?Chapter 1303:


    After a moment’s deliberation, Hailey strode to the door with newfound purpose. “I need to speak with Mr. Howe’s assistant, Beal Martin.”


    The guards stationed outside fixed her with skeptical stares. “What business do you have with Mr. Martin, Ms.?Burgess?”


    Hailey allowed a flicker of maternal concern to cross her features. “Salex needs several items. I hope Mr. Martin can arrange to purchase them.”


    The guards exchanged a meaningful look. Then one, recalling Alex’s explicit orders to amodate every request from Hailey and Salex—especially anything concerning the boy—nodded. “Give us a moment.” He pivoted and disappeared down the corridor.


    Within minutes, Beal appeared in the doorway. His face was carved from stone, though his eyes burned with suspicious intensity. Recognition sparked in his mind—this was the same woman who had tried to extract information from him before, earning herself a stern warning. Now she had boldly summoned him to her presence. What scheme was brewing in that desperate mind of hers?


    As soon as she saw him, Hailey cut straight to the chase. “Who’s pulling your strings besides Alex?”


    Beal’s gaze sharpened into twin daggers as arctic fury flooded his expression. The foolish woman hadpletely ignored his earlier threat. This reckless creature possessed either remarkable courage or staggering stupidity.


    Lethal promise shed in his narrowed eyes like lightning across a storm cloud. Hailey seemed oblivious to the deadly shift in his demeanor. “I propose an alliance,” she dered, then lowered her voice to a conspiratorial hush. “With whoevermands your true loyalty.”


    Harshughter erupted from Beal’s throat, dripping with contempt. This prisoner believed she held any bargaining power? She could barely guarantee her own survival—what assets could she possibly offer? The delusion was absurd.


    Color drained from Hailey’s cheeks under his withering stare. As the heiress of the Burgess family, she had seldom faced such tant disrespect in her privileged life. She bit her lower lip, fighting to contain the rage boiling within her.


    “I bear the blood of the Burgess family,” she said through clenched teeth. “The Burgess namemands respect among Zupren’s most powerful elite.”


    Hailey expected that invoking her family’s influential name would shift the bnce in her favor. Instead, Beal’s smirk deepened, amusement dancing in his eyes. Burgess family or not—what difference did it make? No matter her status, she remained a prisoner in Alex’s grasp, stripped of any real autonomy. Beal assumed she expected someone to risk everything to rescue her.


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    “No chance,” he said without hesitation. “Alex’s eyes are everywhere. We’d be signing our own death warrants if we tried to get you out.”


    Hailey’s brow creased briefly, then a glimmer of realization softened her features. “I’m not asking you to rescue me.”


    Beal’s eyebrow shot up in surprise. If not that, then what did she want?


    Hailey leaned forward, her voice dropping as she delivered the real bombshell. “Noah is investigating Sutton’s death.”


    Atst, Beal’s expression shifted, the news clearly hitting home. Sutton’s death had been a closed case for half a year—why would Noah suddenly want to reopen it now? Something buried beneath the surface had to be driving this renewed interest. And the fact that Hailey chose this moment to mention it was no coincidence.


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