The room was so quiet.
Too quiet.

Angelo couldn't stop starting at Bill for a long while till it made him extremely uncomfortable. Bill was really lucky Angelo was sitting at the far end of the large board table with Sam one side beside him and shrink right at the other side glaring into a large document in front of him.

Of course Angelo had to invite Shink. He was the only one he could trust. He was the only one that needed the Clintons gone just as much as Angelo did and the  only lawyer qualified to be at that table at that time and Sam, Sam was just there to observe and show support even if Angelo insisted he didn't. There was no way Sam was going to let him handle Bill and Veronica alone.

Angelo sneered .

He just wanted his fists in Bill's face so bad but he knew better than to let his emotions get the best of him. Veronica had no idea what was going on. She was having a pretty good time admiring the large properly furnished board room.

Sitting on one of those chairs made her heart skip several beats, they felt so comfortable , too comfortable. She had never felt so royal.

"We are just going to cut to the chase."
Her day dream had to hold as soon as she heard Shink speak.

"Please do," Bill started not taking his eyes off Angelo too, he could sense it, he could sense Angelo's desperation to let him get a piece of his fist. "We have a huge feeling it's about Anna."

"Of course." Veronica added "Angelo I'm sure you didn't let us fly in your jet all the way from our home, and sleep in your expensive hotel just to look at our faces." She chucked staring at Angelo who tried so hard to act natural. "If it's about what we agreed on the last time Angelo, you don't have to worry. The Clintons always keep their word."

Angelo exhaled

"Mrs Clinton," he raised his gaze to her so he could glare at her too. "I don't remember giving you the permission to feel so comfortable around me or my wife." She frowned.

"Huh?"

"It's Mr and Mrs Trusk to you." He made sure his words were as clear as crystal, even tough he could see how Veronica was shocked by his word choice. It was what he wanted, he was trying to send a message to them, to make them understand that he wasn't going to sit back and do nothing if they kept bothering Anna. Angelo slowly turned to Shink and nodded, giving him his permission to carry on.

"Anna told us you have some tapes about her in your possession." Shink started as he finally raised his gaze to them both. "We'd like to know what it would cost them to be in our possession, all of them."

Veronica scoffed just as Bill took the initiative to return the favor, he glared at Angelo right back.

"We don't know what you're talking about."
Veronica was quick to come to their defense, even though she was very bad at acting pretend. Angelo looked right into her eyes and he could already see through her lies.

"You knew." He told her.

Veronica held her breath. She didn't need Angelo to keep talking to understand where he was driving at.

"You knew all along what your husband did and you just let him do that to her." Angelo squinted his eyes like he still couldn't believe it. He knew he had promised Anna not to ever bring it up but he couldn't help it, just looking at them made his blood boil. It was so difficult trying to keep it in, he was so agitated.

"K-knew w-what?"

Angelo scoffed, he couldn't believe that she wanted to play dumb with it.

Veronica could feel the air in her lungs disappear suddenly, she had become so nervous with how Angelo was looking at her like that. He intimidated her and he had every right to.

"You knew your husband raped her a countless number of times and you didn't do anything about it ."

"That's a lie." Bill suddenly yelled in his defense, hitting the table once so he could pass his message across clearly. He was already shaking all over, he looked so frightened. They all turned to look at him "she's lying. I did no such thing." His voice broke

"Did she tell you that?" Veronica asked Angelo looking him straight in his eyes. She forced a faint chuckle "Ang-mr Trusk those are nothing but lies."

"Lies?" Angelo scoffed  as he slowly turned to her, his frown getting completely worse. "So your husband didn't rape her then?" He asked in the calmest way ever "he didn't have his friends rape her too? He didn't whip her and cut her when she tried to fight back? "

He asked them

"What about how you two extorted money from her illegally for years."

"We did nothing wrong, it wasn't illegal." Veronica raised her voice

"He raped her and you knew about it and did nothing about it!" Angelo had to raise his voice too. He was sick of them both trying to play ignorant, of her pretending like she didn't know what he was talking about. He was completely agitated. "she was just sixteen. She was a child."

