RORY INVESTIGATES THE ISSUE

Rory sat in the dimly lit office she had claimed as her own for the night, her laptop screen casting a cold glow over her face. The house was silent, everyone was asleep except her.

Sleep was impossible when her entire world was shattering beneath her feet.

Victor had spent the day trying to talk to her, trying to hold her, trying to convince her he hadn’t done it. But every time she looked at him, she saw the DNA test, the hotel receipt, and the woman’s smug face as she dropped the bombshell that her husband had fathered twin boys with her.

Her husband.

Rory clenched her fists.

She had two options, she would either drown in her heartbreak and let it consume her, or get to the bottom of this.

She chose the latter.

Victor had insisted he didn’t remember sleeping with that woman. And if that was true, if there was even the slightest chance that this was all a setup, then she needed to prove it.

She would not be a blind, betrayed wife who sat back and cried, instead, she would find the truth.

She decided to hack into the hotel system, her fingers flew over the keyboard as she pulled up the hotel’s website. It was a five-star establishment, the kind that catered to elites and high-profile guests, and the security was airtight, and discretion was guaranteed.

But even the most secure systems had loopholes.

Rory’s heart pounded as she worked, breaking through the basic firewall protections. She was an expert hacker, and she knew how to get past even the difficult layer of security. The real challenge was accessing the guest records from seven years ago.

She narrowed her eyes, muttering to herself. “Come on, come on…”

A few minutes later, she was in.

The screen loaded slowly, pulling up archived guest transactions from the night in question.

Her breath caught in her throat as she saw Victor’s name.

He had checked into the hotel that night, the system didn’t lie.

Her stomach clenched in disappointment.

But then, something didn't add up; there was no record of a second guest staying in his room, no extra charges for room service, and no additional key card issued. If he had spent the night with that woman, there should have been some sign of her in the system.

At that moment, she decided to check the hotel's security footage. Unfortunately, the records for that date were missing

Her blood ran cold.

The hotel had a strict policy of keeping footage for at least ten years. There was no reason for the files from that night to be wiped unless someone had erased them deliberately.

Rory exhaled sharply, her hands were trembling.

Someone wanted this to look bad for Victor. Someone definitely wanted this to be undeniable.

But why?

Her fingers tightened around the mouse.

This isn’t over, she had to find the truth.

Rory kept digging, her mind was racing with questions. If the security footage was missing, then she needed another way to trace the woman’s presence at the hotel.

She scrolled through the financial records, looking for any transactions linked to her.

And then she found something, a payroll entry with her name on it.

The woman, Alice Monroe, had worked as a bartender at the hotel during that exact time.

Rory’s breath hitched.

Alice hadn’t been a guest, she had been an employee.

A dangerous thought crept into Rory’s mind. If Alice worked at the bar, she must have had access to everything including the guests, drinks and hotel logs.

Had she set Victor up?

Had she drugged him?

Rory’s stomach twisted at the possibility.

She grabbed her phone and dialled Victor.

It rang twice before he picked up, his voice was groggy. “Mi Amor?”

She ignored the way her heart clenched at the sound of his voice. “Victor, when you were at that hotel, do you remember anything strange?”

There was a long pause. Then. slowly, he said, “What?”

“I mean did you feel weird? Like maybe you were drugged?”

Victor was silent for so long that she thought he had hung up.

Then he exhaled sharply. “I was wasted that night, I barely remember getting home. But now that you mention it, I remember feeling off, it was more than just the drink.”

Rory swallowed hard.

This was bigger than she had thought.

ĤRory knew she couldn’t do this alone.

If Alice had gone through the trouble of erasing security footage and fabricating a story, then she was dangerous. Someone had to dig deeper.

The next morning, Rory met with a private investigator in a discreet café downtown. The man, Nate Sullivan, was in his forties, gruff, with the kind of sharp gaze that saw everything.

He leaned back in his chair, assessing her. “So, let me get this straight, you want me to investigate a woman who just hit you with a paternity claim?”

Rory nodded. “Yes, something about this doesn’t add up.”

Nate tapped his fingers against the table. “Do you have anything on her? Full name, connections, employment history?”

Rory slid a file across the table. “She worked at a hotel bar seven years ago. That’s where she claims she and my husband… you know.” She clenched her fists. “But there’s no record of her being in his room, no charges, no security footage. And something tells me she’s done this before.”

Nate’s brows lifted. “You think she’s a serial scammer?”

Rory exhaled. “I think she’s a liar, and I need you to prove it.”

Nate smirked, pocketing the file. “You came to the right guy.”

After a few days had passed, Rory had been waiting anxiously for Nate’s findings. She barely spoke to Victor, keeping her distance, unable to fully let go of the anger even though something deep inside her was shifting.

Then, one evening, her phone rang. She picked up and found that it was Nate.

She answered immediately. “Tell me you have something.”

Nate chuckled. “Oh, I have plenty.”

Rory’s heart pounded. “Go on.”

“Alice Monroe has a pattern. Three other men and three high-profile, wealthy guys have been hit with similar paternity claims. Same story, a one-night stand, missing hotel footage, DNA test proving they’re the father.”

Rory gripped the phone. “And?”

“And in every case, the men swore they didn’t sleep with her.”

Her breath caught. “Are you saying she’s a fraud?”

“I’m saying something’s off.”

“But the DNA tests—”

“That’s what I’m looking into next.” Nate’s tone was grim. “Because sweetheart, I don’t know how, but I think she’s manipulating them.”

Rory’s pulse thundered.

This wasn’t just some affair, this was a setup.

But the worst part is that there was still enough ‘proof’ to make Victor look guilty.

And until she could completely destroy Alice’s lies, doubt would always remain.

Rory’s discoveries contradict Alice’s story, but not enough to clear Victor completely.