Chapter 58: Chapter 58: The Arrogance of Class
"I’ll just go to the event without this brooch."
As he spoke, Gideon Hale looked up at Jasmine Sterling, his eyes cold. "Look, we’re about to head out. If you did take the brooch, you can bring it back while we’re out. I guarantee I won’t hold you responsible for anything."
’He felt he was already giving her a gracious way out, a very gentle solution.’
But Jasmine Sterling, with nothing to hide, spoke up to clear her name. "Gentlemen, I have worked at this hotel for over ten years and have never taken a single thing from a guest. If this item is truly so important to you, I suggest you call the police to prevent any further loss."
"You...!" Seeing that Jasmine Sterling was completely unyielding, the lean man burst out cursing, "I’m trying to give you an out and you’re throwing it back in my face! You really think we can’t touch you, don’t you?"
Jasmine Sterling was furious at his slanderous accusations and arrogant disrespect, but her professional role prevented her from responding in kind. She could only turn her head away in anger and ignore him.
The manager, having worked with Jasmine Sterling for a long time, knew her character well and couldn’t help but step in to defend her. "Please, gentlemen, calm down. I’m not just trying to protect our staff, but she’s a veteran employee who’s worked at this hotel for over a decade. She once found a large sum of cash left by a guest and her first instinct was to contact them and return it. We even have a banner in the housekeeping department from a guest, praising her for her honesty."
"A large sum of cash is obvious. Of course she’d return it. It’s not like she could stuff it in her pocket and walk out. A brooch is different. She could have stashed it anywhere and no one would have noticed," the lean man retorted, refusing to back down. He glared at Jasmine Sterling and sneered, "She’s not even wearing a name tag. Isn’t that just proof of a guilty conscience? Afraid we’d remember her name?"
"Mom?"
The words had barely left his mouth when Cecilia Sterling’s voice came from the doorway.
The tense, hostile atmosphere in the room instantly froze. Everyone’s head snapped toward the door. The hotel manager and the lean man both stared, momentarily stunned, but Gideon Hale was completely floored.
’Her?’
’The girl from the plane yesterday! The one who sat next to me and had no idea who I was!’
His eyes shifted to the housekeeper—the only woman in the room who could be her mother.
"I brought your name tag. I had to search all the way from the 26th floor to find you. You didn’t answer my text."
Jasmine Sterling took the name tag and pinned it to her uniform. As if not wanting her daughter to see her being falsely accused, Jasmine urged, "I’m working, honey. You should head back now."
There were only a few people in the room, and Cecilia Sterling immediately recognized Gideon Hale. Though she didn’t know the full picture, she had overheard bits and pieces from the hallway.
She addressed the man’s accusation directly. "My mom doesn’t have a guilty conscience. She just forgot her name tag at home this morning."
"Cecilia, this has nothing to do with you. Please go. Listen to me." Jasmine Sterling knew her daughter’s temperament and didn’t want her clashing with these two men. She reached out and tugged on her daughter’s arm, trying to make her leave.
Cecilia looked at her mother and said softly, "Mom, don’t worry. I know what I’m doing."
Then, she turned and looked directly at Gideon Hale, her expression unreadable. "What did you lose? Where did you lose it? And when?"
Gideon Hale seemed taken aback by her composure, and by the fact that she had addressed her questions directly to him.
"Think carefully," Cecilia added. "As a hotel employee, my mother has a duty to help you with this. But as the one who lost the item, you have a responsibility to remember the details clearly."
Jasmine Sterling, who had just been trying to get her daughter to leave, found herself nodding in agreement. Her daughter had a point.
The lean man had been thinking the girl was quite beautiful, his gaze fixed on her face. But the moment she spoke, her words infuriated him. "Who the hell are you? Do you have any idea who you’re talking..."
Before he could finish, Gideon Hale clapped a hand on his shoulder, stopping him. The man looked at Gideon Hale, confused, and saw him reply to Cecilia with a serious expression. "I lost a diamond brooch. It was in this hotel room. I don’t remember exactly when it went missing."
He answered Cecilia’s three questions.
Cecilia pressed on. "A brooch that valuable... when and where did you last see it?"
"Last night. In this room."
"Were you by yourself then?"
Gideon Hale shook his head. "No, there were others here."
Seeing the two of them in conversation, the lean man couldn’t resist jumping in. "The brand sent someone over with the suit and brooch after we checked in last night. The suit is hanging in the closet by the door, but the brooch has vanished."
"And this morning, before my mother came into the room, did you see the brooch then?"
A flicker of embarrassment crossed Gideon Hale’s eyes, but he still shook his head honestly. "I didn’t check. The brand representative put the brooch box on the table yesterday. I saw the box was there, but I never actually opened it to look at the brooch inside. When I finally did open it, it was empty."
Cecilia processed this. "So, you’re saying the last time you *actually saw* the brooch was last night. And at that time, there were many people in the room with you: your team, and people from the brand."
"So how can you be so sure the brooch went missing *after* my mother came in?"
Gideon Hale was momentarily speechless. He hesitated before explaining, "I just asked the rest of my team. They all..."
"They all said they didn’t take it?" Cecilia cut him off with a cold laugh. "My mother also said she didn’t take it. So why is it that when your people say it, it’s the truth, but when my mother says it, she’s just making excuses?"
Gideon Hale was left speechless. There were no holes in Cecilia’s logic. They had no concrete evidence. It was simply because of...
’Class-based arrogance!’
The phrase flashed through Gideon Hale’s mind, and his brow tightened. He realized he had made a fundamental error.
’I shouldn’t be like this.’
Cecilia turned, walked to the suite door, and closed it. She walked back to face the others. "It’s understandable that you trust your people, and that the hotel trusts my mother. But brooches don’t sprout wings and fly away. If no one else has been in this room, then chances are it’s still in here."
Without another word, she immediately started to search. "Let’s all look again, carefully."
She went to the closet by the door and opened it. The suit delivered by the brand was hanging inside. Cecilia’s original intention was just to start her search from the doorway, but as she reached in to take down the suit jacket, she saw it: a glittering brooch, pinned right to the fabric!
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