The Real Heiress Is Coming Back (Hannah Carter) novel Chapter 261

Chapter 261 Never Meant To Lie

Chapter 261 I Never Meant To Lie

“She’s a talent under Cynthoria’s protection. You have no right to take her away!”

Just then, Mr. Burke walked over with an air of righteous authority, his tone brooking no argument.

Hannah was surprised to see Mr. Burke standing up for her. Then, glancing at Spencer beside him, she quickly put two and two together.

‘Shadow is still looking out for me, Hannah thought.

When Spencer caught her eye, he shot her a cocky wink.

Hannah was speechless.

Barnaby’s icy gaze cut into Spencer like a knife.

‘That bastard! Does he think I’m invisible?’ Barnaby fumed inwardly.

Spencer caught Barnaby’s glare and shot him a cocky, challenging look right back.

‘In this world, it’s every man for himself, Spencer thought.

Barnaby’s gaze turned even frostier as he glanced down at his phone and shot Magnus a quick text.

Laura spotted Mr. Burke and Spencer, and instantly remembered that epic moment when Shadow shot to fame. Her brows knitted. “Mr. Burke, are you for real?”

“Does this look like a joke to you?” Mr. Burke said, dead serious

Laura was speechless, and the crowd was left in shock.

Even Mr. Burke himself was stepping up for Raven.

And he was doing it as an official representative of Cynthoria.

That meant if the Veridian Space Agency delegation insisted on taking Raven, it wouldn’t just be a spat between Veridia and one person, it would turn into a showdown between nations.

“Veridian Space Agency delegation, your actions have already threatened our people. Leave now, or don’t blame us if things get ugly!” Magnus declared, his tone icy and unyielding.

He showed up with a squad of special forces, locking down the entire exhibition area.

Their presence radiated authority, making everyone tense up.

Seeing the special forces roll in and her arrest warrant canceled Laura realized she was out of options. With no military backup, she could only grit her teeth and lead her people away, feeling utterly humiliated.

The crowd burst into applause, celebrating the victory and showing their support for Cynthoria.

Meanwhile, the internet was on fire about Raven all night.

When someone finally dropped the bomb that Raven was actually the Nameless Healer, Twitter and several streaming platforms couldn’t handle the flood of traffic and totally crashed. The only site still standing was the hacker forum. So, all the gossip-hungry netizens migrated over, sending a tidal wave of traffic straight to the hacker forum.

The front page of the hacker forum was packed with trending threads: #HotTopic: Vulcan, Shadow, and Raven Are the Same Person #, #Raven Is the Nameless Healer #, #Veridia’s Bounty on Raven Canceled #.

With the traffic spiking like crazy, the hacker forum’s servers went down hard for the first time ever.

*****

At the anniversary party, once the Veridian delegation had left, the crowd gradually dispersed, and people went back to mingling and networking.

Howard and Dustin finally managed to get close to the exhibition area and at last got to see Raven’s real face.

But all they saw were Hannah, Barnaby, Spencer, and a few others chatting with Mr. Burke. Every face there was familiar, not a single stranger in sight.

And even Van, Raven’s assistant, was nowhere to be seen.

Before they even made it inside, Howard got caught un in a ridiculous mix-up, all thanks to Dustin’s blind confidence. They’ d chased Oliver’s van all the way down to the u Successfully unlocked! To

Successfully unlocked! realize they’d made a complete fool of

themselves.

Luckily, there weren’t many people around, or Howard, as the CEO of the Thole Group, wouldn’t have known where to put his face.

This time, Howard played it safe, he had Dustin scout things our first and make sure they were after the right person.

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Chapter 261 | Never Meant To Lie

Dustin, having learned his lesson, stopped a passing waiter and asked, “Hey, did you see who Raven is?”

“It’s the Nameless Healer over there,” the waiter replied, pointing straight at Hannah.

“What? She’s Raven?” Dustin’s eyes went wide in disbelief.

