Broken Vows and Buried Twins novel Chapter 203

"He wouldn't," Hester's voice was calm. "So Seraphina's suicide attempt actually gave me an opening."

"Did you guess she was going to try that?"

"Not exactly." Hester pursed her lips. "I could tell right away what her intentions were regarding Julian. I figured she would play the victim card using her depression, but I didn't expect her to be so ruthless toward herself."

"On that front, Seraphina is definitely a level above Melody!" Gael scoffed. "Being the grieving sister-in-law really gave her a massive advantage. Combine that with Caden and her supposed depression, and she's holding quite a few trump cards!"

"But despite all her calculations, the one thing she didn't anticipate was that I, the one who was supposed to be jealous, would just confront her head-on. Her suicide attempt seemed ruthless, but honestly, wasn't she just pushed into a corner by me?"

Listening to her, Gael couldn't help but laugh. "She's probably watched too many soap operas. She thought of you as the jealous main wife she needed to step on to climb the ranks. She never imagined that the 'main wife' was already planning her exit strategy. Hilarious!"

Hester smiled faintly. She had always seen right through Seraphina's tricks and schemes; she just hadn't bothered to entertain them.

If she hadn't intentionally given Seraphina an opening, the woman wouldn't have even had the chance to stay over that night.

"By the way, I called to tell you that Julian probably knows where you are." Gael paused for a few seconds before adding, "But it's so weird. I've been keeping an eye out the last two days, and it doesn't seem like he has any plans to come looking for you?"

"It's better if he doesn't."

At the mention of Julian, Hester's tone flattened. "Even if he does, it doesn't matter. My contracts are signed. No matter how powerful he is, can he force me to breach them?"

"Putting his power aside, what if he threatens you with the Carrington family again?"

"He won't." Hester touched her stomach. "At the very least, I know he values the baby I'm carrying. That's my leverage against him."

"True." Gael hesitated, then added, "Also, there's been some progress on what we were investigating. A friend of mine called yesterday and said they actually spotted Declan Reed over in the East District."

"Declan Reed?" Hester frowned. "What's he doing in the East District?"

"Apparently, he was making contact with some heavy hitters in that area. And he was completely alone," Gael said. "Didn't Declan just get discharged from the peacekeeping forces?"

Hester's brow furrowed in thought.

Declan had spent five years in the peacekeeping forces.

The East District was a complicated place. Given his background, it wasn't impossible that he had crossed paths with people from there.

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