Chapter 128
James's POV:
I don't understand why Sophia has such a bad temper now.
She still defends Andrew so much. What's so great about Andrew anyway?
She's pregnant and still following Andrew to events, wearing high heels no less. Andrew doesn't care about her at all, yet she treats him like he's so precious.
I stood up for her, and she didn't even appreciate it.
I gritted my teeth, grabbed a glass of wine, and downed it in one gulp.
"Mr. Smith."
I turned around and looked at the person with an indifferent expression: "Mr. Ortiz."
"Mr. Smith, how did your chat with ZeroSpecter go?"
I looked confused: "I haven't met him. How could I have chatted with him?"
Stanley Ortiz also looked puzzled: "I was going to come introduce you to ZeroSpecter earlier, but I saw you two were already talking, so I didn't want to interrupt."
I froze, looking at Sophia: "You're saying she's ZeroSpecter?"
Stanley nodded: "That's right."
Just then, the host went on stage to run through the program. After speaking, they invited top industry professionals to come up and share.
"Now, please welcome ZeroSpecter."
Sophia walked up. She held her head high, chest out, with a confident smile on her lips.
She was completely different from the Sophia I remembered.
"Hello everyone, I'm Sophia Brown, also known as ZeroSpecter. I'm very happy to be invited..."
After Sophia finished sharing, applause erupted from the audience.
And I just watched her like that. Only now did I realize I might have never truly understood what the real Sophia was like.
Sophia's POV:
"Sophia, that was wonderful." Andrew reached out to support me gently, praising me.
"Look, James has been watching you."
I looked in James's direction.
His eyes had been on me the whole time.
The moment our eyes met, he walked over: "Sophia, so you're ZeroSpecter. Why didn't you ever mention this to me?"
"Did I never tell you?" I asked with amusement. "Why don't you think about it more carefully? I told you about my identity more than once, but you never believed me."
James didn't say anything.
After a long while, he finally spoke again: "Then can you help me restore the surveillance video from that night?"
James looked at me, his eyes carrying a certain stubbornness: "That night, after I left Amelia's room, I really didn't go back."
I laughed coldly: "James, at this point, what's the point of proving any of this?"
"It matters to me," he said stubbornly. "I don't want this to be the reason for our divorce. I don't want you to keep misunderstanding me."
I looked at him: "Why should I help you?"
"You're not helping me, you're helping yourself." James stared straight at me. "If I can't find out the truth, then I won't agree to the divorce in a month either."
Within one month, if either spouse changes their mind, the divorce can't go through.
James was threatening me.
And I had no choice but to comply.
I gritted my teeth: "Fine, I'll help you. But you have to promise me that after the video is restored, no matter what the result is, you won't bother me anymore."
James's eyes darkened, but he still nodded: "Okay."
The next day, I went with James to the hotel for the night. The hotel staff were already waiting there with the original hard drive.
I focused on operating the equipment while James stood not far away, his eyes constantly on me.
I could ignore him and put all my attention on the computer in front of me.
Time passed minute by minute, and the progress bar on the screen moved forward slowly.
Finally, the data recovery was complete.
"It's done," I said, clicking on the recovered surveillance file.
The hotel hallway appeared on the screen.
The time showed 10:45 PM that night.
James was supporting Amelia, whose face was flushed and who kept pulling at her clothes, as they entered the room. A few minutes later, he walked out alone.
Seeing this, I frowned slightly.
Then the footage fast-forwarded to 1:20 AM.
A figure appeared at the end of the hallway.
I held my breath, watching the figure get closer and closer. In the dim light, although I couldn't see the face clearly, I could roughly tell it was James—the build looked very similar too.
He walked to Amelia's room door, pulled out a key card from his pocket, and swiped it open.
The surveillance video ended there.
I slowly turned my head to look at James.
His face was pale, his eyes fixed on the screen, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"This is impossible..." he murmured.
"James," my voice was cold as ice, "now, what else do you have to say?"
He suddenly looked at me, his eyes full of panic: "Sophia, believe me, I really didn't go back after I left that night!"
"Then who's the person in the surveillance? Your twin brother?" I asked sarcastically. "We've been married for so many years—how come I didn't know you had a twin brother?"
"I don't know!" James was almost shouting. "But I swear, that person isn't me!"
He seemed to suddenly remember something and pulled out his phone, dialing a number.
"Bodhi." James's voice was tense. "Let me ask you, that night, did you do what I asked you to do?"
A voice came faintly from the other end.
James put it on speaker.
"Mr. Smith, I did follow your instructions and found a clean man to send to the hotel."
James asked again: "Was Amelia the only one in the room at the time?"
Bodhi: "I left after I sent him to the door. I don't know if she was the only one inside."
"What time did you send him over?"
Bodhi: "11:30."
James hung up the phone: "Sophia, did you hear that? I really wasn't with Amelia."
I found it absurd: "James, do you think I'll believe that? You had your assistant do this—wasn't it deliberate, to cover for you and Amelia's affair?"
"I have no reason to lie to you!" He raised his voice, his eyes full of disappointment. "Sophia, why won't you believe me?"
"Believe you?" I laughed self-mockingly. "When I told you I was pregnant, you didn't believe me either. When Amelia and I had conflicts, you never believed me."
His face instantly went pale. His lips moved, but he couldn't say anything to refute it.
I stood up and started packing my things: "I've restored the video for you. Our deal ends here. From now on, please don't contact me again."
"Sophia!" He grabbed my wrist so hard it hurt. "You won't believe me because you have Andrew now. You want to be with him, so you won't forgive me, won't reconcile with me, right?"
I shook off his hand forcefully: "You're right! I'm with Andrew now. I don't want anything to do with you anymore!"
"Are you satisfied with that answer?"
James's eyes turned red.
He looked at me, his eyes filled with pain.
"Fine."He only spoke after a long while.