?Chapter 1729:


    Violette let Jaxen talk, her eyes locked onto his features with unnerving focus.


    “Why are you staring at me like that?” Jaxen felt a chill crawl down his back beneath her unblinking gaze, half-convinced she was weighing whether to expose his ns to the Jones family. Still, once it urred to him that betraying him would bring her absolutely nothing, the tight knot in his chest loosened slightly.


    “I never pegged you as someone with such big aspirations,” Violette remarked, slowly appraising him from head to toe.


    That probing look made Jaxen tense all over again, a fleeting thought crossing his mind that this woman might not be entirely sane.


    “Answer one thing for me,” Jaxen said, his tolerance thinning, irritation edging into his tone. “Are you going to marry me, or aren’t you?”


    Rather than reply, Violette countered with a question of her own. “How confident are you about bringing down the Jones family?”


    “If I stick to my strategy, the odds are no lower than seventy percent,” Jaxen replied tly.


    Watching how unshakable his confidence was, Violette concluded that the Wade family was fullymitted to seeing this through. She had no idea how long they had been quietly setting the stage and insinuating themselves into the Jones family’s inner circle, but judging by his bravado, their chances seemed far from slim.


    Violette considered it briefly, then dipped her chin. “Alright. I’ll marry you. But we’re signing a contract first.”


    She hadn’t yet charted every step ahead, but one thing was certain—she needed a reliable shield. She also nned to get her hands on the Wades’ full blueprint for toppling the Joneses and gather enough evidence of their underhanded dealings to ensure they couldn’t double-cross herter. Violette had no intention of serving as anyone’sdder, and she was far too smart to leave herself without an escape route.


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    “Works for me. We’ll sort out the specificster,” Jaxen agreed without hesitation. At the moment, his sole priority was keeping Violette aligned with him and wing his way out of the predicament he’dnded in.


    They headed back to their respective homes, and by then Alban had already briefed the Hewitt family on what had transpired.


    The instant Violette stepped inside, she was met with an explosion of outrage from her rtives. She had gone behind their backs to plot against Alban without a word of warning, and on top of that, she had botched the entire affair. They berated her so mercilessly it felt as though she were being ripped apart piece by piece.


    Eventually, Violette dissolved into tears and confessed to the agreement she had struck with Jaxen.


    The moment the Hewitts learned that the Wades were targeting the Jones family—and that their chances sat at seventy percent—their fury evaporated. If the Wades truly could pull it off, then marrying Violette into their family suddenly didn’t seem like such a terrible prospect. Once the Wades supnted the Joneses at the top, the Hewitts stood to reap enormous advantages—and might even finally free themselves from bowing before the Martel family.


    Alban had always been firmly opposed to drawing any closer to the Hewitts through marriage, a stance that had frustrated them for years. In truth, the two families weren’t tied by blood at all—their sole link was Violette’s grandmother, who had been adopted into the Martels. Now that her grandmother was gone, that fragile connection was already fraying. When Alban’s grandfather eventually passed as well, whatever bond remained would shatter entirely.


    At present, the only value the Hewitts still held in the Martels’ eyes was as expendable pieces to restrain the Jones family. For years, the Hewitts had pressed for Violette to wed Alban, hoping the union would cement their rtionship. If that marriage never materialized, then within a generation or two the families would drift so far apart they’d barely qualify as distant kin. But if the Wades truly seeded in recing the Joneses, then marrying Violette into the Wade household might prove to be the ideal answer.


    At the Wade family residence, the atmosphere was far lessposed.


    “What!” Zahir mmed his hand against the table. “You worthless fool! Say that again!”


    “Dad… I swear it wasn’t intentional! I never wanted any of this to happen!” Jaxen darted behind his mother for cover.


    Marsha shot him a cutting look before turning to Zahir. “Darling, what’s done is done. Losing your temper won’t fix a thing,” she said, stepping in to calm him. “We need to focus on cleaning up this disaster, not making it uglier.”


    Zahir shook with fury. “If I’d had any idea you’d cause such chaos at that charity event, I would have forbidden you from going!” A bout of harsh coughing seized him, leaving him doubled over and gasping for breath.


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