Shadows Between Us (Stella and Sebastian) novel Chapter 313

Chapter 313

“I told you, without Lucas, this press conference is going nowhere,” Stella declared, taking charge.

Conrad snapped, “Ridiculous-”

“Lucas,” Stella cut him off, not wasting another word on him.

Lucas, his chubby cheeks puffed up, let out an adorable sound that melted the room.

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Suddenly, the robot, silent no matter how much Conrad messed with it, whirred to life with a mechanical sound that was basically a slap in Conrad’s face.

Everyone was stunned. Conrad’s ‘signal interference‘ excuse was otally wrong.

The robot intoned, “Chip unlocking in progress.”

Behind it, all the semi–finished robots that had been brought up suddenly opened their mechanical eyes, unlocking themselves one after another.

Conrad took a step back in disbelief.

He stumbled right into a wall of soldiers.

He spun around, only to find Murray in full military uniform, his troops at his side, all fixing him with cold, authoritative stares. Under that righteous, imposing gaze, Conrad looked even more shifty and guilty.

Murray said, “Dr. Kramer, the press conference isn’t over yet.”

Conrad was left speechless.

A wave of unease crawled up Conrad’s spine, and his eyes kept flickering nervously behind his glasses.

His new passport was stashed in the toilet tank in the restroom.

At that moment, the guests started to sense something was off. Before anyone realized, soldiers in military uniforms had quietly appeared all around the venue, sealing off every exit.

“What’s going on?” Carlos jumped up so fast he almost tipped Richard out of his wheelchair. “Anybody!”

Suddenly, the robot on stage sprang to life.

The host from Clusia Channel One, standing closest, was the first to get hit by shock. The moment he saw what was happening, he totally lost his cool and sucked in a sharp breath.

The towering robot strode over to Stella with surprising agility, then knelt on one knee, performing the most classic gentleman’s salute.

“Master.” When that cold, mechanical voice echoed through the hall, everyone was left speechless.

Conrad’s robot just called the girl in the white shirt “Master“. The whole room was stunned.

The moment the word “Master” rang out, it was like flipping a switch. Even the drones circling above dipped low, showing their loyalty for all to see, echoing the robot’s public submission

“Cool,” Morgan said lazily, his charming eyes half–lidded in that signature laid–back way of his.

He hardly ever used a word like that for a girl.

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Even the very first time Morgan met Stella, she’d managed to surprise him.

On stage, Stella shot Conrad a chill, nonchalant look. “Oh, and Iorgot to mention. Lucas’s voice is the password to unlock the chip,” she said, her hand landing on Lucas’s shoulder with effortless authority.

Surrounded by machines, she looked every bit the queen on her mechanical throne. “And that chip you had Celia steal? It’s from Lab 709. If you try to mess with the core data, virus mode icks in automatically.”

Since then, everything in this place that was online was commanded by Stella.

She smiled and raised her left hand. Without warning, the speakers blared out a thunderous symphony.

Everyone jumped in surprise.

She lifted her right hand, and the dry ice machines on stage started up on their own, flooding the place with thick white smoke.

Lucas’s eyes lit up, his mouth shaped a silent “Wow” as he threw is little hands up in the air. Stella followed his lead. snapping her fingers with a sharp snap.

Instantly, the confetti ball overhead, packed with streamers and litter for the big finale, burst open. In a flash, colorful ribbons and sparkling confetti rained down, surrounding the calm and collected girl.

She had no clue how much she’d just blown the minds of everyone in the audience.

Seeing things take a turn for the worse, Conrad’s team tried to slip into the crowd and sneak out.

With the symphony blasting and confetti raining down, Stella slowly turned on stage.

Behind her, the low–flying drones with their cold wings instantly received the “hunt” command as she turned.

They darted out like arrows, too fast for the naked eye to catch, utting off every escape route with scary precision.

“I didn’t say anyone could leave. Who dares to move?” Stella said her lips curled up, a hint of menace in her smile.

It was as if wisps of darkness swirled around Stella, making her lok like a sorceress playing games with everyone’s fate.

Conrad’s team could only stare in stunned silence.

Cold sweat broke out on their foreheads as the drones‘ thin, razor–sharp wings hovered like blades right in front of their

faces.

They were frozen in place.

Not a single guest dared to speak.

All around them, the last of the streamers and glitter drifted to the floor.

Just moments ago, Conrad’s team had tried to make a run for it, but the drones had driven them back to the edge of the stage, looking like whipped dogs, faces ashen with despair.

“This circus ends now,” Stella declared, her voice cold and final.

With Stella’s words, everything on stage froze instantly. Every movement cut off as if by a knife.

The room fell eerily silent.

