could hear what Prosecutor Golden had to say. The call buzzed for a while before it was answered.

“Good evening, Mr. Golden.”

“Good evening, Evans.”

“Perhaps you can check your surveillance results again. See if there’s anything setting off alarms there.” Laird smiled crookedly.

“Oh, yes, thanks for that. I’ve already informed the judge this afternoon, and the account will be blocked soon.”

“What do you mean?” Hearing this, we all frowned.

“Your plan worked, Laird. The order for blocking and investigating the account is waiting for the Assistant Attorney General’s signature.”

“Wait a minute. Since when did you pick up the evidence?”

“This afternoon. Around 3 p. m.,” the man replied confidently.

Our eyes widened at this. My mouth dropped open, and I exchanged glances with Laird. We had just completed the transaction about five minutes ago at 7 p. m. How could a suspicious transaction have been detected at 3 p. m.?

“That wasn’t us. We just finished it less than ten minutes ago.”

“Really? Well, whoever did it used it to buy illegal goods from a long-monitored dark web site. Bad move.” Mr. Golden chuckled softly.

“Right. Gotcha. I wish you success.”

Laird ended the call with the same vacant look as mine. We stood in stunned silence, still processing Prosecutor Golden’s words.

“What happened at 3 p. m.?” Matthew asked with a furrowed brow.

“Dude, so we did this for nothing?” Dave groaned in frustration.

“Not entirely for nothing. Anyway, our goal was achieved. Now we just have to wait for further news from them.” Laird muttered with a grim expression.

“Well, alright. I’m out for now.” Dave ended the connection to the online meeting room.

“So, someone else already made Alan’s card traceable by the FBI?” I asked, trying to clarify what was actually happening.

“Brilliant.” Matthew’s tone was annoyingly sarcastic. “Oof, I think I need more wine.” The man then poured Alan’s gift wine into his glass, which had been continuously filled.

“Who did it? Did they help us?” I asked with my brow creased.

This is mind-blowing!

I never imagined such a coincidence. I mean, I certainly believe in destiny, but I’m not sure about an unseen hand from the spiritual world above. Laird squeezed my hand tightly. His warm hand chased away the cold from the tension I had been feeling.

“Maybe I’ll ask prosecutor Golden for more details later. At least we can relax for now until Alan and his gang are arrested,” Laird said calmly.

“When will he be arrested?” I asked, squeezing his hand in return.

“After all of the investigative evidence is convincing enough for the court. It depends on how likely they are to win the case. It could be a week to a month.”

“Ugh, all this waiting is killing me.” I groaned in frustration.

The next second, my phone rang. Alan was calling me!

“Oh my God.”

The phone rang loudly, causing my back to tense up again. I just stared at the phone screen and showed it to Laird and Matthew.

“What should I do, Laird? Does he already know I’m the culprit?”

I bit my lower lip anxiously. My forehead furrowed as I looked at them, who were also frozen in their seats. Matthew whistled, and Laird brushed his hair.

“Don’t answer it,” Laird advised.

“He’ll keep calling. I’m sure of it.” I massaged my temples and eventually placed my phone on the table.

The phone call stopped. I breathed a sigh of relief. However, I knew Alan wouldn’t let his call go unanswered by me. He would demand that I answer his call or respond to his message.

“I think I should answer it. He’ll get suspicious if I’ve gotten an expensive diamond ring and still ignore his call.”

“You know all this will end once Prosecutor Golden arrests him?” Laird raised an eyebrow with a piercing gaze.

“Yes, of course.” I chuckled and lightly punched his shoulder.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. I immediately exchanged glances with Laird and tensed up again.

“Is that Alan?” I asked with a pounding heart.

“Impossible.” Laird whispered with a held breath.

We stood still and waited. The doorbell rang again, indicating that the person outside was insistent on meeting the people of the house.

“Yes?” My mom came out of her room towards the door.

“Mom, wait!” I ran to stop my mom.

“Come on, hide.” Laird pulled the limp Matthew towards the bathroom.