The Broken Tale

Verdict

         Chanel just stared at the desk blankly. Through her eyes, Layla could tell that her mind was probably racing. Layla could hear the seconds ticking on the clock. She could hear the distance between each tick growing with each passing moment.
           But finally, Chanel sighed and fixed her professional gaze back on them.
"I believe you, Layla. I genuinely do." She said.
"What?"
Layla knew she must have sounded really stupid but she did not care. She never expected anyone to really believe her let alone a stranger.
Chanel nodded, "Yes."
"How?"
"I do. But me believing you won't be enough to get you out this, Layla. Granted it will help of course but it isn't nearly enough."
Brian and Layla exchanged a confused glance.
"This is much harder than you think. And my power is more limited than you think. It'll take a lot of time, effort and most importantly, risks, to get you out of this, Layla, do you understand?"
Crushed.
Hopeless.
Like always.
              Layla cursed at herself for ever having the smallest bit of hope that she may have ever had. She nodded nevertheless, looking down in an effort to hide the the tears that were choking her throat. She was waiting for the words now. For Chanel to arrest her.
            But they never came.
            "Look, Layla. I know I said that this is risky but it isn't impossible." Chanel continued.
That same exact line.
Layla felt like that line was all she would hear for her entire life.
          Chanel leaned forward with her arms on the desk, "I've seen this happen too many times in my life. And I've seen enough women fall victim to that society's primeval patriarchy rule. I don't want you to be one of them."
"So? Are you gonna help?" Brian asked impatiently.
Chanel nodded, "Yes. I want to help."
Layla looked up at her for the first time since they had arrived. Her eyes welled up with tears as she let out a choked noise that was neither a laugh nor a sob...somewhere in between.
She couldn't believe it!
There was a chance!
Now they had help from someone with so much power that Layla felt almost invincible despite what Chanel herself said.
        The relief was immense, it was like her airways were cleared for her to finally be able to breathe a little. She dropped her head on Chanel's hands.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She said tearfully, "Thank you..."
Chanel held her by the shoulders and slowly helped her sit back up.
"Please, Layla, I don't like this. Don't do this, please." She said with a bright grin, "I'm not doing you any favors, Layla, you're nothing but a victim in this and you deserve to be rewarded for staying strong for so long...not to pay for what other people have done to you."
      Layla wanted to reply but there was too much to say. She was too overwhelmed to speak, all self control she had just faded away. Tears streamed down her face but she was laughing despite how much her body was shivering.
      It didn't matter though.
      They were tears of joy.
      Brian held her and pulled her into his arms, kissing her cheek in rejoice.
"Thank you so much." He said in a cracked voice.
"You have no idea how much you're doing for us, Chanel." Alexander added.
Chanel nodded with a smile.
"Like I said, I'm only going to try to give everyone what they deserve."
She stood up and grabbed her long beige coat from off her chair.
"Come on, let's get out of here." She said, putting on her coat.
"Where are we going?" Brian asked.
"Lunch. I can't be the only one who's hungry, can I?"
"You don't have to, Mrs.Valdez. We know you're busy and-" Brian started.
"Nonsense." She interrupted, "I'd love to if you're all free. My treat."
"Thank you, Mrs.Valdez." Layla replied.
"Of course. And please call me Chanel. We're going to be working together for a while, we have to get rid of these boundries, alright?"
Layla nodded with a smile as she tried to dry her tears. Brian helped her get back up on her feet, the weight of her baby bump was pushing her down.
"But before we go, there's something else." Chanel said.
She bent down and pulled a small, round silver device from a drawer in her desk. She handed it to Layla carefully.
"What's this?" Layla inquired.
"It's not safe for you to be out in public and it's not proper for me to..."
She hesitated. She knew it was rude to say so she chose not to but they understood what she meant.
        She could not be seen out with Layla. A famous entrepreneur and one of the leaders of the ministry of justice should not be seen or photographed out in public with someone accused of child murder.
"Don't get me wrong, Layla, but it'll just make our job even harder."
Layla shook her head, "I get it."
"This is a temporary shapeshifter." Chanel explained, looking at the device, "It can give you a new face for a few hours."
