Meanwhile, in prison, Adrian sat alone in the darkroom of his jail cell, feeling bitterly defeated over what had happened. His nose got all bruised, and he was still wearing the suit that he wore in court, though it got wrinkled from the altercation.

He looked back years ago when he was younger around their freshman years in college, and he was close friends with Leon when he was Hal. However, Adrian was just as arrogant back then that he kept picking on his old pal, since the young Hal was a naive guy and just put up with it.

That time, they met Marie, and the bitter man fell for her immediately, but he was not able to have her because his buddy used to tutor her and took a chance to ask her out on a date.

Throughout their college years, Hal succeeded in everything when he was an architect student and was offered to intern at a firm in China after seeing his design from the exhibit. Unfortunately, Adrian was just an average student when taking engineering courses, and nothing he did impressed Marie up until their adulthood.

Then came the time when the two young men got to work in the same company in Ebony Estate, and Hal married the woman of his dreams.

When his old friend got promoted to head architect, he had to be assigned to do a project around the world, and that was when Marie began feeling lonely and angry that Hal was always away.

The evil man took advantage of having her for himself. Hence, their affair began, and the rest was history with his attempt to have Hal gone with a ruined reputation.

Nevertheless, Adrian's plan did not work since the man he thought was dead came back from Dubai with a new identity as Leon, with his own in-demand firm, and a daughter whom he believed used her to get to Gage.

Since Adrian was in jail, he was more enraged than ever that his nemesis had the upper hand to bring him down, yet the evil man would not rest to get back at Leon.

"You may have won this time," the man grunted. "But I swear I will bring you down again. Just you wait."

Then Monday came. He was released since he was able to be bailed out. Adrian finally gets to leave the precinct with his lawyer. "I suggest you stay out of trouble, Mr. Munro," the attorney advised him after the unhinging he did in the court and to Leon.

"I don't pay you to lecture me. Your job is to help me put that son of a bitch in prison forever," Adrian grumbled.

"It'll be hard to do that if you don't listen to me, now that Mr. Magnum has found evidence against you."

"What evidence?"

"He found the accountant whom you paid to frame him," the lawyer revealed.

Adrian began feeling scared and stressed. "Whoever that is, he must have paid him to lie in court for me."

"Is that so?"

"What are you saying? Do you think it's true?"

His attorney looked at him with an annoyed expression. "It doesn't matter what I think. I'm just making sure I'm not missing anything to do what you want me to do."

"Just do your job."

Later, the imprisoned man arrived at home. Once he closed the door behind him, he could hear footsteps coming down. It was his wife. "Honey, you're here. I was planning to go to the precinct to get you," Marie chimed, then ran to him to hug and kiss him. "I was so worried about you. Are you alright? Did you get to sleep?"

"Yes, I'm surprised I could sleep in that hell hole," Adrian responded in a disgusted tone.

"Well, I made your favorite lasagna. I thought it'll cheer you up."

"Thanks, Honey. Where's Gage?"

"You just missed. He's on his way back to CarmU five minutes ago," his wife answered.

"Oh, that's too bad," the man muttered.

They went to the kitchen, and Adrian sat silently, thinking about what his lawyer told him by the counter while Marie put a placemat and plates with a knife right in front of him.

"Anyway, my boss was nice enough to let me stay home for the day because I want to make sure you're fine. Gage will be glad to learn that you're home. You should text him so he'll stop worrying about you..." The woman rambled on as she sliced a lasagna for her husband, not knowing that he was not listening until she turned around. "Honey? Honey?"

Adrian snapped back to reality and then shifted to his wife. "What?"

Marie noticed that he was distracted when she placed his favorite dish on the table. "Are you alright? You seem quiet?"

"Yes, I'm just... tired."

"I understand, but you should eat first."

"Sure." The man started eating. "This has been a humiliating week. I won't let that again."

His wife watched and felt disturbed by his attitude, though she understood that he had to spend his weekend behind bars, which was why he was in a bad mood. "It's going to be okay, Honey. Try not to think about it."

"I'm sorry, I'm just worried about how this case could go."

"Why?" Marie questioned his concerns.

"Because I could go back to jail," the man grunted.

"Honey, you won't. You said it yourself that you had no involvement in any of what Hal is accusing you of."

"Hal is rich now. Did you know that his lawyer can make the worst criminals look innocent?

The wife was taken aback by that. "Really?"

"For all we know, he could rig the trial," Adrian claimed, which made his wife gaze at him all funny like he was not in his right mind after saying all those things.

"That's not going to happen," the woman assured him. "Now, let's just trust the system."

"I hope so, or else I'm dead."

It was so hard for Marie to believe her husband, so all she could do was to understand that all that was happening to him and their family was overwhelming since their son was affected by everything that he had to fight the battle with him.

