Chapter 607:

🍙 🍙 🍙 🍙 🍙

Casey called, his voice laced with disbelief. “Sir, we just got a tip from our source at the airport. It’s about Brice Langley. He didn’t arrive tomorrow. He landed in New York this afternoon.”

Garrett’s pupils contracted. “What? He was supposed to be on a flight from Europe tomorrow.”

The early arrival was completely unforeseen, and it threw off their timeline.

“Yes,” Casey continued, “and there’s more. The person who dropped him off at the airport was his stepmother. Mrs. Langley.”

That was even stranger. Their investigation had indicated a strained relationship between Brice and his stepmother, so her seeing him off in person was a glaring anomaly.

The airport security footage was sent over shortly after.

In the video, Brice Langley, dressed in casual clothes and sunglasses, looked relaxed as he walked toward security. His stepmother stood beside him, her face a mask of ice, a good half-meter of space separating them. Neither of them spoke.

When Brice passed through the security gate, she didn’t wave goodbye. She simply watched his back with a cold, hard stare, then turned and walked away.

It didn’t look like a farewell. It looked like confirmation that someone she detested was finally gone.

Garrett and Clarence immediately convened an emergency video conference.

“Why did he come early?” Clarence’s brow was furrowed. “This disrupts our entire rhythm.”

𝖥𝘪𝘯𝗱 n𝘰𝘃el P𝗗𝖥𝘀 𝗼𝗇 𝗀𝖺𝗹𝗇𝘰𝘃𝖾𝘭𝘴.сo𝗆

Garrett stared at the cold, impassive face of Mrs. Langley on the screen as a bold theory began to take shape in his mind.

“Is it possible,” he said slowly, “that Brice’s revenge isn’t aimed only at us? What if it includes the Langley family? He hates my mother, but he could just as easily hate the family that adopted him, the family that gave him a childhood of shadows. That birthday party… maybe it’s a ‘feast’ he’s prepared for everyone.”

The suggestion sent a chill through the room.

If it was true, Brice’s target wasn’t just Garrett. It was everyone at that party. He intended to reenact the tragedy of his own past.

Clarence gave the order at once. “Accelerate the plan. All contingency protocols are active as of now. Tell Casey that whatever it takes, he has to find Mrs. Langley before that party starts.”

Brice’s early arrival was a stone thrown into a still pond, turning a controlled chess game into a whirlwind of unpredictable danger.

Amelia glanced at the clock on the wall. Ten at night. Nina had said she was running a quick errand and would be back before dinner, but there was still no sign of her.

She had called Nina’s phone several times. Every call went straight to voicemail.

A deep, gnawing unease took hold of her. She had the sinking feeling that Nina wasn’t coming back.

Outside, a sudden thunderstorm had descended on the city. The wind howled, and fat raindrops hammered the glass panes in a relentless, drumming rhythm. A flash of lightning split the night sky, washing the room in ghostly white, and a deafening clap of thunder followed.

Amelia instinctively hugged herself. The thunder frightened her, but Nina’s disappearance turned that fear into panic.

.

.

.