"Furthermore, this operation is executed entirely on my behalf."

The raw emotion glinting within his eyes had left her entirely unable to vocalize a refusal, leaving her to simply nod in compliance.

Sebastian caught the text flashing across his monitoring feed, a soft chuckle slipping past his lips: "Heh..."

Perhaps due to the proximity of his microphone, his voice drifted through her earpieces with a low, resonant quality that sent a sharp electric prickle dancing across her ear.

Her fingers suffered an involuntary tremor, unleashing a chaotic sequence of randomized characters across the screen.

"Ensuring your safety functions as my absolute obligation."

The moment the syllables faded, a man abruptly slid into the empty seat across from her.

The man possessed a chaotic mess of curly hair, his wide eyes locking onto her features in absolute shock: "Scarlett? What on earth are you doing here?"

Scarlett tracked his features, her pupils contracting sharply.

It was the third young master!

She calmly pulled her headphones down, her tone flat and detached: "Who exactly are you?"

The young master let out a soft exclamation of sudden realization, reaching out his hand to offer a greeting: "I completely failed to execute a formal introduction. I am the third brother, Sebastian's younger sibling."

She gave a quiet nod of acknowledgment, pressing further: "Did you pay that urgent visit to the medical facility to verify your vision?"

The young master froze briefly, the memory of her cutting words from the vehicle collision striking his mind, and he quickly forced an embarrassed smile:

"The fault regarding that previous incident rests entirely with me. Please do not harbor any irritation, Sister-in-law."

Ha, Scarlett let out a silent, amused scoff.

His capacity to alter his persona truly transpires at supernatural speed.

During their previous encounter, he had gone to immense lengths to thrust the marriage alliance between the elite family and Sebastian right before her face simply to incite distress; yet the second he unravelled that she was far from a fragile target and that the alliance had dissolved into nothingness, he smoothly transitioned to addressing her as "Sister-in-law."

His tactical adaptability was truly remarkable.

The young master forced a fawning smile, questioning casually: "What exactly has brought Sister-in-law to this establishment today?"

Scarlett cast a brief, analytical glance over him, replying levelly: "I am processing a part-time engagement."

"A part-time engagement?" The young master appeared thoroughly bewildered. "Is my elder brother truly that stingy, to the point of restricting your personal allowance?"

She let out a quiet, mocking laugh: "I harbor absolutely no respect for the worthless scraps he offers."

Before the young master could assemble a follow-up inquiry, she deftly reversed the crossfire: "What exactly has brought you to this café?"

"Just out enjoying the day with some associates. They desired to browse through the retail shops, which is a pastime I find entirely uninteresting, so I simply selected a quiet café to rest for a little while."

"Ah. In that case, our path crossing functions as a mere coincidence," Scarlett's tone carried a distinct edge of playfulness.

She raised her wrist to check her watch; precisely ten minutes had already transpired past the designated meeting time.

The current reality could only yield two logical conclusions: either the client had detected the perimeter and aborted the extraction, or... she shifted her analytical gaze to lock onto the fair-skinned, seemingly harmless youth sitting directly across from her.

Or, the primary client who had commissioned the contract was the third young master himself.

Chapter 34

Her heart shuddered.

Sweeping her gaze across her surroundings, she sensed that the operatives from the Crescent were subtly closing in.

If the client truly was Chloe, he must have detected their movements as well.

Chloe would never admit to anything here.

Scarlett was absolutely certain of it.

She needed to fabricate an excuse to step away.

Right then, Chloe's phone rang. Glancing down at the screen, a smile curled his lips as he said, "My friends are done shopping; they’re calling me out for karaoke!"

He looked up at her, asking, "Would Sister-in-law care to join us?"

It sounded like a casual, harmless invitation.

Yet she harbored a strong premonition.

If she accepted, she would unmask the true puppet master pull the strings behind the scenes.

From behind her, someone flashed a subtle hand gesture, signaling her to decline.

She locked her eyes onto Chloe and gave a firm nod: "Sure, why not."

…

The KTV.

The entire way there, Chloe maintained a pleasant smile, steering the conversation toward polite, harmless topics that steered clear of any personal privacy.

Scarlett responded with calculated caution, and with his friends joining the mix, the atmosphere remained remarkably harmonious.

