The Hidden Empress Stripping Her Secrets After Divorce novel Chapter 481

"Did you uncover all of this yourself?"

Julian leaned back in his armchair, crossing his fingers over his lap. "I did." His tone was perfectly level. "When my mother passed away, she didn't leave me a single thing. Just one piece of advice—don't go digging. Let go of the hatred."

A microscopic tremor disrupted his composed facade, like a sudden breeze rippling a still pond. He picked up his cup, took a slow sip, and stared at the rim as if looking at something far away. "I was only a teenager when she died. Completely alone, with nothing to my name. I clawed my way through school on scholarships, worked myself to the bone to pass the bar and become a lawyer. I genuinely wanted to believe her. I wanted to believe my father's death was just a tragic accident."

He set the cup down and turned his gaze to the window. The sunlight sliced through the curtains, illuminating half of his face while casting the other in deep shadow. "But I grew up constantly on the run. One dingy apartment today, another city tomorrow. Whenever I asked her why we had to keep moving, she'd say we needed a change of scenery. Later, when I studied the law, when I actually started practicing, I looked back at it all. Why would a single mother with a child move constantly? What was she so terrified of? Who was she hiding from?"

He shifted his gaze back to Sebastian. "So, I started digging. I found out he was in the military, that he was Lawrence Lancaster's brother. I learned that the old Lancaster patriarch furiously opposed their relationship because my mother was an orphan with no background. After my father returned to his base, Lawrence went to visit him. Shortly after, the 'accident' happened."

Sebastian's grip on his cup tightened. "You suspect Lawrence—"

"I don't know for sure," Julian cut in smoothly. "I have no concrete proof. There were no cameras back then, no witnesses. Just a piece of paper concluding it was an accident. But how does a highly trained soldier, someone far more capable than an average man, just randomly die in a simple crash? And why would my mother spend her entire life running? If it was just an accident, what was she so afraid of?"

Julian paused, his voice dropping an octave. "When my mother finally died, it was from severe depression. Years of living in perpetual terror destroyed her health."

Sebastian stared at him, absorbing the weight of the confession. Julian took another sip of his coffee, his features smoothing back into their usual polished indifference, though a dark fire still burned in his eyes.

"Later, I started looking into my mother's past. I discovered that her meeting my father was no accident." He stopped there, refusing to elaborate further on that thread. He stared out the window for a long stretch before continuing, his tone clinical once more. "Following her trail, I eventually uncovered the network."

Sebastian's pupils contracted.

"The Sea of Stars," Julian stated. "It's not the first of its kind, nor is it the only one. These networks have existed for decades, maybe longer. The women in them are embedded in every sector—from Wall Street to Capitol Hill, domestically and abroad. Some are strictly intelligence gatherers, some are honey traps, and others are specifically groomed to marry into power. I haven't been able to identify the apex leader." He leaned in slightly, his voice dropping to a near-whisper. "But I did discover that the ultimate backer isn't just a corporate billionaire. It's someone in the government. Someone with terrifyingly high clearance."