Since I was the key informant, I was taken back to the confidential quarters instead of back home, and Anton personally welcomed me there.

"Don't be nervous, Dr. Hopkins. Just tell me in detail everything you discovered about the defection."

I sat up straight and began.

"Tonight was supposed to be my wedding night with Gwen, but she told me that she had a top-secret mission at work and had to leave urgently. I found it strange at first.

"The only thing she brought with her was her phone. There weren't any military vehicles to pick her up either, and I also found the hotel room keycard on the floor that she accidentally dropped."

I handed him the card. Of course, Gwen never dropped it. I had found it in her pocket. She thought that she would never be discovered, but she didn't realize that I had very good vision and immediately saw the cigarette ashes on her clothes.

And neither of us smoked.

Ever since that day, I transformed into a predator waiting for the right moment to strike.

Anton took the hotel card from me, his face as dark as thunder.

"You suspected her of defecting. What proof do you have?"

I lowered my gaze and pretended to look wronged and aggrieved.

"She'd been sending encrypted text messages lately and even moved the computer to the attic, refusing to let me touch it. She said that there was classified technology in it.

"We're all working confidential jobs here, so I knew that there were some things that I shouldn't just ask about. But tonight, she lied to me saying that she was going on a secret mission. But as it turned out, she had simply gone out to sleep with another man instead!

"If she dares to lie to the organization, Chief Boyle, what else do you think she's not capable of?"

I was only telling half-truths. The computer I mentioned that she used was just for video calls with Deacon, and her text messages were also just regular ones where they flirted with each other. I saw everything clearly on the surveillance camera.

However, I had to make sure that the truth couldn't be discerned.

Anton frowned hard. "Gwen had removed the official tracker from herself. How did you manage to locate her?"

I chose my words carefully.

"I installed a tracker on her phone and hacked into the hotel's surveillance footage before finding them together."

Anton looked surprised. "You're a hacker?"

I smiled and said, "I like computers. I just like tinkering around in my spare time."

Nobody knew that I wasn't just capable of hacking into surveillance cameras. I could also extract all of the emails and text messages from Gwen's computer at the snap of a finger.

Anton went silent.

Gwen was an officer from a classified unit, and she'd deceived the organization and falsified her so-called travel itinerary just to have an affair with her brother-in-law.

Everything about it sounded far-fetched, but the person who reported her was her own husband and also an ally and colleague on the same front.

In other words, Gwen's behavior was indeed suspicious.

"We will launch an investigation immediately, Dr. Hopkins. But you're going to have to stay here in the meantime and be on call 24/7 to assist with the investigations."

"Understood. However, I do have one request," I said calmly. "I want a divorce. I don't care what the outcome is like. I just want to divorce Gwen no matter what."

Anton looked at me with a complex expression in his eyes for a while. Finally, he sighed and said, "Alright. The organization will support you no matter what."

Just as I stepped out of the office, I got a call from Mom. I answered the call, and she instantly hurled a tirade of insults at me, screaming in my ear.

"Derek Hopkins, you bastard! What did your brother ever do wrong? How could you destroy him like that? And Gwen too! How could you not cherish such a good person like her! You damn ingrate, you're giving me such a heart-attack right now!"

I didn't wait for her to begin her second barrage and interrupted her calmly.

"Mom, while you're busy thinking up insults to yell at me, why don't you be a little concerned about your grandchild who's about to be born really soon?"

The line went silent at once.

"What did you just say?"

"Gwen has been sleeping with Deacon for the longest time and got pregnant with his child long before our wedding. It's going to be your first-ever grandchild. Shouldn't you be a little more concerned about it instead, hm?

"Oh, my bad. This is just a bastard kid between a woman and her brother-in-law. I bet you'd be humiliated anyway if word ever got out about the child's background."

I could imagine just how white Mom was turning at the other end of the line.

She shrieked, "That's nonsense! Impossible! Deacon and Gwen would never do that sort of thing!"

"You don't believe me? That's fine. You're going to find out very soon anyway. Nothing's impossible, you know?"

Then, I hung up on her and slowly let out a deep breath.

The stuffy feeling in my chest seemed to have dissipated just a little bit.