Layla's eyes widened at the thought of a tiny device, no larger than half of a pinkie finger, to be able to do that.
"Wow..."
"Does it work?" Brian asked.
"Of course."
She set the device on Layla's bare neck,
"It'll pinch a little." She informed her.
And it did.
      It felt like a very tiny needle had pierced her skin. But the pain was very quick and easily disappeared. But it was followed by what felt like a cold wave that covered Layla's face and neck. Chanel smiled in satisfaction while Alexander and Brian's jaws dropped.
"There we go." She announced, "Looking like a different person!"
"Literally." Brian said under his breath, "H-How does this world?"
"Be friends with this psycho for a while and you'll start finding holographic elephants and flying trains around." Alexander replied jokingly.
Chanel laughed and held out a small mirror for her.
       Layla's jaw dropped much like Brian and Alexander's had earlier. She looked like an entirely different person. In fact, she saw Asian features staring back at her!  Her eyes had shrank and her pupils turned into a dark shade of green with uneven eyelids and short lashed, a far cry from the big blue eyes she had herself. Her lips too had slimmed and her jawline had turned into a seemingly perfect v-line. Her defined arched eyebrows had turned flat and straight.
"Wow... "
"What do you think?" Chanel asked enthusiastically.
"How...?"
Chanel shrugged, "I've always been obsessed with making crazy robotics shit."
        Every time Layla had seen Ali around his employees, all seemed to tremor in his presence. Or seem annoyed at the very least. But Chanel was a different concept. She waved, smiled and greeted almost all of her employees that they passed on their way out of the spiraling, head spinning company buildings. The employees all greeted her back with what seemed to have been genuine smiles of affection or respect at the very least. They all seemed calm and very loose around her, as if they were speaking to their friend and not their CEO.
"We'll take my car." Chanel said once they were outside, "I'll get someone to bring yours to us later."
"It's really oka-"
"Please, Brian, can you say yes to one thing for once?"
Brian sighed and kept his objections to himself.
       Chanel had a driver bring her car out for her. A white car that Layla saw from the logo was from her husband's line. She remembered Ali wanting to get one of them but contemplating due to the price. It was one of the latest models and defiantly one of the most expensive. But not a problem for her, Layla thought, not only did her husband own the brand but she had more than enough money of her own to afford all of the manufactured ones.
       Chanel spoke non stop during the ride there. She was not the annoying type of talkative though, instead she was the type that could engage everybody into a conversation singhandedly and give them some level of enjoyment from it. She asked Layla about her hobbies, likes and dislikes. And about Brian's too; although, it was more business related topics she discussed with him. But even then, she barely said much about herself.
Even then, she managed to make them laugh for the first time in what must have been months.
       "Chanel, I don't think there are any restaurants around here." Alexander said once he had broken away from their conversation long enough to notice them driving by the docks.
"Who ever said we were going to a restaurant?"
"What?"
"You know I don't like American restaurants, Alexander." Chanel replied.
"Australian resturants aren't better."
"Yes they are."
"You're only saying that because you're from there."
"You don't sound Australian though." Layla cut in.
Chanel laughed, "The accent, huh?"
"I honestly thought you were American the first I met you."
"That's what everybody thinks."
"It's because of your accent, I guess. The American accent speaks volumes." Brian replied.
Chanel pulled over by a further spot on the docks. There was only one yacht anchored down. A large white speed yacht with blue glass windows that sparkled in the sun. They all followed Chanel out of the car, none swing at the ship more than Layla.
"Wow..."
"Jack's doing well with these things." Alexander commented.
"He's never satisfied with them though."
"We'll see if he'll be satisfied once his flying ships are launched."
"I don't think he'll be. Anyways, shall we?" Chanel said, gesturing for Layla to go first, "After you."
The deck was luxurious. A black leather sofa with no back lined the right side of the ship in an L shape. A few steps up on the front of the ship lead to a long table already set out.
"Don't you need staff around?" Brian asked.
"No, these new ships don't really need anyone except the guests." Chanel answered as the ramp behind them closed.
The ship barely made any noise at all but Layla could feel the floor shaking a bit as they set out on the sea.
"I can't be the only one who's hungry." Chanel said too enthusiastically.
