Chapter 2
Back in my office, Mark cautiously brought me coffee.
“Mr. Blake, should I look into the specific whereabouts of that money?”
“Yes. The more details, the better.”
Two days later, Mark brought a stack of photos, his hands trembling.
“Mr. Blake, take a look at this.”
In the photos, Vanessa and Jason were leaving a Michelin-starred restaurant. Vanessa was adjusting Jason’s tie.
They were laughing happily, and Jason’s hand was resting on Vanessa’s waist.
“When were these taken?” I picked up the photos, examining them closely.
“Last night, 11:15 PM,” Mark said, pulling out his phone.
“I followed them until 11:40 PM, when they finally parted ways.”
I remembered clearly: last night I messaged Vanessa, and she said she was exhausted, her phone almost dead.
“Anything else?”
Mark pulled out another stack of documents. “This is Ms. Vanessa’s itinerary for the past week.”
I flipped through page after page, growing angrier with each one.
The itinerary listed meetings with important clients, but the actual locations always overlapped with Jason’s activities.
“That jerk!” I slammed the documents onto the desk.
“Mr. Blake, there’s something even worse.” Mark played a recording from his phone.
“I recorded this yesterday in the break room.”
Jason’s voice came through the recording: “Vanessa looked beautiful in that black dress last night, even more feminine than usual.”
Another male voice asked, “What’s your relationship with her?”
Jason chuckled. “You know.”
I immediately smashed my water glass on the floor. Shards scattered everywhere.
“Keep digging! I want to know their every move!”
The next day, I decided to test Jason myself.
I cornered him in the break room.
“How was the Japanese place yesterday?” I asked deliberately.
Jason was pouring coffee. At my words, his hand twitched, spilling coffee all over the counter.
“What… what Japanese food?” He frantically wiped the counter.
“Don’t play dumb.” I stepped closer.
“That upscale place last night. The food was good, right?”
Jason’s face instantly went white, then he forced a calm smile.
“Oh, that place. Yeah, it was pretty good. Ms. Vanessa said she liked it too.”
As soon as he said it, he realized his slip and immediately shut up.
“Is that so?” I stared into his eyes.
“Ms. Vanessa said she was working late last night.”
“I… I…” Jason stammered.
“Maybe I remembered wrong.”
“Remembered wrong?” I scoffed.
“Or have your dates become so routine that you forgot to keep it a secret?”
“Mr. Blake, you’re misunderstanding!” Sweat beaded on Jason’s forehead.
“Ms. Vanessa and I are strictly professional!”
“Professional?” I pulled out my phone and opened the photos Mark had sent me.
“Is this professional?”
The photos showed Vanessa and Jason laughing and talking in the restaurant, Vanessa even feeding Jason with a fork.
Jason’s face turned completely white when he saw the photos. “This… this is…”
“This is what?” I held the phone up to his face.
“Explain?”
Jason opened his mouth but couldn’t utter a single word.
Just then, Vanessa pushed the door open. “What are you two talking about?”
“About your date.” I showed her the phone directly.
“Explain?”
Vanessa’s face also changed when she saw the photos.
But she quickly regained her composure.
“What’s there to explain?” she retorted, acting righteous.
“Jason and I were discussing work, and we grabbed a bite. Is there a problem?”
“Discussing work requires feeding each other?” I pointed at the photo.
“You call this work?”
“That was… that was an accident,” Vanessa began to panic.
“We were talking about the project, I had documents in my hand, so I just…”
“…fed him anyway?” I sneered.
“Vanessa, do you think I’m an idiot?”
“Blake, you’re overthinking.” Vanessa started to play the victim.
“Jason and I are truly just colleagues.”
“Really?” I pulled out another photo.
“Then how do you explain this one?”