The Hidden Empress Stripping Her Secrets After Divorce novel Chapter 500

The Charles Estate, second-floor study.

The curtains were drawn halfway, allowing the afternoon sun to spill through the floor-to-ceiling windows and slice a brilliant strip of light across the carpet. Evelyn sat at the desk, her laptop screen illuminating her face. A new email sat in her inbox. Sender: Lyra Langford. She stared at the name for a few seconds before clicking it open. The attachment downloaded instantly, pulling up a dense document packed with text, lists, footnotes, and meticulously organized timelines. She scrolled through a few pages, her brow slowly knitting into a frown.

Sebastian pushed the door open, carrying a mug of warm milk. Seeing her expression, his footsteps faltered slightly. "What's wrong?"

Evelyn looked up. "Lyra sent the files."

Sebastian quickly crossed the room, setting the milk on the desk, and moved behind her chair to look at the screen. His frown mirrored hers. "There's this much?"

"Yes." Evelyn kept scrolling. "Far more than what Julian gave us. It's incredibly detailed."

Sebastian pulled up a chair and sat beside her. They stared at the screen together, flipping through page by page. The sunlight warmed their shoulders, illuminating dust motes dancing in the beams. The study was deathly quiet, punctuated only by the crisp click of the mouse and the faint rustle of pages turning on the screen.

Evelyn paused on one particular page, her fingers hovering over the trackpad. "Look at this."

Sebastian leaned closer. The screen displayed a personal profile complete with a photo, a name, and background details. He recognized the woman in the picture immediately. A sapphire gown, light brown curls, a dangerously alluring face, and amber eyes. Alissa Valois.

"Alissa?" Sebastian's brow furrowed tightly.

Evelyn nodded. "She isn't just an ordinary gold digger. Her father is a government official in Luxembourg." She scrolled down further. "He's not top-tier, but his position is critical—he's a director within the Ministry of Finance. He manages the approval of special EU funding."

Sebastian's fingers slowly curled into a fist. "So she has access to high-level classified information?"

Evelyn scrolled through the following pages. "She didn't get into the channel on her own merit. Someone referred her. Lyra didn't list the referral's identity, but she explicitly detailed Alissa's assignment—infiltrating the circles of global billionaires, using her looks to extract corporate intelligence, and feeding it back through the channel."