Chapter 1

My daughter has six ear piercings and a head of pink hair. She's a genuine little punk.

But I'm hopelessly biased toward my own girl. Everything about her looks just right to me.

Today was her engagement, and halfway through the dinner her future mother-in-law suddenly slammed her chopsticks down.

"Ms. Lawson, someone tipped me off. Five years ago your daughter checked into the Bayview International thirty-seven times!"

The groom's older brother followed with a cold laugh and smacked a stack of printouts onto the table.

"Thirty-seven times, a different man's ID each time. And a woman like that has the nerve to take twenty grand in engagement money from us?"

My daughter's eyes went red, and I was already about to slam the table and call them liars.

Then I remembered the package that had come with no name on it.

Inside were screenshots of this family's private chats. The groom's older brother ran the reservations system at the hotel group. Altering a check-in record was as simple as a few clicks of a mouse.

They were just waiting for me to shout "That's nonsense," so they could slap their "ironclad proof" in my face, swallow the engagement money, and trample my family's name on top of it.

I pressed down on my daughter's trembling hand and smiled, slow and easy.

"That's right. Thirty-seven times."

"Go on, keep reading. Which year, which month, which room. Don't you dare skip a single word."

...

Ronnie Whitney froze for a solid two seconds.

He wasn't slow, though. He quickly snatched up the printouts, cleared his throat, and pitched his voice up loud on purpose.

"March 14, 2019, Bayview International, Room 816."

"Primary guest, Alex Johnson. Co-occupant, Nova Lawson!"

My hand slipped into my apron pocket and pressed the record button on my phone.

The future mother-in-law smacked her palm on the table.

"Everyone heard that!"

"She admitted it herself!"

"Every cent of that twenty grand has to come back!"

"And three days of banquets to make it up to my Grant!"

Nova's palm was slick with sweat.

I pulled out a tissue, wiped her hand dry slowly, then leaned across the table and looked at Ronnie Whitney.

"What about number two?"

"What month, what day, which branch, which room number?"

"The ID numbers of the primary guest and the co-occupant too. Read those out clearly."

Ronnie snorted, flipped to the second sheet, and shook it loud on purpose.

"Still won't give it up, huh?"

"Fine. I'll give you what you want."

"May 20, 2019, Bayview International North Bank location."

"Room 1204."

"Primary guest, Riley Rodriguez. Co-occupant, Nova Lawson!"

The mother-in-law shot up out of her chair, whipped out her phone, and shoved the lens almost against my face.

"Everyone, listen, everyone, look!"

"Her own mother admitting it, her daughter checked into hotels thirty-seven times!"

"And a slut like that, she dared to bring into our Whitney family!"

My hand was still in my pocket, typing blind, backing up every screenshot of their little script from the nameless package to the cloud.

I was right about the thirty-seven. What I'd agreed to was the number of records coming out of Ronnie Whitney's mouth.

From start to finish, I never once admitted the records belonged to Nova.

As long as the full recording survived, they could cut the video down to a few words and it wouldn't change the fact that I was forcing Ronnie Whitney to read out every piece of so-called evidence, one by one.

Grant Whitney sat beside his mother, head down, not a word out of him.

He was still peeling a boiled shrimp in his hand.

He hadn't gotten the vein out clean, but he didn't even glance at it, just shoved it straight into his mouth.

Nova stared at him, and the tears finally fell.

"Grant, you believe it too?"

Grant's hand went still.

He didn't dare lift his head, just mumbled a few words out.

"Nova, the records are all right here."

"There's no way we can go through with the wedding now."

"The engagement money and the banquet costs, you handle it the way my mom said."

"Don't blow this up any bigger. It's no good for anyone."

The color drained clean out of Nova's face.

Ronnie jumped in right away, terrified of being a beat too slow.

"Thirty-seven records, order numbers, room numbers, all there."

"The primary guest and co-occupant info, not one detail missing."

"Nadia Lawson, we're not spreading lies out of thin air."

"Call off the engagement today, and settle the engagement money and banquet costs together."

The mother-in-law held up her phone, laughing so hard her eyes nearly disappeared.

"It's not just about the money. I'm going to print those thirty-seven times onto flyers!"

"And paste them all around your crummy little nail salon!"

"Let the whole city see how a pink-haired punk runs a marriage scam!"

Nova shot to her feet.

"You're lying!"

She was shaking all over, already stepping to come around the table.

I reached out and pushed her back into her chair.

"Mom!"

Nova turned to look at me, her eyes full of confusion.

I patted her shoulder, stood up, and took my phone out of my pocket.

In front of the entire private room, I dialed 911 and put it on speaker.

"Ring... ring..."

After two rings, the dispatcher's voice came through the phone.

"Hello, 911 emergency dispatch."

I watched Ronnie Whitney's pupils snap tight, and I spoke every word clearly.

"I'd like to report a crime."

"Someone is publicly circulating hotel guest registration information."

"It's a serious violation of a citizen's personal privacy."