The Vindication Gents

Chapter 3.1

Kiara Hoffman’s POV

The same dream, the same nightmare. I gasped as I woke up startled in the middle of the night. The events from 4 years ago are still vivid in my mind as I was waking up, sweating all over in my bed. I looked at the clock that said 4 AM. I groaned as I had just got some sleep merely 2 hours ago. This nightmare is starting to get to me.

I got out of bed. I went to look at the window where the city lights were shiny in their glory. I sighed as I looked at it. My mother’s hometown, as well as my own. After what happened 4 years ago, I met my father. He was a scientist and his name was Danial Clarke. He was a brilliant scientist.

I don’t know what made my mother think that he was dangerous, but he seemed that he was ready to redeem himself. At first, I was skeptical, but after a few days with him, I can see that he was sincere in restoring his reputation.

My mother met him when she was an intern at his company. He was the lead scientist on the teleporting machine that might seem far-fetched, but he managed to break a code that can help us travel from place to place.

She had fallen in love with him. They went on dates and decided it was time to build a family. They were engaged by the time when my father’s creation was the debate of the century. My father told the government that he would only use it for good.

But it’s a shame, his funding was shut down. My mother was not impressed by him anymore and decided to call off the wedding. And she ran back to Frankfurt, where she was born and all the Hoffman lineage were.

‘Your mother was a good woman, she trusted in me until my reputation was tainted by someone, someone named Debrun,’ my father said as he looked outside the window of the house when I had teleported for the first time.

‘But it seems that all my work, my hard work, and research has come to a result. And that is you, my dear. Oh, how could I ever be proud?!’ He said with such joy as he looked at me before he slumped back into his chair.

‘My time was no longer prime, my dear. All I wanted to know was that I had succeeded in my quest and now I can go in peace,’ he said as he drew his last breath when he was sitting as we played chess together last year. I can still remember the smile that he had when I think he saw my mother for the last time as they departed for the other world.

I mourned for my father and my mother. I went to Frankfurt to make acquaintance with my relatives. Most of them did not believe me except for one of my great aunts, Aunt Clara. She has been my supporter and helped me to bury my father next to my mother.

‘Us, Hoffman, must stick together. So what if you have been gone for 22 years and decided then it is time for you to take your place on the inheritance. Believe me, child, you did the right thing,’ she said as we were standing over their grave.

‘I don’t know, aunty. It can get worse than a family feud,’ I said as I looked at their tombstones. Aunt Clara put her arms around my shoulder. I leaned into her rosy scent.

‘It’s okay, child. All good things will come in time,’ she said, before I told her my insane plan. She refused it at first and refused to go by herself. To search for who I was.

‘All the best for you, child, but how can you pay for your expenses?’ She asked as I was ready to get out of Germany. I laughed at her as I took the bus.

‘It’s okay, I have a job,’ I said before I went to wave at her and that was the last thing I saw her.

When I was struggling to get my feet on the ground when I was trying to balance my life and work, the news of her death came to me. I couldn’t go back as I was disowned and despised by my relatives. I mourned for her from afar and sometimes, I saw in my dreams that she would smile at me.

She left the world in peace and I was glad that she did.

One day, there was a stranger that came from a faraway land named France. It’s not that far, just across the border from Switzerland. He was looking for something to travel to, the cheapest of our packages. I was the one in charge of his accommodation.

‘Hello, monsieur, what can I help you with today?’ I asked him in French as he looked at me. I was enchanted by his hazel eyes, his slick black hair and his smile that could kill a thousand maidens’ hearts.

‘Yes, I would love a package for Denmark, please. I suppose you can give me accommodation for a business trip, if you may,’ he said as he looked at me. I could feel that a blush was forming on my face.

‘Of course, monsieur, just a second,’ I said as I was typing into my computer.

‘Say, do you have any plans for tonight?’ He asked me as I was focusing on my job. But his presence was a distraction itself.

‘I don’t know, it depends,’ I said as I was looking at him, smiling politely.

‘Would you like to go to dinner with me then?’ He asked as I looked at him. I blinked my eyes a few times as I didn’t believe what I had just heard.

‘Dinner?’ I asked. He nodded.

‘With you?’ I said. He nodded.

‘Tonight?’ I said and he nodded again.

‘Unless you have other inquiries that you need to make,’ he said as he looked at me with those hazel eyes of his. I shook my head like a robot. He smiled.

‘Good, I will pick you up at 8 then,’ he said before he went out of the office. I didn’t know what was going on until I just realized two things; I didn’t know where he would pick me up and I didn’t even ask his name!

I thought rationally that night when I was standing outside the office for hours and hours, hoping that he would come. It was 30 minutes past 8 pm and to my disappointment, I was stood up by a name that I just had the decency to check: Charles Debrun.

I felt like I had heard this surname before. I went to look it up and searched for it. It turned out that he was the son of a famous scientist, Albert Debrun, the man that cracked the teleportation machine, and how he managed to get it funded for his research. I went on to search even further. He was once a colleague of my father.

‘If I could go back in time, I would not have to trust that Debrun even for a second,’ he said as he was telling me about my mother and his life. I gripped my hand as I read the news headline for tonight.

‘The son of the famous scientist Albert Debrun, Charles Debrun, who happened to follow in step with his father, was attending the scientific conference right here in Frankfurt. And you can see that he was standing with his date, Sophia Hansen. There was a rumor that they might be engaged and be wed at the end of this year,’ the announcer said as I looked at him, smiling without care as I looked at his fiancée. Slim, blond and with blue eyes. No wonder he hit on me. I looked just like her.

‘Damn you, Debrun. I swear on my father’s grave I will make you suffer,’ I said as I was seeing red before I closed my eyes and I was in a boxing arena. I don’t know how I got there but I was about to be punched by a woman as I was standing in her way.

I wasted no time before I went to kick her with all my might. My foster father thought that it was a good idea for me to have military training and I happened to have one when I was a child.

I was kicking and punching this poor woman before she stumbled to the floor and I was declared the winner. But I was disqualified as I was not on the list, but luckily, one man seemed to be interested in me. Let’s just call him Boss as he described himself. And he would be the reason why I was in this situation in the first place.

‘Say, what’s your name?’ He asked as I was walking out of the door. I looked at him as he was casually dressed in black jeans and a sweater. He had his leather jacket on him as well.

‘Why should that be any of your concern then?’ I asked as I walked out of the alley and I knew that I shouldn’t be there after hours.

‘Are you Danial Clarke’s girl?’ He said. I stopped in my track before I looked at him.

‘Who would like to know?’ I asked as I looked at him.

‘The name’s Boss. You can just call me that. I wanted to offer you something that you might be useful in this case,’ he said as he was leaning on the wall. I was about to get out of the door before I turned around.

‘Not interested,’ I said as I opened the door and left him.

‘Wait, I know you want to be like the person that you adored her so much. What is her name again? Ah! Black widow. You can be like her,’ he said as he looked at me. Now, this part got me interested in his job.

‘What is it about?’ I asked as I stood in front of him. He smirked before he showed me a card.

‘Let’s just say I’m a trader,’ he said before I looked at the card. It’s worth a million jobs as I read it. I smiled before I held my hand at him.

‘Deal but I need a favor,’ I said as I looked at him.

‘Anything,’ he said.

‘I want to get back at Charles Debrun, as you might know him,’ I said smugly. He nodded.

‘Deal,’ he shook my hands and everything was history.