Chapter 2

I tried to go to the poster's profile, but the post had vanished.

My heart sank.

Undeterred, I exited and re-entered the app, even trying the search function.

I found the username, but clicking it led to that suffocating blankness.

Not only was the profile inaccessible, but the scandalous post itself now showed "[This post has been deleted]".

That was fast.

Only a mere ten minutes or so had passed since Blake left.

Did he contact her immediately after walking out?

Or was "she," the one who posted, keeping an eye on the comments, saw my questioning, and, knowing she was guilty, quickly hid everything?

Either way, it pointed to the same undeniable fact.

Blake is hiding something.

I dialed my best friend, Skylar.

"Skylar, I need a favor. Urgent."

Skylar heard the urgency in my voice and immediately dropped her usual banter: "Tell me, what's wrong, Chloe? Your voice sounds off. Did you argue with Blake?"

That's my best friend. We grew up together. Her intuition is spot on.

I briefly told her what happened.

I heard Skylar's furious gasp from the other end of the line: "Blake, that bastard, how dare he?"

"Don't curse yet, I need your help."

I quickly cut her off. "Skylar, you have connections. Help me find all the reputable tattoo parlors in the city that can do complex designs like this. The key is to check if, in the last year, there's been a female client with a sun totem tattoo on her ankle, with the letter 'B' in the center. Anonymous forum info is too vague; we need solid leads."

"Got it."

Skylar immediately agreed. "Leave it to me. I'll dig through hell and high water to get you those clues. That scumbag, he's got a death wish."

Just as I hung up, my screen lit up again.

I frowned and answered.

"Hello? Is that Chloe? It's Dustin."

Loud music blared from the other end. It was Dustin, Blake's so-called 'best friend' who was really just a party buddy, his voice urgent: "Oh, Chloe, you gotta come quickly. Blake's totally drunk. He's really upset because of you and he's making a scene here. None of us can stop him."

Because of me? Making a scene?

I scoffed inwardly.

How long had it been since he left the restaurant? And he's already drowning his sorrows?

He's really putting on a show.

"Address."

My voice was cold.

Dustin rattled off the name of a KTV and a room number – one of the most expensive places in the city.

Before hanging up, he 'kindly' added: "Chloe, when you get here, maybe say a few soft words to Blake? He's really upset today, keeps talking about you, saying you don't trust him enough. We can't talk any sense into him."

Every word was a veiled accusation that I was being unreasonable, forcing my boyfriend to drink himself senseless.

I said nothing, just hung up.

My rational side told me not to go, but a gut feeling drove me to see it for myself.

I wanted to see how they planned to play out this drama.