Chapter 42
This executor must be holding the most critical information in the entire chain.
Evelyn opened the encrypted group chat. Cedric's message had already arrived.
[Tech team feedback: Today's text was sent from a disposable prepaid SIM card purchased through an online resale platform. Payment made via anonymous virtual wallet. More sophisticated than previous attempts.]
Evelyn's eyes lingered on that message for two seconds. Whoever this was, their counter-surveillance awareness was evolving.
Three months ago, that anonymous text cursing her mother had used a regular phone number. The cell tower location pointed directly to within three kilometers of Ashford Group headquarters. That operation had been crude, driven by emotional impulse. But today's message was different. No profanity, no personal attacks—just a directive warning. The wording was calm. Even the technical methods had leveled up.
What did that mean?
Evelyn drew a timeline in her mind.
Stage one: When they called her mother a mistress, the sender had been too emotional. Their goal was humiliation, hoping to make her back off.
Stage two: Using Mr. Larry to harass her—an attempt to use a proxy and destroy her professional foothold.
Stage three: Forging the leak evidence and launching online attacks. That was more calculated. The goal was to completely destroy her social credibility.
Stage four: "Stop looking for your father" was a direct warning. The goal was to prevent her from getting near the core truth.
Each move was escalating. Each target tightening. From generalized personal attacks to precise information lockdowns. This wasn't some random person harassing her. This was someone who knew the full story, systematically trying to stop her from digging to the bottom.
Evelyn typed in the group chat. [Their fear is escalating. The first time calling my mom a mistress was meant to crush me with public opinion. The fourth time directly saying "stop looking for your father" means my investigation has touched their core interests.]
Cedric's reply came ten seconds later. [Your assessment matches mine. I'll add this: If the person behind this is just Arianna herself, she couldn't possibly know your father's identity. And Arianna married into the Ashford family after you did. She wouldn't have access to details from twenty-seven years ago. Unless—]
Evelyn frowned as she typed. [You mean... unless there's someone behind her who was directly involved in that conspiracy back then?]
The group chat went silent for eight seconds. Sophie broke it. [So you guys are saying Arianna isn't the mastermind? And there's someone else standing behind her?]
Evelyn's finger swiped across the screen.
She didn't answer Sophie's question. Instead, she exited the chat and opened her notes app.
She created a new entry. Title: Connections.
Sebastian's grandmother is deceased, can't verify directly. The executor from back then is unidentified but must know father's true identity. Arianna married into the Ashford family later, but text tower is within Ashford Group range, and all previous targeted actions match her M.O. Mr. Lewis admitted to taking orders from Arianna, but his testimony only covers document forgery and public opinion manipulation—no mention of deeper historical connections.
Evelyn stared at those lines. For some reason, she felt like something was missing.
How did Arianna connect with "the executor"? What was her entry point into the Ashford family?
Thinking carefully, Evelyn recalled a detail.
Arianna had married Sebastian's older brother Samuel four years ago. After Samuel died in a car accident two years ago, Arianna stayed on at the Ashford Estate as a widow, earning Richard's sympathy and tacit approval. But the way Arianna had entered the Ashford family in the first place—she'd never really dug into that.
Four years ago, how exactly had Samuel and Arianna met?
Evelyn realized her knowledge of Arianna was limited to three years of surface-level contact after the marriage. Limited to Arianna's fragile facade, her calculated provocations, her increasingly bold schemes.
But she'd never thought to look backward...
Evelyn's brow furrowed. She opened her private conversation with Cedric. [Need you to look into how Arianna and Samuel met back then, and Arianna's background before she entered the Ashford family. ASAP, and as detailed as possible.]
Send.
She put down her phone and reopened her computer. The Pine Hill Phase Two proposal was still on page seven. The final period on the policy clause was done, but the brand evaluation section still needed three more sets of cross-verification data.
Her fingers returned to the keyboard.
She typed two numbers, then stopped.
Evelyn looked up at the empty office ceiling. The fluorescent lights cast their glow on her face, white and cold.
A thought was circling in her mind.
If the person sending texts knew her father's identity, and that person was now trying to stop her, it meant her father's very existence posed a threat to someone.
What kind of threat?
Evelyn's gaze dropped back to the screen. The cursor blinked in the document.
She thought of a possibility.
Twenty-seven years ago, Sebastian's grandmother had forged photos to break up Lily and that man, sabotaged the Hawk family's marriage alliance, then bought up thirty percent of the Hawk family's core assets at rock-bottom prices.
What if that man—her father—came back?
What if he found out the truth from back then?
What would he do?
As an elite family heir with resources and capabilities, he could absolutely launch legal proceedings to challenge that acquisition based on fraud. Those three core assets swallowed at forty percent of market value twenty-seven years ago—in today's terms, that was a figure massive enough to shake the Ashford family's foundation.
So someone didn't want her to find her father.
Because the moment she found him, the bomb the Ashford family had planted twenty-seven years ago would detonate.
Evelyn's fingers curled against the keyboard.
She ran through that reasoning a second time, confirmed the logic was sound, then made a decision.
She exited the work document and opened WhatsApp.
Posted to her status.
Text only: [Mom, soon.]
No image. No location tag. Visible to: Sophie only.
After posting, Evelyn turned her phone face-down on the desk.
Sophie's account had been monitored by Arianna's people three months ago during the Ashford Group leak scandal. Cedric had stepped in afterward to cut off the direct surveillance channel, but as Evelyn's closest friend, Sophie's social media activity was very likely still within their watch radius.
If Arianna's people were still watching Sophie, this status would reach Arianna within twenty-four hours.
Mom, soon.
No specifics. No concrete details. But in the current context—Evelyn had just left the Ashford Estate, just read her mother's will, just found out her father was still alive—those words were enough to make anyone with a guilty conscience read between the lines.
She was searching. She was closing in. She was about to find him.