"That animal was nothing close to a child. She isn't human, none of them are." Bill said glaring at Shink. Shink scoffed in disbelief, he couldn't imagine he could still talk like that even after being caught . "How can you possibly believe I'd be so low as to do something so despicable with one of them?"

Angelo forced out a faint chuckle

"You see, I asked myself that same question too. Why would someone who has worked for the government for so long want to ruin everything he has worked so hard for just like that? Do you know what could happen if the government got to know what you did to one of their priced investments? Your license could be revoked, you could lose everything and go to jail."

Veronica scoffed, She was trying so hard not to laugh

"Jail?" She chuckled hysterically, "Did I just hear you say jail?"

"Okay Angelo," she nodded. "You can go to the government, right now,  tell them all that you know, all that she told you. You have no proof, just word of mouth, you have nothing. Who would believe you? We have the tapes, what do you think is going to happen, who do you think the government is going to believe when we show them the tapes?"

Angelo smirked

"Come on son," Veronica continued "do you really want to go down this road? Those tapes are all I need to ruin Anna's life. Do you have any idea what could happen to her? To you once the government finds out what she is? Once they find out her little secret?"

"I wouldn't think about doing that if I were you." They all turned to Shink as he pushed a small file to them. Veronica and Bill exchanged confused glances .

"Go ahead. Open it." Angelo encouraged them.

"What is this ?"

"Evidence." Shink had to answer. There was no way Angelo was taking all the spotlight alone.

Veronica slowly picked up the file and opened it while they watched , the huge smile on her face turned to a frown quickly as she glared at the pictures inside."

"Does any of those faces look familiar?" Shink continued watching the surprised look on their faces in delight. "Michelle Clay. She was eight years when you and Bill adopted her, she was ten when Bill raped her to death and threw her body into the ocean and then you both lied to the government, told her she ran away from home and you never heard from her."

Bill had started to tremble, that was it, that was his Achilles heel and they had found it.

"You see I did my research and strands of your hair was found on her skin as evidence but you had your friend at the hospital keep that information away from the government too . "

Shink smirked, he liked where it was going.

"Elizabeth Myers was also ten years old when the government brought her into your home as a foster kid but just like Michelle you raped her till she took her own life three years later. You told the government she was sick,  she was mentally unstable, oh and trust me, we have proof. A woman named Nicole Crow has agreed to testify as a witness against you in court."

Veronica swallowed hard, it was like she had recognized that name immediately. What was going on? How did they know all these things? It was getting really difficult to keep a straight face with all the evidence being thrown at them.

"I believe she used to work for you a long time ago until she resigned right before Anna was brought into your home. But you know what's crazy? "

Shink exhaled

"All these victims were not even Atians, they were humans like you both. Children given to you to protect by the government but what did you do? You both got them killed. You watched your husband ruin their lives Veronica and you did nothing about it. I wonder what the government is going to do when they know all we know."

Veronica shut the file quickly, she tried to hold back the tears in her eyes, the fear in them. There was no way she was going to admit defeat.

"This doesn't make any sense. It could be all made up for all we know."

"Come on Mrs Clinton." Shink scoffed, Angelo grunted. This was getting really frustrating  "You know this isn't close to make belief."

Veronica inhaled sharply, Bill was numb and too shaken in fear to say anything. He just sat straight and kept his eyes on the file in front of them, swallowing hard and squeezing his fingers over and over again; he was tensed, and he was worried, he kept praying Veronica came up with an idea save them.

"I'm going to give you two options," Angelo went on and they turned to him. "Give us the tapes Veronica and we could call it even. I could give you all the dirt we have on you and your husband and forget any of it ever happened, or keep the tapes and we show the government, and have you pay for all the crimes you have committed. "

He gave them a minute, he could see how his words were starting to get to them and how they looked like they needed to think about it.

