Nightmare Revenge

Two weeks passed. No employees greeted Dean when he arrived at the office early in the morning anymore, as Dean never returned their greetings. His face looked like he hadn't slept for days; his eye bags were pronounced and dark.

With weary steps, he entered his office, but inside, a middle-aged man accompanied by a police officer and a man in a suit were already sitting there.

Upon seeing the face of the middle-aged man, Dean immediately rubbed his face, recognizing him as the representative from the board of shareholders and the owner of the company that managed the office where he worked.

"Good morning, Mr. Thomas. What can I do for you?" Dean asked politely.

"What's all this, Dean?!" Thomas shouted, handing him a crumpled piece of paper.

Dean's eyes immediately widened as he read the worn-out paper in his hand. It was the bill in his name that he had given to Silvia to be handled by the police.

"How did this debt letter end up with you, sir?" Dean asked, confused.

"Sit down!" Thomas roared.

Dean immediately sat down in front of the desk, flanked by the police officer and the man in the suit, while Thomas sat in his own chair. Thomas leaned forward, both elbows on the desk, his eyes staring sharply at Dean like knives.

"First, I want to ask, how did you get into such massive debt?" Thomas questioned.

"I don't understand it myself, sir. That's why I asked the police to investigate, because that lending company is illegal," Dean replied.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Dean, but we never received any complaint report from you," the police officer next to him interjected.

"Huh, really, sir? I asked my secretary to handle it," Dean said.

"I already asked Silvia. She said you didn't tell her to report it. You only told her to find out if the company was illegal or not," Thomas stated.

"What? I asked her to help me, sir, really! Just call Silvia in here!" Dean exclaimed.

Thomas pressed his intercom and asked Silvia to come into the room. Soon after, Silvia entered, carrying a red folder.

"Sil, is it true that he asked you to report his debts to the police?" Thomas asked directly.

"Um... no, sir. I was asked to keep it and find out if the company was illegal or not," Silvia answered clearly.

"What?! I asked you to file a report, Sil! How could you forget?!" Dean exclaimed, turning to look at Silvia.

"When was that, sir? I have all the documents here," Silvia said, opening her folder and showing the debt letters Dean had given her.

"Ugh, Sil, I already told you verbally and by email! How could you not read it?!" Dean snapped, his voice rising, yelling at Silvia.

"I didn't receive the email, sir, really, sir," Silvia stammered, starting to look scared.

"Hey, why are you yelling at Silvia? She's only saying what she knows. You can leave, Sil," Thomas said.

"O-okay, sir. Excuse me," Silvia said, immediately turning to leave.

The atmosphere grew tense. No one spoke. Thomas continued to stare at Dean in front of him. Then,

"Haaah, I know you're having financial difficulties, but why did you embezzle company money? You should have talked to me, I might have been able to help you," Thomas said.

"Wait, sir, I what?" Dean asked, shocked.

"Why are you pretending not to know? This is your signature, isn't it?" Thomas asked, handing a reimbursement form to Dean.

After reading it, Dean's sweat immediately poured down, because he distinctly remembered signing that document in front of him.

"But at the time, didn't Alex check everything? He gave me this letter to sign," Dean said.

"Haaah... please explain, I'm tired of explaining," Thomas said, looking at the man in the suit next to Dean.

"Alright, Mr. Thomas. My apologies, Mr. Dean. First, let me introduce myself. My name is Robert Harris, and I am the lawyer handling this case. Before I explain, you should read this first," Robert introduced himself, then opened his bag and took out a blue folder, handing it to Dean.

Dean opened it. Inside was a debt repayment letter in his name, dated exactly two days after he had signed the document on the desk.

"What does this mean? So, you're saying I took company money to pay off my debt?" Dean asked.

"So you already know about the case, then? All the evidence weighs against you, from your debt letters, to signing the large reimbursement form, and you taking leave at the same time this letter was issued. I want to help you through the judicial process later if you admit it now in front of me," Robert replied.

"What?! I didn't do it, this is slander! At that time, I took leave to go to my wife's parents' house to pick up my wife and bring her home because I was having problems with her!" Dean shouted.

"I already confirmed with your wife that you didn't come that day. She was inside the house at the time with your child," Robert said.

"Lies! I met her brother, Mark! He said my wife and child were at the villa with my in-laws! Ask him!" Dean yelled.

"Alright, here's a recording of my conversation with him when I visited his house yesterday," Robert placed his smartphone on the table. The conversation between Robert and Mark at his house was played. Mark said that no one had come to his house, and he knew because he was waiting for Dean and wanted to beat him up for making his sister cry.

Mark expressed his frustration in the recording. After that, Laura's voice was heard saying that Dean had never come or contacted her after she left the house and went back to her parents' home.

"What's this? this is all nonsense!" Dean swept his hand, and Robert's smartphone flew toward the window. The police officer next to Dean immediately caught and restrained Dean's hands.

"Let go! I'm not guilty!" Dean shouted.

"Enough, Dean. It's better you confess so that the sentence given to you won't be harsh later in court," Thomas advised.

"I'm not guilty! I'm clean! I never embezzled money! I swear!" Dean yelled.

"Alright, sir, take him," Thomas told the police.

"Come on, Mr. Dean. You can make all your denials at the station," the police officer said, standing up and restraining Dean.

After that, Dean, with his hands cuffed, was led out of his office, followed by Robert. As they opened the door, he saw almost all the male and female employees standing in front of his office to see what was happening. The police asked them to disperse and make way. Many looks of disbelief were directed at Dean being arrested by the police, but whispers also spoke ill of him.

As he passed Silvia's desk, Dean turned. He saw Silvia standing with her head down, looking guilty, but she was being embraced by Alex, who was smirking. Alex waved and smiled at Dean, who glared furiously at him, then Alex squeezed Silvia's chest, making Silvia squirm in pleasure.

"Alex!"

Dean lunged at Alex but was immediately pulled back by the police officer. Alex looked surprised but continued to smile while embracing Silvia.

"Bye bye, your position is mine now," Alex said, waving his hand.

The police officer pushed Dean forward, but Dean still turned to glare at Alex. After a shameful public spectacle at his office, Dean finally arrived at the police station and was immediately interrogated.

Dean kept insisting he was innocent, his words becoming increasingly incoherent due to his high emotions. Finally, Dean was put in a cell and told to calm down. Dean yelled and held onto the bars endlessly until he couldn't speak anymore and sat curled up in the corner of the cell.