"What? This cannot be happening!" Eben's hands slammed onto the polished conference table, sending papers scattering like broken dreams. Statements, invoices, and reports fluttered across the floor. His chest rose and fell violently, his eyes wide with disbelief.
"I… I didn't do this!" Eben added, his voice cracking under the weight of desperation.
Edward stood to the side, perfectly still, his face an unreadable mask of calm, hands folded neatly behind his back.
"The evidence is clear, Eben. The funds were transferred under your authority. The company cannot ignore it," Edward said, his tone steady, almost merciless.
Eben's knees nearly buckled.
"No! That's impossible. I never touched that money!" His voice trembled, thick with frustration and disbelief. He looked around at the board members, at the cold, unyielding expressions on their faces. Weeks of meticulous work, his dedication, his loyalty, all gone in a single heartbeat. He tried to speak again, but his throat felt tight and dry, as if swallowing fire.
"I swear… I had no hand in this. I would never" Eben kept trying, desperation lacing every word, trying to convince them of the truth.
"I wish I could believe you, Eben. I wish," said one board member, someone who had always had a good relationship with him. "But the evidence is too strong to ignore."
The board murmured amongst themselves, their voices sharp and questioning. Each glance, each whisper, seemed to push Eben further into a pit he could not climb out of.
The money had ended up in a secret account that only someone who knew the company's system inside and out could reach. Since no one else could plausibly be blamed, everyone assumed Eben was guilty.
"I always knew Eben was ambitious," Edward said smoothly, a slight smile playing at the edge of his lips. "Maybe too ambitious. It seems he misused company money and lost it." His words hit hard, cutting deeper than any blade, and the board believed him without hesitation.
Eben could hardly breathe, could hardly think. He couldn't believe the betrayal. Edward, who had always lingered just behind him, jealous, had carefully orchestrated this entire trap. He had watched Eben's every move, waiting for the perfect moment to strike, and now made it appear as if Eben himself was guilty.
"You have just two days to prove to us this isn't you," the managing director said, his voice heavy with finality.
Eben went home, frustrated, furious, and utterly confused. Completely lost in the whirlwind of events that had ripped his life apart.
"Why would Edward do this to me?" he kept asking himself, over and over, each repetition like a hammer against his sanity.
Lizzy stepped forward, desperate to understand. She asked him what had happened. Eben explained everything, how Edward hadn't stood by him, how he had poured fuel on the fire, intensifying the situation until it was unbearable. Tina stood quietly in the corner, watching her father break under the weight of it all.
Two days passed. Eben searched tirelessly, but no matter what he did, he couldn't find any solid evidence to prove his innocence.
Then the authorities arrived. Eben was arrested, stripped of everything he owned, and humiliated in front of everyone. Tina and her mother were left with nothing, forced to return to the slums, a life they had fought so hard to escape.
After the court trial and all the formal procedures, Eben was found guilty.
He was sentenced to years in prison, a punishment that shattered Tina and Lizzy, leaving them adrift without the anchor of the man they had always trusted.
"Eben, of all people… I doubt it," one worker whispered in disbelief, knowing him as an open and transparent man who had worked tirelessly to rise to where he was.
Tina's heart hardened with a new resolve. She would not allow Edward to escape justice. She promised herself, silently but fiercely, that she would make him pay for what he had done.