The Thorne Heiress Unveiling Shadow novel Chapter 68

Kaelen's hand was already hovering over the intercom button, ready to summon his legal team. His expression was thunderous. Penelope Vanderbilt's insult was a direct challenge, and he was preparing to respond with overwhelming, annihilating force.

"Wait," Evelyn said.

Her voice was soft, but it cut through his anger like a cool breeze. He paused, his finger a millimeter from the button, and looked at her.

She rose from her chair and walked over to his desk. She gently placed her hand over his, stopping his movement. Her touch was light, but it carried an undeniable authority.

"Your way is too crude," she murmured, her eyes twinkling with a light he was beginning to find dangerously captivating. "All that noise and fury. Stock buyouts, corporate warfare… it's so… messy."

She leaned in closer, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "My way… is more elegant."

Before he could ask what she meant, she pulled out her own phone. She scrolled through her contacts and pressed a single name. The call was routed through a secure, untraceable network.

The scene shifted. Miles away, in a sun-drenched garden in a quiet corner of Paris, the legendary jeweler Dubois was dozing in a lounge chair. An old, rotary-style telephone on a small table beside him began to ring.

With a sigh, he picked up the receiver. "Allô?"

Evelyn's voice came through the line, her French as fluent and flawless as a native's. "Maître Dubois, it is Chrysalis. I have a small question for you regarding your early design, the Ouroboros."

But who was Chrysalis?

This identity had nothing to do with technology or money. This was about power in the world of art, culture, and taste. The very world that Penelope Vanderbilt had tried to use as a weapon against him.

He watched, a slow, predatory smile spreading across his face, as Evelyn continued her quiet, polite conversation in French. He didn't understand the words, but he understood the outcome.

He was watching a master at work. And he was beginning to realize that his understanding of the woman beside him was merely scratching the surface.