(Casey’s POV)
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Wincing with pain, I slowly limped out of the kitchen. Taking slow steps as I tried to keep the pain to a minimum. I knew that Jace had done a good job of cleaning up the wound, but I also knew that I had to go to the doctor, no matter what. They were going to give treatnts that would make the wound heal faster and also not leave a scar. That was all I wanted.
The minute Jace saw , he got up and took my hand.
"Co here," he said as he guided into the chair he had been on. "Are you comfortable?"
I nodded, "I’m fine. Let’s just focus on what’s happening right now, rember we don’t have much ti."
He nodded in acceptance as he got to his feet and stepped back. He took another seat while Ethan was standing beside Ramon who was still tied to the chair. The bound man didn’t look happy at all.
"I already said that this is not necessary, I’ll tell you everything you want to know. Get these damn ropes off ."
"Not in a million years," Ethan said. "You already tried to kill Jace and Casey, you won’t be getting another chance."
Jace spoke up, "I believe you when you say that you are willing to tell us everything, but judging by everything that has happened, we can’t take that risk. However, I promise you that when we’re leaving, we’ll release you. Will that work?"
Ramon looked at each one of us, a scowl appearing on his face. He then nodded reluctantly.
"What do you want?"
"The truth," Ethan said. "Who paid you to allow the stalkers into the hotel? We know that they lodged with fake IDs, and you allowed them through regardless. Why?"
"I didn’t know they were stalkers, okay? I just assud that they were reporters or bloggers. We get them a lot at the hotel. This guy approached a few days before the dinner and told that I had to look out for you, Jace. You and Kira. I was to take note of your rooms and make sure that the rooms opposite them were free."
"They wanted the specific rooms?"
Ramon nodded, "that way they would be able to stand guard and be close enough to any news that happened. As I said already, this is not the first ti such a thing is happening, the reporters give us a little change and we turn a blind eye. But this ti, sothing felt wrong. I knew that sothing was off about him, right from the first ti I saw him, but I refused to listen to my gut. Now, see where it has landed ."
"Uhm..." Jace muttered. "What was off about it?"
"Well, first off, I didn’t know the guy. I know most of the reporters and bloggers here, or more importantly, I know their type. I know the signs to look out for when dealing with reporters, this is a much-needed skill when working in a hotel, so you can decide if you want to kick them off the property or charge them for whatever it is they want to do. This guy though wasn’t giving off any markers. I doubted him when he said that he was a reporter, but I still allowed him to deceive ."
I shifted in my seat, "Okay, so he asked you to keep the rooms for him. What did you get in return?"
"That’s the second red flag," Ramon said, "he gave a thousand dollars, and promised another two when everything was done. No reporter has ever given a staff that amount of money for such a thing."
"So, your greed was the problem," Jace said.
"Don’t try to bla , okay? I’m not a billionaire, so yeah, three thousand dollars is a lot of money for . Do you have any idea what I can do with such an amount in a place like this?"
"Let’s not get distracted," Ethan said. "Continue with your story."
"Well," Ramon shrugged. "I took the thousand and then monitored your arrival. I then made sure that the rooms opposite yours and Kira’s were open. I had to grease a few palms to get it done, but it happened. I put him and his friend there."
"Did you see his friend?"
"No, but he couldn’t have stayed in both rooms at the sa ti, could he? That’s why I’m sure that he had soone."
"Where did you et him? The first ti."
"It was during my break, I had gone out for a smoke and also to grab a bite to eat. That was where he t . Now that I think about it, he must have monitored for a while, because how else did he know I would be there?"
"Where is that, Ramon?"
"Eazy Bacon. It’s close to the hotel and I go there to grab a burger every lunch. That’s where he t and we had our conversation. I did the fucking thing for the guy and then the next, I tried contacting him after the dinner for the rest of my money but his number was switched off. Till today, I’ve been unable to reach him."
"I’d like that number," Ethan told him.
"You should find it in my call log. I’ve called the fucker like a billion tis, you can’t miss it."
Ethan was operating his phone, nodding subtly while Ramon frowned deeper, "that motherfucker is owing two thousand dollars! Can you imagine? And now, not only did he use , but Joan is trying to use as a scapegoat!"
I shifted again in the seat, "what do you an?"
He scoffed, "Why do you think I got fired for this? I already said that we do things like this a lot."
"Yeah, does this an the whole noise about being private is just a sham?"
"Of course," Ramon rasped. "They allow the reporters and bloggers in to do whatever they want, then when it’s over, they contact you and pretend to help you fix it. But they never really do anything. And most of the ti, you can’t do anything either, because the reporters most likely caught you doing things you were not supposed to."
"Holy shit..." I gasped as it suddenly made sense.
Joan was in on the entire sche! Was Joan working with Maven? Or even worse, was she Maven?
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