Upon reaching the entrance of the private room, just as his friends were filing inside one after another, Chloe suddenly called out to her: "Sister-in-law!"

Her sixth sense had proven entirely accurate.

"I must admit, I didn't anticipate you belonging to the Syndicate," Chloe said, leaning back against the wall with his arms crossed.

The dim corridor lights bisections his profile, leaving his wide, dark eyes as the sole source of illumination, glinting with a calculated malice beneath the shadows.

Ha, the wolf in sheep's clothing was finally exposing his true teeth.

Chloe struck a flame to ignite a cigarette, commenting, "Your infiltration was flawless, to the point of successfully transforming into Mrs. Sebastian."

Scarlett arched an elegant eyebrow, demanding flatly: "Are you the primary client?"

Chloe deftly avoided a direct answer, taking a slow drag of his cigarette and exhaling a ring of smoke before countering, "Eliminate Sebastian, and you are free to dictate whatever bounty you desire."

"I function as Mrs. Sebastian right now; I harbor absolutely no desires," she replied, entirely unmoved.

Pausing for a beat, she added levelly, "Furthermore, if my memory serves me correctly, the intelligence I previously secured dictated that the primary client was that billionaire tycoon."

"Since that client has already perished, this contract was rendered entirely void two years ago."

Hearing her words, Chloe couldn't help but unleash a mocking laugh.

"Void..."

He cast a disdainful glance over Scarlett, a sharp smirk playing on his lips: "A dead puppet can hardly be classified as a true client."

"Just because we address you as 'Sister-in-law,' do you genuinely harbor the delusion that you possess any actual standing within this household?"

"You function as nothing more than a convenient puppet positioned right in front of him. Do not be so dim-witted as to let yourself be utilized while happily counting his coins for him!"

Those dark eyes set within his youthful face radiated an absolute, innocent cruelty.

He closed the distance between them, whispering directly against her ear: "His purpose in securing a marriage with you wasn't merely to reject the alliance with Beatrice's family; it was explicitly engineered to claim his inheritance."

"According to Great-grandfather's absolute mandate, the designated heir to the corporate group must be legally bound by marriage."

Married?

The requirement was indeed quite rare.

Yet Scarlett merely fixed her eyes upon Chloe, reversing the crossfire: "In that case, why haven't you secured a marriage yourself?"

Chloe froze briefly, pinning her with a warning glare: "Monitor your boundaries; do not pry into matters that do not concern you..."

"You merely require to grasp one truth: the exact second the executive succession is officially declared, he will execute an immediate divorce, ensuring you depart without a single dime."

"Therefore, executing Sebastian to claim double the bounty functions as your absolute finest alternative."

The exact second the words left Chloe's mouth, a commanding silhouette materialized right behind him: "Who exactly declared that I intend to execute a divorce?"

Sebastian's sudden arrival left Chloe utterly paralyzed with shock.

An involuntary tremor ran through his fingers, causing his cigarette to burn down completely until the ember scorched his skin.

Chloe violently flung the cigarette away, his gaze darting between Sebastian and Scarlett as the realization struck him: "The two of you orchestrated a joint manipulation to trap me!"

He could no longer maintain his innocent facade, his features twisting into a volatile rage as he hissed, "Sebastian, how on earth do you possess the absolute audacity!"

"What exactly do I lack the audacity to execute?" Sebastian countered, pulling Scarlett firmly behind his side as he stated coldly, "Commissioning an underworld contract to assassinate a target—I intend to settle this score with absolute precision."

Chloe's eyes narrowed into a dangerous chill, sneering, "You claim I hired an assassin to eliminate you? What concrete evidence do you hold to validate that indictment?"

Chapter 35

Scarlett's heart suffered a subtle chill.

His counter-argument was technically correct.

Chloe was exceptionally calculated; he would never allow himself to leave an actionable paper trail. Throughout their entire exchange, he had deftly avoided uttering a single syllable that explicitly framed himself as the ultimate mastermind.

Sebastian was legally incapable of executing any retribution against him here.

She raised her eyes to track Sebastian's profile, only to see a calm, knowing smile play on his lips as he levelly replied, "I never specified that the mastermind was you."