My Milf Conqueror System novel Chapter 166

Chapter 166: The Queen Behind the Wall

[Jake’s POV]

I had seen Sofia for less than a second.

A hand. A ring. Pale fingers resting against the armrest of a wheelchair as someone pushed her through the west corridor.

That was all.

It was enough.

Because Sofia Aldridge had once spent forty-three minutes arguing with me about rings.

It had happened during an acquisition meeting in London almost three years ago. I had spent half the meeting studying the platinum band on her right hand instead of the financial projections she’d spent an entire weekend preparing.

Naturally, Sofia noticed.

"If you keep staring at it, Jake, I’ll start charging you by the minute."

"It’s ugly."

"It’s practical."

"It’s aggressively practical."

"Thank you."

"That wasn’t a compliment."

"Everything sounds like one when you’re wrong."

I had lost that argument.

I’d lost most arguments involving Sofia.

I would know that ring anywhere.

The certainty settled inside me with terrifying clarity.

Sofia was here.

Alive.

Somewhere beyond the west wing of the Van der Meer estate.

Claire’s voice came through my earpiece almost immediately.

"Talk to me."

I accepted a champagne flute from a passing server and forced myself to look relaxed.

"She’s here."

The comm channel went completely silent.

Then Claire exhaled.

"You saw her?"

"Enough."

"Describe."

"Wheelchair. Nurse escort. West corridor. I saw her hand."

Nia immediately groaned. "Jake."

"It was Sofia."

"You identified a person from a hand."

"Yes."

"That’s either incredibly romantic or genuinely concerning."

"It’s both," Ethan said.

"Nia forgot to mute the hospital line again," Claire said dryly.

"I did not forget."

"He hacked the channel," Ethan replied.

"I was bored."

Claire ignored both of them. "Jake, are you certain?"

"Yes."

A short pause followed.

Then Claire simply said, "Okay."

No skepticism. No requests for proof.

Just trust.

I glanced across the gallery. Claire stood beside Evelyn near the donor tables, tablet in hand, expression calm and unreadable. She never looked directly at me.

She didn’t need to.

Aurelia appeared beside me moments later.

"You have the expression," she observed.

"What expression?"

"The one men get when they find something worth destroying themselves over."

I took a sip of champagne.

"I found proof."

Aurelia’s eyes sharpened immediately.

"Certain?"

"Completely."

"Good."

She followed my gaze toward Helena Strauss.

"Then we proceed."

Margot Delacroix was still watching us.

That woman was rapidly becoming a problem.

She stood beside Beatrice Vale and Helena Strauss, dressed in understated black silk, speaking quietly while somehow managing to look perfectly harmless. Predators often did.

Vivian drifted back toward us.

"Helena is preparing to move upstairs," she said.

"The music salon?" Aurelia asked.

Vivian nodded. "Fifteen minutes, perhaps twenty."

"Marianne?"

"Already positioned."

Good.

Marianne had surprised every one of us.

The Marianne Bellamy I had first met would have hated a room like this. The woman currently navigating Helena Strauss’s social circle looked composed, elegant, and quietly furious. Trauma had changed her.

Then again, trauma had changed all of us.

Nia suddenly spoke again.

"Jake."

The tone of her voice made me straighten.

"What?"

"I found something."

"What kind of something?"

"The camera loop in the west wing isn’t internal."

Claire immediately joined the conversation. "Explain."

"It’s being routed externally."

My pulse slowed.

That was never good.

"From where?" Claire asked.

There was a long pause.

When Nia finally answered, the usual confidence in her voice was gone.

"I don’t know."

The operations channel fell silent.

Nia Carter never said those words.

Ever.

Claire spoke carefully. "Nia."

"It’s layered," Nia said quietly. "Not corporate. Not military. Not private intelligence either. I’ve never seen encryption like this before."

Something cold settled beneath my ribs.

Because I had.

The System appeared.

[Warning.]

[External interference detected.]

[Classification: Unknown.]

[Recommendation: Exercise caution.]

I stared at the translucent screen.

Unknown.

The System almost never used that word.

Claire noticed my silence instantly.

"Jake?"

"Nothing."

"That’s a lie."

"Probably."

Aurelia touched my sleeve.

"Helena is moving."

I looked up.

The atmosphere inside the gallery had changed.

Subtly.

Conversations were ending. Glasses were being set aside. Small groups dissolved and reformed with deliberate purpose.

The Ash Room was assembling.

Helena Strauss moved to the center of the gallery.

"Ladies," she said warmly, "if you would join us upstairs."

The response was immediate.

Nearly thirty women began moving toward the grand staircase.

Marianne disappeared among them.

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