Rejected Heiress, Reigning Queen novel Chapter 285

Emma hesitated, her mind racing. She couldn't afford to walk away from a lead this critical.

Seeing her resolve waver, Percy immediately opened the passenger door of his car. Just as he was about to shut it, he locked eyes with Carter approaching from a distance.

Moving around to the driver's side, Percy pulled out his phone and quickly typed out a text to his cousin.

"Don't misunderstand, Carter. I just uncovered some information Emma's been desperately looking for."

He pocketed his phone with a triumphant smile and slid into the driver's seat. However, out of the corner of his eye, he caught Emma typing a message directly into Carter's chat window.

[I have a lead on the fake DNA test. Going out for a bit.]

The smug satisfaction vanished from Percy's face in an instant.

Throughout their six-year relationship, he had never once seen Emma voluntarily offer up an explanation or report her whereabouts to him.

She had always been fiercely independent, almost frustratingly stoic. In fact, her emotional detachment was exactly why he had resorted to such extreme, toxic measures just to provoke a reaction out of her back then.

But now? Now she was seamlessly checking in with Carter.

"Em—"

"Quiet."

Emma locked her phone screen, her tone leaving absolutely no room for debate. She had zero interest in hearing his voice.

Percy gripped the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white as he swallowed his pride and kept his mouth shut.

Standing on the sidewalk, Carter looked at the two contrasting text messages. His mind drifted to the intelligence report he had received two days prior.

'Daniel Brooks boarded an international flight the night he agreed to testify. He vanished three days after landing. Our trackers have confirmed he is deceased. All of his organs were harvested and sold on the black market.'

"Boss, if you already had the intel, why let Percy swoop in and play the hero? Aren't you just handing him a golden opportunity to win her back?"

Jeff was genuinely baffled. They had just managed to ship Travis out of the country, and now his boss was intentionally teeing up another romantic rival? What kind of strategy was this?

Emma grabbed the folder, stood up, and prepared to leave.

Percy stood up abruptly. "I can do more for you than Carter ever could! You can trust me!"

"You mean this?" Emma tapped the folder against her palm. "I knew Daniel Brooks was missing the day after it happened. I just didn't see the need to aggressively pursue a dead end."

The moment Brooks vanished, the implications were painfully obvious. Just because Emma hadn't personally asked questions didn't mean Levi hadn't already ordered a full trace on his disappearance.

She had admittedly been shocked by the brutality of the photo Percy showed her, but she mainly wanted to see exactly how much he actually knew. Now it was clear she had wasted her afternoon.

"I don't need to be some all-powerful mastermind. I just need to be more useful than Carter," Percy stated, his fists clenched tight. The only person he cared about beating was the man who had stolen his place.

Emma paused mid-step and glanced back at him, her lips curling into a mocking smile.

"You're out of luck in this lifetime, Percy. Try again in the next."