Chapter 2 The Man in the Photograph

The next morning, I took a cab to Camille's company.

The moment I walked through the doors, there was no sign of any data-leak crisis.

The receptionist was busy inflating balloons, while the conference room was piled high with champagne and flowers. They were clearly setting up for a celebration.

Nora wasn't at her desk.

One of the new employees, completely unaware of who I was, walked past carrying a stack of supplies.

Mistaking me for someone from another department, she casually remarked, "What are you standing around for? Come and help out. Mr. Ashbourne just got back from overseas after landing such a huge investment for the company. It's only fair that Ms. Everhart tags along on a vacation with him so they can both unwind. I heard they knew each other back in college. How romantic."

I continued farther into the office. At the end of the hallway, I spotted a new photograph on the company's display wall.

Camille stood in the middle of a press conference in a sharp business suit, shoulder to shoulder with a man in a tailored suit.

Beneath the photo, the caption read, "Reunited After Ten Years, Renewing the Dream That Started It All."

The man was Cedric Ashbourne. Yet, Camille had never once mentioned him to me.

I pulled out my phone and had just taken a picture of the display when hurried footsteps sounded behind me.

"Tristan? What are you doing here?" Nora came running over, breathless. She immediately stepped in front of the wall, forcing a stiff smile. "Didn't Camille say you were staying at home to rest? Things are a mess around here…"

"Who is Cedric?" I asked, looking at her.

She gulped. "He is the investor's representative. Tristan, don't get the wrong idea. We didn't make the data crisis public because we didn't want the employees to panic. The higher-ups are all trying to figure out a solution."

"A primary data leak that even the head of technology didn't know about, huh?"

I held my phone up in front of her. On it was the photo she'd sent to the group chat last night.

"So, you needed to use a month-old photo to deceive me?"

Nora's expression froze, and she was unable to speak.

Just then, the front doors opened. Camille walked in, and the moment she saw me, her expression shifted.

But what caught my eye was the faint red mark visible at her collarbone beneath her half-unbuttoned shirt.

Nora looked as though she'd been granted a reprieve. She hurriedly told Camille that I'd misunderstood what was going on between her and Cedric.

Camille grabbed my wrist and pulled me into her office.

"Tristan, this is a workplace, not somewhere you come to track your wife's whereabouts."

I gave a cold, humorless smile. "If I hadn't looked into it, I would've missed my own wife having a candlelit dinner with another man in a luxury underwater suite."

Camille froze, and her composure cracked for a moment.

Then, incredibly, she turned around and blamed me instead.

"I didn't tell you because I knew you'd react exactly like this. Cedric is just an investor. The underwater suite was the accommodation the other party specifically requested. I was only there to discuss the financing. Can't you be reasonable for once?"

"Did discussing financing require him to wear the bracelet I'd gotten?"

I pulled my wrist free from her grasp.

A flicker of panic crossed Camille's eyes, but she quickly concealed it.

"The bracelet was just in my bag. Cedric happened to see it and thought it looked nice, so I lent it to him for a quick photo. That's all."

She straightened her collar. "Are you really going to jeopardize my work over a piece of jewelry?"

She thought this was nothing more than a problem over the bracelet.

I didn't argue. Instead, I turned and headed for the door.

But as I turned, my eyes swept across Camille's desk. Buried beneath a messy stack of documents was a black-and-gold hotel key-card sleeve.

On the back, in Camille's handwriting, were the words, "I owe you the underwater suite and ten whole years. This time, I'll make it up for both."