Chapter 778

A muffled groan echoed as the man hit the ground, clutching his side. I pressed the bat against him and leaned in to get a better look. It wasn’t Hayden. It was a stranger.

“Who sent you? Who let you into my apartment?” I asked.

The man shook his head, refusing to talk. I didn’t bother playing nice. Pulling out my phone, I said, “Fine. Let’s see what you tell the cops.”

“Don’t call the police!” he blurted, panicking. “I just wanted to steal a few things! I’ll give them back right now, okay?”

His hand moved toward his pocket, and my instincts flared. “Don’t move,” I snapped, tightening my grip on the bat.

He froze mid-motion, then slowly pulled his hand out, revealing a handful of my jewelry. “I only took these. That’s it,” he said, trying to sound sincere.

Just a petty thief? Yeah, right. These were probably the first things he grabbed to make it look that way. I wasn’t buying it. My finger hovered over the call button as I stared him down.

“M–Miss, please! Don’t call the cops!” he begged, sounding genuinely desperate. “If they come, I’m finished.”

If he was so terrified of the cops ruining his life, maybe breaking into my apartment wasn’t his brightest idea.

“If you’re honest with me, I might let you off the hook,” I said, lowering my phone slightly. He looked like he was weighing his options, so I pressed him harder. “If you don’t start talking, I’m calling them. Right now.”

The glowing three digits on my phone screen must have done the trick, because after a few tense seconds, he cracked.

“It was… a guy who sent me.”

He kept going without prompting. “I don’t know his name. He gave me some cash upfront and promised the rest after the job was done.”

“And what exactly was the job? What were you supposed to do in my apartment?” I pressed.

“He didn’t say. Just told me to go in, mess the place up, and make it look like a break-in.”

His words painted a vivid—and infuriating—picture. I could already imagine the chaos upstairs. As a total neat freak, the idea of my place trashed made my eye twitch.

“That’s it?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.

“Yes,” he mumbled, head hanging low. “The jewelry… I just saw it lying there and figured I’d grab something valuable instead of leaving empty-handed.”

“What about the guy who sent you? You must’ve seen him.”

The man shook his head. “We only talked over the phone.”

“Then give me the phone number.”

“It was a burner phone.”

I scoffed silently. Of course, it was.

“You said he paid you upfront. Show me the transaction record.”

“It was cash,” he stammered. “He left the money at a spot and told me where to pick it up.”

Hah. Whoever was behind this had clearly planned it out. Cash payments and burner phones left no trail. Even if the police caught this guy, they’d be chasing shadows. It was obvious he was just a pawn—hired to do someone else’s dirty work.

“Miss, please, let me go! I swear I’ll never do anything like this again,” he begged, his voice pitiful.

Yeah, like I’d buy that. If this guy got caught now, it was probably just the tip of the iceberg. He wouldn’t have been hired for a job like this if he didn’t already have a shady track record. People like him were bottom-feeders. Letting him go would be like handing a match to a pyromaniac—he’d be back at it in no time.

“If I let you go, would you show others the same mercy?” I asked coldly. Not waiting for an answer, I called the police and notified building security.

For what I paid to live here, keeping intruders out should have been a given. Someone was definitely going to answer for this lapse.

Security showed up first, standing guard over the guy until the police arrived. With him handled, I went back to my apartment—and immediately regretted it.

The place was a disaster, just like I’d feared. Drawers overturned, furniture shoved out of place, and my belongings scattered everywhere. One look was enough to make my neat-freak tendencies scream.

I didn’t even step inside. Instead, I pulled out my phone and texted my housekeeper to come over ASAP once she woke up.

While waiting for the police and my housekeeper, I snapped a quick photo of the wreckage and posted it privately, setting it so only Cole and Wayne could see the post.

The caption? [What a complete disaster.]