Chapter 37

Despite suddenly becoming the target of everyone’s critical gazes, Renee remained perfectly calm.

“Wait,” she chuckled, “surely you guys aren’t suspecting me of being Phoenix, are you?”

“I’d just gone out to the restroom for a few minutes,” she said incredulously, “and in that time, I somehow Jurned into a famous genius hacker! What a magical turn of events! Perhaps I should celebrate it with fireworks!”

“I think it’s all just a coincidence,” Elijah chimed in quickly. “Based on my understanding of Mrs. Hunt’s character, her shrewdness and practicality are more suited for a housewife. Her proficiency with computers is limited to watching movies and videos online. She doesn’t even play any video games…

If someone like her is a genius hacker, then I must be the president of this country!”

Although his words were unflattering at Renee’s expense, he had only said that to help get her out of trouble, and it worked well. Everyone thought that Elijah’s words made a lot of sense.

“That’s right,” said Renee with a smile, the picture of innocence. “Everyone knows how much I love Stefan. If I really was Phoenix, I would’ve done everything I could to help him. There’s no way that I would ever sabotage him!

“Is that so?” Stefan, who had been silent all this time, finally spoke up. His pointed gaze was fixed on the woman as he sneered, “I think you’ve sabotaged me quite a few times before.”

Renee laughed awkwardly. ‘What a hateful man,’ she thought bitterly. How could he just pull the rug out from under her feet like that?

Stefan slowly stepped towards Renee and reached out to grip her chin, lifting her head to his. His gaze was searching, meticulously dissecting every emotion on her face.

“So, are you Phoenix?”

Renee could not help feeling somewhat guilty, and she quickly averted her gaze. She could easily fool the others, but she knew full well that the scarily shrewd Mr. Hunt was not someone to be trifled with.

All she could think of was to give him an ambiguous answer. “If you think I am, then I am. If you think I’m not, then I’m not.”

“Very good,” he responded. “That’s exactly the right kind of meaningless crap to say.”

His strikingly handsome face was emotionless as he demanded, “Give me your phone.”

After all, the entirety of anyone’s secret life would surely be hidden on their phone in this day and age.

If there really was something suspicious about Renee, he could easily figure it out just by browsing through her phone for a while.

Naturally, there was no way that Renee would ever let him go through her phone, because there were so many things there that could never see the light of day!

“You’re invading my privacy here,” she told him directly. “Please forgive me, but I won’t cooperate.”

She stood her ground just as firmly as Stefan. It was as if the two were playing a game of tug-of-war, and neither was prepared to give up and be subdued by the other.

The onlookers broke out in a cold sweat. None of them even dared to breathe. They truly did not expect that Mrs. Hunt, the woman who had always been so gentle, well-behaved, and compliant, would have the guts to go against Mr. Hunt. Was she so unafraid because she had a special status as his wife? Haze’s eyes darted back and forth between Stefan and Renee. Suddenly, a mischievous smile appeared on his handsome face, which had been partially hidden by the brim of his cap.

Fascinating’ Extremely fascinating!

“Ah, it suddenly occurred to me that there really is something wrong with my codes!”

He then turned to the crowd and laughingly said, “I’m incredibly sorry, everyone. I’ve made a fool of myself! I’ll go back and improve. I promise that there won’t be any mistakes next time!”

And just like that, the tense atmosphere instantly relaxed.

Haze’s answer made everyone heave a sigh of relief.

Earen Renee secretly loosened her clenched fists. It would not have been that big of a deal had her secret identity been exposed, but if Stefan really did check through her phone, then the secret of her pregnancy would be out – and that would open up a huge can of worms!

She furtively glanced at Haze and saw him smiling and laughing like he had nothing to hide. She was confused. Why had he decided to help her?

“In any case,” said Haze, “I’m sure that Phoenix is one hundred percent not Mrs. Hunt. Do you guys want to know why?”

The crowd stared at Haze in eager curiosity.

“Because,” he explained with a half-smile, “Phoenix’s coding style has always been meticulous and neat. They were never sloppy. A person who could write that kind of code would never cling to a cheating man!”