Chapter 731 Hidden Motives

    Victor pinched her check gently, his gaze soft. “It’s true.”

    Hearing him say it so firmly, Tessa finally nodded, though her heart still wavered with unease. It had been far too long since she’dst seen her mother.

    “Right, we also found this near Ss,” Victor added.

    He pulled something from his pocket and ced it in her hand.

    Tessa studied it, and the moment she recognized what it was, her tightly knitted brows eased.

    Victor frowned slightly. “What is it?”

    “She’s fine,” Tessa said with certainty.

    She remembered this item–her mother had once shown it to her along with another object.

    Back then, her mother had told her: if she ever left one of them behind, it meant she was safe and Tessa could rest easy.

    But if it was the other one, that meant danger–Tessa had to hide immediately in the safest ce she could find.

    “Now can we go out to eat?” Victor asked, noticing the relief on her face.

    “Wait, I still have another question.”

    “Hm?”

    “Why doesn’t Marie know you were the one who took me? You told me she did.”,

    That day, when she wanted to call Marie herself, Victor had clearly told her Marie already knew.

    Victor fell silent.

    “Don’t lie to me,” Tessa pressed. “I know the truth now.”

    And that was what gave her such a headache. Everythingtely had been messy enough, and her thoughts were in disarray. After that call with Ste, they were worseb. /b

    “She really doesn’t know,” Victor finally said.

    “What?”

    “Her brother told me not to tell her.”

    “Abraham?”

    “Yes.”

    “Why?”

    What did he mean, Abraham/wouldn’t let him say?

    Wait–if Abraham kept her calls from Ste too, then Ste hadn’t known anything either.

    So Abraham had deliberately hidden it from both sisters?

    What did he mean by that…?

    “I don’t know.” Victor replied tly. “But if he says not to tell, then we don’t. And you’d better not tell Marie either. Don’t call her about this.”

    With a calm face and steady tone, Victor neatly shift

    the me onto Abraham.

    Since it was Abraham’s order, Tessa didn’t dare question it further. And as curious and gossipy as she could be, she knew enough not to spread it around.

    “Then… can I at least ask Ste? She-”

    Would that anger Abraham?

    own survival. Trouble followed her everywhere;

    Ever since Rivermount, Tessa had been careful to mind her thest thing she wanted was to provoke anyone unnecessarily.

    “Abraham will handle that,” Victor cut her off. “When you call the little princess, don’t run your mouth. Got it?”

    Standing nearby, Lewis stared, stunned. Victor said it all with such confidence that for once, he didn’t dare crack a joke.

    Tessa nodded obediently. “Okay, I understand.”

    And just like that, Victor dissolved her doubts.

    But over dinner, she frowned again. “Isn’t this wrong, though?”

    “Hm?”

    “Ste said Marie’s been going crazy in the Ashen Pact looking for me. If she finds out I was with you the whole time, won’t she skin me alive?”

    Victor’s gaze darkened. “Right now, the Ashen Pact needs more chaos.”

    He didn’t address what Marie would do when she found out. Instead, his tone grew deep.

    Tessa’s heart skipped.

    “The more chaotic things get inside the Ashen Pact, the more time your mother gains.”

    Tessa still didn’t know what exactly Diana and Ss were doing, but given their disappearance at such a critical moment–and the sign they left behind–it was obvious they had a n.

    “But if Marie keeps pressuring the Ashen Pact for me, won’t that only make them search harder for me and my mom?”

    Notpletely foolish, Tessa quickly strung the pieces together.

    The Ashen Pact’s turmoil–wasn’t it because of her?

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    “When people’s thoughts are scattered, it’s much harder to track someone’s movements,” Victor exined.

    ..“Was that really true?

    She had been thinking that the more people were searching for her mother, the more it might dy her instead.

    “Marie will keep forcing the Ashen Pact to hand you over. And by now, they’re probably turning on each other in suspicion.”

    “Suspicion?”

    Victor nodded. “Yes.”

    It made sense. Derrick was now working with Madam Evelyn, seizing key Ashen Pact resources by force.

    This wasn’t just about Tessa and Diana anymore.

    It was about old grudges buried for decades finally surfacing–peace shattered, long–dyed reckonings crashing down atst.

    Under Victor’s steady words, Tessa’s flickers of rity copsed again. Her head felt too full, her thoughts too tangled to sort.

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