"How do we know we can trust you?" Veronica's voice trembled as the look on her face changed completely from bravery to just read. "For all we know, this could be just a scheme to get the tapes from us. This tape is our only insurance that Anna doesn't come after us in the future-"

"Just give them the damn tapes Veronica!"Bill yelled,
He was getting sick of it, he wasn't taking it in too well, he was terrified, Angelo and Shink made him terrified. He was already showing too much guilt to even care to defend himself.

Veronica paused for a while.

She had to listen, there was no point trying to bargain, she knew she had only one choice now, and it looked like trusting Angelo was the only sane choice she had. She wasn't in a place to give conditions and ask for one. They were caught. She shut her eyes for a second.

They all watched Veronica place her hand into her bag and get out a tiny bag. Fancy the thought that she brought the tapes with her, she placed it on the table

"Your word to keep our secret is not Enough." She looked at Angelo "We'd be needing something else."

Angelo raised his brows

"And what could that be?" Sam had to ask

Victoria looked at them one after the other

"We need to make sure Anna doesn't come for us after this. That our family is safe from the Atians."

"She won't." Shink assured her

"We'd also want you to cover all expenses for our journey back home."

"The jet would take you back to the United Kingdom first thing tomorrow morning." Shink continued "you'd be made comfortable at the hotel first, feel free to do or ask for whatever you want."

"We'd also be needing some cash." She looked at Angelo, Sam scoffed and rolled his eyes. He couldn't believe it. Angelo on the other hand was calm, he was too calm and ready to listen.

"Ten million."

"Jesus Christ." Sam hit the table.

"I'm sorry Mrs Clinton, But that was never a part of the deal." Shink said in Angelo's defense.

"It's either that or nothing Mr Trusk." Veronica needed Angelo to listen. "Give us the money, the information you have on us and your word and you can have the tapes, all seven of them."

Angelo glared at her, he scoffed and raised his brows

"Come on man." Sam turned to Angelo. "Don't listen to her , ten million is a whole lot of money for her silence.  She's tripping."

"Do we have a deal Mr Trusk?"

Angelo swallowed hard after thinking for a short second and then nodded. He needed to get it done and over with anyway.

"Deal." Angelo said, sitting up straight.

"What?!" Sam said in disbelief.!

"As soon as we know the legibility of these tapes, a deposit of ten million dollars would be made into your account ."

Shink leaned forward to get the bag from her

"These tapes must be really important to you huh? Seeing that you carried it all the way"

"I never let it out of my sight. You'd never know when you'd need insurance isn't it?"

"Are you sure that's all of it?"  Angelo had to ask as Shink gave it to him.

"Don't worry Angelo. We know what's at stake if we try to deceive you." Veronica got up and she took a flash drive shink offered to her, Bill got up too. They watched how Veronica looked at it closely like she was inspecting it. She forced a smile

"I really hope this is worth it mr Trusk. I hope she's worth all the sacrifices. I hope you won't regret all of this one day, abandoning your people for one of them."

"Security would see you off." He didn't need to hear it, he didn't need to know their hopes and he certainly didn't care.

"Come on Bill, let's go." Sam got up as he watched Bill and Veronica leave the room without another word. Was that it? Were they done? Was the storm finally over?

He quickly turned to Angelo and watched how he was trying to return back to his comfort zone in his seat.

"Angelo you can't possibly think of giving them ten million do you?" Angelo smirked.

"Of course not, I'm not stupid." Angelo got up too, his words sent relief through him.

"So what's your plan now? What exactly are in these tapes that's so important?"

Angelo turned to Shink

"You made an extra copy of those files you gave them didn't you?" Shink nodded

"How long would it take to make sure the British government gets it?"

"A few hours,"

Angelo nodded, he liked where it was going.

"Get it done."

"Wait." Sam started just as Angelo slowly turned to him. "you're going to expose them?" He squinted, not quite sure he understood Angelo or could read his intentions.

" I can't let them just walk away Sam, not after everything they've done. Their sins cannot be forgiven, we need to make sure they are arrested as soon as they arrive at the London airport ."

Angelo slowly turned back to Shink

"Here." He handed the bag of tapes to him "Destroy them."

Shink took it slowly and nodded in agreement

It was all over now.
It had to be.