Divorced CEO's Forgotten Wife Strikes Back (Riley and Bryce) novel Chapter 356

Chapter 356 Being Cornered

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With a single flick of Benedict’s hand, more than a dozen broad–shouldered guards surged out from the shadows and closed in around Riley.

Zane stepped forward in alarm. “Mr. Benedict Lincoln, what are you doing?”

“I am reminding you how easily the Lincoln family can deal with someone if we choose to,” Benedict said.

The polite exterior remained, but beneath it ran a clear, cold undercurrent of menace.

Riley swept her gaze across the guards encircling her and then looked directly at Benedict.

“So you intend to trap Samuel inside the identity of Zane Lincoln forever.”

Benedict spoke with quiet indifference, “There are only two people I have ever cared about. One is my mother. The other is my sister. For either of them, I would burn the world to the ground. So do not test my patience.”

The threat was unmistakable.

Zane’s anxiety sharpened. He could hear it in Benedi’s tone4

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< Chapter 356 Being Cornered

Riley’s eyes did not waver. “You have people you care about. I have people I care about. Samuel owes you a debt, and he can repay it. But that does not give you the right to erase everything he used to be or force him to live under someone else’s name.”

“You make a fair point,” Benedict said, “but what exactly gives you the right to negotiate with me?”

“Right?” Riley repeated. Her voice was calm. Then she moved.

Her body shot forward, her step explosive. The guards reacted instantly, converging on her from all sides.

Zane tried to help her, but half a dozen guards intercepted him, forcing him back.

Riley fought with clean, ruthless efficiency. She did not waste strength trying to defeat them. Her only goal was to break through as fast as possible.

Her technique was the kind born of real combat. Her left shoulder, still recovering, tore open under the torque of her movements. Blood seeped through her sleeve, soaking the fabric, yet she did not even glance at it.

Within minutes, she had forced open a narrow gap and driven straight toward Benedict.

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Even Benedict was caught off guard.

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her forearm. Her stance was so precise that anyone who took a single step forward risked crushing his windpipe.

The guards froze.

Riley looked down at Benedict. “Do I have the right to speak with you now?”

Benedict had not expected to be subdued so swiftly by a single

woman.

“If you touch me,” he said, “you make yourself an enemy of the entire Lincoln family.”

“I don’t want to hurt you, and I have no desire to fight the Lincoln family. You saved Samuel. I am not blind to that. But I want you to understand that I am not someone who waits quietly for judgment, and this is the United States, not Russia. If you think you can threaten an American citizen on American soil without consequence, then you overestimate yourself.”

For the first time, Benedict hesitated.

“Release Mr. Benedict Lincoln, or we will not let you leave,” one of the guards warned.

“I will let go,” Riley said.

She loosened her hold as if complying, but the moment she 3/5 withdrew her arm, she abruptly hooked the chain at Benedict’s

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A small, oval locket swung from the broken chain. The metal was worn from decades of handling.

Benedict’s composure cracked. His stare sharpened into fury.

“Give that back. It is not something you can play with.”

Riley held the locket between her fingers.

“I heard you keep two things with you at all times. One is the pocket watch in your hand. The other is this. If you intend to use Samuel against me, then I am just as capable of seizing the thing you treasure most.”

With a soft click, she opened the locket.

Inside the locket lay a small photograph of a three–year–old girl with bright eyes and a joyful smile.

The picture had yellowed with age, a fragile relic that had clearly been handled thousands of times.

Riley’s fingers moved toward the photograph.

“Do not touch that.” Benedict’s voice cracked into a shout. “If you dare destroy that picture, I will pursue you to the ends of the earth. I do not care who you are or where you run.”

It was Bianca’s photograph. The family had possessed very few 4/5 to begin with, and this one had no negative. It was the only

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left.

Since the day Bianca disappeared, this picture had never left Benedict’s side. It had been with him for over fifty years.

Riley looked at him, realization settling in. If Benedict cared for only two people in his life, his mother and his sister, then this little girl in the photograph had to be the sister he lost.

“Since you care so deeply about your family, you should understand that I care just as fiercely about mine. Samuel is the only family I have left. For him, I am willing to stand against you.”

She closed the locket, tossed it back to him, and turned away. After taking Zane’s wrist, she walked toward the door.

The guards around them tensed, ready to move, but Benedict lifted a hand. “Let them go.”

The guards stepped back.

Riley and Zane left the room and made their way into the

hotel’s main lobby.

B

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