Chapter 3
Shawn also told me he'd fired Megan.
A month later, I was browsing through eBay, looking for some vintage stuff.
Out of nowhere, I stumbled upon a listing for a watch.
The dial design, the diamond inlays, and the personalized engraving on the back were identical to the custom-made Sterlingia watch I'd given Shawn.
A sinking feeling hit me. I tapped into the product details.
The listing title said: "Boyfriend gave me this watch, never used it, selling cheap."
The price was only ten thousand dollars.
I knew exactly how much that watch was worth.
It was exclusively custom-made in Sterlingia, fitted with premium diamonds, and cost a whopping three million dollars.
There was absolutely no other like it in the world. It's truly one of a kind.
I messaged the seller using my alt account.
[Hey, is this really your watch? It doesn't look like something you'd find anywhere.]
Just a few minutes later, the seller replied.
[Yeah, my boyfriend gave it to me, but I never wear it. It's just sitting around, so I'm letting it go cheap.]
I replied: [This watch is worth way more than ten thousand dollars. You're letting it go for way too little.]
The seller fired back almost right away, sounding smug and full of herself.
[Lose what? My boyfriend's my sugar daddy. He buys me a house and a car. Money's never an issue. I don't care about a few tens of thousands of dollars.]
[His wife was the one who bought this watch. Every time I see it, it brings back bad memories, so I have to get rid of it.]
[Honestly, forget ten thousand dollars. I'd sell it for one hundred dollars if I felt like it.]
At this point, I was certain. The seller was Megan Avalos.
Shawn hadn't shown a shred of remorse.
He hadn't even cut ties with Megan.
He'd passed on the gift I gave him straight to Megan.
I swallowed my anger and shot back, [Your boyfriend's got a wife? Guess that makes you his side chick, huh?]
That line made Megan totally lose it.
She blew up my inbox with a bunch of messages, full of attitude and absolutely no shame.
Megan: [I'm not the side chick! What do you even know? The real mistress is the one he doesn't care about.]
Megan: [His wife's some bossy, controlling woman. All she's got is cash.]
Megan: [She doesn't understand Mr. Moulton at all, and she doesn't even know how to treat him.]
Megan: [Mr. Moulton loves me. He had no choice but to marry his wife because the Costner family forced him.]
Megan: [Once Mr. Moulton's built up his fortune, he'll dump her and marry me with all the fanfare.]
Reading Megan's messages, I didn't get upset. Instead, I couldn't help but laugh.
She was totally clueless. She had no idea who she was actually talking to.
Without a second thought, I hit "Buy Now" and bought the watch for ten thousand dollars.
The next day, the package arrived.
I opened it up, took out the watch, and, with practiced ease, took apart the movement.
Inside, a tiny listening chip was exposed.
Actually, even before I accidentally caught Shawn messing around with that claw machine, I'd sensed something was off about him.
Someone tipped me off that Shawn was forming cliques and scheming behind the scenes at the company.
That's why I had this watch custom-made with a bug inside, to keep tabs on him.
I used a special device to pull the data from the bug.
What I found was way worse than I ever imagined.
It wasn't just the explicit sounds of Shawn and Megan hooking up in bed.
There was also proof that Shawn was embezzling company funds and skimming off company resources.
There was even evidence that he was conspiring with someone outside to undermine the company from within.
But I didn't blow up right away. I pretended I was clueless, acting like nothing was wrong.
That night, when Shawn got home from work, he was still playing the good guy, bringing me a glass of water.
I took the glass, pretending it was a random question.
I asked, "Where's that watch I gave you? Haven't seen you wear it."
Shawn looked panicked.
He stammered, "I... I left it at the office. I'll bring it back tomorrow."
"Is that so? Then don't forget to wear it tomorrow. Don't let me down."
Shawn nodded quickly, desperate.
"Alright, I'll definitely remember tomorrow. I won't forget, I promise!"
If I were right, Shawn would be scrambling to reach out to Megan and try to get the watch back.
And Megan would be kicking herself for selling it on eBay.
Sure enough, it didn't take long before my alt account on eBay was flooded with frantic messages from Megan.
[I'm not selling the watch anymore. I'll refund you ten thousand dollars, just give it back to me, okay?]
I could barely keep from cracking up as I typed back.
[No way, not giving it back.]
[I checked. This watch is worth three million dollars.]
[I just lucked into the deal of a lifetime. I'd have to be a fool to hand it back.]
Megan grew even more frantic, flooding my inbox with messages, her tone full of desperation and pleading.