PHOENIX

15| HE WATCHED EVERYTHING

The following morning, Jackson woke up with a clear objective already fixed in his mind. He had spent most of the previous night convincing himself that following Matt was the smartest move he could make, and after carefully weighing every possible option, he still believed it was the right decision. If anyone outside of Roy himself could unknowingly lead him to something useful, it was Matthew Martins. Jackson had already begun getting ready, mentally running through everything he needed for the day, when an unexpected movement outside his hotel window immediately caught his attention.

Melissa.

His entire plan came to an abrupt halt.

Jackson instinctively stepped closer to the window, his eyes following her as she made her way towards the parking lot. His pulse quickened despite himself. He had been preparing to spend the day tracking someone else entirely, yet seeing Melissa unexpectedly leave the hotel made every carefully constructed plan disappear from his mind. The sight of her only deepened the question that had been bothering him since the day they accidentally bumped into each other in the lobby. Why was she still staying at the hotel? It made absolutely no sense. Her family owned one of the most extravagant estates in the city. If she wanted luxury, privacy or security, she already had all of those waiting for her there. Choosing to stay in a hotel instead felt strangely out of place, and Jackson couldn't shake the feeling that there had to be a reason behind it.

Oddly enough, the realisation also brought him a small sense of relief.

As long as Melissa continued staying at the hotel, keeping track of her movements remained relatively simple. He always knew where she would begin and end her day. The moment she returned to living at the family estate, however, everything would become infinitely more complicated. Following someone in and out of Roy's heavily guarded property was far riskier than watching a hotel entrance. Whether he liked it or not, Melissa's temporary stay there worked in his favour.

Not wanting to waste another second, Jackson grabbed everything he needed before leaving his room. Within minutes, he was making his way through the lobby and towards the parking lot, careful not to attract unnecessary attention. By the time he reached his car, Melissa was already approaching a sleek black sedan waiting near the entrance. Just like the previous day, the same enormous scar-faced man occupied the driver's seat. Jackson watched as Melissa climbed into the passenger side without hesitation, while the man closed the door before calmly walking around to his own seat behind the steering wheel.

Jackson remained exactly where he was.

Experience had already taught him that impatience was dangerous. He waited until the sedan had completely exited the parking lot before starting his own engine. Only then did he slowly pull out and begin following at a generous distance. This time, he made a conscious effort to keep several vehicles between himself and Melissa's car. He had already come far too close to being discovered on previous occasions, and he had no intention of making the same mistake again. If anything, he was beginning to develop an unfortunate talent for getting caught, and he wasn't eager to add another embarrassing chapter to that growing collection.

Melissa's vehicle merged effortlessly into the morning traffic, heading towards the heart of the city. Jackson quietly followed, allowing the flow of cars to disguise his presence while his mind continued generating question after question. Why wasn't she staying with her family? What business required her to leave the hotel so early every morning? More importantly, what exactly was she hiding? The uncertainty frustrated him because every answer seemed just out of reach. He couldn't ignore the possibility that the hotel itself had become part of whatever secret she was keeping. Until he discovered the truth, abandoning surveillance simply wasn't an option.

Nearly thirty minutes later, the black sedan slowed before turning into the parking lot of a plain-looking office building. There was nothing particularly remarkable about the place. It lacked the luxury and grandeur Jackson had come to associate with the Roy family, appearing instead like countless other commercial buildings scattered throughout the city. Rather than following directly behind, Jackson continued driving for another block before finding a suitable place to park. From there, he carefully observed Melissa and her driver as they got out of the vehicle and entered the building together.

Jackson remained inside his car for several moments, studying the entrance before looking up at the name displayed prominently on the front of the building. He silently repeated it to himself, committing it to memory before deciding he would research it properly later. There was no point jumping to conclusions before gathering all the facts. After waiting long enough to avoid appearing as though he were following them directly, he finally climbed out of his car and made his way towards the building.

