Chapter 4

I unlocked the tablet and proceeded to open an encrypted folder.

It contained the daily vlogs I had filmed over the past three years.

All sorts of snippets of life were captured. There was footage of Eunice when I brought her home following her amnesia, of her pulling faces when she was pregnant, of Eve’s birth, and of her learning to help Eve change her diapers.

More than seven hundred days of memories had been recorded in a series of montages.

I turned the tablet toward Eunice and Bruno before hitting play.

It was a video of Eunice in an apron with dinosaur motifs printed on it. She was trying to help Eve change out of her diapers.

She was slightly hesitant, but also very cautious with every move she made because she was afraid of hurting Eve.

After she managed the task, she affectionately kissed Eve’s soft, tender cheek. Then, her eyes turned crescent when she smiled at the camera and said with delight, “My sweet daughter is so beautiful.”

My voice could be heard off-screen. “Careful you don’t wake her up, dear.”

The joy in my voice was unmistakable.

Then, I played another video taken some time at three in the morning.

Eunice was in the kitchen making milk for Eve. Her hair resembled a bird's nest, and her eyes were still bleary with sleep.

Even with her eyes barely open, she could find the can containing the milk formula. She skillfully dripped a drop of water on the back of her palm to make sure the temperature was right before mixing it with the formula.

Once the formula was ready, she ambled back to the bedroom where she cradled Eve in her arms to feed her. Her movements were very delicate and gentle.

The third video I played was of me applying cream to Eunice’s lower back.

The camera zoomed in on a roughly three-centimeter-long scar across her right lower back, which looked slightly inflamed.

My voice could be heard nagging at her when I applied the cream, “Your scar gets inflamed easily, especially during the rainy season. Be careful of the temperature when you shower, or else you’ll irritate it.”

Meanwhile, Eunice was lying on the sofa and turned toward me with a smile, “I’ll be fine, just be gentle with the cream. By the way, Eve learned to roll herself over! Did you see it?”

Her profile looked especially gentle because of the warm hue.

With that, I turned off the video.

An oppressive silence dominated the lobby.

All of the executives, security guards, and the receptionist were staring blankly with their mouths agape. They looked at the darkened screen of the tablet, then to Eunice, who was still holding Eve, and at last, to Bruno, who had turned pale.

Though Eunice was still holding onto Eve, her gaze was fixed intently on the tablet.

“When…” Her voice, filled with disbelief, cracked slightly. “When were these videos taken?”

“As long as almost three years ago.” I stated plainly while keeping the tablet in the bag, “After you lost your memory and fainted behind my bar, covered in blood, I rushed you to the hospital and paid for the eight-hundred-thousand-dollar surgery for you.

“When you woke up, you couldn’t remember anything from the past, so I let you work at my bar to slowly pay off your debt.

“That was up until a month ago, when you said you were heading out to buy something for Eve, only to never come back.”

I spoke slowly and with great emphasis on every word, “I have kept two years and seven months of footage.”

Eunice’s brows furrowed tighter with every word I said.

When she looked down at Eve, Eve was looking back at her and blinking her large, jet-black eyes, which looked like orbs.

Then, Eve reached forward to graze her hands against Eunice’s chin.

It was a soft, delicate touch.

Eunice felt herself stiffening involuntarily.

Meanwhile, Bruno’s knuckles had turned white from gripping his hands too tightly.

He quickly composed himself by forcing a strained smile and told Eunice, “Don’t listen to what he’s saying. Think about it, you can fake any kind of video with advanced AI technology these days. He must have done some research on your background before making these videos to trick you!”

Then, he turned to me with a sharp look in his eyes, “Since you claim she’s been living at your place for over two years, do you have any proof of that? Other than these videos that could very well have been faked, do you have any substantial evidence?”

The commenters were not sure what to believe.

[That’s true, the videos can be faked.]

[AI face-swapping can pull it off very easily.]

[Sure, but the kid does look like her…]

[She looks like she’s held a baby many times in her life too.]

I watched the way Bruno’s face had been twisted in a grimace before producing two more items from my bag.

The first was the payment receipt amounting to eight hundred thousand dollars dated three years ago. Even though it had turned yellow, it still bore the hospital’s official stamp.

The second item was a crumpled piece of paper with a few meager lines scribbled across it in crooked handwriting.

“I owe Julian Vance eight hundred thousand dollars for the surgery. Signed, Eunice Latour. 17 May, 2023.”

I presented the IOU to Eunice.

“You could barely remember your own name at the time. When I noticed you were wearing a custom-made watch, I figured you must be someone of status, so I had you write an IOU, thinking that you should be able to pay me back what you owe.”

Eunice stared at the IOU.

The handwriting was indeed rather crooked, but some of the minor details, such as certain strokes at the end of certain letters, were characteristic of her style.

The look in her eyes tightened.

Bruno gathered himself and tried to protest again, “Well, an IOU could be faked too! You could have forged her handwriting!”

“Oh.”

I kept the IOU before shooting him a look.

“Mr. Carter, you’ve been making claims about me faking the video and the IOU.”

The pace I was speaking at was so aggravatingly slow that it unnerved everyone listening.

“In that case, would you tell me where the scar on Eunice’s waist is? Is it on the left side or right side of her waist, and how long is it? Did you know how she got it?”

Bruno’s expression stiffened completely. His lips quivered as if he was trying to say something, but no sound escaped his lips.

Everyone in the lobby was staring at him.

Even Eunice was watching him with an inscrutable look on her face.

Fine beads of sweat trickled down his forehead.

He blinked frantically before finally stammering, “H-how would I know about something so private about her? She wouldn’t expose... expose herself in public.”

“On the right side of her waist.” I interrupted him curtly, “It is three centimeters long, and whenever it rains, it would itch.”

I then turned to Eunice, “Whenever you shower, you like to run hot water over it because it helps relieve the itch. Am I right?”

Eunice instinctively reached around her back to feel the skin on the right side of her waist. There was indeed a scar right underneath the layer of her shirt and suit jacket.

When she felt it, her expression changed.

The commenters were in a riot.

[She touched her waist! She felt it!]

[So he wasn’t lying?]

[It was the right side of her waist! He had the location down to a T!]

[What’s the deal with Bruno, then? He said that he knew everything about her!]

[How could he not know about her scar?]

[Look at the way she holds the child and the scar on her waist... How did this guy manage to get so many details right?]

Bruno turned pale when he observed Eunice’s gestures.

He was shaking all over by this point. It was hard to tell whether it was from sheer anger or fear.

“You... you…” He jabbed his shaking finger at me. “You’ve gone and invaded her privacy just to pull off your devious scam!”