“I don’t think so.” Hayden gaped at the internet celebrity’s face and said, “Ms. Harriet, what do you think
we have forgotten about?”
“You are really planning to shove it to the back of your mind?” The internet celebrity immediately came
back to her senses as she pointed at Hayden’s face and launched into a parade, “You are too
shameless. Are you planning to leave that incident from last night as it is?”
A crowd soon gathered around them in the lobby.
Hayden didn’t beat around the bushes as she said directly, “Ms. Harriet, you told us that there were
cockroaches in your room last night, and we had resolved that problem for you the moment we learnt of
it. We gave you a change of room and promised you that if your claim was true, the hotel would
definitely compensate you. However, we are of the opinion that those cockroaches have nothing to do
with the hotel.”
Upon hearing that, the internet celebrity was so enraged that her face was completely flushed with
colours, “I have seen many people who are shameless, but the ST Hotel is really one of a kind. Are you
trying to bully me just with your prestige and reputation? Just wait and see, I am going to call the
Bureau of Commerce and the Health Department now.”
“You can go ahead.” Hayden replied with an unwavering expression on her face.
“The cockroaches that had appeared in your room had been taken by me to the medical university for
examination. Based on the result, it has been five days since those cockroaches were dead. Their
bodies were completely dried up, yet you told us you had killed them by swatting them on the carpet
half an hour after you checked in. I think there is something wrong with that.”
When Hayden finished her sentence, sounds of gasping broke out all around them.
What she had described was same as throwing in an insect into the plates after finishing a meal in a
restaurant in order to defame them.
This internet celebrity was here to extort ransom money out of the hotel.
When the onlookers all criticized the internet celebrity for her antics, she couldn’t find any words to
respond. She could only flee the scene with her head lowered.
As this matter died down, everyone in the hotel held high praises towards Hayden.
This was especially true for Jeff. He was completely won over by Hayden because of those two
cockroaches.
“Ms. Downey, I never imagined you taking those scary creatures and have them analysed. It took me
half of my life force just to seal them in a plastic bag.”
“That means you need to accumulate more experience. Now, we need to resolve the matter about the
bad comments directed at the hotel.”
Hayden patted Jeff’s shoulders casually before marching into her office. After shutting the door behind
her, she leaned on the door while letting out a sigh of relief.
In reality, because of those damned cockroaches, she had been so disgusted that she couldn’t even
swallow a sip of water. She fared even worse than Jeff in this department. She was just trying to keep
her face in front of her employees.
In the coming week, the bad comments incident surrounding the hotel still couldn’t be resolved.
Hayden had personally inspected every room in the hotel and made sure that there was nothing faulty
about anything. As she returned to her office with her head besieged by confusion, she took a look at
the business volume she had achieved up to that point, which was still a far cry from the bet she had
taken a while ago. Seeing that things were getting worse, she couldn’t help sighing profusely.
There must be something wrong with the hotel. Had the ST Hotel offended any party? Was someone
setting this up to tarnish the name of the hotel?
A few minutes before getting off work, Hayden received a call by his father. They were to meet in a café
nearby the company.
When she reached, Bentley was already there, and he was looking a little anxious.
“I have ordered some hot milk for you. It’s not good to consume too much coffee at night since your
sleep quality will be affected. If you don’t like this, you can order something else.”
Hayden shook her head, “It’s alright, anything is fine.”
Bentley revealed a relieved smile, “Hayden, I am really surprised but glad that you have called me.”
Hayden was looking at her cup of hot milk as she stirred the contents for some time. She didn’t dare to
look at her father in her eyes, and after some deliberation, she began, “Dad, the reason I have asked
you to meet up is to ask a favour from you.”
“What can I help you with? Just say it.”
Hayden rarely asked for anything from him, so when he heard that she was asking him a favour, he
was actually contented.
“Six years ago, when I had my eighteen-year-old birthday, you have promised to give me a house. Do
you remember that? Is this promise still valid even until now?”