A suffocating, deathly silence hung in the air.

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Stella said, her voice cool and steady, cutting through the silence “Conrad, also known as Conrad Kramer, graduated from Kinetic University.

“The same year, he went to a top university in Monterra to study computer science.”

She turned her head, locking eyes with Conrad.

Conrad demanded, “Who the hell are you?”

Stella continued, “Two years later, you joined the Capley Lab under the codename Spade A. And here’s the thing about Capley Lab.”

Stella’s gaze swept past everyone else, landing on Sebastian. “It was the very last place Eric worked.”

The air shifted.

Sebastian’s eyes turned icy cold, and it felt like a storm was brewing around him. The bone–deep chill and danger made everyone’s heart skip a beat.

Eric. That name, long vanished from the public eye, exploded back into the spotlight, catching everyone completely off guard.

On the corner, unnoticed, Celia’s pupils contracted sharply at the mention of Spade A.

Her face went pale, as if she’d seen a ghost.

She looked at Conrad in disbelief.

Conrad said, “I seriously have no idea what you’re talking about! Eric? Wasn’t that Sebastian’s brother who died five years ago? What’s that got to do with me?”

Conrad gave a short, dismissive laugh, took off his glasses, and started cleaning them slowly, as if none of this concerned him.

“And the CoreOne Project, what about that?” From the audience came a voice so cold it made everyone’s skin crawl.

Sebastian stood up, his face as handsome as ever but utterly devoid of warmth. At 6’4“, his presence was intimidating as hell.

Each step of his black leather shoes echoed like a death sentence in Conrad’s ears.

Carlos asked, “CoreOne Project? What does that have to do with Eric? What are you people even talking about?”

Carlos tried to block Sebastian’s path, but before he could get close, Allan stepped in and stopped him without the slightest hesitation.

Allan let out a cold laugh. “Mr. Gray, I suggest you take your meds now.”

Sebastian walked up to the stage, his flawless, chiseled features a cold as ice, so perfect and untouchable that no one dared get close.

Only Stella was the one who saw the ache beneath that icy exterior.

“The CoreOne Project, it’s the job you’ve been working on ever since Monterra bought you off and you switched sides,” Stella said, her voice unfazed and icy.

Instantly, the crowd exploded like oil hitting a hot pan.

The guests were in utter disbelief.

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The subtext hit like a bombshell. Everyone thought, ‘Is Dr. Kramer a spy?”

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The more timid guests clapped their hands over their mouths in shock. It was only now that they realized the whole place was surrounded by soldiers with live ammo.

Ever since Conrad started his chip demo, those reporters‘ cameras hadn’t even had the lens caps off.

The audience totally lost it with panic everywhere.

Only Bernard and the other old–timers sat there as nothing could shake them.

Bodyguards had them locked down tight.

Blake froze for a moment.

This was honestly the first time in his life he’d ever gotten this kind of top–tier treatment.

“Yakov,” Stella said, her voice cutting through the chaos.

At the sound of that name, Conrad’s glasses slipped from his fingers and clattered to the floor.

His heart was pounding like crazy.

Sebastian’s voice was frosty, completely devoid of warmth. “Congratulations. Yakov is dead.”

At those words, a flash of wild joy flickered in Conrad’s eyes.

He thought, ‘He’s dead? Why didn’t I get any word from above? Did I really pull it off after all these years?‘

Conrad could barely hide his excitement, but he kept bluffing. “Yakov? Who’s that? Never heard of him.”

Stella just smiled. “Good, you don’t know him. After all, the Estravian geneticist who was supposed to die of a brain tumor ended up dead in some obscure Farronian militia stronghold instead. How ironic.”

“What did you just say?” Conrad’s face twisted in horror, looking downright freaky.

Stella looked utterly unfazed, her tone almost pitying. “I’m telling you. The CoreOne Project crashed and burned not long

ago.

“The moment Yakov came back from the dead, you turned into nothing but Monterra’s disposable pawn, just waiting to be taken out.”

At the same time, Sebastian lifted his hand, cold as ice.

Suddenly, red laser sights locked onto Conrad’s forehead, and the crowd erupted in screams.

The guests at the event never in their wildest dreams did they think they’d see something like this go down today.

“Impossible,” Conrad howled, his voice cracking. “This can’t be happening.”

Years of scheming, every step meticulously planned. It couldn’t all blow up in his face at that moment. He flat–out refused to believe it.

Driven by desperation, he charged at Stella like a madman.

But he barely made it a step before, the robot behind Stella grabbed Conrad’s right arm and snapped it like a twig, one- handed.

Conrad’s scream tore through the hall, echoing off the walls, while Allan just stuck a finger in his ear, looking bored.

