Chapter 118

Chapter 118

Evelyn didn't slow down. She kept her normal pace as she left the conference room.

In the hallway, Lisa hurried over and took the folder from her hands. "Evelyn, the construction permit for the North District should come through this afternoon, and Mr. Jackman's side—"

"Lisa." Evelyn cut her off, voice dropping low. "The person sitting in the back corner of the conference room just now—do you know who that was?"

Lisa froze, glancing back. The conference room door was still open, people filing out. She stood on her toes, peering inside.

"No... I didn't see anyone in the corner."

Evelyn turned her head. The back corner of the conference room was empty. He was already gone.

Her fingers pressed against the edge of the folder.

Back at her desk, Evelyn didn't start working right away. She opened her phone and pulled up Parker Group Tower's visitor registration system—as Deputy Director, she had clearance to review the day's entry logs.

Forty-seven visitors that morning. All invited guests for the signing ceremony. Evelyn scrolled through each entry. No one registered for the back row matched the stranger she'd seen.

He didn't come through the main entrance.

Evelyn exited the system and opened her chat with Cedric. Her finger hovered over the input box for two seconds before she typed.

[At today's signing, there was someone not on the guest list. Male, late twenties, navy blue shirt, short hair. Sitting in the back corner. Gone when everyone left.]

Send.

Cedric's reply came a minute later.

[I'll have security pull today's full building surveillance. Don't leave the 36th floor alone.]

Evelyn locked her screen.

She leaned back in her chair, fingertips absently tracing the edge of her desk. That feeling of being watched still lingered at the base of her neck—like someone had dragged an ice-cold finger down her spine.

She thought of many things. The white chrysanthemums outside Sophie's building three months ago. The tampered IV bag at the nursing home. The sedative gas released in the hotel room.

Behind all those incidents was a web that had been woven for a very long time.

Lillie had turned over evidence and left. Simon was in prison. Arianna was locked up too. Sebastian had also left. Felix—

Evelyn's finger stopped.

Felix.

The former CFO who'd embezzled funds from Ashford Group and fled to Emerald City. The person they'd originally come to Emerald City to find.

Through the hotel attack, the nursing home ordeal, the funeral home investigation, the burial at the Hawk estate—during all those days, they'd never caught Felix.

Cedric had said Lillie used BW Fund's resources to establish operations in Emerald City. But after Lillie left, those resources wouldn't just vanish.

If Felix was still alive. If he was still in Emerald City. If the man who appeared in that conference room corner today was connected to Felix—

Her phone lit up again.

Not Cedric.

An unknown number. No contact name.

The message was a single line.

[Ms. Kendall, congratulations on the successful signing. However, there's something buried under the North District Phase Three site worth more than four billion. Interested in knowing what?]

Evelyn stared at the line of text on her screen, fingers slowly curling into her palm.

The cold glow illuminated her face, making the wariness in her eyes unmistakable. Her thumb hovered above the screen. She didn't open the chat. Didn't reply.

"Something worth more than four billion."

The wording was carefully chosen. Not "danger." Not "truth." But "worth." They were testing her boundaries with the lure of profit.

Evelyn exited the message screen and saved a screenshot to her encrypted album. Then she opened Cedric's chat and sent him the image with one line: [Same person?]

Cedric's reply came thirty seconds later.

[Number sent to tech team. Where are you?]

[My desk.]

[Stay there. I'm coming up.]

Evelyn locked her screen, finger slowly tracing a circle on her desk. Her gaze drifted to the ginkgo tree outside the window—its leaves had turned completely yellow, falling in rustling showers with each gust of wind, carpeting the ground in scattered gold.

The North District Phase Three site. The Peace Alley area. Eighty-four thousand square feet.

What was buried beneath that land?

Evelyn opened her computer and pulled up the geological survey report for the North District project. She'd reviewed this report during her first weeks at Parker Group—routine examination, nothing unusual flagged at the time.

But now, looking again, her eyes stopped on page seventeen.

On the geological cross-section diagram, the southeast corner of the Phase Three site had an area marked 'existing underground structure.' The annotation read: [Suspected early 20th century air raid shelter remnants, awaiting further investigation.]

Awaiting further investigation.

This report was three months old. Three months, and no one had followed up on that 'awaiting further.'

Evelyn saved a separate screenshot of that page.

The sound of elevator doors opening came from down the hall. Cedric's footsteps weren't rushed—steady, deliberate, leather shoes striking marble in an even rhythm. He stopped beside Evelyn's desk. Didn't sit. Just braced one hand on the back of her chair and leaned down to look at her computer screen.

He carried the warmth of the downstairs café mixed with that sharp, woody scent—two temperatures colliding, making Evelyn's nose tingle.

"Geological report?" Cedric's voice fell from above her.

"There's an underground structure in the southeast corner. Marked for investigation three months ago. No one's followed up."

Cedric's hand moved from the chair back to her shoulder, pressing down lightly. Not comfort—confirmation. He was here.

"I'll have the engineering department send someone this afternoon." He straightened. "The surveillance from the signing ceremony came through too."

Evelyn turned to look at him.

Cedric handed her his phone. On screen was a surveillance screenshot—footage from the tower's first-floor side entrance camera. A man in a navy blue shirt exiting through the fire escape seven minutes before the signing ceremony ended.

His face was angled toward the camera, but a cap brim was pulled low, revealing only the outline of his jaw and lips.

Evelyn studied the screenshot.

Thin lips. Angular jawline. Age matched her estimate—late twenties.

"Came in through the fire escape," Cedric said. "The side door had an unauthorized access at 9:13 this morning, but the corresponding card number belongs to building maintenance's shared keycard."

"Someone from maintenance?"

"Maintenance has four shared cards. Only one access logged with that card this morning—when this person entered." Cedric's voice dropped half a degree. "Either the card was cloned or stolen. I've already got security running a full audit."

Evelyn handed his phone back and leaned into her chair. Her back touched his hand. He didn't pull away—instead, he settled his palm between her shoulder blades, warm and steady.