Chapter 444 Take Off Your Clothes Then
Thalia was sleeping soundly when she was woken up by urgent knocking at the door.
She groggily got up to answer it.
As soon as Isla came in and saw that Thalia's pajamas were fairly modest, she felt relieved.
"What's wrong? It's the middle of the night."
Isla didn't answer Thalia's question. She walked straight past her into the room, went to the desk based on where the camera was positioned, and looked around for a bit before noticing where the bag was placed.
She picked it up and turned it around, and instantly the livestream went completely dark.
"What's going on?"
"Shh..." Isla gestured for Thalia to be quiet, raising her index finger to her lips.
She opened the bag and felt around inside and out. When something felt off, she yanked hard and pulled out a tiny camera and a power bank.
Thalia looked at the items and couldn't hold back a curse word.
"The camera in the bag has been livestreaming the whole time, with hundreds of thousands of people watching. If fans hadn't noticed and tried everything to contact the company, we still might not know."
"Who gave you the bag?"
"The investor from tonight. The livestream - let me see it."
"It's already been taken down. This is a screen recording, take a look."
Thalia picked up the phone and glanced at it.
When she saw the video content, her face darkened. "How long was it streaming?"
"Over two hours. The video couldn't be reported down, and it wasn't until Layla contacted Mr. Brown that it got taken down. I bet Mr. Brown and the others are on their way here now."
Sure enough, before long, William arrived. Thalia was leaning against the bed in her pajamas, holding an iPad watching the recording. Even though she wasn't doing anything, the livestream chat was going crazy.
All kinds of dirty comments were flying.
[Starting this kind of sleeping livestream late at night - what are they planning to do?]
[This woman, you can see her figure even through the blanket. Sex with her must be amazing!]
"What are you watching?" There was a sound at the door. Isla went to open it, and William came in wearing a black leather jacket. Probably to avoid being recognized, he was wearing a black baseball cap.
As soon as he entered, he took the iPad from Thalia's hand.
"Watching the recording."
"What's there to watch?" William asked, his face displeased, his low mood like the prelude before a storm, dark and heavy.
Without waiting for Thalia's answer, the man looked at Isla. "The tech people are in the room next door. Take the stuff over to them."
Isla wisely left. As soon as she was gone, Thalia pouted and knelt on the bed, reaching both hands out toward William. The man wrapped one arm around her, took off his baseball cap with the other hand, and leaned down to kiss Thalia's lips.
He deliberately softened his voice and asked, "Scared?"
Thalia hummed and nuzzled against William's neck. "Good thing I behave myself and don't have any bad habits. If there had been even one man in my room tonight, my entertainment career would be over."
"If I'd been having sex with some guy with eight-pack abs in here, wouldn't that have been a free show for all those people?"
William pressed his lips together, somewhat speechless, and pushed Thalia away. "Sounds like you've thought about it. Should I make it happen for you?"
"Don't pretend I don't know you're all talk. If you really wanted to make it happen for me, would you have flown here in a helicopter?"
From Emerald City to here, even without traffic it takes an hour and a half by highway. For William to get here this quickly, he definitely didn't drive.
"I'm not going to argue with you today."
Knowing what kind of person Thalia was, William didn't bother arguing with her.
"Mrs. Brown, we found it. The IP address is in Emerald City."
"Go arrest them."
"Take Rainey with you."
The bag was sent through Rainey, which meant he must know about this.
...
"What's wrong? Your phone's been ringing nonstop all night."
At the Ward Villa, Rainey had been constantly answering calls for the past twenty minutes, and kept muttering things like "we're screwed."
Rainey looked at his wife, who had been woken up, and scratched his head in frustration. "Remember that bag I had you buy last time?"
"What about the bag? Did someone swap it out?"
"I had some friends going over there today, so I asked them to bring the bag over. Turns out, tonight, they found a camera in the bag. The person was sleeping in their hotel room and got livestreamed for over two hours for no reason. Now Mr. Brown's calling me to go help deal with this. I'm trying to figure out what to say."
"Didn't you say they were reliable? How did the bag end up with a camera in it?"
"I don't know which step went wrong." Rainey changed his clothes, preparing to go downstairs and wait for Finn and the others.
"Wait, let me print out the purchase record and receipt for the bag. As long as we can prove we got the bag from the official store, it'll show we didn't tamper with it."
"How did Mr. Brown get involved in this? Didn't you say it was for a woman?"
"It was for Ms. Smith. Ms. Smith was the problem, but now it's Mr. Brown dealing with it. Think about what that means."
Adult man and woman - William is a top figure in the industry.
Thalia is the former richest man's daughter. Both of them are sharper than the next, clear-minded as mirrors. If the other person didn't have any special meaning to them, neitherof them would want to get involved in things that does not concern them.
If they're getting involved, it proves that their relationship is significant.
"That can't be! Didn't Mr. Brown just bring Zephyr's daughter to his side?"
"Even if it's not the kind of relationship we're thinking about, there's definitely something between Thalia and William. Otherwise, why would he be calling me at this hour?"
...
"It's only after 3 AM. Want to keep sleeping?"
"Will you stay with me?" Thalia hugged the blanket, kneeling on the bed, looking at William.
He nodded. "I'll stay with you."
Thalia hummed in agreement, moved over to make room, and looked at William. "Then take off your clothes."
If this was said in the bedroom at Mistwood Hill, it would definitely make William's heart race, but in today's situation, it wasn't appropriate.
Just as Thalia lay down, she thought of something and gasped. "Are you sure there aren't any other cameras? Shouldn't we have someone check again?"
William had just lain down when Thalia's antics made him sit back up.
"Want to sleep in the car?"
"No way, the car's so uncomfortable to sleep in."
"Then stop overthinking."
"But what if there is one?"
"There isn't. We already checked."
"I'm not convinced."
"Thalia, sleep here or sleep in the car - pick one!" William's face darkened. He didn't want to argue with Thalia in the middle of the night.
Thalia pouted and obediently lay down.
...
"Mr. Brown, we caught the guy. He says someone gave him the bag and told him to install the camera. As for anything else, he doesn't know."
"There's surveillance footage, but we don't know who the person is. I'll send it to you."