Chapter 366
Chapter 366:
The forum itself was held inside the hotel.
There was a table by the doors where everyone had to surrender their phones and laptops to prevent leaks of new, unreleased designs.
My time slot didn’t come until late.
By then, the lights had made the room stuffy, and most of the audience looked like they’d rather be horizontal.
I stepped up anyway, gripped the edge of the podium, and spoke loud and clear.
After I stepped down, I’d barely walked five meters before the name cards started coming.
By the end of the night, I’d tucked nearly a hundred into my bag.
Forewarned by Professor Veldman, I’d prepared a stack of my own cards and handed them out to those I wanted to have further conversations with.
All in all, the first night was a success.
But Daniel’s face didn’t seem to agree.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
He looked pissed off and guilty at the same time. “Your phone’s gone. Someone stole it p>
I blinked. “Come again p>
“Gone. Vanished. The organizers just pulled me aside. They think a cleaner took it p>
“You’re telling me someone managed to steal a phone from a table guarded by three staff? In a five-star hotel p>
“Yes.” Daniel shoved a hand through his hair. “Three phones were nicked. Yours included. Some guy dressed like housekeeping slipped them right under their noses p>
F𝒊rst 𝒔𝗲en 𝒊n 𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒆: gⲁ𝅘𝓁𝗇𝑜ν𝖊𝗅𝘀⧼𝓬𝗈𝗺
Staff only realized when someone else went to get theirs and couldn’t find it. They checked the footage. A bloke in uniform, fake badge, walked straight out.
“And no one stopped him p>
“They were half-asleep, Mira. Sitting there for hours doing nothing. He could’ve danced out singing show tunes and no one would’ve noticed. The hotel’s claiming he wasn’t one of theirs. They’ve got no idea who he is p>
I bit down on my tongue so I wouldn’t say anything that might get me escorted out.
When we reached the front, a man in a blazer and cufflinks was shouting at the poor girl behind the table.
He gestured wildly at the empty space where his phone should’ve been. “Unbelievable,” he roared. “You think an apology is going to fix this p>
I would’ve yelled too if it would accomplish anything.
The security footage showed exactly what Daniel had described.
A man in a cleaner’s uniform glided past the hotel staff with a mop in one hand and three stolen phones in the other.