‘The Raven we’ve been chasing after all this time is actually Hannah, the one I’ve always underestimated? Dustin thought, completely floored.

‘Are you kidding me?’ Dustin thought, totally stunned.

‘Wasn’t she just the assistant’s assistant for Raven?’ Dustin thought, still in shock.

‘Wasn’t she just a total newbie at C programming?’ Dustin thought, completely stunned.

“Are you sure about that?” Howard asked skeptically.

The waiter nodded confidently. “Positive. Everyone saw it, she was the one who pulled out the USB drives for Vulcan, Shadow, and Raven.”

Howard and Dustin were left totally stunned, a thousand WTFs stampeding through their minds.

Just knowing Hannah was the Nameless Healer was headache enough for Howard, and now she turned out to be a hacker big shot too? ‘How did that damn girl get so badass after leaving the Thole family?’ Howard fumed.

‘No way!’ Howard thought.

He needed to figure out a way to get back to Edmund and scrap the whole Raven partnership idea. ‘Over my dead body will Hannah ever set foot in the Thole family again! Howard swore to himself.

*****

Hannah chatted with Mr. Burke for a while, but she was totally distracted, her mind racing with questions about Barnaby’s identity.

Mr. Burke had something else to take care of, so he had to leave early.

Everyone walked him out to the entrance of the banquet hall, and the moment he left, Hannah instantly reached out and grabbed Barnaby’s hand. “I need to ask you something.”

Seeing this, Finneus quickly shooed everyone else away, except for Spencer, who was shameless enough to stick around. “I’ve got something to ask you too!” Spencer cut in, wedging himself between the two of them and looking straight at Hannah.

“If you’ve got questions, keep them to yourself!” Barnaby snapped, shouldering past Spencer and grabbing Hannah’s hand again as he led her down the hallway. “Come on, baby, let’s find somewhere private.”

Spencer stumbled, nearly losing his balance. “Barnaby, are you a freaking dog or what?”

“Uh… I’ll come find you later,” Hannah called back, awkwardly.

But staring at his face, she just couldn’t get the word “Shadow” out.

“Alright!” Spencer replied right away.

Barnaby, hearing that, picked Hannah up, bridal style, not taking no for an answer, and strode off, his pace quickening.” There’s no way I’m letting you see him!”

Hannah wrapped her arms around his neck, teasing, “My legs, my rules! You can’t tell me what to do.”

Barnaby scooped her up and, like he’d done it a hundred times before, carried her straight to a big office.

He pushed the door open with his foot, stepped inside, and headed for a bookshelf, behind it was a secret door, and through that, yet another private office.

Hannah barely had a chance to look around before Barnaby set er right on top of the desk.

Barnaby leaned in, a wicked grin on his face. “Guess I’ll have to keep you in bed all night then!”

Hannah instantly remembered that feeling, and instinctively pressed her hands to his chest, holding him back. “Don’t you

dare!”

“First, you have to promise me, no more sneaking off to see him alone!” Barnaby insisted, his tone possessive.

“Absolutely not!” Hannah refused, not even hesitating.

She still had a whole list of things she needed to grill Spencer aout

Barnaby frowned, clearly annoyed. “What’s your relationship with him? When did you two first meet?”

Hannah pulled a USB drive from her pocket and pressed it to Bamaby’s chest. “Before you start grilling me, Mr. Thole, how about you explain this first?”

Barnaby looked uncomfortable. “Baby, don’t call me that.”

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Chapter 261 | Never Meant To Lie

“So what should I call you then? Vulcan? Or the Master of the Scepter House? Hannah asked, staring him down.

He took the USB drive from her, it was the one he’d left in his suit pocket.

‘Man, all my covers just got blown at once; Barnaby thought, feeling totally exposed.

“Sorry, I never meant to lie to you,” Barnaby said, his voice softening.

Even though Hannah had long since been sure of his identity, hearing him finally admit it out loud left her with a tangled mess of feelings she couldn’t even begin to describe.

Anger, sadness, and understanding, all swirling together in a whirlwind inside her.

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