Chapter 1

The hotel receptionist clearly had not expected me to come in person. After a brief moment of shock, she began to apologize again.

“Sir, I am so sorry. This was totally our mistake. I didn’t mean to make you come all the way here!”

I smiled and handed her the money.

“Don’t worry about it. I understand. Everyone makes mistakes.”

I turned to leave before stopping as if remembering something and turned back.

“Oh, actually, I seem to have misplaced my watch. It’s very expensive, kind of worth thousands of hundreds of dollars. Has your cleaning staff found it by any chance?”

The receptionist’s face paled instantly. She quickly waved her hands and said, “No. No way. We log lost-and-found items every day. We’ve never found anything that valuable.”

I quickly reassured her, “I probably dropped it in the hallway, and some passing guest picked it up. Could I maybe please take a quick look at the hallway surveillance footage from that day? If I find any leads, I’ll handle it myself. I don’t want to trouble you.”

The receptionist breathed a sigh of relief and nodded eagerly.

“Of course. I can pull up the footage right now. If you need it, I can even hand you a copy of it.”

After getting what I needed, I thanked her and went home.

I inserted the pen drive into my computer, and the screen displayed the footage. In the footage, Ayla was walking briskly ahead. Behind her, a young boy in a hoodie and jeans followed. Before they even reached the door, the boy eagerly pinned Ayla against the wall. The two kissed passionately, seemingly unable to stop.

The record’s quality was good enough for me to notice the cross necklace around the boy’s neck. I completely froze upon seeing it.

I got that necklace from Skylight Chapel on our second anniversary. I went to the chapel to pray. I fasted for weeks. The priest witnessed my sincerity and was moved, so he gave me the cross necklace.

Back then, Ayla had shed tears upon seeing my frail body. She had acted deeply moved upon receiving that cross.

“Chris, this is the most precious thing anyone’s ever given me. I will guard it with my life.”

Yet she had given that proof of devotion to someone else.

A furious shout from the surveillance footage drew my attention back.

“Hey, keep it down! What’s wrong with you people, getting it on in public?!”

A groggy man rushed out and started yelling. The noise had clearly woken him up. A woman stepped out a moment later. She glanced toward the door, then took out her phone and started recording.

After a long while, the room finally went silent.

I turned off the surveillance footage and called my assistant, John Barnes.

“I need you to run a background check on two people. They were in the room next to 1208 at the Mistvale Hotel two nights ago. Also, buy something for me. I don’t care how much they charge for it—”

Before I could finish the call, Ayla’s incoming call popped up on my screen.

As soon as I answered, her voice came through. She sounded perfectly normal.

“Chris, we’ve finalized the retention results for this batch of interns. Mason White really stood out, so I’ve decided to keep him. Come by tomorrow to sign the paperwork.”

She sounded serious and efficient, which was a completely different person from the wanton woman in the video.

I could not help but stay silent, so she softened her tone and continued, “Dear, when you come to the office tomorrow, I’ve got a surprise for you.”

Suppressing the anger inside me, I let out a cold laugh before saying, “Yeah? What a coincidence. I’ve got a gift for you too.”