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‘Ugh, what a racket,‘ Stella thought.

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Stella let out a cold little laugh. “So, was it failure that was impossible, or getting exposed?” She shot him a frosty look. “Get whatever he’s hiding in his mouth out.”

The robot replied, “Yes, Master.”

It locked onto Conrad’s jaw with a merciless grip, and, with a harsh mechanical snap, extracted a capsule from the back of his tongue, still coated in his spit.

Murray frowned. “That’s a Monterra–only poison. Not just anyone gets access to stuff like this.”

Down in the audience, the old warhorses who’d built Clusia’s legacy were shaken to their core.

They dared not imagine the alternative. Without Stella repeatedly turning the tables, Conrad would have deployed the CoreOne Chip 1.0. Its adoption into military projects could have ignited a new arms race with unimaginable fallout.

Layer after layer of this plot, and with Yakov’s death as the trigger, it would’ve spelled utter doom for Clusia.

Bernard’s eyes were sharp and full of authority. In fact, even as he walked in, he’d still clung to a shred of hope.

‘But what if Sebastian was wrong?‘ Bernard couldn’t help but think.

Bernard’s voice thundered with anger. “So, when his whereabouts were exposed, why did Eric have to die?”

Nobody in the room realized that the moment they walked in, the entire Haliville military district had already been locked down tight.

Stella paused for two seconds, then answered, “Because of Conrad.”

“Because of Conrad?” Bernard echoed, stunned.

Sebastian’s eyes were pitch black, his voice icy enough to chill the room. “Monterra needed the Core One Project to go smoothly.

“Anyone at Capley Lab who’d ever seen him, anyone who knew he was Spade A, they were marked for death.”

“And that gene sequence virus…” Murray asked, shocked.

‘Wait, was it all just a cover? Was it just a decoy?‘ he thought, disbelief flickering in his eyes.

“It was real,” Stella replied, her voice steady and cold.

That was why Capley Lab wiped out everyone who knew.

And that was why Eric had to die.

It was a death trap. No one could escape.

“What the hell are you all talking about? Where’s the chip? What about CoreOne Chip 1.0? And the robot?” Carlos’s face was ghostly pale, his back drenched in cold sweat.

He wasn’t the only one. Every big shot who’d dropped a fortune o work with Conrad’s team looked ready to faint.

Blake couldn’t take it anymore. He shot to his feet, voice shaking with anger. “Carlos, are you out of your mind? Eric is your own grandson, and all you care about is business?

“Is your brain fried or what?” He just couldn’t figure out what was going on in that old man’s head.

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“Blake,” Kendrick snapped, his brows furrowed.

Landen let out a cold laugh.

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Ever since Sebastian stepped down, the Gray family had been running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

Carlos went all–in, dumping his life savings into this mess, dreaming of a big payday and a comeback for the Gray Group. Instead, he crashed and burned hard.

Those stock prices shot up at the start of the press conference, and all that supposed fortune was like chasing shadows, gone. in a blink, just a dream.

In the end, only Ion Wing Drones came out on top, grinning while everyone else crashed and burned.

“I’m talking to you, Conrad.” Carlos’s legs were shaking so hard could barely stand. Even Ryan, his favorite grandson, tried to steady him, but he shoved him away.

Conrad looked up, his face dark and twisted, a cold, sinister smile spreading across his lips.

Conrad said, “It was all fake. That so–called CoreOne Chip 1.0? Just an obsolete, discarded chip from some Monterra company, totally worthless, a complete fraud.”

As the sharp click of heels echoed on the steps, Cassie walked up gracefully, test report in hand.

She said, “And those so–called exclusive patents Conrad keeps talking about? They’re all just cheap Monterra counterfeits dressed up as patents. Plus…”

She flashed a bright smile, handed the report to Murray, then gave Stella a cheeky one–handed salute, mimicking the robot earlier. “Lab 709 never invited Dr. Kramer. Don’t pin every bit of garbage on us.”

When their Young Sovereign lost her temper, no one wanted to be around.

Even though everyone kind of expected it, when the last veil was finally ripped away, the whole room exploded into total chaos.

They all thought, ‘Fake? For real? All of it was a scam?‘

All those years of Conrad living large, all that research money, all that publicity… Unbelievable. It blew everyone’s mind.

Carlos stammered, “You…”

His heart was pounding, and his head felt like it was about to explode. Landen just chuckled, fished a pill out of his pocket, and popped it right into Carlos’s mouth with a loud smack.

The other old–timers all turned to look.

Landen said, “Cheap stuff. Can’t let Carlos kick the bucket yet. He’s gotta hear exactly how he blew all his cash.”

Everyone else was speechless.

‘Damn, you’re savage, they all thought.

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