She Was the Treasure All Along novel Chapter 676

Zelie stared at the screen. The sheer terror in her eyes instantly mutated into a venomous, unadulterated hatred. She ground her teeth together. "Yes! It's him! It was him!"

Once Lucian had confirmed that the mercenaries were either crushed or burning to ash inside the wreckage, he hurried back to the Ferrari. He crouched beside the open door. "How is she?"

After recognizing the face of the man who had destroyed her life, the emotional overload had been too much. Zelie had passed out cold.

Loyce shook her head, her face pale. "I'm not sure. She needs a full workup at the hospital. But she was fully lucid for a second."

Bystanders had already called 911. It didn't take long for the crowd to recognize the famous faces of Loyce Lonsdale and Admiral Lucian Shapiro. Almost instantly, they were swarmed. People held up their phones, snapping photos, recording videos, and some even started live-streaming the aftermath.

They were completely trapped by a wall of gawking civilians.

To protect Loyce from the cameras, Lucian stripped off his suit jacket and draped it over her head, shielding her entirely with his body as he stood between her and the crowd.

They stayed like that until the sirens wailed and the police and paramedics finally broke through the mob. Zelie was loaded onto a stretcher and rushed away.

A sleek SUV violently breached the police barricade and slammed on its brakes right in front of them. Forrest Lonsdale threw the passenger door open. "Get my sister in here. Now."

Lucian scooped Loyce up and slid into the back seat.

The tinted windows finally severed them from the flashing cameras and the chaotic crowd. Loyce remained wrapped in Lucian's arms, silent and brooding.

Forrest glanced in the rearview mirror, his heart aching at the sight of his sister huddled under a jacket. "What the hell happened? Are these your enemies again, Lucian?"

"No."

The voice came from under the suit jacket. "They're mine."

Loyce pulled the jacket down, her eyes burning with a dark, terrifying intensity as she looked at Lucian. "I always thought Edgar and Alicia were too cowardly to murder my parents just for control of the company. I always felt like there was a shadow pulling the strings, but I didn't know who. But just now..."

Her fingers curled into Lucian's shirt, gripping the fabric tight, as if trying to anchor herself against the rage flooding her veins.

"Zelie said there was a third person in that car."

Lucian's breath hitched. His arm tightened instinctively around her waist. The pieces were slamming into place. "You mean Yale?"

At the sound of Yale's name, Forrest's eyes snapped back to the rearview mirror in shock.

Even a hardened commander like Lucian felt a chill run down his spine.

He had spent his youth looking up to Yale. Even when the political divide started, he had still viewed the man as a mentor.

But thinking back... every time Lucian's power grew enough to threaten Yale's agenda, the assassination attempts against him multiplied. Who really wanted him dead? Was it really just foreign adversaries?

Or was the mentor he trusted selling his coordinates to the highest bidder?

Listening in stunned silence from the driver's seat, Forrest finally spoke, his voice dangerously low. "So... the man who murdered our parents was Yale Nash? He's the mastermind? Why would he kill them?"

Loyce shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe Mom and Dad stumbled onto one of his treasonous operations."

"Can we take him down?" Forrest asked.

Lucian shook his head slowly. "Every time we've peeled back a layer of this conspiracy, no one has ever mentioned his name. No paper trail leads to him. He never gets his hands dirty. Taking him down legally will be incredibly difficult, and if we strike and miss, he'll slaughter everyone we care about."

"We keep this quiet for now," Loyce decided. "We gave the police their official statement. Now, we regroup and plan our next move."