Chapter 1

It usually took 40 minutes to drive from my parents' house to my rented apartment at Starlight Avenue Residences downtown.

As the roads were unusually clear tonight, I pressed down hard on the accelerator.

While waiting at a traffic light, I opened the delivery app.

My girlfriend, Leah Suthers, and I shared a account. We usually ordered takeout through it to meet the minimum spending requirements for discounts or to use our vouchers.

I tapped on the order history, and right at the top sat an order that had just been delivered. The order had been placed half an hour ago.

Items ordered: One hot coffee and a box of men's disposable cotton underwear.

Order placed by: Leah Suthers.

The delivery phone number was mine because this account was linked to my main number. She had clearly forgotten to switch the recipient information when placing the order.

Moments later, the light turned green, and the cars behind me started honking impatiently.

I stepped on the gas and dialed Leah's number.

It rang a couple of times before she answered.

"Hello, honey? Why are you suddenly calling to check up on me? I was just about to take a shower." Leah sounded perfectly calm, even slipping into her usual, coquettishly affectionate tone.

My knuckles went white around the steering wheel as I tried my best to keep my voice steady.

"I'm not checking up on you. A delivery rider just called me and said the men's underwear ordered for delivery to Starlight Avenue was out of stock and asked if he could substitute it with a different brand. Were you the one who placed the order?"

There was a slight pause on the other end, but just for a second.

Then Leah sighed, sounding slightly exasperated. "Oh, what a fuss over nothing. I thought there was no need to bother you with such a trivial matter. I didn't want you getting the wrong idea."

"What trivial matter?" I asked coldly.

"It's about the new intern in our department, Micah Paltrov. You've met him. Anyway, this afternoon, the pipes in that run-down apartment he's renting burst, and the whole place got flooded. But he wasn't able to reach his landlord because it's Thanksgiving."

Leah's tone was utterly natural, as though she were discussing the most ordinary thing in the world.

"He's just a young guy trying to make a living here on his own. It must have been tough for him, and now he doesn't even have a place to stay in the middle of the night. He called me to ask for leave because he might not be able to come to work tomorrow since he has to deal with the plumbing.

"I figured that, as his direct supervisor, I couldn't just leave him stranded on a holiday. And since neither of us is home, our place is just sitting empty anyway. So I took the liberty of giving him the door code and letting him stay at our place for a couple of nights."

She paused, her voice softening further.

"As for the delivery, he texted me earlier saying all his clothes were soaked and he didn't even have a clean pair of underwear to change into. I was just showing a little concern for one of my subordinates, so I ordered some things to be delivered to him.

"I was worried the delivery might go to the wrong place, so I just selected the default address and forgot that the contact number was yours. Honey, you're not going to get mad at me over something so trivial, are you? If it bothers you, I'll have him move out first thing tomorrow morning."

Her explanation was perfect, and she'd even turned the tables on me. If I lost my temper now, I'd be the one who was petty and unreasonable for making a fuss over nothing and showing no empathy.

I took a deep breath and stared at the dark road ahead. "Oh, I see. It's fine. Helping a colleague who's having a hard time is the right thing to do."

"I always knew you were an understanding person, honey. Anyway, I'm going to go shower now. This awful Brockdale weather has me covered in sweat."

"Okay. Go ahead."

After I hung up, a cold laugh escaped me.

Leah was an extremely cautious and shrewd person. She'd crafted her story perfectly. If I were some naive young fool who didn't know better, I might actually have believed her load of nonsense.

But I knew Leah too well.

She was ruthlessly self-serving. She'd normally insist on splitting even a department dinner down to the last cent. How could someone like her suddenly become so generous as to lend our private home to a newly hired intern? And be thoughtful enough to buy him hot coffee and underwear?

I pushed the car up to 50 mph and sped toward Starlight Avenue Residences.