Chapter 2

I booked the earliest flight to Silas Perry's city.

Every year, Regina Simmons sent Silas the local specialties from our area.

She said Silas was already married, and to avoid any misunderstanding, she always sent them to him under my name.

That was how I knew Silas's address.

Silas found that sunrise romantic. I wondered whether his wife found it romantic too.

I met Silas's wife. She was short and dark-skinned.

But the clothes she wore were worth a fortune, she lived in a large detached villa, and there was a Cullinan parked in her open garage.

She had money, Silas was handsome, and their marriage was one where he'd married into her family.

And in his wife's mind, I was Silas's old classmate.

"Silas is away on a business trip. I'll call him right now," his wife said gently.

"Let me call him instead. We'll take a picture together and surprise him—proof that I came to the house."

I sent him the photo of me and his wife.

Romantic?

Silas called immediately. "Henry, what's your point?"

"Silas, I've got you on speaker."

His tone changed at once. "Henry, you should've given me a heads-up before showing up at my place."

"Wanted to surprise you, didn't I?"

"You wait at home. I'm heading back right now. I have to be a proper host."

"I'm not keeping you from anything?"

"With our friendship, saying that would be too distant. Enough talk, I'm going to book my ticket."

On the phone, Silas and I sounded like two old friends who hadn't seen each other in years.

When Silas and I met, his face was dark.

"Henry, are you really this petty? It's just one photo. Do you have to go this far?"

"Regina and I are classmates. Is it a crime for us to watch a sunrise together?"

"I'm not exactly big-hearted, true. Is your wife?" I stared at him. "How about we let your wife see this romantic photo?"

"Doing that won't do you any good. Just say it—how much compensation do you want?"

"My material desires are very low."

"Quit pretending. With the chump change you earn, what the hell do you mean, low desires? If your desires were high, what could you even afford?"

"Two hundred thousand dollars. I don't want my wife to know about this photo. If you think you can hold this photo over me, then don't pay—go ahead and send it to my wife."

I didn't respond to that, I just stated a fact. "That room you stayed in yesterday is where I usually sleep after I've had too much to drink."

He shot me a glance. "What, you want me to pay the rent?"

"When I drink too much, there's no one to look after me, no warm water on the nightstand."

"You're a useless piece of trash who can't even handle his own woman, and you want to pin it on me?"

I just kept to my statement. "But I always held on to the fantasy that Regina didn't really not care about me, so I installed a hidden camera in that room."

"Every time I drank too much, the next day I'd check the footage to see whether she'd shown me any concern during the night."

I stared at Silas. His face had already gone somewhat pale.

"Yesterday it recorded something. I don't know if your wife has the heart to tolerate this kind of thing."

"Why don't you take a look first."

I pushed the phone over.