Chapter 2
Steward's face turned pale and then flushed red before he finally stormed off.
I knew I had pushed Victoria past her limit.
After a warning like that, she might come at me with everything she had.
But I didn't care.
*****
Three days later, the hotel was all fixed up. I pulled off the cloth that had been covering the name.
The gold sign, "Crescent Prime", shone bright in the sun.
I announced that Crescent Prime was open for business as of today.
On opening day, Redbird Avenue was packed with people.
But everyone stood across the street, pointing at my hotel with mocking looks on their faces, waiting for something to go wrong.
Not one customer walked through the door.
No one even sent a little congratulations.
Inside Crescent Prime, it was completely empty, which felt strange next to all the noise outside.
Shadow stood behind me, his tall figure as quiet as a wall.
I could feel the coldness coming off him, the kind that meant he was ready to kill.
Instead of getting angry, I poured myself a cup of coffee and blew on it to cool it down, completely relaxed.
"Don't rush," I said softly to Shadow, a lazy smile in my voice. "The fish are about to take the bait."
*****
When night came, the crowd of onlookers slowly went home.
Redbird Avenue went back to being as quiet as it always was.
Right then, a plain dark carriage pulled up to the back door of Crescent Prime.
A middle-aged man stepped out, dressed in ordinary clothes and radiating nervous energy he couldn't quite hide.
He gave the door a quick, sneaky knock and kept looking around.
Shadow opened the door and led him inside.
The moment the man saw me, he bowed so low that his forehead almost touched the floor.
"Please, Miss Goodwin, you have to save me," he begged.
I knew him. He was Richard Warren, the deputy minister at the Ministry of Finance.
Lately, the High Court had been after him for a corruption case. With both witnesses and solid evidence against him, his family was about to lose everything while he faced severe punishment.
Instead of helping him up, I took a slow, easy sip of my coffee.
"Crescent Prime isn't a charity," I said. "I only sell information."
Richard's head shot up, and his eyes lit up with a desperate spark of hope.
"Miss Goodwin, if you can clear my name, I swear I'll give you ten thousand silver coins," he pleaded.
I held up one finger and gave it a shake. "One hundred thousand silver coins."
Richard's breath caught in his chest, and his face went pale in an instant. "One hundred thousand silver coins? Miss Goodwin, are you serious?"
"Take it or leave it." I set my cup down, and the sharp clink against the table shattered any hope he had of negotiating. "Tell me, Mr. Warren, isn't your life worth one hundred thousand silver coins?"
He clenched his jaw so hard that the veins bulged on his forehead.
After a long moment, he slumped to the floor like every bit of strength had been drained out of him.
"Fine. One hundred thousand silver coins. I'll pay," he said, his voice weak and defeated.
A satisfied smile spread across my face.
I took a small note that I had prepared earlier from my sleeve and handed it to Shadow.
Shadow then passed it over to Richard.
"The real ledger that proves your superior's crimes is hidden under the statue at the address on that note," I said. "You only have one hour."
Richard grabbed the note like it was a lifeline and scrambled out the door in a panic.
I watched his figure disappear into the night, and then picked up my cup and finished the rest of my coffee in one go.
The first deal was done.
This was only the beginning.
I was going to show everyone in Jelasburg what this so-called jinx was really selling.
*****
The next day, the whole city exploded with news.
The corruption case against the deputy minister at the Ministry of Finance took a shocking turn.
Richard, who was supposed to be the guilty one, suddenly became a whistleblower.
Out of nowhere, he produced an old ledger that laid out every crime his superior, Edward Lawson, the Minister of Finance, had committed over the years, including bribery and embezzlement.
The evidence was solid. Edward was stripped of his position on the spot, thrown into prison, and his fortune was confiscated, piling up like a mountain.
Richard, on the other hand, was not only set free but also got his old job back for exposing the truth. There were even hints that a promotion might be coming his way.
In one night, he went from rock bottom to the top.
Everyone was completely stunned.
No one knew how Richard had managed to turn things around.
But a few sharp nobles picked up on something unusual from the small details.
They thought of Crescent Prime, the place that had opened in the middle of all that chaos but still sat there empty with no customers.
They thought of Claire, the Goodwin heiress, whom everyone in Jelasburg had been laughing at.
That rumor that Crescent Prime only sold information began to spread like an underground current, quietly reaching every noble in Jelasburg.
All of a sudden, Crescent Prime wasn't so quiet anymore.
The place didn't open during the day, but every night, all kinds of carriages would show up and park quietly at the back door.
Some of the visitors were court officials looking for dirt on their rivals.
Others were wealthy merchants trying to dig up secrets about their business competitors.
And there were also rich families hoping to find relatives they had lost touch with.
I set three rules for every customer who visited.
[First, we talk business and nothing else. I don't care who you are. Whether you're a royal or a regular person, once you walk through my door, you're just a buyer.
[Second, information may be priceless, but my service isn't. I name my price, and if you don't like it, you can leave anytime.
[Third, the highest bidder wins. If two people want the same piece of information, it goes to whoever offers the price I like better.]
These rules were harsh, but they worked.