Ryan Caldwell and Emily Harper were both astonished, as if a thunderbolt had struck them.
They never expected that this abandoned son-in-law would be staying in a five-star hotel!
That was easily over six thousand dollars a night!
Ryan asked, "Emily, are you sure he only had a few hundred dollars? Has he been hiding money from you these past three years?"
Emily shook her head. "I don't know... maybe."
Ryan curled his lip. "That Jeff kid has guts. I told him he wouldn't be able to stay in any hotel below four stars. This guy actually blew it all and stayed in a five-star hotel!"
Ryan thought Jeff was afraid of his influence, which was why he had made the difficult decision to stay in a five-star hotel.
Little did they know, the young master of the Sterling family always stayed in five-star hotels.
Emily asked, "Do you have a way to make him leave?"
Ryan was quite troubled. "This is indeed a bit of a problem."
The owners of five-star hotels were all big shots, and Ryan couldn't afford to offend them. Moreover, these hotels valued their reputation above all else.
Once people found out that a hotel had kicked out a guest, the loss would far outweigh any benefit from Ryan's reputation.
Ryan felt a little ashamed and whispered, "Why don't we let him stay here for one night? Even if he has some savings, he can only afford one night at most."
Emily was clearly unhappy. Ryan had just confidently said he would make Jeff sleep on the streets, but now he was helpless against him.
Seeing Emily's anger, Ryan felt anxious himself. He looked at the receptionist and asked:
"Jeff is staying one night, right?"
The receptionist had just finished processing Jeff's check-in, so there was no need to check. She replied:
"Mr. Jeff has paid for seven days."
"Seven days?" Ryan was somewhat surprised. "This bastard is ruthless. Six thousand dollars a night—that's forty-two thousand dollars for seven days! Emily, he's hiding quite a bit of money!"
Emily stomped her foot angrily. "He must have embezzled the money from the grocery store, dog food store, and daily necessities. He's so shameless—he even embezzled such a small amount!"
The Harper family was a second-tier wealthy family in Riverforge, with huge daily expenses, and Jeff had been the one handling those things.
It wasn't impossible to pocket tens of thousands of dollars over three years.
However, at that moment, the receptionist spoke up. "Um... Mr. Jeff is not staying in a regular room. He's in the presidential suite."
"What?!"
Ryan and Emily were so shocked they almost jumped.
Presidential suite?
For another week?!
The presidential suite at the Four Seasons West Lake cost eighty thousand dollars a night!
That was five hundred and sixty thousand dollars in seven days!
"Five hundred and sixty thousand! Jeff just paid five hundred and sixty thousand?" Ryan looked at the receptionist in horror.
The pretty receptionist nodded, a hint of shyness on her face. "Yes, and he even gave me a ten-thousand-dollar tip..."
Hearing this, Emily—seeing the receptionist's attractive appearance—felt a pang of jealousy and angrily rebuked her:
"Who told you to take his tip! That's all Harper family money, do you know that?!"
Ryan didn't want Emily to cause trouble at a five-star hotel, so he pulled her aside and said:
"Emily, let's not worry about the tip for now. Where did he get so much money? Even if he skimmed from groceries and stuff, he couldn't possibly make half a million in three years."
Emily thought about it carefully and realized it was indeed true. Although the Harper family gave him pocket money every month, it didn't add up to that much over three years.
As she was thinking, Emily suddenly realized something and said with a worried look, "He often went to Grandma's to help look after her dogs. Grandma has a lot of antiques. Could he have stolen one or two and sold them?"
Ryan knew how powerful Old Madam Harper was. Over the years, she had received many expensive gifts every birthday.
Those gifts were piled up like mountains in her home.
Jeff only needed to steal one or two items, which would be enough to sell for hundreds of thousands.
Ryan said, "That must be it. Quickly notify your family and have them check if anything is missing!"
"Right!"
Emily quickly picked up her phone and called her mother, Susan Harper.
...
At this moment, back at The Pinnacle Hotel.
Jeff and Emily had been gone for more than forty minutes, and the guests at the birthday banquet had eaten and drunk their fill.
In the past, busy CEOs would have already returned to their companies to make money.
But today, none of them were in a hurry to leave.
They were all waiting for one person: the mysterious man who had given the jade bracelet worth millions—Jessica Harper's supposed suitor.
Victoria Lang had a bad feeling. "Why hasn't the person who delivered the gift arrived yet? Even if Riverfront Drive is congested, they should have arrived by now."
"Could it be that the bracelet was really a gift from Jeff?"
Thinking about this, Victoria Lang broke out in a cold sweat. Had she accidentally offended a powerful figure?
Just then, Susan Harper's phone rang.
"Daughter, how's it going? You've divorced that good-for-nothing, right?" Susan answered with a smile.
Emily said, "Mom, hurry to Grandma's house and see which of her antique paintings and calligraphy are missing. That bastard Jeff stole our things and is going to sell them!"
Susan was shocked. "What? Jeff, that good-for-nothing, stole Grandma's antique paintings and calligraphy?"
Hearing Susan's words, Victoria Lang felt much more relaxed. She held a slender cigarette between her alluring red lips, and smoke drifted out as she said:
"I thought that kid was some big shot, but he's just a thief."