Lately, although she was overwhelmed by work in the company, she still wanted to move from Joseph’s
house because she still held the thought that it wasn’t the most appropriate thing for her and Stella to
continue staying in his house. After contemplating about it for some time, she found no other solution
other than the promise made by his father all those years before.
“Of course the promise still holds.” Bentley raised his brows slightly, and he looked apparently joyous,
“The property document has your name there, so that house is yours anyway.”
“Then, thank you so much, dad.” Hayden was a little nervous. Despite her efforts to sound more
familiar, her tone still exuded a sense of distance in between them, a tone which wasn’t used by people
when talking to their parents.
“I didn’t take away the key when I left last time. When are you at home? Can I go there and take it?”
“Do you still need to ask whether I am at home while you are coming back to your own home? You can
come anytime, but let me know before you come so that I can inform your aunt to prepare a meal for
you. We can eat together as a family.”
“You don’t need to do that, dad.”
“It’s no trouble at all.” Bentley sounded oddly persistent, and after pausing briefly, he added, “You can
bring your daughter home too, seeing that she is my grandchild anyway. I want to see her, and I’m sure
the others want to see her too.”
At the mention of Stella, Hayden pursed her lips and rejected his suggestion, “I don’t think I will do that.
That child is still very young, she won’t be able to withstand all the gossips going around there. I will
bring her back to see you when she is a little older.”
Bentley knitted his brows and he looked like he wanted to insist further, but in the end, he decided to
leave it at this with a sigh.
After he left the café, Bentley got into his car and all of a sudden, he was attacked by a fit of coughing.
He covered his mouth with a handkerchief and coughed for some time. When he removed it from his
mouth, he saw traces of blood on the handkerchief.
“Sir, are you alright?” The driver glanced at him through the rear-view mirror and asked worriedly.
Bentley waved his hand while clutching his handkerchief hard, “I’m alright, it’s just the usual stuff. Let’s
go.”
--
In Shanghai, Joseph was only able to return to his room after he was done negotiating a business deal
until almost midnight. He leaned against a sofa and stared at his dinner which was delivered by the
hotel, but he suddenly thought of those dishes that Hayden had made.
“Mr. Beckham, the man we have sent to GX Town just gave me a call.”
Magnus carried a tray of fruits and placed it on the tea table before continuing with a difficult
expression, “He said that Caesar is dead.”
Joseph furrowed his brows, “What has happened?”
“It was a fire. On the night before our man arrived at the scene, the whole place had burnt down without
anything standing. Caesar had turned into a set of bones.”
As he recalled this incident, Magnus let out a sigh, “Manfred has sent me some photos taken of the
scene, and I can see that not only Caesar’s house had been burnt down, his neighbours’ houses were
all burnt down too. His neighbours were not in, that was why the burning houses were only discovered
by someone when it was almost dawn. When the fire engines arrived to put out the fire, everything had
been burnt to nothingness.”
The creases on Joseph’s forehead deepened, “Such coincidence?”
At this timing when he had just sent someone to investigate that surrogacy incident, Caesar had met
with his demise. Was there such coincidence in this world?
“Do you think this is the doing of somebody?” Magnus’ face became tense, “It can’t be. This is murder.”
“Haven’t you heard of murder cases prior to this?”
Joseph shot a glance at him while adding, “The truth behind this matter must still be in the dark. When
we are done with our business in Shanghai, go there personally and investigate everything about that
fire.”
On one hand, that incident about surrogacy was something only Caesar had known about, so he had to
go interrogate him. On the other hand, Caesar was a long-serving butler of the Beckham family. He had
been by Joseph’s grandfather’s side for many years. If there was a hidden truth here, Joseph had the
duty to shed light on it.
“Roger.”
“And one more thing, don’t let grandfather learn of Caesar’s death.”
“Understood.”
Joseph nodded while a thought suddenly struck him, “How has the matter about Freddie turned
out?”
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