Chapter 538:

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The implication hit him like a physical blow. Pregnancy. A child. His mother’s face, contorted in rage, flashed in his mind. The Kensington family trust. The succession. He snatched his hand back as if he’d been burned, his face a mask of pale horror.

He was trapped. Utterly and completely trapped.

Cheyanne saw the raw terror in his eyes and knew she had struck the killing blow. She pressed her advantage, her voice turning urgent, conspiratorial.

“Adam and Allison are trying to destroy us. Both of us. If we don’t stand together, we’re finished. You need to go public. You need to tell everyone you support me. That our engagement is back on.”

The room felt like it was shrinking, the air growing thin. He felt a suffocating pressure in his chest. He was being blackmailed, manipulated, and he was too weak, too terrified to fight back.

He looked at her tear-streaked, beautiful, predatory face.

He gave a single, defeated nod.

Meanwhile, across town, Allison sat in her office at Montgomery Group headquarters. She was a picture of serene focus, ignoring the whispers and the sideways glances from her colleagues. She moved through her emails with methodical precision, a perfect execution of Adam’s strategy of calm.

𝘈𝖽𝗱𝗂𝘤𝘁𝗂𝘷е 𝘀𝗍o𝗋𝘪е𝘴 on g𝖺lոо𝘃𝘦𝘭𝗌.cо𝘮

Her secure phone vibrated. An encrypted call from Emilee.

Allison walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking out at the jagged Manhattan skyline. “What did you find?”

Emilee’s voice was grim. “Allie, I pulled some strings. My dad has a guy who owes him a favor, an ex-cop who does private security in Vegas. The stuff TMZ posted? It’s all true. And it’s worse.”

Allison remained silent, her knuckles white where she gripped the phone.

“The guy she married, Marco, isn’t just some grifter,” Emilee continued. “He has a record for assault. He’s connected to an Eastern European crew that runs loan-sharking operations out of the casinos. The reason she left him? She cleaned out a safe deposit box with nearly a hundred grand in cash and ran.”

A wave of nausea rolled through Allison. It was dirtier, uglier than she could have imagined.

“But that’s not the worst part, Allie,” Emilee said, her voice dropping. “The worst part is, Baker and Katharine knew. My guy found a wire transfer. Five years ago, half a million dollars was moved from an offshore account controlled by Baker to Marco’s lawyer. It was hush money. They bought his silence.”

The phone felt like a block of ice in Allison’s hand. Her heart didn’t break. It simply turned to stone.

“Thank you, Emilee,” she said, her voice devoid of emotion. “Keep digging. I want to know the source of that offshore account.”

She ended the call and stood staring at the city, but she didn’t see it. She saw only the rot at the core of her family.

She returned to her desk and opened her laptop. Adam had sent her a file last night. A comprehensive background check on Cheyanne. She hadn’t opened it then, wanting to find the truth for herself.

Now she clicked it open.

The report was chillingly thorough. It contained everything Emilee had told her and more. Bank statements. Witness interviews. There was even a psychological profile of Marco, detailing his violent tendencies.

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