Chapter 3

My mom and I did not take a single bite of the exorbitantly priced meal.

I planned on getting the room key first to settle in. Then, I would find a way to get a charger for my phone and get a handle on the situation.

“My last name is Shelton. I’d like the key for the top-floor presidential suite reserved in the system.”

I handed my ID to the front desk receptionist.

Just as the receptionist was about to enter the information into the computer, Sasha snatched my ID. She then casually tossed it onto the counter after a single glance.

“The presidential suite is reserved for my brother to entertain his distinguished guests!”

She crossed her arms defiantly and spoke while rolling her eyes. “Poor schmucks like you who can’t even shell out ten thousand for a meal without whining are only fit to stay in the most remote standard room on the first floor!”

I wore a deep frown.

I had been personally involved in the design of this hotel. The top-floor presidential suite had always been marked as [Reserved for the Boss] in the internal system.

Without my exclusive password, no one could change the room’s status.

She had actually downgraded my reservation without my authorization.

I had enough, so I walked straight past the counter and into the front desk work area.

“Hey! What are you doing? Who let you in?” the receptionist shouted.

I shoved her aside and placed both hands on the keyboard.

As the hotel’s actual controlling shareholder and a contributor to its system architecture, I could recite the system’s backdoor commands with my eyes closed.

In just a few keystrokes, I pulled up the status log for the top-floor presidential suite.

Looking at the data, I laughed bitterly with rage.

Since last month, the presidential suite that was listed at eight thousand eight hundred dollars per night, had been secretly resold to a group for two thousand dollars per hour.

Every afternoon, they would bring in dozens of people to take turns shooting photos. They were clearly using this hotel to pretend to be socialites.

I did not object to such behavior. The issue was the fact that they were using the suite I had reserved for myself.

Two thousand per hour amounted to sixteen thousand dollars for an eight-hour day. I feared all that money had probably gone straight into Sasha and her brother’s personal accounts!

I blurted out everything I had been thinking in one go.

A look of panic flashed across Sasha’s face, but she immediately turned the tables on me.

“What nonsense! You’re illegally hacking into the hotel’s computer system!”

She pointed at me and shouted to the security guards outside, “Security, this woman is a hacker! She’s stealing our hotel’s trade secrets!

“Confiscate their room keys immediately and kick these two cheapskates out!

Several security guards immediately rushed toward us.

My mom pointed at the lead security guard and warned him sternly, “Try and touch us. Restricting a person’s freedom unlawfully is against the law!

“You’re just security guards hired by the hotel. You have no authority to enforce the law on us!

“If you dare lay a finger on us today, can you afford the legal consequences?”

The security guards were just employees after all. My mom’s words shook them, and none of them dared take another step forward.

Suddenly, a startled cry rang out from the lobby lounge. “Oh, no! My diamond necklace is gone!”

A woman dressed head to toe in designer labels rushed to the front desk in a panic. She was stomping her feet in frustration.

“I just went to the restroom and left my purse on the couch in the lobby. When I came back, my necklace was gone!

“It’s a limited edition. It’s worth over two million dollars!

Sasha’s eyes darted around. Then, she immediately pointed at my mom and me before shouting, “It was them! Just a moment ago, these two were sitting over by that couch!

“These cheapskates can’t even bring themselves to pay a ten-thousand-dollar bill. They’re definitely the ones who stole it!”