Chapter 126
Paxton nodded.
"From the moment Lily discovered the agreement to when she resigned—less than a month. But Felix wasn't taking any chances. He was afraid she'd taken something with her." Paxton's fingers clenched around the USB drive, his knuckles white. "So he arranged what came next. The free clinic came once a month. For nearly six years."
Six years.
Evelyn's knees buckled for an instant. Her hand shot out to a stack of foam boxes beside her. The wall of the box caved in under her palm with a dull thud.
Six years of slow poisoning. From when she was thirteen to nineteen. She'd watched her mother deteriorate bit by bit, thinking it was exhaustion, thinking it was fate.
Paxton held out the USB drive.
"This contains backup copies of Felix and Upton's communications from back then. I was in charge of maintaining the Ashford family's communication equipment. I kept these secretly." His hand was shaking. "Ms. Kendall, this is the only thing I can give you. Felix's people are still looking for me. After tonight, I have to move."
Evelyn took the drive. The small plastic shell was burning hot from Paxton's body heat. It landed in her palm like a piece of red-hot coal.
"Paxton."
"Yes?"
"You did all those things for the Ashford family. Why help me now?"
The corner of Paxton's mouth twitched. Not a smile—a spasm his muscles couldn't control.
"The day Lily left—the day she resigned from Ashford Group—she ran into me in the break room." His voice was fragmenting, barely audible. "She didn't say much. She just looked at me and said one thing."
Evelyn waited.
"She said, 'Paxton, take care of your family.'"
The light bulb flickered again. Longer this time, as if it might go out completely any second.
Paxton's eyes reddened.
"She knew I was involved in all of it. She knew everything. But before she left, she still said that to me."
Evelyn's fingers tightened around the USB drive. The edge of her nail dug into the plastic seam. It hurt a little.
She said nothing. She turned, pushed open the metal door, and walked out.
The fishy smell on the steps was stronger than when she'd arrived. Night wind poured through the market's open side entrance, churning the lingering decay in the air into a murky vortex.
Evelyn's soles pressed against the slippery steps, her toes gripping the ground with each step.
When she reached the market entrance, Cedric was standing under a streetlight across the way.
He stood perfectly still, hands in his coat pockets, his entire figure like a sculpture frozen in twilight. But the instant Evelyn's silhouette appeared in the doorway, his shoulders visibly relaxed.
Evelyn crossed the street to him.
She didn't speak. She just rested her head against his chest, her forehead pressed below his collarbone. The USB drive was still clutched in her hand, sandwiched between their bodies.
Cedric's hand slid from his pocket and covered the back of her head. His fingers threaded through her hair, pressing gently.
The streetlight cast their shadows on the ground, overlapping, their edges indistinguishable.
Evelyn closed her eyes. Her lashes brushed against the fabric of his shirt. She could feel the cotton rise and fall with his breathing.
"Six years." Her voice was muffled against his chest.
Cedric didn't respond. His fingers moved slowly through her hair. Once. Then again.
"My mom was poisoned for six years. I was right there beside her. I didn't notice a thing."
Cedric's fingers paused for a beat. Then continued, slower.
"Eve."
"Yeah."
"Felix is still alive."
The words fell into Emerald City's damp night air, carrying the weight of a solemn promise.
Evelyn lifted her head from his embrace and looked up at him. The streetlight illuminated half his face, the other half hidden in shadow. His pupils were bottomless, burning with a silent, absolute fire.
"I'll find him." Cedric's voice was low, each word ground out from the depths of his throat. "Alive."
He paused.
"Then I'll hand him over to you."
---
The communications records on the USB drive were far more extensive than Evelyn had anticipated.
Seven hundred thirty-two entries. The timeline spanned from twenty-two years ago to seventeen years ago—covering Lily's entire tenure at Ashford Group, plus the six years of continued poisoning after she left.
Evelyn and Cedric spent an entire day sorting and organizing all the records. They were pinned to the evidence wall in the safe house—a wall now almost completely covered with photos, printouts, and colored marker lines, like an enormous web.
At the center of the web was a single name.
Felix.
The picture of Felix pieced together from the communications grew clearer: he wasn't just a CFO. He was Simon's 'eyes' planted inside Ashford Group for fifteen years. He controlled all of Ashford Group's off-the-books cash flows while helping Simon launder the excess profits skimmed from the Hawk family.
When Lily discovered that profit-sharing agreement, she directly threatened Felix's core interests. If the agreement went public, his fifteen years of undercover work would be exposed—leaving him with nowhere to turn between the Ashford family and the White family.
So he had to silence her.
But he couldn't do it quickly. Quick would raise suspicion. So he chose slow poison. Six years. Like water wearing away stone.
"Felix's last public appearance was before Ashford Group's bankruptcy." Cedric stood in front of the evidence wall, his finger pointing to a node at the far right of the timeline. "After that, he vanished from the country. The tech team tracked his exit record—he crossed the border into Emerald City. But once he got here, he used at least three fake identities."
Evelyn sat in a folding chair, elbows propped on her knees, hands clasped under her chin.
"Paxton said Felix sent people to Emerald City last month looking for him." Evelyn's gaze fixed on the red circle labeled 'Felix' on the wall. "Which means he's still in Emerald City. Or at least his people are."
"More than that." Cedric picked up a report just transmitted by the tech team from the table. "We traced the number that texted you. The signal bounced through seven cell towers. The final physical location is—"
He placed the report in front of Evelyn.
Evelyn glanced down at the highlighted address.
North district... Peace Alley area... within five hundred meters of Phase Three, Plot Five.
He was near her project site.
Evelyn's fingers slowly tightened on the edge of the report, the paper crinkling under her grip.
"He's been there all along." Evelyn's voice was quiet. "He knows where the bunker is, where the box was. He probably found that entrance before anyone else, but he couldn't crack the combination lock."
"So he waited for you to come." Cedric moved behind her, placing both hands on either side of her chair back, looking down at the report from above. "But now the box isn't in the bunker anymore... He's lost his leverage."