Chapter 518:

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The name hit Cheyanne like a slap. She spun around, her eyes blazing with hatred. “Don’t you call me that! This is all your fault! You’re the one who pushed me to go after Adam Kensington! And for what? He destroyed me!”

Katharine placed the milk on the nightstand, her movements unhurried. “I advised you to secure a powerful ally, Cheyanne. I did not advise you to be so clumsy as to leave a trail of evidence a child could follow.”

She sat on the edge of the bed, her tone softening slightly. “But recriminations are pointless. We still have one card left to play.”

Cheyanne let out a harsh, bitter laugh. “A card? What card? Finn won’t even take my calls. His mother has blocked my number on every platform. I’m a social leper!”

“Finn is a means to an end, not the prize,” Katharine said dismissively. “What matters is that he is still a Kensington. And, more importantly, he is still pathologically obsessed with Allison.”

At the mention of her cousin’s name, the self-pity in Cheyanne’s eyes hardened into a familiar, venomous jealousy.

“Tell me,” Katharine pressed, her voice like a surgeon’s scalpel. “Is he truly over her?”

Cheyanne thought for a moment, a spiteful sneer twisting her lips. “He pretends to be. But I’ve seen the way he looks at her when he thinks no one is watching. It’s disgusting. Pure, pathetic obsession.”

She suddenly remembered something. “He’s still trying to contact her! Just the other day, he had ninety-nine champagne roses delivered to her office. I heard from one of the assistants that Allison had them thrown directly into the dumpster, in front of the entire floor!”

A predatory light sparked in Katharine’s eyes. This was the information she needed. The weakness she could exploit.

“He’s still pursuing her,” Katharine confirmed, her voice a low murmur.

N𝗲𝗐 𝗐𝖾𝘦𝗸l𝘺 𝖼𝗵𝘢р𝘵er𝗌 𝘰𝗻 𝗴𝘢l𝗻o𝗏𝘦l𝘀.𝗰𝘰𝘮

“Like a pathetic little puppy!” Cheyanne spat.

Katharine’s lips curved into a thin, cruel smile. The plan began to form in her mind, elegant in its viciousness.

She stood up and began to pace, her mind a whirlwind of strategy. “A spurned ex-lover, consumed by regret and jealousy,” she mused aloud. “A powerful woman, victorious but still vulnerable to attacks on her reputation…”

“It’s the perfect vulnerability,” she whispered to herself.

“Mother, what are you talking about?” Cheyanne asked, confused.

Katharine stopped pacing and turned, her eyes glittering with a feverish, manic energy. “You want to see Allison ruined, don’t you, darling? You want Finn back under your thumb?”

“We can make both of those things happen. At the same time.”

She leaned down, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper, and outlined her plan.

As Cheyanne listened, her expression shifted from confusion to shock, and finally, to a slow, dawning, malevolent glee.

“But will it work?” she asked, her voice trembling with a mixture of fear and excitement. “Will Finn do it?”

Katharine straightened up, her face a mask of absolute confidence. “Finn is a weak, vain man, desperate to reclaim his pride. We will simply convince him that this is the only way to prove his love for Allison and, simultaneously, save himself from complete ruin.”

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