Did Gwen really think that Mom and Dad would continue taking her side for the rest of her life after finding out she'd cheated on me with Deacon?

They were going to be a burden she couldn't wait to get rid of very soon.

I settled into the confidential quarters. The Elite Task Force was assigned to guard me around the clock. I knew that they weren't just protecting my safety but monitoring me as well.

I wasn't going to be able to go about freely as long as Gwen's suspicion hadn't been cleared, since I was both her husband and also the whistleblower.

Coincidentally, I needed an absolutely safe environment for me to proceed with my next step anyway.

The next day, someone from the Investigation Bureau came to me. Anton was accompanied by two middle-aged men in charge of internal investigations.

"Dr. Derek Hopkins, we investigated the hotel surveillance footage and questioned both Gwen Everett and Deacon Hopkins. Gwen admitted her mistake and said that she only panicked because she felt guilty toward you."

One of the men looked at me sharply and said, "Your brother, Deacon, also said that he just couldn't control himself when he slept with her. However, it never involved any confidential information in the first place."

I chuckled out loud.

"They couldn't control themselves, they said?"

I produced a memory stick and pushed it toward them.

"I duplicated the data from Gwen's computer. You can take a look at the contents. Aside from all of her chat logs with Deacon, there's also evidence of her abusing her position to improperly approve his applications for cadre family housing and hiring him through backdoor methods."

The three men's faces turned serious at that allegation, and Anton's eyes were filled with shock and fury.

One was a simple matter of conduct, and another was an abuse of power for personal gain. Both were completely different matters altogether. It also represented a huge flaw in the organization's system. It would be a huge stain on their reputation if it wasn't handled properly.

I continued calmly and said, "Deacon complained repeatedly to Gwen that his current apartment was too small, and his job was also terrible. He envied me for being hired here and allowed to live in the company-provided housing.

"Gwen then comforted him and went against regulations to apply for a cadre family welfare quota for him from the organization, successfully finding him a high-paying, cushy job. He will also soon be moving into the cadre housing complex.

"If I remember correctly, this quota is specifically meant for cadre family members who meet the criteria for top-tier talent, right?"

Anton lowered his head and remained silent, but he clenched his fists so tightly that even the veins were bulging.

The two men from internal investigations exchanged glances with each other and took the memory stick with them.

"We will verify this information as quickly as possible."

Anton sighed wearily after they left. "I'm sorry that you had to go through all that, Dr. Hopkins."

I shook my head and said, "I care more about her loyalty to the organization and the safety of the country."

Back then, I hadn't just gotten together with Gwen because I loved her. It was also because I respected and admired her a lot.

I respected her for dedicating her youth to keeping the country safe. She was a very determined and vigilant young woman after all. However, she was also the one who shattered all of my illusions about her.

Anton rose to his feet and solemnly promised me, "Rest assured that the organization will never let the bad guys get away with anything!"

I nodded. Just as I was about to leave, I suddenly recalled something and turned around again to face him. I looked very puzzled and hesitant as I asked, "By the way, I think that there's something you should know about, Chief Boyle. I've been thinking about it for a while.

"While investigating Deacon, I discovered that he had numerous travel records abroad and also often met up with a foreign friend of some sort.

"I saw on Gwen's computer that they had always been in close contact with each other. Deacon even said that his foreign friend was particularly curious about Gwen's line of work, and she often sent them classified photos of the workplace and technical documents in the past."

I tried my best to appear like a regular, worried family member as I chose my next words carefully.

"Chief, I'm just worried that Deacon might have been used by foreign forces to drag Gwen under the bus…"

My voice eventually trailed off, and I let out a pitiful sob. There was some genuineness in the tears that I shed after that.

However, my tears were for the love I thought I had that was now dead, and for my wife, who was about to fall completely into the abyss.

Anton immediately looked at me, his eyes filled with unprecedented vigilance and seriousness.

"Which country is that friend from? What is his name?"

By now, the entire situation had completely reversed.

It had simply started out as a seemingly private matter, but now, Gwen was suddenly the prime suspect for leaking top-secret documents to foreign forces.

It was game over for her. She didn't have anywhere to run anymore.