Betrayed By Husband, Stolen By Brother In Law-Chapter 194: Backup

"Do you have any backup for this auction invite that you received?" freēwēbnovel.com

Melanie let out a weary sigh and shook her head. "No. It was on my phone, and as you know, that’s been confiscated by the police. I never thought to screenshot it or forward it to anyone—I didn’t think I’d need to."

They were still sitting in the car, the air between them growing heavier with each passing minute as they sat just outside the hospital building, not going inside.

"That’s unfortunate and actually worrisome," he said after a pause, his tone neutral but firm. "Because according to my source—someone within the department—the police received an anonymous tip. A very specific one. It claimed you’d been planning to harm your husband. And when that kind of tip is followed by circumstantial evidence—like you showing up here without a way to prove the reason for your visit, and damning search history appearing on your personal laptop—it creates a dangerous narrative."

Melanie looked down at her lap, her hands tightly clenched. "I didn’t even know Adam was hurt when I received a call at the airport," she said quietly, almost to herself. "I didn’t know anything."

Elias nodded slowly, his expression unreadable. "I believe you. But unfortunately, belief alone isn’t going to cut it. Not here. Not in Maniwa."

He leaned slightly toward her, lowering his voice as he continued. "You need to understand the climate right now. Recently, there’s been a surge of incidents involving tourists—drunken fights, public disturbances, and property damage. It’s made the locals edgy, resentful even. People are looking for someone to blame. And when you add in an allegation like attempted murder—possibly escalating to murder, if your husband doesn’t pull through—this town will not be on your side. The prosecution won’t need to work hard to paint you as a foreign woman who came here with hidden motives and a troubled marriage."

Melanie’s chest tightened and she had to remind herself that this was not the time to panic.

"If this goes to trial," Elias continued, his voice calm but serious, "they won’t need a smoking gun. Not here. We’ve had convictions based on less evidence—less coherent stories. The courts can be unpredictable, especially when public sentiment is already poisoned."

A long silence settled between them, broken only by the distant sounds of hospital traffic. Melanie turned to him slowly, her voice quiet but desperate. "What do we do? I can contact my assistant to contact the supplier and get a copy of the supplier, if you’d like."

"There is also video surveillance from the hotel that can prove I did not leave my room since last night. And me and Adam went to a club like place yesterday.. There were a lot of people making videos there..."

Elias nodded and handed her a phone," You can use this temporarily to contact your assistant. It also has my number saved. Give me the name of the place where you signed the business deal, then you first saw Adam and Saira, where you and Adam went after that and the hotel you were staying at. For now, I’ll leave you here and start looking up things."

Melanie nodded and hurriedly wrote down the names of everywhere she and Adam had been and then hurried out of the car.

She stepped into the hospital lobby and the nurse at the reception gave her a tight smile. It seemed she had been informed that Adam might have been almost killed by her.

The nurse tapped a few keys on her keyboard, then shook her head and informed her, "I’m sorry, but visitors aren’t allowed at the moment. You can wait in the lounge down the hall to your right."

Melanie clenched her jaw but nodded. "Is he... is he under watch?"

The nurse hesitated for a moment, then looked toward the hallway. "There are officers stationed outside his room."

A flicker of relief passed through Melanie. If nothing else, then it meant that he was at least protected.

She followed the corridor until she reached the waiting area and noted two detectives in plain clothes standing outside a closed door.

Melanie sank into one of the stiff chairs and pulled out the temporary phone Elias had given her. She dialed Ben’s number.

It rang once.

Then twice.

Then straight to voicemail.

She frowned and glanced at the screen, wondering if she had typed it wrong. She tried again.

Still nothing.

A slow knot of unease began to form in her stomach. She swiped to another number—Tasha, one of her junior employees who’d been coordinating the supplier meetings.

"Hello?"

"Tasha. It’s Melanie. Have you seen Ben?"

There was a pause. Some shuffling in the background. Then, "Um... actually, yeah. He left shortly after you the other day. He said he was going with you. Didn’t he follow you to Maniwa?"

Melanie sat up straighter, even more confused. "No, I didn’t. I left alone. Did he say anything else?"

"Just that he had something important to follow up on. I thought he meant you told him to follow you. I might be mistaken though."

Melanie’s mind reeled. Why would Ben say that? Had someone called him pretending to be her? Was he also going to fall into some conspiracy like her?

"Alright," she said quickly. "Call me the second he comes back or tries to reach out. Don’t wait. It’s urgent."

She ended the call, her worry heightening. Her thumb hovered over Ben’s number again when, without warning, the lights in the corridor flickered—and then went out completely. The generator seemed to kick in immediately with low lights turning on. But then, as she looked up, towards Adam’s room, she felt something odd...

She frowned. Something was wrong. But what? She looked away and then looked up again and then her eyes widened. Had the detectives changed.

Hurriedly, she stood up and walked towards the room. The guard on the left seemed to not have noticed her as he turned around and moved to enter the room.

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