Chapter 130
Chapter 130
Evelyn nodded.
She was about to say something when the landline on her desk suddenly rang.
Evelyn picked up. The receptionist's voice was tense.
"Ms. Kendall, there's someone in the lobby who wants to see you... He says if you don't come down, he'll wait."
Evelyn's fingers curled slightly around the receiver.
"Who?"
The receptionist was silent for a second. "It's Mr. Ashford."
Cedric was sitting on the edge of the desk. He heard the voice through the receiver. The hand braced on the desk slowly clenched.
"Tell him—"
"He says it's about Felix."
The receptionist added that.
Evelyn's words stuck in her throat.
She turned to look at Cedric. His eyes narrowed slightly. "Let him come up."
Evelyn looked at him.
"If it's about Felix," Cedric said, his voice low, his fingers moving from the desk to rest naturally on the back of her chair, "we can't pass up any source of information."
Evelyn nodded, then spoke into the receiver. "Let him come up. Have him wait in the main conference room."
After hanging up, Evelyn stood.
She took off her trench coat and draped it over the back of her chair, then straightened her shirt cuffs. Her movements were unhurried.
Cedric watched her, his gaze following every small motion.
"I'm coming with you."
Evelyn didn't refuse.
They walked out of the office together, down the hallway toward the main conference room.
Cedric walked half a step to her left. The distance between them was closer than colleagues, more restrained than lovers.
But every Parker Group employee they passed in the hallway instinctively looked away when they saw them side by side.
That kind of presence didn't need physical contact to send a message.
The conference room door was open. Sebastian stood with his back to the entrance, facing the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Outside was the city skyline, autumn's gray haze coating every building in cold tones.
His silhouette was reflected in the glass, his shoulders slightly narrower than Evelyn remembered.
Hearing footsteps, he turned around.
In that instant, Evelyn saw clearly how much he'd changed.
After months apart, the calm arrogance that used to define his eyes had completely vanished, replaced by the dazed look of someone who'd wandered alone in the dark for too long and suddenly glimpsed a sliver of light—but couldn't tell if it was real.
His gaze first passed over Evelyn and locked directly onto Cedric's.
Two gazes clashed silently, sharp and cold, invisible tension filling the air.
Sebastian's throat bobbed. His gaze returned to Evelyn. He said softly, "Eve."
The way he said her name dipped slightly, with a very light pause at the end, as if he were checking whether he still had the right to call her that.
Evelyn walked to one side of the conference table and sat down.
Cedric stood two steps behind her. That position put Evelyn completely within his protective range.
"Mr. Ashford."
Seeing the indifference on Evelyn's face, Sebastian's eyelid twitched.
He walked to the other side of the conference table and sat down, elbows on the surface, fingers laced together.
Evelyn noticed his hands were rougher than before, with fine wear marks on the knuckles. No longer the pampered smoothness of the past.
"Felix contacted me." Sebastian's voice was low and hoarse. "Three days ago. He reached out through an intermediary, wanted me to step in and reclaim the assets from Ashford Group's liquidation. He said the ownership of those assets is legally disputable. If I cooperate and file a lawsuit, he can get a key piece of evidence proving the liquidation process was unlawful."
Evelyn's spine stiffened slightly.
The North District Phase Three land... the plot carved out of Ashford Group's bankruptcy asset package... If Ashford Group's liquidation was overturned, the consequences would be catastrophic.
"In exchange," Sebastian continued, "he wants me to get all the evidence you have."
Cedric's voice was ice-cold. "How does he know Evelyn has anything?"
Sebastian turned his head and glanced at Cedric.
The two men's gazes met again.
Sebastian's mouth twitched—a bitter, almost self-mocking muscular reflex.
"Mr. Parker, Felix knows more than you think. He was embedded in Ashford Group for fifteen years. He knows every dark corner of that company better than I do, and I'm an Ashford."
Evelyn's fingers slowly uncurled beneath the table, her fingertips pressing against the fabric on her knee.
"You refused?"
Sebastian looked at her. "The fact that I'm here is my answer."
The conference room was silent for three seconds.
The airflow from the AC vent brushed over the untouched glass of water on the table, creating a ring of fine ripples on the surface.
Evelyn stood.
"Thank you for the information. If Felix contacts you again, please deal directly with Parker Group's legal department."
She picked up her trench coat from the back of the chair, preparing to leave.
"Eve."
Sebastian looked at her back. He suddenly stood.
The chair scraped sharply against the floor.
Sebastian's voice came from behind her, half a tone lower than before, with a very faint tremor at the end. "Felix told me something else... about your mother."