She walked up the steps to the table, the three of them following behind her.
The table had already been prepared. The different dishes of food made Layla wonder if the ship really didn't need any staff. She didn't think robots could prepare all that food anyway but she did not ask. Alexander and Chanel were the first to sit. They had already gotten themselves into what seemed to be very hearty discussion and they had almost forgotten that they were also there.
Brian pulled a chair out for Layla. She felt her cheeks flush with warmth the way they had the first time he had courted her like that.
"Why, thank you, Mister Levinos." She said jokingly, sitting down.
"My pleasure." He replied with a chuckle as he sat down.
"Please, you can start." Chanel said, finally breaking away from her conversation with Alexander.
"Thanks."
Layla had no appetite left for lunch. But Brian insisted that she eat at least for the baby's sake. Alexander and Brian had no problem engaging in conversation with Chanel. But it was mostly business conversations. About countries they had been to, people they had met, marketing and how different business was in different countries. Layla was mostly left out, she kept to herself and played with the food on her plate.
"I think Japan's the easiest when it comes to business." Chanel said, "Especially with Miller Corprations, I think they're so flexible when it comes to technology."
"Only if you're a big name already. Otherwise there's not a chance you can compete with other tech businesses there." Alexander answered, sipping his wine.
Chanel emptied another glass of wine and set it down, already refilling it before her body had the chance to digest the first ten she had had.
"You still have a thing for alcohol?" Alexander asked.
"No, I just don't get the chance to drink much these days."
Alexander chuckled, "Kids are giving you a handful."
"It's hard to find the time to drink between work and two children."
"You hear that, Brian? Enjoy your last month of free drinking."
"Oh shut it. You have another eight months at best before you fall into the same rabbit hole."
As Chanel tried to refill her glass again, her purse began vibrating. She set the glass down and pulled her phone out from her purse. Her face lit up as she looked down at the caller ID.
"Excuse me." She said, getting up from her chair, "I have to take this."
She walked down the steps, pacing back and forth by the railing as she answered the phone. Her face was glowing in the sun almost as brightly as her smile while she spoke. Layla turned back around to her food. But as she reached for her glass of water, she saw Alexander staring forward with a smirk, his fingers tracing the neck of his glass. As she turned around, she saw what he was staring so attentively at.
His eyes were crawling all over Chanel.
          Layla too could see that Chanel was very beautiful. Her brown hair slicked back into a tight bun, perfectly arched eyebrows and elegant red lips complimented her tight white dress that reached down to her knees. All complete with her beige coat, big diamond earrings and white heels. She was the epitome of what billionaire entrepreneurs looked like though she did not have the same cold, narcissistic behavior of most of them.
        But either way, Alexander had a girlfriend and they were expecting a baby. It was wrong for him to look at other women with such...inappropriate gazes.
        Chanel too noticed as she turned around. Her smile faded and she glared at him for a moment before she looked away. It was clear that she was uncomfortable as she was already married with two children. But she was already too used to it from what Layla had heard about her for her to make trouble out of it.
Layla cleared her throat as loudly as she could, finally getting his attention. Alexander looked away and turned her gaze back on his plate.
"The least you could do is keep your dirty eyes off of a married woman." Layla commented, trying to keep her rage under control, "Is Talya and your baby not enough for you?"
He stayed silent and kept his gaze away from everyone.
"What? Cat got your tounge? Or are you fantasizing about having it down Chanel's throat?"
"Babe, that's enough." Brian cut in calmly, "It'll be so offending if Chanel hears that."
"Let her hear it goddamit! This son of a bitch is checking out other married women when his girlfriend is carrying his child!"
"Layla, you don't know how much Chanel's putting on the line to help us. I don't think it'd be nice of us to offend her." Brian explained silently.
Before Layla could answer, Chanel returned. She sat back down.
"Sorry, it was my husband." She said, "He wanted to know when I'd be landing tonight."
"You're flying back?"
"I was supposed to."
"I hope you don't mind me asking. But once you go back to Austrailia, what are we supposed to do?" Brian asked, "Will you be back?"
"Once I leave, I'll be back within a month. But until then, we'll have to suit things through."
"But how can we do that in one day?" Layla asked.
