Lost and Found: Return of My Mysterious Fiancee

Tina had watched Hugo from the moment he stepped into the budget hotel and entered the room booked by Amber, until he was taken away by the police. Unfortunately, the hotel’s surveillance captured nothing inside the room itself.

She reviewed the videos from the past few days again, but aside from Amber going to the room alone, no other suspicious individuals or breakthroughs were found.

Unwilling to give up, she traced Amber’s route to the hotel, hacking into all the surveillance cameras along the way, stretching as far as the streets of East District, an area known for its chaos and scant surveillance-most of which were inoperative.

After some thought, she looked at the nearby surveillance footage from a day earlier and saw Amber, barefoot and bruised, fleeing from a building to a bus stop. The footage at the bus stop had been deleted.

Tina curled her lips into a cold smile as her fingers danced rapidly across the keyboard, soon recovering the deleted footage. She saw a man in a black suit from behind but could not see his face.

“This man…” Jared Farrell frowned, studying the figure in the video.

“Do you know him?” Tina raised an eyebrow.

“It’s just that the silhouette seems familiar; hard to say without seeing his face,” Jared Farrell grimly replied.

Tina was silent, quickly capturing a still image of the man’s silhouette and posting it online. The caption read simply, ” Want to run?”

As soon as she posted it, the comments exploded. People were leaving messages.

“Miss Reed, or should I say, Ms. Q, how do you feel knowing your father assaulted your sister?”

“That silhouette doesn’t look like Jared Farrell, does it? Is Tina hinting at her own infidelity?”Nôvel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.

“Are you sick? Your father almost raped your sister, and you’re here posting pictures of men?”

“Is it because your father is a criminal that the Farrell family is calling off your engagement? Is that why you’ve found someone new so quickly?”

Tina ignored the online trolls. She was just waiting for a response to her post.

Less than three minutes later, someone tried to hack her account and delete the photo. Tina’s lips curled into a smirk as her slender, pale fingers flew over the keyboard.

Jared Farrell watched in silence as Tina played a game of cat and mouse with her opponent in the digital world, tracking and counter-tracking, a silent war waged without gunfire. Her smile deepened with each move.

In the luxury suite at the Gilded Opulence Lounge, a strikingly beautiful man watched his laptop crash, displaying Tina’s screenshot and the provocative words, “Trying to run?” He smashed the computer, destroying the motherboard and quickly erasing his traces before hastily leaving the lounge.

His hacking skills were top-notch; few in the world could best him. Yet, someone had managed to track him down so quickly.

Who could it be? An ally of Tina’s? He hadn’t felt this challenged since he last encountered the top hacker of the dark web, Grey Wolf. Yet, he didn’t think Tina could have enlisted Grey Wolf’s help.

He didn’t go far but hid nearby. Soon, two groups of people rushed towards the Gilded Opulence Lounge. Had he not acted quickly and fled upon being located, he would have been trapped.

He received a call in a secluded street corner. “You shouldn’t have left any traces,” a commanding voice filled with experience spoke from the other end.

“I only left the silhouette,” he replied after a pause, knowing full well that people like him should leave no traceable images. Yet, despite his efforts to completely erase and destroy the surveillance footage, it had been restored.

“Couldn’t delete it?” The voice on the phone seemed to understand.

He remained silent.

“Ha,” the voice laughed softly, “Looks like you’ve met your match. Good, stay in Ensford and stretch your legs a bit.”

He responded coolly, “Yes.”

“Remember, don’t lose,” the man said. “You are my most satisfactory creation. If you lose, you know what awaits.”

He hung up, his expression cold and his pale complexion more pronounced.

He knew the consequences. A failed creation could only be destroyed.

Back at Blue Cove Apartments.

“He’s gone,” Jared Farrell handed a glass of water to Tina, who had just located the man’s address and secretly informed Jayden. She had known from the start that the man wouldn’t foolishly wait for them to catch him, but his last known location being the Gilded Opulence Lounge had surprised her. It was a place her people had thoroughly investigated; he must have thought it the safest place because it was the most dangerous.

“Let’s have dinner,” Jared suggested, pulling Tina towards the dining table.

For the first time, Tina noticed that during her digital duel, Jared had considerately prepared dinner-three dishes and a soup. She was somewhat moved, realizing the happiness of having someone who took care of all the little details in life.

However, the next message from Jayden was less pleasant. Someone had caused a disturbance at the Royal Oaks entrance using Hugo’s incident as a pretext, and Jennie and Zackary had almost been attacked with acid. Fortunately, the police had intervened and apprehended the perpetrator.

Hearing this, Tina didn’t get angry but smiled instead. She was certain this was that man’s counterattack.

Her smile deepened.

The game had begun.

Very well!