Chapter 175: Chapter 175: Keeping the Appointment

By the time Melody Summers got home from the hospital, it was already lunchtime.

Even though it was just the three of them eating lunch at home now, her grandmother and Miss Lowell had still prepared a lavish meal.

A fragrant lotus root and pork rib soup, with peanuts added, was steaming on the table. The stir-fried preserved vegetables with meat and chili fried rice were also incredibly appetizing.

Just as she finished eating and returned to her room to rest, her phone suddenly buzzed with a new message.

Melody casually opened the text. It was from an unknown number and contained a video.

Melody swiped her finger and played the video. After a slight shake, Nina Walsh’s face appeared abruptly on the screen.

Melody’s eyes widened slightly in surprise—

The lighting in the video was dim. The faint glow from a wall sconce behind her barely illuminated the area where Nina was.

The collar of Nina’s shirt looked damp, and her temples were soaked. A bead of water trickled from her hairline down her forehead, but she seemed completely unaware of it.

Nina stared blankly at the camera for two seconds, then seemed to snap out of it, her eyes darting upward in a panic.

Then she began to speak, her voice slightly hoarse. "C-Cousin, Melody! It’s Nina... I’m... I’ve run away from home. Can you come to The Crestview Hotel?"

Nina seemed nervous, stammering as she spoke. "Melody, whatever you do, don’t contact my dad... We had a fight, and I don’t want him to know where I am. I’m at the hotel all by myself, and I’m a little scared... Melody, can you come see me? I just want someone to talk to!"

The video ended there.

Melody was completely baffled after watching the video. ’What on earth is going on!?’

While Melody was still puzzling over it, another text message came through.

It was also from Nina. She said she was in Room 1108 at The Crestview Hotel and included a location pin.

Melody frowned as she read the message. ’What is all this nonsense?’

Her family and her second uncle’s family barely had any contact. After the matchmaking incident, the two families had practically cut off all ties. Why on earth would Nina inexplicably ask her to a hotel?

Unable to make heads or tails of it, Melody decided to call the number the text had come from.

The phone rang and rang—BEEP... BEEP...—but Nina didn’t pick up.

Melody tried calling persistently a few more times, but Nina never answered. Eventually, she got an automated message: "The number you have dialed is currently unavailable."

Melody frowned at her phone. ’Did Nina block me?’

Melody found it even more bizarre. ’If she blocked me, then why ask me to come over in the first place?’ 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

After hanging up, Melody watched the video from Nina again.

In the video, Nina’s face was pale, her lips completely colorless. Her expression as she looked at the camera seemed guilty, mixed with a barely perceptible hint of panic.

She kept glancing away from the camera, as if she was afraid of something.

The more Melody watched, the less it looked like someone who had "run away from home and needed comforting."

Besides, Nina had been doted on by Caleb Summers and Mindy Walsh her entire life. How could she have fought with her parents to the point of running away?

Melody remembered when they had to move the ancestral graves back in their hometown. Caleb Summers and Mindy Walsh had brought Nina back to Anworth Village for a two-day stay.

Nina was young at the time, and it was her first visit to the countryside. She wasn’t used to the food or living conditions. Unaccustomed to the simple rural fare, she threw a tantrum, demanding a specific brand of cream cookies.

The small village store didn’t sell them, so Nina started crying.

Seeing how upset Nina was, even though it was already late and the last bus had gone, Caleb Summers walked dozens of miles along mountain roads just to buy them for her.

Melody, also young at the time, had never had cream cookies and watched curiously from the doorway. She saw Caleb Summers and Mindy Walsh gently holding Nina, one feeding her the cookies, the other giving her sips of water.

Back then, Melody had been incredibly envious of Nina.

How could Caleb Summers and Mindy Walsh let a precious daughter they had spoiled since birth run away from home?

Melody was filled with doubt. After exiting the video, she glanced at Nina’s message again, and her gaze locked onto the three words: "The Crestview Hotel"...

The Crestview Hotel again!

Melody suddenly remembered that Ethan Sutton had also mentioned this hotel when he called her before.

Ethan had said that if she didn’t behave, he would send her to The Crestview Hotel, adding that the hotel was very good at "disciplining" people.

Melody’s grip on her phone slowly tightened...

’If I’m not mistaken, there must be some shady business going on at The Crestview Hotel!’

Melody racked her brain but found she had no memory of this hotel. She hadn’t even heard anyone mention it in her past life.

Melody had no choice but to open a business lookup app and search for The Crestview Hotel’s name.

Following the keywords, she found the corporate page for the Anworth Grand Isle Hotel. In the company’s equity structure, she saw the name "Kenneth Adler."

Melody then searched for businesses associated with Kenneth Adler and, sure enough, found Flynn Adler’s name among them.

’It’s all connected...’

Melody thought to herself, ’No wonder I didn’t find anything unusual at the Oceanus Hotel before. My reports to the police most likely tipped them off.’

The Adler and Hayes Families must have gotten wind of it ahead of time and moved some of their illicit business from the Oceanus Hotel to The Crestview Hotel.

As for how the Adler and Hayes Families could have heard about it in advance... Melody had no idea. She figured they probably had a mole inside the authorities.

Melody watched Nina’s video again, frame by frame. She felt that Nina’s expression in the video definitely wasn’t that of a "runaway little sister seeking comfort from her older cousin." It was more like...

...like she was cooperating with criminals to lure her out.

Melody scoffed. Nina had worked with Clara and Hugh Hayes before to try and lure her into an alley for a "lesson." This time, Nina was most likely using the "running away" excuse to trick her into going out again.

Melody recalled her chance encounter with Clara Hayes at the Oceanus Hotel. It seemed her mentioning Hugh Hayes back then had provoked Clara, which was why Clara was trying to pull the same trick again.

Melody immediately opened her phone’s dialer and typed in 110.

But just as she was about to press the call button, she hesitated.

She had told the police about the Oceanus Hotel before, but right after that, the Adler and Hayes Families had immediately moved their operations to The Crestview Hotel... If she called the police again this time, would it just give Flynn Adler a heads-up and allow him to escape again?

Melody sighed. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust the police; it was that these two families had mastered the art of having multiple hideouts. Combined with the lesson from last time, she was afraid that reporting it now would just tip them off again.

Melody quickly ran through all the problems in her mind. In the end, she decided to go to The Crestview Hotel and meet them.

*

Melody took stock of the weapons in her storage space. Besides the crossbow, Molotov cocktails, and smoke bombs, she also pulled out a chainsaw.

Then, following the directions from her navigation app, she drove to The Crestview Hotel.