Begging for a Second Chance (Sienna Sloan and Jarred Sterling) novel Chapter 537

He finally stopped his pen and slowly raised his head, his dark, bottomless eyes locking onto Declan.

His expression was freezing, his gaze as sharp as a blade, radiating the overwhelming pressure of an apex predator. "Is there something else?"

Under that inscrutable stare, Declan's chest tightened. He hastily forced down his panic and began to explain.

"...Boss, I didn't orchestrate the sample contamination."

Declan swallowed hard, not daring to hide a single detail as he desperately clarified the situation.

"I did contact the director of the forensic center beforehand for a private meeting, hoping to secure the outcome we wanted.

But before I could even make a move, the director told me himself...

The batch of ashes was severely contaminated before it even hit their inventory.

It happened at the source. It wasn't my doing. Someone beat us to it."

The moment those words hung in the air, a lethal glint slashed through Jarred's pitch-black eyes.

The relaxed atmosphere in the room shattered instantly, replaced by a suffocating, freezing pressure that filled every corner of the office.

"Who?"

"I ran a check on everyone involved," Declan said, hurriedly sliding forward the preliminary investigation file.

"When Helena helped Celeste fake her death, we assumed she used Sebastian Vaughan's connections.

But Sebastian flatly refused. He would never dare touch something that crosses judicial lines and tampers with criminal forensics.

The Vaughan family has deep roots, but they are nowhere near powerful enough to control the sky.

At most, Sebastian would throw some money at a problem or pull minor strings. He'd never take a massive risk that crosses a legal red line."

Declan looked up, his face grim. "Someone is strategizing for Helena and Eleanor, and they don't belong to us.

Which means there is a hidden faction backing them, operating completely outside of our radar.

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