The moment he stepped inside, Jackson slowed his pace, allowing his eyes to quietly survey the spacious lobby without drawing attention to himself. A large directory listing the various businesses occupied one of the walls, and he casually approached it as though searching for an office of his own. One by one, he scanned the names until his attention settled on a law firm occupying the top floor. Given everything he knew about the Roy family, it immediately struck him as the most likely destination. Whether Melissa was there on family business or for reasons entirely unrelated, he couldn't say, but it seemed like the strongest possibility available.

Without lingering any longer, Jackson walked towards the elevators and pressed the call button. As the doors slid open a few moments later, he stepped inside and selected the highest floor, silently hoping that when the doors opened again, he would catch another glimpse of Melissa before she disappeared once more.

As soon as the elevator doors slid open, Jackson stepped into an elegant reception area designed with sleek modern furniture, polished marble floors and floor-to-ceiling glass that gave the entire office an expensive, professional appearance. His eyes swept across the room in a single glance, instinctively searching for Melissa, but she was nowhere to be seen. There was only a receptionist seated behind a large desk, typing away on her computer until she noticed him approaching. Almost immediately, she looked up and greeted him with the kind of polite, practised smile that came from dealing with clients every day.

"Good morning. How can I help you?" she asked pleasantly.

Jackson returned the smile, carefully arranging his features into an expression of mild confusion. "I'm actually looking for someone who may have come in a few minutes ago," he said, doing his best to sound like an ordinary visitor rather than someone chasing leads. "A young woman, probably in her early twenties, with brown hair. I was supposed to meet her downstairs, but I think I might have come to the wrong floor."

The receptionist maintained her professionalism, although Jackson didn't miss the almost imperceptible hesitation that crossed her face before she answered. "I'm sorry, sir, but I'm afraid I can't disclose any information regarding our clients."

Jackson gave a small, understanding nod as though he had expected that answer all along. "Of course," he said apologetically. "That's completely understandable. I must have made a mistake. Sorry for bothering you."

Without giving her another reason to become suspicious, he turned around and casually walked back towards the elevators. Even as he waited for the doors to open, he allowed himself one final glance around the reception area, hoping Melissa might suddenly appear from one of the offices hidden beyond the frosted glass doors, but the corridor remained quiet. A few employees walked past carrying files, while others disappeared into meeting rooms, yet there was still no sign of her.

A few moments later, Jackson was back inside his car.

Although he hadn't managed to see Melissa, he couldn't ignore what he had observed during that brief conversation with the receptionist. She hadn't confirmed anything outright, but her reaction had spoken volumes. The slight hesitation before refusing to answer, the careful choice of words and the guarded expression that briefly crossed her face all suggested that Melissa had indeed come there, exactly as Jackson had suspected. If she hadn't, the woman would've probably dismissed his description immediately instead of becoming noticeably cautious. It wasn't concrete proof, but after spending years learning how to read people, Jackson trusted his instincts. They rarely failed him.

Rather than driving away, he settled deeper into his seat and decided to wait.

There was no point risking another unnecessary move when patience could potentially reward him with far more information. If Melissa wasn't planning to spend the entire day inside the building, eventually she would come back out. Until then, he had nothing better to do than remain where he was and watch. As the minutes slowly crawled by, his thoughts drifted back over everything that had happened during the past several days. Every encounter with Melissa, every strange conversation, every contradiction in her behaviour replayed itself inside his mind. The more he thought about everything he had seen, the less sense it all made. Every answer he uncovered only seemed to produce three more questions, leaving him feeling as though he were chasing a mystery determined to stay hidden.

Almost an hour passed before movement at the building's entrance finally caught his attention.

Melissa stepped outside.

