The officer was taken aback at the unexpected claim. He turned to face Kelvin and then back at Uncle Josh.

"How exactly was Mr. Xaviers involved with you, may I ask?"

"He erased the evidence for me," Uncle Josh replied determinedly.

"I assume that under your law, helping a criminal escape is an equal crime as committing the crime itself," he added.

"For your kind information Mr. Joseph, it's Mr. Xaviers who handed us the evidence, followed by Mr. Jonas," the officer mentioned.

Kelvin did?

"That's because he betrayed me!" Uncle Josh asserted.

"That's how detectives work." Kelvin interrupted. "By working as double agents."

So Kelvin was acting as a double agent 'against' Uncle Josh?

It was getting so tangled up now that I could no longer untangle the real scenario.

Was the recording a setup too then?

Somewhere deep inside my heart, I hoped it was. I wanted to believe that Kelvin wasn't guilty.

But then again, was he?

If he indeed was, then I could never forgive him.

"Detectives indeed have their own way," the officer spoke again.

"And apart from that, what evidence do you have Mr. Joseph to support your allegation?"

Uncle Josh remained tongue-tied. He didn't have any evidence. But he didn't stop his attempt.

"What evidence does your detective have then," he countered, "against my wife?"

The officer turned back to Kelvin, expecting an answer.

"The bullet in my arm," Kelvin answered, looking at the bullet the nurse had just taken out.

"It has been shot from that gun," he pointed towards Aunt Lucy's gun on the forest floor.

"You can match the fingerprints on the gun."

"And I have a video of her too where she discusses her master plan with her husband over the call," Brian came in to support.

Aunt Lucy gulped in trepidation while Uncle Josh clenched his jaw in fury.

"Brother Nick had some evidence against him," Uncle Josh still continued.

I put my hand over my bag. It was with me.

Should I hand it over to them?

Please don't ask me what stopped me from doing that.

"Well, all criminals make up such stories after they've been caught," the officer replied. "Nothing new for us."

It was clear that the officer trusted Kelvin. Nonetheless, he didn't just ignore the matter and agreed to see to it because of formalities.

"Whatsoever, we'll see to that then after Nicholas Valdez recovers from coma."

Another officer handcuffed Aunt Lucy while the third one carefully picked up the gun from the ground with a medical glove.

"Since Mr. Xaviers needs medical treatment now, we'll go to Valdez Mansion with Mr. Jonas," the officer apprised.

"I can lead you to our house," Brian came forward to help.

"Sure, Mr. Valdez."

"Do call me if there's an emergency," Jonas said, thanking Brian for the support.

"Amy?" Brian called. "Are you coming?"

He got into the car with one of the officers after I told him that I would go a while later.

I had something important to do here.

The officers forced Uncle and Aunt inside the police car, and the two cars left together, side by side. The three of us were left alone, along with the medical team.

The doctor urged Kelvin to advance to the hospital with them after dressing the wound, but he said he didn't need it.

They eventually left with the ambulance too. Now it was just us. Like always.

Seconds passed in silence.

"When we reached Valdez Office"- Jonas decided to speak at last, hindering the unbearable silence-"Xav Bro sent a signal to my watch from the fourth floor."

"Our watches are connected," he explained. "I knew something was going on. I had to find out."

He took a short pause before continuing,

"When I followed you inside the building, Xav Bro came out of the elevator from the back and pulled me aside. I wasn't sure if I should call you back Amy. Xav Bro begged me to trust him for the moment, saying that he didn't have enough time to explain everything. I didn't even know if I should trust him, but I did. I followed his words: sneaked into the management department to get out last night's CCTV footage which Xav Bro had already retrieved and then rushed to the bureau with it. Xav Bro promised that he would lay down his own life if necessary, but he wouldn't let anything happen to you. So I left you there with him. He said he would let me know where to bring the officers, which he did through the call."

"And I think you know the rest," he ended.

At least a part of my heart healed with his words. I say 'a part' because the other fraction was still encaged by the other side of the story. I just wanted to clear the other part too.

"Did you know," I murmured, "what your Xav Bro did in between?"

"All of it was acting," Kelvin clarified in a distorted voice.

Well, the bullet in his arm did say that.

"I'm sorry Amy- I had to act. I had to point a gun at you. An unloaded gun. I'll explain everything to you."

"Please explain," I requested.

