The Killer Queen by Noella Briony

Chapter 136

After hanging up the call with Master Killian, the crisp chime of Noella’s mini laptop resonated through the stillness of her room.

She settled into her chair, booted up the computer, and plugged in a custom–made network card that granted her direct access to the shadowy reaches of the deep web, her IP address. completely obfuscated.

Even the sharp–eyed hounds from the Schnabel family couldn’t sniff out her midnight digital excursions.

A message from Erek popped up: [Boss, got the scoop. Ashlyn’s insisting on a hospital visit, probably ‘cause of that morning call from Vincent.]

[Vincent?]

[Yeah, the sleazeball seems keen on marrying you off to Ellsworth, that notorious money pit of a gambler. Need us to handle it?]

[No need to dirty our hands. Let Ellsworth’s creditors knock on his door.]

Ellsworth was up to his neck in debt, and those underground casinos in Linefort City had some ties to Polaris Star.

Back in the day, when Noella had learned the art of gambling stones with Master Hector, they’d dominated the underground scene with nothing but a deck of cards, inadvertently gaining some shady assets.

Thankfully, their operations had been smooth sailing, no

messes ma

Erek chuckled and replied: [Roger that, Boss. You’ve always been too kind. Phecda and the crew are retrieving Old Mrs. Lambert’s DNA as we speak. Now we just need Vincent’s. Want me to ‘draw some blood‘ from him?]

Erek had been itching for a chance to teach Vincent a lesson!

Without their boss’s discreet support, Vincent wouldn’t have made a dime. Yet, he mistook Noella’s goodwill for his supposed business acumen. Such a man belonged under a bridge, collecting cans!

[I’ll handle it myself. Where are they now?]

[Headed to Imperial West Hospital. I’ll be outside to cover you.]

With an affirmation, Noella closed her palm–sized computer, swiftly disassembled it, and transformed it into an inconspicuous trinket on her desk.

With everything in place, she slipped out of her room, unnoticed by anyone.

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wheeled in by Belinda, with a few slackers from the Fuller family trailing behind.

looking for Marcel’s wife.

Come back at eight

Vincent was baffled!

She sounded fine when he called earlier! If Ashlyn was ill, where would they find

Noella now? I don’t care; she’s gotta marry

equally vexed.

he suddenly spotted a familiar figure

me

towards the figure. “You’re Noella’s father, right? You’re the one who took her

Marcel, looked puzzled at

was this? He

when you were gatekeeping for the

must’ve been a security guard for the Schnabels, which was how she got to

foster father? I’m busy, step

knew these people had never been good to Noella. If it

so kind and sensible, and yet they

Emerald County’s subsidies, was reluctant to let Wren go. “Look, it’s like a family

Η

I’m not Noella’s father. What do you want,

hands together. “Well, we heard about some subsidies at Emerald County. We did raise Noella for years, so shouldn’t we get a

a contract worth a

Vincent was stunned.

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Chapter 136

was it

Can you tell me, what exactly is

how could they afford a contract worth a

a few commandos. “Get them

giving Ms. Noella a hard time in the past, now that they saw an opportunity to benefit from her, they shamelessly

The nerve!

throw me out! Tell me

him with utter contempt. “Pfft, I haven’t seen