Chapter 166
After the middle–aged woman spoke her piece, all eyes in the room swiveled back to
- me.
Shirley let out a snort of derision and glared at me, “Ms. March, with the eyewitness right here, what’s your story now?”
I glanced at the middle–aged woman, stepped forward, and asked, “Do you even know who I am?”
She looked taken aback and said, “aren’t you Xaviera?”
“When exactly did I supposedly send you to deliver a message to President Stapleton?” I pressed on, unwilling to let any detail slip by.
The woman gave me a quick look and said earnestly, “How could you forget? It was last night, down by our hotel lobby, around 8 PM or so, that’s when you told me about it.”
8 PM, hotel lobby–my mind raced through these details, and a knot of panic settled in my chest.
At that time, I was alone in my hotel room, with no one to vouch for my innocence.
It seemed that whoever was setting me up had thought of everything.
They banked on me not having an alibi.
“A hotel?” The confusion in the voices around me grew, and I heard Sean ask, “Which hotel?”
The woman named the hotel, which, by sheer coincidence, was the same one I was staying at, and with her being a housekeeper there, she’d have easy access to me.
Things were getting hairy.
Then I heard Sean ask, “Xaviera, so what were you doing during that time?”
His tone was polite enough, but the look in his eyes had changed.
Timothy caught on to this shift and blurted out indignantly, “What’s the big idea? Xaviera is my guest. You doubting her is like questioning my integrity, you get me?”
He was clearly agitated, his gaze sharp and fiery.
Seeing Timothy’s reaction, the playboy of the group quickly tried to smooth things over, “No way. Timothy. We don’t mean anything by it. If Ms. March is your friend,
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Chapter 166
she’s our friend too. Sean’s just trying to get to the bottom of it, no offense.”
Everyone else chimed in, but when they turned to me, they probed, “So, Ms. March, can you tell us what you were up to last night at 8?”
They asked nicely enough, but they hit me right where it hurt.
I knew that if I couldn’t clear my name, Timothy might get dragged down with me.
And the truth was, I had no way to clear my name.
People believe evidence. With so many voices against you, who would believe – someone who spent the whole night alone in a hotel?
The trap was set with care, and it looked like I was going to be left holding the bag.
As I clenched my fists, getting ready to speak, a familiar deep voice cut through, “It wasn’t her.”
The voice was low and husky, not loud but enough to command the room.
Sure enough, it was Hogan who spoke.
Those simple three words instantly drew everyone’s attention.
I was just as stunned.
That certainty, that composure–it was totally unexpected.
What was Hogan playing at?
“Mr. Zade, what do you mean by that?” Shirley’s face was as full of surprise as mine. even her voice shook as she asked, “Why are you so sure Xaviera wasn’t the one delivering the message?”
Following this, Cecilia, who was standing next to Hogan, had a kaleidoscope of emotions on her face. She cautiously tugged at Hogan’s arm and asked, “Hogan, what are you talking about?”
