Chapter 251

Chapter 251

Audrey's gaze lingered on Declan's face for a few seconds.

"Fine." Despite the surge of excitement inside her, she kept her tone neutral. "But how do I know you're telling the truth?"

Declan seemed to have anticipated this question. He reached into his suit jacket and pulled out a thin manila envelope, placing it on the table.

"This contains the key evidence," he said.

"I can show you part of it first, to prove I'm not lying. But the complete files—you'll get those only after the system issue is resolved."

"Tell me first. Who destroyed the Turner family?"

"An organization."

Declan paused. "Founded by the Wheeler family in Sunrise City. It's called Eagle Eye."

"On the surface, it's a high-end security and intelligence consulting firm. But in reality, it's been doing one thing all along—finding, screening, and recruiting people with exceptional talents."

"Your mother's family, the Turners, produced geniuses for generations. Painting, architecture, engineering, cryptography—nearly every generation had someone who stunned the world."

"Eagle Eye had been watching the Turners for a long time. Initially, they wanted to recruit them, to bring the family's talents into their system. But the Turners refused. After being turned down, Eagle Eye chose a different approach. They orchestrated a fire that wiped out the entire family, ensuring those talents wouldn't fall into anyone else's hands."

Declan paused here, his gaze turning complicated as he looked at Audrey.

"Your mother was the only survivor of that fire."

"She was found and taken away by someone from the Langley family who happened to pass by, which is how she escaped the subsequent manhunt. Eagle Eye never knew she survived."

Audrey listened quietly. "How do you know all this?"

Declan fell silent for a few seconds.

"Because my father was also a member of Eagle Eye. He was the one who assessed the Turner family's talent levels back then."

Audrey's gaze sharpened instantly.

"He evaluated your mother's abilities and confirmed she possessed top-tier talent. Then he reported his assessment to Eagle Eye."

"It was precisely because of that report that Eagle Eye decided to move against the Turners."

"My father left Eagle Eye later and joined Black Raven. Your mother discovered his true identity and made him leave on his own. He told me this himself on his deathbed."

"All right." Audrey looked at Declan. "I'll fix your system problem. And you'll give me everything you know about Eagle Eye and the Turner family. All of it."

"Deal." Declan nodded immediately. "I'll go organize the files. You'll have everything within three days."

Audrey said nothing more, only nodded.

Declan stood up and left the office, clearly relieved.

After the door closed, Elise Sinclair walked over. "You're really going to help him?" she asked.

"He thinks that once the system is up and running, he'll have the jump on the cybersecurity market."

Audrey's tone was flat. "But what he doesn't know is that the new system I had Ethan build is already far beyond Black Raven. Once the new system starts rolling out, the old Black Raven will be worthless. The clients who bought Declan's system will resent him even more."

Elise raised an eyebrow slightly. "You're making him reap what he sowed?"

"Something like that."

That night, Audrey sat in her study, the file Declan had sent spread out before her.

She finished the last page, picked up her phone, and dialed a number.

The phone rang for a long time before someone picked up.

"This is Audrey."

Her tone was calm. "I need you to look into something for me."

"What?"

"The Wheeler family in Sunrise City."

Over the next few days, Audrey didn't actively dig for information on the Wheelers, but more and more details still found their way to her through various channels.

The Wheeler family had been entrenched in Sunrise City's political and business circles for decades, with tentacles reaching into multiple sensitive sectors—defense contracting, security, intelligence consulting.

They operated with extreme discretion, never appearing on any public wealth rankings or corporate lists. But anyone who knew the real story understood that the Wheelers' influence far exceeded what the outside world imagined.

Audrey pieced together the scattered information, gradually seeing the shape of a vast network.

Her investigation soon caught the Wheelers' attention.

One evening, Audrey was having dinner with Vincent in the dining room at the Brown Mansion when her phone suddenly vibrated.

It was a text from an unknown number. The message was brief:

[Ms. Clark, knowing too much about certain things isn't good for you. Stop now.]

Audrey stared at the line of text for a moment, then turned her phone screen toward Vincent.

Vincent's eyes swept over the message, his brow furrowing slightly.

"Looks like they've started paying attention to you."

"Yes." Audrey slipped her phone back into her pocket, her tone even.

Not long after, news came from Declan. The overseas firm had agreed to accept assistance from the White Dove team in deploying a solution and would drop the lawsuit—but only if Declan paid a penalty equal to fifteen percent of the original acquisition price as a good-faith payment.

While the amount wasn't as devastating as full damages would have been, it was still a heavy blow for Declan.

That same day, Vertex Global Holdings officially announced its withdrawal.

Atlas didn't appear in person. Instead, the project department issued a coldly worded internal notice, informing all parties that cooperation related to Declan's fund was suspended and that invested capital was entering liquidation.

Declan's so-called hundred-billion-dollar infrastructure project was now completely dead in the water.

The news spread quickly through business circles, but it didn't cause much of a stir.

To most observers, Declan's rise and fall had both been too fast to matter much.

Audrey paid no further attention to what happened to him next. She was now focusing all her energy on the Wheeler family.