Even from where he sat, Jackson could tell something had changed. The softness that had been on her face earlier that morning had completely disappeared, replaced by an unmistakable tension that settled heavily across her features. She looked distracted, almost troubled, as though whatever meeting had taken place upstairs hadn't gone the way she expected. The scar-faced man hurried forward the moment he saw her, opening the passenger door before she reached the car. Melissa climbed inside without saying a word, and after closing the door behind her, the giant circled the vehicle, slid behind the steering wheel and pulled away from the curb.

Jackson waited several seconds before starting his own engine.

Once again, he eased his car into traffic, maintaining a comfortable distance as he quietly resumed following Melissa.

The black sedan took a completely different route this time, leaving the busy streets behind and gradually making its way towards the quieter outskirts of the city. Jackson remained several vehicles behind, careful not to close the distance too much. His curiosity only continued to grow with every kilometre they travelled. Whatever business Melissa had at the law firm was clearly over, but it was obvious that her day was far from finished. The question was where she was going now, and more importantly, why.

After driving for quite some time, the sedan eventually turned onto a private road that disappeared behind rows of towering trees. Jackson slowed instinctively, making sure not to draw attention to himself as he continued following from a considerable distance. A few moments later, the road opened up to reveal an enormous estate enclosed by towering walls that stretched farther than he could comfortably see. Thick trees lined almost every section of the perimeter, making it nearly impossible to glimpse anything beyond the walls from the road outside.

Jackson immediately drove past the entrance instead of stopping nearby. Only after putting a reasonable distance between himself and the estate did he find a suitable place to park where his vehicle wouldn't attract unwanted attention. Turning off the engine, he reached for the binoculars he kept inside the car before quietly observing the property from afar.

Even through the lenses, the place looked enormous.

Beyond the imposing walls stretched beautifully maintained gardens that seemed to go on forever before finally giving way to an impressive mansion standing proudly at the centre of the estate. The building itself was every bit as grand as Jackson would've expected from someone like Roy. It wasn't merely expensive; it projected power. Every carefully maintained hedge, every decorative fountain and every section of perfectly manicured landscaping seemed designed to remind visitors exactly how wealthy and influential the family living there truly was.

His attention quickly shifted away from the mansion itself and towards something far more important. Security.

Cameras had been strategically installed along the perimeter, covering angles that left very few blind spots. Guards moved methodically around the estate, patrolling with practised precision rather than wandering aimlessly. Jackson watched them for several minutes, noting the routes they followed and how frequently they crossed paths. Nothing about the security appeared careless. Every movement seemed coordinated, every position carefully chosen. It became painfully obvious that entering the estate unnoticed would be close to impossible without months of preparation.

His gaze eventually returned to the front entrance just in time to see Melissa and the scar-faced man disappear inside the mansion.

Jackson lowered the binoculars for a moment, exhaling slowly.

Whatever was happening inside those walls had to be important.

Nobody invested that level of security into protecting something ordinary. Whether the estate served merely as Roy's family home or as the centre of his operations, Jackson couldn't yet determine. What he did know was that this place mattered. Very much.

For the next several hours, he remained exactly where he was.

Patiently, he watched everything.

Different vehicles arrived throughout the afternoon before disappearing behind the estate gates. Others left after varying lengths of time. Jackson carefully committed each face he could see to memory, paying close attention to who greeted whom, who appeared comfortable entering the property and who seemed almost nervous whenever they arrived. Every interaction, no matter how insignificant it appeared on the surface, became another piece of information worth storing away for later. Years of training had taught him that the smallest detail often became the missing piece that solved the biggest mysteries.

The longer he observed the estate, the stronger one conclusion became.

Melissa wasn't simply Roy's daughter.

She wasn't someone who occasionally appeared around the family's affairs or someone who merely happened to know dangerous people because of who her father was. She belonged there. She moved through that world naturally, comfortably, as though it had always been her home. Watching the constant stream of people entering and leaving the estate, along with the level of security surrounding her every movement, Jackson found himself becoming increasingly convinced that Melissa was deeply involved in something far bigger than he had originally imagined.

Exactly what that something was, however, remained frustratingly beyond his reach.