The Hidden Empress Stripping Her Secrets After Divorce novel Chapter 462

The study was utterly silent. Sunlight slanted through the massive French windows, slicing a brilliant band of gold across the Persian rug. Evelyn set her phone on the coffee table, though her fingertips remained lightly resting against its edge.

Sebastian studied her profile. "What did she say?"

Evelyn didn't answer immediately. She picked up her cooled milk, took a deliberate sip, and set it down, tracing the rim of the mug with one finger. "She asked me to do her a favor. To create a distraction for Leon."

Sebastian's brow instantly furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"She told me, 'I know you're aware of my history with Leon,'" Evelyn murmured, her tone perfectly even. "She wants me to use Louis to stir up trouble for Leon, just to keep him from watching her every move."

Sebastian went quiet for a few seconds. "She certainly knows who to leverage."

Evelyn didn't reply. She leaned back against the plush sofa cushions, her fingers rhythmically tapping the armrest. Tap. Tap. The cadence was slow and deliberate. The sunlight caught the planes of her face, illuminating her calm expression. But Sebastian knew her tells. He knew the quiet meant she was piecing together the invisible threads of a larger puzzle.

And then, she voiced it. "I always assumed her ultimate backer was Leon. Now... I don't think that's the case."

"Why not?"

Evelyn turned her head to meet his eyes. "How long has she been swimming in that syndicate? Three years? Five? She knows better than anyone what happens to rats who leak the group's secrets." Her voice remained soft, but each word carried a heavy, deliberate weight. "It's a death sentence. Yet, she agreed to hand over everything without a second thought. Doesn't that strike you as completely absurd?"

Sebastian's frown deepened into a dark scowl.

Evelyn held his gaze. "Tell me... is it possible that her true backer and the mastermind running the syndicate are the exact same person?"

Sebastian's pupils dilated slightly in shock.

For several long seconds, the only sound in the study was the distant, rhythmic splashing of the estate's fountain. To Sebastian, it sounded like a ticking clock hammering against his skull. A cold, dreadful realization began to crawl up his spine, pooling at the base of his neck like ice water.

He thought of every twisted manipulation Lyra had pulled off. He remembered how effortlessly she had orchestrated Evelyn's exile from the Lancaster family, how she had played Christian like an absolute fool, and how she had convinced high society she was nothing but a fragile, devoted woman. If she really had a mastermind backing her—if that mastermind was the architect of the syndicate—then Lyra was infinitely more dangerous than they had ever calculated.

"If that's true," Sebastian said, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper, "then we are dealing with a completely different beast. And God only knows who the real father of that baby is."

Evelyn remained silent, waiting for his tactical assessment.

Sebastian paused, piecing the intelligence together. "Christian's team is already mobilizing to secure blood samples from every member of the Astor family. Being played for a fool by a woman like her? Christian's pride won't let him drop this until he has blood."

Evelyn picked up her mug, took a sip, and set it down again. "If the mastermind is pulling the strings, then the files she's about to send us—could they be entirely fabricated?"