The Hidden Empress Stripping Her Secrets After Divorce novel Chapter 497

He had investigated for years. He dug into his father's death, his mother's past, and that encrypted channel. The deeper he dug, the darker the waters became. Bottomless. He was a man with no background and no powerful backers, making it this far entirely through relentless caution, calculating every single step before he took it. But things were different now. He had Sebastian, he had Charles de Rothschild, and he had resources he never could have dreamed of before. He no longer had to shoulder the burden alone.

His phone buzzed again. He picked it up. It was a message from Sebastian.

[If you need help with the tax bureau, just say the word.]

Julian stared at the text, a faint smile touching his lips. He typed back: [No need. I can handle it.]

A reply came almost instantly: [I'm not just being polite.]

Julian stared at those words for a long time. He remembered the first time he met Sebastian, at a business reception in San Francisco. Sebastian had just taken over Thorne Enterprises—young, stoic, a man of few words. Everyone in the room had tried to network with him, and Sebastian had brushed them off with cold indifference. Julian had simply stood in the corner, nursing a glass of champagne, never approaching him. He was never that kind of person.

Later, he had heard about Sebastian and Evelyn. He heard how Sebastian chased her all the way to Paris, how he fought Albert LeClerc for her, and how he publicly declared, "She gets all my assets, and the children take her last name." That was when Julian realized that this man was cut from the same cloth as him. Once they committed to something, they never looked back.

He typed: [I know. Thanks.]

Send. He pocketed his phone and walked back to his desk to sit down. Sunlight poured through the window, catching his face—half illuminated, half buried in shadows. He picked up his pen and began tackling the documents on his desk. He would leave the tax bureau issue to Arthur. The books were clean; there was nothing to fear. It wasn't the audit he was worried about—it was what Christian would do next. That man wouldn't just let this go.

That evening, by the time Julian walked out of his law firm, the sky had completely darkened. He stood by the entrance, waiting for Arthur to bring the car around. The streetlights flickered on, casting a dim, yellow glow over the pavement as the wind rustled the fallen leaves. He lit a cigarette, took a drag, and slowly exhaled.

His phone buzzed. He pulled it out. It was a message from Sebastian.

[Lyra sent the files to Evelyn. It's about the people in the network. Do you want to take a look?]

Julian stared at the screen, his fingers slowly tightening their grip. The channel's data. Lyra had actually handed it over. He quickly typed: [Email it to me.]

The reply was a single word: [Done.]

Julian put his phone away and took another deep drag of his cigarette, exhaling a thick plume of smoke. It drifted apart under the streetlight, much like the scattered fragments of truth he had collected over the years—disconnected pieces that never formed a complete picture. But now, they had just gained another massive puzzle piece.