?Chapter 1535:


    At this point, Marc waspletely lost in his own misery. There was no chance he was the traitor.


    That reality left just one answer. It had to be Amon.


    All at once, Nina remembered something she had overlooked. William had never treated Amon with real hostility — and even after William personally sent Alonzo to prison, Amon had shown an almost unsettling calm. Perhaps the bond between them had never been as adversarial as people believed. William might have known about Amon’s contact with her from the very start, and instead of stopping it, he had allowed Amon to y along, using the act to uncover every n she made. Nothing else would add up.


    Once that thought settled in, Nina’s breathing turned sharp and uneven. She suddenly hurled her phone across the room.


    From the very beginning, this had been a carefullyid trap.


    Rage shook her from head to toe. Throwing the phone did nothing to ease it, so she stood abruptly and swept everything off the table, sending it crashing to the floor. “You are all liars. Amon lied to my face, and William worked with him to trick me. Damn you both.”


    She had fallen for itpletely. To Amon and William, she was nothing but a piece to be moved around, something to toy with at will. She had believed she was carefully setting a trap with no escape for William — never realizing she was the one standing at its center.


    By the time she stopped, there was nothing left in the hotel room that had not been broken.


    She remained standing among the scattered debris as night slowly swallowed the light outside. A harshugh escaped her throat — a sound that carried nothing but contempt for herself and quiet derision.


    William clearly knew she was still scheming against him and Ste, and he must have known she was still in contact with Arlo. With that in mind, what move would he make against her next?


    A sharp ache surged through the hand missing a finger, yanking her back to the moment it had been severed. The blood from that day smeared across her vision while panic crashed through her chest in heavy waves.


    She had suffered another defeat. Was there truly no way left to bring William and Ste down?


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    She closed her eyes and turned toward the window. The reflection staring back at her was twisted and unsettling.


    She reached for her phone again. The screen was cracked from the fall, but her fingers hovered over a number before she clenched her jaw and pressed it.


    “Marc, do you still want to take Ste away? I can help the two of you run away together.”


    For several days, Marc had been drifting in a fog of alcohol. When the call came without warning, his mind still dulled by drink, he took it as a cruel joke. “Get lost. Do note here just tough at me.”


    His drunken tone sparked Nina’s temper at once. “You idiot, it is me — Nina!”


    Hearing her name, Marc sobered slightly. He propped himself against the table and sat upright, his brow furrowing. “Nina? Are you not overseas? How are you supposed to help me run away with Ste? I cannot even get close to her now.”


    Nina rolled her eyes. If she were not trapped with no options left, she would never have gotten in touch with this fool again.


    “Ste is being held inside the vi by William. Since you cannot get in, why not find a way to get her toe out?”


    Marc pressed his fingers to his aching temples. Having been drunk for days, his thoughts moved sluggishly, and he failed to catch her meaning right away. “Tell me what I am supposed to do.”


    Drawing a slow breath, Nina restrained her irritation and spoke carefully. “William has been staying at thepanytely and does not return to the vi every night. Find a way inside, or pay someone off. Once a fire breaks out in the vi, Ste will have no choice but toe out.”


    Marc froze, his breathing uneven. Why had this idea never urred to him?


    “When everything turns chaotic, you take Ste and leave. No one will be paying attention to you. I will book the ne tickets ahead of time, and you can take her wherever you want to go.”


    Uncertainty crept in, and Marc fell silent. He understood that crossing this line meant openly challenging William. If Ste vanished without a trace, William would retaliate without mercy — and if he himself disappeared, William would surely turn his attention to his mother.


    “Can you help me send my mother out of the country first?”


    It had never urred to Nina that there was anyone else to consider. Only through Marc’s words did she realize he still had family.


    “Marc, you are hesitating even now. That tells me you never truly nned to be with Ste. You worry about your mother — but did it ever ur to you that once Ste leaves with you, the entire Carter family will be dragged into fear?” She was putting her whole family at risk of retaliation for his sake, yet he still expected her to arrange a safe escape for his mother.


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