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Chapter 286
The walk home from the laundromat was the longest of Flynn’s life. Every shadow seemed to hold accusing eyes. Ava’s relentless logic echoed in his skull, twisting his love for his sister into a weapon of suspicion. What else might she have seen?He let himself into their small, cluttered apartment. The familiar scent of jasmine tea and wool greeted him. Janelle was curled in her usual spot on the worn sofa, a half-finished crochet project in her lap, the yarn a bright, defiant yellow against the grey evening. She looked up, her smile fading as she saw his face.“Flynn? What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”He didn’t take off his coat. He stood in the middle of the room, the words Ava had planted now a thorn in his throat. “Janelle,” he began, his voice unsteady. “I need to ask you something. And I need the truth.”Her hands stilled on the crochet hook. “Okay…”“The photos. The ones of Inspector Gerald Seth and that lawyer, Ava Rennet. The ones all over the news.” He watche
Chapter 285
Gerald arrived first at the small cafe in one of the hidden neighbourhood, a baseball cap pulled low, the collar of his jacket turned up. Ava followed minutes later, looking like any other exhausted professional with a late-night load of washing. They took adjacent machines, not looking at each other.They had taken the risks of coming out into the public despite everything that was going on around them because they needed clarity and answers to some of the questions that had been bothering Gerald.When the pictures of him and Ava kissing first began to circulate, he didn’t have any insider in mind who could have done something like that to leak those photos until it dawned on him that asides from him, the other person within the CSSA who had access to those photos too was Flynn.Flynn was the one he had paid to take those photos and deliver the pictures to him. So,it could have only been him who had decided to use those pictures against him But on a second thought, he believed Flynn
Chapter 284
Before Julia could formulate a response—a response that would likely have been a mixture of desperate hope and sharp legal skepticism—her phone, face-down on the leather armchair, buzzed with a harsh, jarring vibration. It wasn’t the gentle ping of a text. It was the persistent, pulsing buzz of an official notification.Both of them turned toward it as if it were a live wire. Julia’s face, already pale, went ashen. Her hand, which had been gesturing to emphasize a point, froze mid-air.“It’s late for anything good,” she murmured, her voice barely audible. She moved to the chair, moving with the deliberate slowness of someone approaching a trap. She picked up the phone, her thumb hovering over the screen.Chance watched her eyes scan the message. He saw the last vestiges of color drain from her cheeks. The hand holding the phone began to tremble, a fine, almost imperceptible shake that betrayed the monumental force of will she was exerting to remain standing.“Mom?”She didn’t answer f
Chapter 283
The drive back to the O’Connor Banks estate was a journey through a world that had subtly, irrevocably changed. Priya sat motionless in the passenger seat, her father’s journal pressed so tightly to her chest it seemed she was trying to merge with it, to absorb its knowledge and its warnings through her skin. She stared out the window, but Chance could tell she wasn’t seeing the city. Chance’s own mind, usually a whirlwind of legal strategy and tactical planning, was a still, cold pool. The monstrous picture was complete, and its scale was paralyzing. The words transformed the case from a desperate defense into a frontline in a war he hadn’t known existed. Saving Julia meant engaging with forces that played with human will like clay and threatened reality itself. The weight of it pressed on his sternum, making it hard to breathe.He pulled up to Chloe’s apartment building. The goodbye was terse, and functional. “Gerald needs to see that journal. First thing.” She had said as she b
Chapter 282
The pieces, disparate and terrifying, began to click into a coherent, monstrous picture in Chance’s mind. Gerald’s desperate theory about something “unnatural” controlling Julia. Gerald’s data by the CSSA intern, Flynn, proving another woman fired the kill shot. The financial web of Veridian Holdings. Bruce Lincoln feared. And now, Priya’s revelation of The Sankhara and their vajra artifacts.It wasn’t just a conspiracy; it was a layered assault. One layer was political and financial—Stannin and Norville maneuvering for power. The deeper layer was ancient and metaphysical—The Sankhara using tools to warp will and perception. They had partnered, the modern power brokers providing the stage, the ancient society providing the unseen puppeteer’s strings.And his mother had been standing at the intersection.The puzzle before him was now brutally clear, and staggeringly difficult. To save Julia, he had to prove two nearly impossible things in court:One, that an ancient artifact of resonan
Chapter 281
The coded knock came. Priya’s heart hammered against her ribs as she flew to the door, her earlier poise dissolving into raw, desperate relief. She checked the peephole, saw Chance’s concerned face and the wary young woman behind him, and fumbled the locks open.The moment the door swung inward, Priya didn’t speak. The terror, the grief, the isolation of the last day crashed over her in a wave. She launched herself forward, throwing her arms around Chance’s neck and burying her face against his shoulder. It was less an embrace and more a collapse, a seeking of solid ground in a world that had turned to quicksand.Chance, startled, held her awkwardly for a second before returning the hug, a gesture of comfort. Over her shoulder, he saw Chloe’s expression freeze. A flicker of something hot and sharp—jealousy, possessiveness, hurt—crossed her face before she mastered it, her features settling into a carefully neutral mask. She looked away, studying the ornate molding on the ceiling.Chlo
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