Chapter 659:

“I’m a queen!” she shrieked, her voice cracking. “I’m a queen!”

The door closed. The silence returned.

Yue let out a low whistle. “Man. That was loud.”

Cyril turned to the manager. “I apologize for the disturbance. Please add a generous tip for your staff’s distress to the corporate account.”

“Of course, Mr. Sterling,” the manager said, bowing slightly.

They walked out of the store into the sunshine. The air tasted cleaner.

“Did you really buy that necklace?” Yue asked.

“Yes,” Cyril said. “It’s a tax write-off. ‘Employee retention bonus’.”

Aurora looked at him. “You’re enjoying this too much.”

“I enjoy efficiency,” Cyril corrected. “And seeing trash taken out.”

Just then, the Rezvani Tank pulled up to the curb. Elias was behind the wheel. He rolled down the window.

“I heard screaming,” Elias said. “Did we win?”

“Stella is in custody,” Aurora said, climbing into the passenger seat. “But she mentioned her parents promised her the life. That confirms it.”

“The parents,” Elias said, his eyes darkening. “The loose ends.”

“Cyril,” Aurora said, turning back to him. “Send the location to Elias. It’s time we paid Mr. and Mrs. Higgins a visit. Before their backers decide to silence them.”

Cyril nodded, tapping his phone. “Sending the coordinates now. They’re in Brooklyn. A safe house funded by a shell company linked to the Ouroboros symbol.”

Lᴧtєѕt ϲhαptєrs 𝑖n g𝓪l𝑛ovєl𝑆.𝗰𝑂m

“The Council,” Elias said.

“Let’s go,” Aurora said. “Before the snake eats its own tail.”

The interrogation room at the NYPD precinct was a gray box designed to crush hope. Stella sat at the metal table, her expensive dress wrinkled, her mascara running in black streaks down her face.

“I want a lawyer,” she said for the tenth time. “I want the Kensington family lawyer.”

Detective Miller, a man who had worked with Elias on previous cases, sighed. He tossed a file onto the table.

“The Kensington lawyer isn’t coming, Stella. Because you aren’t a Kensington. And the public defender is stuck in traffic. So let’s chat.”

“I have nothing to say.”

“Really?” Miller tapped the file. “Because your phone has a lot to say. We dumped the data. Text messages. Voice memos. Emails to a secure server in the Caymans.”

He pressed a button on a recorder.

Stella’s voice filled the room: “Mom, the idiot cousin thinks I’m real. Once I get access to the vault codes, I’ll transfer the cash and we disappear to Brazil.”

A woman’s voice replied: “Good girl. Just remember, the Benefactors are watching. If you fail, we don’t get paid. We get erased.”

Stella flinched.

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