Chapter 75: Chapter 75 The Truth Emerges
Elara
I stared at the security video from every angle. I focused on the person in black who used a keycard to get into the room.
I kept zooming in and out, then turned to the manager next to me.
"Don’t you think this person looks a lot like that guest?" I asked.
The duty manager leaned closer, squinting at the monitor. His eyes went wide with realization. "Elara, are you saying someone set us up on purpose?"
I rubbed my temples, feeling a headache coming on as I thought back to Selina’s smug face earlier. That satisfied little smile when she saw the chaos unfolding. She would totally go this far just to hurt me. That girl always loved causing drama and playing innocent victim afterward.
The answer had to be this guest.
I opened his file on the front desk computer.
Leo , 38, senior member of the music society and one of the orchestra’s founders. Selina joined the orchestra three years ago after Leo gave her his personal endorsement.
They clearly knew each other well - maybe too well.
But would he really destroy his entire career just to frame me for Selina? Was it worth throwing away decades of reputation?
My mind raced through the possibilities.
If this got out, no major music venue would hire him again. His name would be poison in classical music circles.
Even without formal charges, no musician could survive after breaking an instrument on purpose.
It’s professional suicide - like a chef poisoning their own food. Career over, reputation destroyed forever.
But then again, people did crazy things for love. Or money. Or power. Or all three.
Leo was staying on the ninth floor.
After the mystery woman broke the violin and left it in the cleaning closet, Leo came back from his leisurely dinner at the restaurant on the third floor. He took the elevator up thirty minutes later and "discovered" his precious violin was gone.
The mystery woman disappeared down the stairs, and Leo appeared via elevator. Perfect timing that was way too convenient to be coincidence.
But I couldn’t find hard evidence linking them together. The stairwells had zero security cameras!
The hotel had cameras everywhere except the stairwells - a glaring security flaw that Jack had ignored despite my repeated warnings.
I’d submitted requests to fix this blind spot three times this year alone.
I called Jack to remind him of my previous warnings, but he just made more excuses.
The fact that he was hiding at headquarters instead of dealing with this crisis face-to-face showed his true priorities. He cared more about protecting his own reputation than solving the problem.
His days here were numbered. I’d make sure of that.
As I sat in the security room trying to figure out our next move, my mind running through every possible angle, the duty manager got a phone call.
He answered casually, but within seconds his face drained of all color. His hand trembled slightly as he gripped the phone.
"Elara," he whispered, his voice shaky with nervous energy, "those guests are back! They’re in the lobby right now, and they’re... they’re asking for you specifically!"
--
I walked across the hotel lobby, immediately spotting the power couple standing by the front desk.
The gorgeous man and stunning woman looked like they’d stepped off a magazine cover.
Perfect matching outfits, perfect smiles, perfect manipulation.
Typical. Selina always dragged Zack along to intimidate me. Same old playbook.
I walked over with my best customer service smile plastered on. "I heard you wanted to see me?"
Zack looked down at me with this weird mix of anger and something else I couldn’t quite read.
I could feel his Alpha energy crackling under the surface.
Since I’d decided to "screw him over" in his tiny brain, he obviously felt like he had every right to come after me.
"Elara," he started, his voice dripping with fake concern, "I get that you’re still bitter about our breakup, but you can’t use such petty tricks against Selina!"
"Do you have any idea how important tonight’s concert was for her? They barely managed to pull it off, but your little stunt could have ruined way more than just a five-hundred-thousand-dollar violin!"
"I want you to apologize to Selina right now!"