"Yes, I realized that too on the way here. That's why I postponed some meetings so I can stay here an extra week."
"Well, you didn't h-"
"Yes, I did, Layla. These things can't be sorted out in one day." Chanel interrupted, "An investigation of your case is going on. If I know anything about Ali Elmar, it's that he isn't stupid. I'm sure he's ventured up some fake evidence beforehand."
"Like you said, fake evidence."
"Fake evidence, yes. But proving that it's fake evidence will take evidence of its own. And even if we do that, proving that he's been abusing you and getting him to justice will also take evidence." Chanel explained, "So we'll need to find that evidence or else you'll have no chance."
Layla swallowed nervously.
"B-But we have n-no evidence." She stuttered.
"Being an FBI agent is more complicated than you think. There's probably evidence from everywhere you've been over the past four years."
"Do you have anything in mind?" Brian asked.
"We can retrieve your hospital records. Maybe find witnesses and get their testimonies."
"But...there are no witnesses. Ali never-"
"Quite the contrary, Layla, there are many."
"There is...?"
"You...maybe that friend of his...the one that you said..."
Layla knew why she was hesitating. She did not want to make her uncomfortable.
"Tony." Layla said.
"Yes, Tony. He's one of the most important witnesses we have at hand."
"But Tony's one of Ali's best friends, he'd never betray him."
Chanel leaned forward, "Layla, darling. Humans are just animals who have found a few coats to wrap around themselves. Once you rip through the coats of morality, culture and logics, you're left with just another species of animals who have nothing but their survival instincts. And survival instincts, Layla, are completely self centered."
"And that means?" Brian asked.
"It means once you threaten Tony's freedom, he'll get into survival mode and sing like a little bird."
"I doubt it."
"Threatening a life sentence can turn even the strongest life long relationships on their heads. Plus, psychopaths like Ali can't form stable and long lasting relationships."
"So...you're going to arrest him and juice it out of him?" Layla asked.
"No, sadly it's not that simple." Chanel answered, "I'll have to issue an arrest warrant first."
"Aren't you the one that gives arrest warrants?" Brian asked.
"Usually yes. But now, the situation is much different. I'll basically have to turn the whole case up on its head. The victim is actually the criminal and the criminal is the victim."
"H-How long will it take?"
Chanel shrugged and sipped her wine.
"Depends on how lucky I can get. Maybe weeks, maybe months." She answered.
"M-Months? B-But my baby is due in less than a month." Layla coaxed, "What will I do? I can't give birth in prison!"
      Chanel didn't say anything but her positive expression quickly changed when she realized that Layla was so far along in her pregnancy. She drank down another glassful of the red wine and stared down at the table with her hands over her mouth.
     She stayed silently like that for a while, allowing anticipation to eat away at the rest of them. But finally, she sighed and looked up at them.
"I'll have to talk to Luna about this at some point." She said, "But chances are, until the investigation is wrapped up, you'll be taken into custody. We don't know if you'll get out of custody or not if you get taken. We don't know if we can find enough evidence to convict Ali or even get you out of trouble in that time so you may remain in custody for months. And if it fails, you'll be arrested first hand." 
"So you're saying?" Alexander said slowly.
"Yes, Alex. I don't think Layla should be turned over to the authorities just yet."
"But isn't that breaking the rules?" Brian asked suspiciously.
"Rules are there to give justice to everyone. So if the rules aren't giving justice to those who deserve it, then there's no reason to play by them."
"I told you Chanel isn't like the others." Alexander said in a lighter tone.
"But why would you break the rules?" Layla asked, "What if we get caugh? Won't you get into trouble?"
"Yes, I most likely will. But do you know why I chose to work in the FBI, Layla?"
"Wh-Why?"
"I never needed the money."
Obviously, Layla thought.
"I wanted to bring people to justice. To help people who were wronged. And if I abandon you after all you've been through just because I'm scared of getting into hot water then am I really doing what I wanted?"
Layla lowered her head, her pupils already were starting to soak in tears.
"I've been pregnant before too. I wouldn't want to give birth in prison either and especially not when I've always been the wronged one in the story." Chanel continued with a sigh.
"Thank you...for everything."