Chapter 3 THINGS COULD STILL GET WORSE

Could things get any worse, Ace would've probably wondered after his divorce from Rodger's family was completed. But they certainly can and they certainly did, because less than 72 hours after the divorce proceedings were concluded and they were declared man and woman again, he had the FCC on his doorstep shoving a warrant for his arrest to his face.

It didn't make any sense. But lately, the events of the last two weeks didn't make sense at all. From being fired for no just reason. He was talking to his counsel about suing the company regarding that front to getting divorced without a valid cause and in the space of a week to now sitting in the interrogation room of the Financial Crimes Centre for charges of money laundering and embezzlement of company funds.

What was happening? He couldn't make sense of his life. Why were they doing this to him? Did they get some sort of kick from it? Ace sat there puzzled.

The charges had to be a hoax. All through his four years as CEO and ten years in total with the company he had never once embezzled or laundered. All his assets were declared, and legitimate so how was he being arrested for this? The warrant signifies they had hard evidence linking him to this, so how come about?

Deep in his thoughts, the doors opened and two detectives walked in. A female carrying a briefcase and a male looking tired. They introduced themselves as detectives Floyd Weather and Heather and sat down across him staring at him. Expecting some sort of reaction or body language. He was agitated alright, but what did they want?

Detective Heather opened her briefcase in front of him, brought out some documents, and placed them in front of him one by one. They were documents containing company accounts and balances. Both the ones printed publicly and the official company account balance sheet.

Looking through it, Ace noticed transactions he was never aware of. Transactions running all four years of his tenure as Chief Executive Officer. Accounts he couldn't trace. Offshore accounts. What did this imply? The accounts weren't his.

"Do you notice any misdeeds in these documents, Mr. Mackenzie?" Heather began his questioning.

"Might I remind you that you have the right to remain silent and request a lawyer to be present here?" Floydweather said to which Ace shook his head saying he had nothing to hide.

"So, back to the question, Mr. Mackenzie." Heather put before him.

"There are some transactions listed in these reports that aren't in these," Ace said.

"Care to explain to them. These are the official company accounts of Rodger's Automobiles. Both the assets and balance were published in public and the original company accounts that were kept private." Detective Floydweather put in.

"And as you said, a lot of figures aren't accounted for. So, as the CEO of Rodger's Automobiles, we'd love for you to explain this to us." Floydweather continued.

"I'm no longer the CEO." Ace cut in.

"But you were. During this period. So you're to be accountable for it." Detective Heather put in.

Ace knew he was trapped. He genuinely didn't have an idea of these transactions, neither did he know what they were for. He was sure if he'd noticed them, he'd have approached Jacob over them. The warrant was issued for him, and he was the only one in custody, so he was the one being interrogated and probably the one that was going to be charged with all these.

He wasn't party to this and he did not know of these, but as CEO he should have. Realizing his position, he requested his lawyer and watched both detectives get up smiling.

"You can't escape this. We've got you." Detective Heather said to him as they walked out of the room leaving him alone like before.

His lawyer came in not too long after and he began explaining his position to him. Ace listened attentively and realized he was cooked. There was no way out, he was being framed obviously but how did it skip him and why was he being framed? It had to be the Rodger's, but would they go so low? And if they would, why would they go so low when he'd done nothing to them?

His lawyer told him he'd try to get him a deal that wouldn't see him spend much time in prison. Four or five years maximum and he'd be out. It was the best he could offer him right now. Ace, seeing nowhere else and no other alternative, agreed. Then he wept. His lawyer patted him on the back and promised to come to him with news soon.

Since he was willing to not prolong his case, the process wasn't a long one. In two weeks, he was charged to court on charges involving embezzling company funds and money laundering. He was found guilty and sentenced to five years imprisonment with the possibility of parole in the fourth year.

It came too fast and blurry, his life as he knew it was over. He was no longer a free man. He'd gone from an upright citizen to a jailbird and worst of it all. He was innocent but he couldn't prove it.

He'd lost his job, His marriage, and now his freedom all in the space of two weeks. All at the hands of Rodger's family. He hated them. They had no justification for doing this, yet they did it to him. Ace swore to get his revenge on them, even if it was the only thing that kept him sane while incarcerated.

As he was being processed into the system, Ace was thinking of ways to get his revenge on them. He had to get them back, but how? They had money, they had the resources. If he was going to do this, he'd need backing. He'd need a lot of money to cripple theirs. Then he'd need to take them out without them knowing. Well, as far as things go, he has time on his hands. Five years to plan his next steps. And after five years, how long it'd take him until he had them begging, he didn't know. But one thing he did know was that they'd beg. They would beg him and he would humiliate them likewise.

He changed into his orange jumpsuit and was shown to his cell. As he walked by, he saw the eyes of his cell mates and inmates on him. These five years were going to be tough. But he had to survive, survive so he could get his revenge on the Rodger's. No matter what, he had to survive.

And with that, he closed his eyes and drifted off to an uncomfortable sleep. Day one of One thousand eight hundred and twenty-six days had just passed.