After a moment of thought, Sellers let out a sudden, coldugh.


    "Joshua is a true madman. A born gambler."


    Sherman looked at him, confused. "Uncle, what do you mean?"


    Sellers said grimly, "The greater the reward, the higher the risk. If they had made one wrong move, they would have lost everything. First, our sudden attack left them with no time to prepare. Joshua''s seemingly thuggish response to Israel was actually a desperate gamble born of necessity. Sherman, if you were in his shoes, how would you have resolved the crisis in such a short amount of time?"


    Sherman thought for a moment, then shook his head. "There was a mole in thepany. Ste was already under suspicion because of the fake heiress rumors. On top of that, the gossip about her neglecting her duties and the Williams family stirring up trouble meant her position was unstable. Besides temporarily sacrificing Joshua, I can''t see any other way out. But if she gave up the only person who could help her, she would have beenpletely isted. The end result would have been the same, just dyed by a few days."


    Honestly, if he were in Ste''s position, he wouldn''t have known what to do. Everyone else was ying with a full deck, while she was ying blind. The information gap was just too vast.


    Sellers continued, "Joshua''s n had to remain an absolute secret. If any part of it had leaked, it would have been a dead end. Because of the mole, Joshua, with his cautious nature, couldn''t risk Ste being monitored, so he almost certainly couldn''t have told her the n beforehand. Therefore, if Ste had shown even a shred of doubt, or if their coordination had been off, they would have lost. That''s why I say Joshua was gambling.


    He was betting on Ste''s ability to withstand the pressure, betting on her trust in him, and betting on her ability to improvise.


    Human emotion is the most unpredictable variable in any n. Ste must have gone through her own period of hesitation and struggle. One wrong step, and she would have lost everything. Sherman, if you were Ste, would you have ced yourplete trust in one person?"


    Sherman fell silent.


    No. He probably would have given up Joshua. Abandoning Joshua would have been the only way to get a moment''s breathing room. But if the gamble failed, everything would be lost. It was an insane bet.


    After a long pause, Sherman said with aplex expression, "It seems Ste is not so easy to deal with anymore."


    On the gambling table, both sides had been deceptive, using every trick in the book. Ste had to endure alt the pressure, maintain a clear head amidst the chaos, make the right judgment calls and y along with Joshua''s act. It was an incredible test of one''s resilience and mental fortitude.


    At that moment, Sherman suddenly realized that the Ste he had once looked


    down upon had quietly surpassed him, leaving him behind.


    As Sherman was lost in thought, he heard Sellers'' cold, hateful voice. "Joshua is a tough nut to crack, No wonder Leonard bypassed him and went after Ste


    hinck


    irectly. It seems we''ll have to target Ste as well."


    In Leonard''s study, Simone had sought him out specifically to talk about Aurora''s recent troubles.


    After running through what went down at The Williams Group, she pouted. "The only reason she''s telling me any of this is so I''ll run t you, hoping you''ll barther out. Don''t tell me you''re going to help Aurora again?"


    Simone waited, but there was no response. When she turned, she saw that Leonard


    was staring off into space, lost in thought.


    She tried to get his attention. "Brother?"


    Leonard said it softly, almost to himself. "She... did it perfectly."