"I guess you already know about Uncle Josh and me. He had called me in the morning to meet him for the last time. After submitting the autopsy report and a few more pieces of evidence that I had collected against Uncle Josh all these days to the Bureau, I went to Valdez Office to retrieve last night's CCTV footage before he had arrived. But before I could complete it, he was already there, so I had to play my part in convincing him that I was still working with him and that I was the only one who could save him. I was trying to come up with a plan to trap him when everything took a whole different turn. I noticed Jonas' car approaching the building from the fourth floor. And unfortunately, Uncle Josh did too. I hadn't expected that you and Jonas would come there at such a time, so I had to instantly think of something. Uncle Josh was determined to finish you off once you got into the building, so the only possible way I could see at that time was to make him believe that I would be doing it for him. I tried to warn Jonas by sending him a signal through my watch as soon as I got out of Uncle Josh's sight and secretly took him aside when I found you both on the second floor. At that point, only he could collect the footage and complete the work. I just had to somehow engage Uncle Josh in the meantime. And all those words Amy, whatever I said, please trust me, I didn't mean any of it. I knew you would probably hate me forever after that, but I was ready to make that sacrifice. I had no other option to save you from Uncle Josh. Jonas was updating me over the call that he would be needing some time. When I couldn't prolong the conversation at the office, the first plan that popped into my mind was to lengthen the matter by travelling to a different place. I knew I would have to pretend to shoot you in a while, so I unloaded my gun during our journey. I had attempted to gain control over Uncle Josh's gun and make him defenseless by faking that I had brought the wrong gun by mistake, but that didn't work out. I hadn't expected Aunt Lucy to turn up like that. And the only thing I could do to save you from the bullet was to take it myself."

Those were the words my ears were yearning and my heart was aching to hear all this time. He didn't want to kill me, rather he was trying to save me.

But wait-

Something struck my mind.

"What am I supposed to know about you and Uncle Josh?" I questioned, recalling the very first line of his explanation.

"Didn't you read my letter-?" Kelvin asked.

"That blank piece of parchment?" I whispered with a jab in my heart.

"No not that, the real one..."

"Wait wait wait," I interposed.

Suddenly, I remembered the tape in my pocket, which I had forgotten for a few minutes.

"By any chance," I shook as I muttered it, "is this the evidence Uncle Josh was talking about?"

Kelvin looked at the tape in my hand with widened eyes.

"Amy-" he mumbled in a broken voice.

"The recording is fake, right?" I asked.

"You were just pretending all this time to work with Uncle Josh because you knew that he's the criminal. It wasn't for real, right?"

"Amyra, let me explain..."

"Listen what, Kelvin? Just say that it was all a double agent thing and nothing else."

"I can't," he gasped at last.

"You can't?" I repeated as I involuntarily inched a few steps backward.

He remained silent. Why was he quiet?

"Kelvin, just answer one question please," I almost begged.

"Did you, or did you not, take up this case just to help Uncle Josh?"

"Amyra, listen to me once-"

"Just answer yes or no."

He stared into my eyes with his own watery ones, begging for one single chance to let him speak. But I wouldn't give him. I couldn't.

Why doesn't he just say a 'no' and prove it false?

-Because it was a 'Yes'.

He uttered the word with so much difficulty as if the word itself was eating him up from inside.

Jonas rushed forward to hold me steady as I lost my balance at his answer.

"Amy, please listen to him once," Jonas requested.

"I destroyed my heart because of you!" I yelled at Kelvin with a scorching throat, not listening to whatever Jonas was saying.

He was a part of the reason my life was all over the place now. I felt betrayed.

"Amyra please-"

"I-just-hate-you," I choked as I spilled the words.

Those were my final words before I jerked back and left that place. I didn't know where I was running to... running from him, running from myself, or maybe running away from life.

"Amy!" I heard June's calls getting fainter as my feet continued taking me further.

Water gushed from the clouds once again, the downpour hailing upon me.

I couldn't hear the rain; I couldn't hear the sound of leaves crackling under the weight of my feet. My mind was speaking its own voices whose echoes filled up my ears.

I was forcefully brought to a halt by the flashes of a car's headlights. The car yanked to a sudden stop just a meter away from me. I thumped my palms on the car's bonnet to protect myself from the blow as my inertia propelled me forward.

It was June's Ferrari.

Jonas got out of the car instantly.

"Amy, are you okay?" he asked anxiously as he took me inside.

I was quivering partially from the blow and partially from the cold rainwater. He wrapped a leather jacket around me to provide me with some warmth as we got inside the car.

It was only after my condition went back to normal when I realized that it was Kelvin's jacket.

I didn't want his jacket.

I pulled off the jacket and motioned to throw it away when something fell from its pocket.

It was a letter along with the keyring I had gifted him on his birthday.

Author: *gasps*

So, everyone ready for the Final chapter of 'If She Knew'? The heart of the book I would say. And it's going to be the longest chapter! The chapter where she gets to know what she was supposed to know...

Brace yourselves up for the last chapter, team 'If She Knew'!

Don't forget to vote, comment, and share if you loved the story so far <3