Chapter 357 A Gamble

    +10 Free Coins

    Quinn kept her voice level. “I never truly believed you, Julius Whitethorn. I was gambling–gambling that this time you would not lie and that, when the houres, you will really send me home. I pray I have not made the wrong bet.”

    Julius let out a thin, bitterugh. “If you do win this gamble, Quinn, will you ever allow yourself to trust me?”

    Quinn shook her head. “Trust is not that easy to earn. I’m going to the study for a book. See to your wounds on your own.”

    With that she turned, the hem of her dress whispering across the polished floor as she disappeared into the corridor.

    Julius lowered his head and lifted a hand to the patch of skin her fingertips had brushed only moments earlier. The spot still throbbed with borrowed warmth, as if her touch had branded him.

    He ought to feel relieved. She had chosen to stay rather than leave with her father.

    Yet something kept tearing at his chest, shredding whatever hope remained.

    It was as though the universe itself whispered that a single misstep, once taken, could never be undone.

    Later that night, Quinn’s phone lit up with an iing call from Laura. “Quinn, you’ll never believe this. People from the Fane family are heading to Jexburgh.”

    “What?” Quinn gasped. “You mean the Fane family from Celosia?”

    “Of course. Why else would I mention it? Leander Fane himself ising too. They’reing because the Fanes are about to sign a deal with the Whitethorn family.”

    “Since when do the Whitethorns and the Fanes work together?” Quinn blurted.

    “It happened fast. Evidently, the Whitethorns were the ones who reached out first. When the Whitethorns wave an olive branch, the Fanes don’t hesitate. They’ll arrive in Jexburgh in a few days, which saves you a flight to Celosia.”

    Chapter 357 A Gamble

    Quinn fell silent, mulling over the news. iIs /iithis /iitruly /iia /iicoincidence/ii? /i

    +10 Free Coins

    The Whitethorns had issued the invitation to the Fanes just before her nned trip to Celosia.

    “Do you think Julius cooked this up just so you wouldn’t have to fly all the way to Celosia?” Laura teased.

    Quinn thought for a moment. “A partnership of that scale moves serious money. can’t imagine them shifting it just to save me a single flight.”

    I

    “Ordinary people wouldn’t, but with the Whitethorns, you never know,” said Laura. The Whitethorns were infamous in Jexburgh for their audacious streak, and everybody knew it.

    After all, Quinn had dered the rtionship over, yet Julius had still chartered a ne from Doria to rush back to Jexburgh for her. Now he had even spirited her away to his private ind, hardly the behavior of a man content with a breakup.

    “When are youing back, anyway?” Laura added.

    “Two more days,” Quinn replied. iAssuming /iiJulius /iihonors /iithe /iiagreement /iiand /iiputs /iime /iion /ithat ireturn /iiflight/i.

    “All right. I’ll be waiting,” Laura said.

    After the call ended, Quinn unlocked her phone and began searching for news about the partnership between the Fane family and the Whitethorns.

    Articles flooded the screen.

    The reports said the Whitethorns were moving into the electric–vehicle market and were eyeing the Fane family as their battery supplier.

    The deal on the table was pure sirloin–rich, tender, and gleaming with profit. Every battery supplier in Azania was salivating over it.

    The Fane family, entrenched in the same trade, could hardly sit still. They wanted that contract as badly as anyone.

    So the moment whispers drifted from the Whitethorn family that negotiations were open, the Fanes packed their briefcases and booked the next flight to

    O

    15:05 Tue, 2 Sept

    Chapter 357 A Gamble

    Jexburgh, determined to strike first.

    +10 Free Coins

    Quinn stared at the newsfeed, thumb hovering above the screen, eyes locked on the photograph of Everett, the Fane family’s patriarch.

    He looked to be in his early sixties, with iron–gray threaded through ck hair, fine wrinkles fanning from dark eyes. Yet the bone structure remained–sharp jaw, straight nose–remnants of a man who had once turned heads without trying. The tailored charcoal suit, silver cuff links, and patient half–smile lent him the air of an old–world gentleman schr, someone who measured his words the way a jeweler weighs gems.

    For all that polish, he had never married–a rarity for men of his stature. Apart from the acknowledged illegitimate heir, Leander Fane, Everett had no children, no hint of domestic obligations.

    He was no recluse nor did the tabloids pin him with male lovers; there was simply nothing–nk space where romance should live.

    It was as though his veins carried a strange instion, wiring him for power and profit but forever short–circuiting at love.

    This time, the party flying into Jexburgh included not only Leander but the patriarch himself.

    If Quinn wanted to reunite with her brother, their paths would inevitably cross, cing her face–to–face with the formidable head of the Fane family.

    Across town, Laura ended the call, checked the dashboard clock, and swung her car toward the club–the same upscale den where she had once ordered male models.

    “I want to see Harvey,” Laura told the club manager at the reception desk.

    The manager lifted a perfectly groomed eyebrow. “Ms. Wentworth, have a special liking to Harvet?”

    “Consider it that way,” Laura said, tone cool but decisive.

    you taken

    “Rumor says you’re Mr. Windore’s girlfriend,” the manager murmured, lowering his voice. “If youe here behind his back to see another man, and he finds out, I’ll be the one in trouble.”

    III

    O

    15:05 Tue, 2 Sept

    Chapter 357 A Gamble

    @X 68%

    +10 Free Coins

    In Jexburgh, few dared offend the Windore family, and the club manager was certainly not brave enough to test their reach.

    Chapter 358 Seeing Harvey