----

Meanwhile, in the hotel, Oddey had a late breakfast with her family before going back to school. However, she was feeling tense as she ate her pancakes while her father was on the phone in his room.

"Are you shaken up over what happened to you and Gage?" Eva asked her.

"A little," the art student answered. "I hate how we end things."

"I know, Sweetie."

"Also, now that his father is out, I'm kinda worried for Dad. What if he plans something against him and he succeeds?"

"We won't let that happen,"  Eva assured her.

"But Mr. Munro was able to do that before, and he did everything to ruin Dad's life," Oddey replied as she had a gut feeling about her father's well-being.

"Your father is prepared. He's able to get the best lawyer to help him with his case, and this time, he won't lose."

Oddey just plastered a smile on her face. "Okay, I believe you."

"She's right, Mochiepie. Everything will be okay now." Leon came out of the room after his call with his lawyer ended and sat with them.

Eva was surprised to hear that, especially when she saw the man grinned for ear-to-ear. "What do you mean?"

"We finally found the officer, and he agreed to testify against Adrian."

The ladies were astounded. "That's great, right?" Oddey asked.

"Yes, Adrian paid the guard to ask an inmate to do a favor for him. He will either be locked up for a long time or a lifetime. He's not getting away with what he did to me this time."

"That's amazing," Eva beamed while the girl smiled and nodded.

"This is finally it. The justice I've been asking for after what he did to me." After that, the man became emotional and then reached for his daughter's hand. "All this wouldn't be possible if I didn't have the two of you. I have the most supportive and wonderful people here to give me strength to fight my battles."

"Aww... Dad." Oddey stood up from her seat and hugged her father.

Then Leon turned to his personal assistant while he was being embraced. "If it's not obvious, I'm also talking about you too."

"Oh, for a second there, I thought you forgot," Eva joked, which made the father and daughter laugh.

"I'm serious." The big boss held her hand and gazed into her eyes. "You have been by my side through it all. You took care of everything, and I can't thank you enough for that."

"Oh, stop this. Let's just eat so Odette can go to school in time."

"One last thing. While my daughter is here, I have something important to ask you," Leon told her. The two ladies lifted their brows as they exchanged glances at his request. They saw that he was digging something in his coat's inner pocket, then took out an open small Tiffany blue velvet box, and there was an oval-shaped diamond with a gold band.

Oddey's mouth dropped to the floor, and immediately, where it was going. "No way," she uttered in disbelief.

As for Eva, she reacted the same way, though she was frozen in astonishment since she could not believe her eyes when she saw the dazzling jewelry that her boss was holding.

Leon had to stand and knelt right in front of the stunned woman before him and held the ring up to her. "Eva Hermosa, you have been mine and my daughter's rock. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be the man I am today because I know you saw something in me that was not a failure and who lost everything. You have been there at my lowest and made sure that I stood my ground right after, and for that, I love you. Will you marry me?"

Overwhelmed with the scene, Oddey had her hands on her mouth, and happy tears were coming out. "Say yes, say yes," she whispered while hoping that the woman whom she considered her mother accepted her father's proposal.

"Yes, yes! I will marry you!" Eva answered with delight and even nodded her head so fast just to prove her response was real. She smiled and, at the same time, smiled with sheer joy. Leon took his fiance's hand and placed the ring on her finger.

The newly engaged couple looked at each other's eyes and kissed right in front of Oddey, who was so overjoyed for the two people she loved finally getting married. The two embraced afterward and even invited their daughter with them to relish the moment together.

Sometime later, the happy family walked walking the hotel and waited for their separate cars to drive one of them to the university and the other two to the office. Eva could not help while gazing at her engagement ring while holding hands with her fiance.

"This is so exciting. You are going to be my mom for real," the art student said.

"I know. Why don't we celebrate together?" Eva suggested. "You should come back here again for dinner with me and your father."

"Yes, that's a great idea," Leon agreed.

"Oh... erhm... I don't think I can. I will be so busy with the play. I'm sorry," Oddey replied, then put on a pouty face.

"We can do it this weekend then."

"Still can't. Finals are just around the corner. But that's okay, more alone time for you guys."

The couple laughed. "I'm hoping to spend time together as a family," Eva sighed.

The girl smiled at her parents. "I know, Mom. Anyway, Dad, I am happy that you finally got justice over the people who have caused you pain and you can't imagine how proud I am of you because you never gave up fighting for what's right."

"Thank you, Honey," Leon said to his daughter as she gave him and Eva another hug.

"Just going to give you one last hug in case I don't see guys again."

The parents were bothered by Oddey's words as they pulled away from her. "Don't say that. We're going to make time to spend time together," Eva said.

"Of course." The car that was driving Oddey to school arrived, so she quickly went to it. "Bye, guys. Love you!"

"Love you too," the couple said together while waving at her and watching the vehicle drive off with her.