Chapter 114: A chance to be handled carefully

The woman who stepped in stopped short almost immediately, with one of her hands still on the handle, her eyes moved from the padded table to the blindfolded women and then to Tom. Surprise touched her face first then control followed quickly after.

"I’m sorry, I thought this was my room." she said politely.

Tom sat up at once and got down from the table. Relief hit him a second later when he realized his clothes were still on because the last thing he needed was to be caught halfway into Stella’s arrangement by this person from the city’s polished upper layer.

The person he must reach but hadn’t know what approach to take...

Josie Hale.

"Josie." he called out gently.

Her eyes came back to him, and recognition landed immediately. But it wasn’t soft neither was it pleased. Just exact.

"You," she said flatly.

Tom’s mouth tipped slightly. "Yeah. Me."

The exact reaction that Tom had expected was what made it way onto Josie’s face. A faint frown pulled at her brows. She looked at him the way a woman looked at a memory she had not bothered to revisit, only to find it standing in front of her again in the wrong place.

"Fancy seeing you here," he said, his voice coming out in a hurry. He just needed to say something, to keep the conversation alive.

Josie gave a short nod. "You too." Her gaze flicked once more over the room behind him, taking in enough to draw a conclusion, then she reached for the door again.

"You should go back to what you were doing. Pardon for me for interrupting." She said and before Tom could say anything in response, she was already leaving.

Tom moved after her before the hallway could swallow the chance.

"You weren’t interrupting anything." he maintained firmly.

Josie did not slow down. "It didn’t look that way from the door." she replied sharply.

"I mean it," he said, moving in a speed matching her pace.

"Erm... I had actually been trying to meet you."

That made her glance sideways at him, her brows furrowing more and she asked in disbelief;

"Had you?"

"Yes. I didn’t expect to see you anywhere outside today, by the way, There was an interview where you said you spent Sundays at home, that any recreation is in the comfort of your own house." Tom said, desperately looking for any angle to hang the conversation on.

A small shrug lifted her shoulder. "Interviews can only carry what I want people to know."

She stopped near a stretch of the corridor and turned to face him more directly.

"So you’ve been stalking me..." she stated, pressing her lips together.

"No, no..." Tom said sharply.

His phone rang before he could push the denial any further. Stella’s name lit the screen. For a second the old pull of that connection tugged at him. Then he rejected the call and lowered the phone. The woman in front of him was the opportunity that had not yet been secured.

"Uhm... I was looking to meet you again. To thank you properly for your help the other day. And to apologize. I know I came off wrong." he said in all honesty.

"I was a bit rude." He admitted.

Josie’s expression tightened.

"No, you were very rude. Not a bit rude. Very rude." She said firmly. Tom could see she was definitely holding grudges over how he had replied coldly and nonchalantly to her that day she had helped him from the roadside.

And despite how he had behaved, she had still fulfilled her promise and sent over his car.

Tom did not try to deny it. "You’re right."

That earned him a brief look from her as if she were deciding whether the admission changed anything. Then she turned and continued down the hall, without saying anything. Tom followed without fully noticing he had made the decision, too focused on not letting the conversation end on old resentment alone.

She stopped at another door, opened it, and stepped inside.

Tom was only half a pace behind her when the inside of the room came into view.

It was arranged much like the suite he had left, softly lighted with a wide table at the center but the figure waiting near it stopped him hard. A man stood there, his body was taut, his eyes were blindfolded in black. He was wearing a lacy black pant that seemed so feminine. It made the nature of the booking impossible to mistake. The man remained still, professionally posed, as if no one had yet given him permission to break position.

Tom halted at the doorway and a sharp intake of breath escaped him...

Josie turned back to him, her eyes narrowing with glaring displeasure. "What are you doing?"

The question was calm but it still cut.

Tom recovered enough to take a step back. "Right. I should leave."

"You should," Josie said sharply.

He stepped out immediately and pulled the door toward him until the private room closed away from view. Only then did he breathe out properly, standing alone in the hallway with the image still fixed behind his eyes.

"I can’t just leave." He said, shaking his head.

This had been chance. A woman like Josie would not give him endless openings, and from the way she looked at him, she already had one old reason not to make this easy.

He needed to think carefully on not handling this clumsily.

He was still thinking of what to do when the System unfolded in front of him.

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[NEW TARGET REGISTERED]

Name: Josie Hale

Age: 31

Status: Been married for six months

Spouse: Richard Hale — Deputy Mayor of New York City

Public Image: Polished society wife / high-status social figure

Private image: Emotionally restrained, sexually deprived but highly principle-bound

Sexual History: No recorded infidelity

Difficulty: High

Corruption Route: Slow destabilization through competence, discretion, and unmet desire

Value Rating: High

[RELATIONSHIP METERS] ℯℯ𝑙.

Curiosity: 1%

Attraction: 0%

Love: 0%

Obsession: 0%

[NOTES]

Target is not thrill-driven.

Direct sexual pressure is likely to fail early.

Recommended approach: create awareness, usefulness, and private disruption without forcing.

Spouse access route remains strategically important for club development.

```

Tom read every line, he understood most part but there was one line that he didn’t seem to grasp well...

No recorded infidelity?

And yet she was here, behind a closed door, with a nearly naked man waiting in a private suite. The panel and the image refused to agree.

But before he could dig further into that contradiction, another notice cut smoothly across his vision.

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[SIDE MISSION]

Find out why Josie Hale is really at the massage parlor.

Reward:

• Contact of the most popular elite interior decorator

• +500 System Points

Penalty: None

Timeframe: Before she leaves the place.

[Accept / Reject?]

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