Chapter 164: Actual deal

“I gave him a chance!” Alex fired back. “And he blew it!”

“He was trying to explain!” Jason argued. “But you were too busy being angry to even hear him out!”

“Oh, Jason, don’t start acting like you know everything,” Alex shot back, his voice rising. “You weren’t there. You didn’t see what I saw!”

Jason snapped back. “And you don’t know everything either. And at least I’m not jumping to conclusions like…”

“I’m not jumping to anything!” Alex cut him off sharply. “I saw enough to know what happened!”

Jason took a step back, exhaling sharply through his nose, trying, and yet failing to calm himself.

“No,” he said finally, his voice lower now but filled with disappointment. “I think you saw what they wanted you to see.”

That made Alex pause, just for a second. But his pride wouldn’t let him stay there.

“Oh, here we go again,” he muttered. “Now it’s some grand setup, right? Let me guess, Lucas told you that too?”

Jason’s eyes hardened. “No. Unlike you, I actually think.”

Alex’s expression darkened instantly. “Watch it, Jason.”

“No, you watch it, big bro,” Jason shot back. “Because right now, you’re not thinking, you’re reacting based on whatever you saw. And you’re hurting the one person who actually cares about you!”

“Don’t tell me who cares about me!” Alex snapped, his voice echoing in the room.

“Then start acting as you should!” Jason fired back.

The words hung between them. It was sharp and cutting.

Jason shook his head slowly, disappointment replacing the anger in his eyes. “You know what? Fine.”

He turned toward the door. “When you finally realize you messed this up,” he said, his voice tight, “I just hope it’s not too late to fix it.”

“Yeah?” Alex shot back bitterly. “Then maybe he shouldn’t have given me a reason to doubt him.”

Jason stopped at the door. For a moment, it looked like he might say something else, but he didn't. He just shook his head one last time. Then walked out, slamming the door behind him.

Meanwhile, earlier, as morning settled and sunlight slipped through the half-drawn curtains of Dave’s room in the Kornelly Hotel. The room carried the quiet aftermath of a long night, rumpled sheets, untouched coffee gone cold, and a tension that hadn’t quite left with sleep.

Dave stood by the window, arms folded, staring down at the street below. His jaw was tight, his thoughts louder than the traffic outside.

Nathan, seated at the small dining table, pushed his empty plate aside and studied him. Then stood and walked over to stand beside him.

“You’ve been off since you woke up,” he said carefully. “What’s going on in your pretty head?”

Dave didn’t answer immediately. His fingers tapped lightly against his arm, restless. “Something’s not right,” he finally muttered.

Nathan leaned back. “About last night?”

Dave turned, his eyes sharp but clouded with uncertainty. “Yeah… the whole thing. The timing, the confusion, the way everything played out, it doesn’t sit well with me.”

Nathan frowned. “You also think something was staged?”

“I don’t know what to think,” Dave admitted, running a hand through his hair. “That’s the problem. And I hate not knowing.” He paused, then added, quieter, “We’re missing something. Alex said he saw you guys entangled under the sheet but you guys said you woke up on the floor. None of it makes sense. You can't be looking me in the eyes and lie like that. And Alex, I've known him for years. He can't make up such nonsense."

A brief silence stretched between them. Nathan exhaled slowly. “So what do you want to do? Should we go to the police to investigate what actually happened?”

Dave grabbed his jacket from the chair, already moving. “I’m going back to the party venue. I want to watch the CCTV footage. If anything happened the way we think it did, or didn’t, it’ll be there.”

Nathan watched him for a second, then stood without hesitation.      “Alright. I'm coming too.”

Dave glanced at him, a little surprised. “No argument?”

Nathan shrugged lightly, grabbing his phone “You’ve got that look. When you get like this, you’re not dropping it until you find answers.”

Dave gave a faint, humorless smirk. “Exactly.”

They headed for the door, the air between them shifting from uncertainty to quiet determination.

As Dave pulled it open, Nathan added, “Let’s just hope whatever we find doesn’t make things worse.”

Dave’s grip on the handle tightened slightly before he stepped out.

“Yeah,” he said under his breath. “Let’s hope.”

The party venue felt eerily different in the daylight. It was quieter, stripped of the music and laughter that had masked everything the night before. Now, it was all cold walls, scattered chairs, and unanswered questions.

Dave and Nathan stepped inside, their footsteps echoing faintly.

Near the security station, Thomas and Dan stood with two guards, all of them focused on a bank of monitors.

“You’re just in time,” Thomas said without looking away from the screen.

Dave moved closer, his eyes narrowing. “What have you got?”

Dan gestured to the footage. “We’re going through last night. You need to see this.”

Nathan came up beside Dave, tension already creeping into his shoulders.

The footage played. Grainy but clear enough as Lucas and Nathan stood on the balcony. There was no mistaking it. They talked as they gazed at themselves then the kiss happened.

The room went still.

Nathan’s breath caught. “What.…?” he whispered, barely audible.

Dave shot him a sharp look, but said nothing yet.

On screen, the waiter talked to them, waving towards a door. Then Lucas staggered and Nathan held him steady. Nathan himself shook his head as if to shake off the fog. Also staggered a bit but tried to steady himself.

“I knew it, their drink was spiked, their steps weren't steady, especially Lucas’s,” Jason said it as if he was happy about it.

Dave nodded at that, but kept his focus waiting to see what Alex saw that made him too mad.

Then the footage showed Nathan leading Lucas as they walked through the passage to the room. Then opened the door and moved into the room.

But as security shifted to the room, the feed was blank.

“What the hell?” Dave snapped.

“Wait,” one of the guards said quickly. “Keep watching.”

He forwarded it, and minutes later, the footage returned.

Now it showed them on the bed, tangled with each other under the sheet.

Nathan staggered back slightly, his face draining of color. “No. No, that’s not… I never…” His voice rose, panic breaking through. “I never went near that bed! Someone hit me…I remember that much. That’s all I remember!”

Dave’s gaze hardened, but confusion flickered beneath it.

“This doesn’t make sense…” he muttered.

Thomas leaned forward. “There’s more. We noticed something.”

He pointed to the edge of the screen. “That door.”

Everyone squinted. There it was, a side door, barely noticeable unless you were looking for it.

“Rewind,” Dave ordered.

The footage rolled back.

They switched to the camera from the adjacent room. Seconds ticked by. Then came a movement.

A figure appeared at the side door.