Read Online Bliss by Shay Mitchell - Free Book Online Page B

else brought fruit and a glass of green guava juice.
    A man arrived who spoke English. “I’m Mr. Mookba, the manager,” he said, bowing. “Can you say what happened, please?”
    She went over it again, waking up to find she’d been robbed. “I feel violated! This is the worst hotel in Phuket!”
    â€œForgive me, Ms. Hunting. A maintenance worker said you brought a young man to your room last night.”
    â€œOh, that’s rich. The janitor was probably the thief! My friend could buy and sell this entire hotel ten times before breakfast.”
    â€œThis man has worked here for twenty years. He is not a thief.”
    â€œSomeone is! It’s got to be one of the staff or a guest, unless you’re saying someone could walk in off the street and right into my freakin’ room.”
    â€œAre you sure it wasn’t the man you were with?”
    That launched another high-volume rant from Leandra that ended with the challenge, “Call the Baray! Call them!”
    The manager nodded. He went to her room phone and dialed. He spoke in Thai to the person who answered over there. To Leandra, he said, “What is your friend’s name, please?”
    â€œNick. Nick and Sari.”
    â€œFamily name?”
    â€œI don’t know! Christ. Nick and Sari. Brother and sister from Singapore in one of the villas. How hard can it be to find them?”
    The manager spoke to his counterpart at the Baray. “He says no one is staying there by that description.”
    â€œBullshit! I met Nick there last night,” she said.
    One more round of Thai talk, and then the manager hung up. “I’m sorry, Ms. Hunting. They don’t know these people.”
    Leandra shook her head in disbelief. It was like The Thailight Zone . “This is bullshit,” she said. “We’re going over there right now.”
    â€œWe?”
    â€œYes, you and me. I can’t afford a taxi because your crappy hotel doesn’t have digital safe locks!”
    The manager agreed to take her to the Baray by taxi. Upon arrival, she stormed into the lobby in her sarong, spinning around until she found the woman in the red sash dress from the evening before. “You saw me and Nick last night! You were here.”
    Mr. Mookba bowed to the red dress woman, and explained in Thai what was going on. The woman nodded along, looking shocked and saddened by the story. Leandra scrolled through her iPhone photos and found the selfie with Nick. “This guy! You must remember him,” she said. “He was here with his sister.”
    When Leandra said the word “sister,” the woman blushed and shook her head. “Not brother sister,” she said. “Husband wife.”
    â€œWHAT?” Leandra roared.
    Then the story came out, as translated by the Sawasdee manager. The man and woman came to the Baray last evening. They said they were from Hong Kong, newlyweds on their honeymoon, staying at another hotel. They asked for a quick tour of the Baray, to see if they liked it enough to book it for an anniversary trip a year from now. Right before the tour began, the woman got a call. They kissed passionately good-bye and she left. The man took a tour. When it was over, he excused himself to the restroom. A minute later, Leandra walked in. The man came back into the lobby, and left with her.
    It was all suddenly, disastrously clear. She’d been scammed. Nick and Sari were con artists. They saw her on the beach, a solo woman traveler, a first-timer to Asia, someone easily impressed and eager for companions. They painted a big red target on her back, hit hard and hit fast. It took less than seven hours for them to steal everything she owned. They’d never had such an easy mark.
    How could a person ever recover from such a profound humiliation? It wasn’t only that she was a sucker—the biggest sucker Nick and Sari, or whatever their names were, had ever taken. She’d