The Heiress's Second Chance At Vengeance (Eliza) novel Chapter 576

Chapter 576 Fighting Fire with Fire

“You mean Tristan has already found Wendy’s channels abroad?”

Eliza’s eyes lit up the moment she heard it.

She hadn’t expected her eldest brother to be so capable.

(57)

Finished

She and Nolan had been searching for so long without results, and yet Tristan had managed it in just a few days.

“Of course the channels were found. Otherwise, how do you think you got those documents in your hands?”

Halbert tapped the file Eliza was clutching. “Look closely. What’s this?”

“…A file.”

“I mean keep turning the pages.”

At his urging, Eliza flipped further. Nolan’s gaze caught on one of the documents. He tapped it. “This one.”

“This?”

Eliza leaned in. It was a photo from a banquet.

The faces were blurred, deliberately concealed.

Halbert explained, “A tabloid reporter managed to sneak in and capture this with a micro- camera. The banquet was top secret, no public access. Tristan had to pay heavily to buy this single shot off the man.”

“But with all the faces hidden, how am I supposed to know who these people are?”

Eliza wanted names, identities. But the image gave her nothing.

“The photo can’t be released. The reporter risked his life for it. Tristan didn’t press him further. Still, it’s clear enough–everyone there was one of Wendy’s members. They hold these private gatherings every few months in certain hotels. The parties are wild, and the focus is Wendy’s experimental drugs.”

Halbert tapped the banquet hall in the picture. “According to my investigation, this was held in the first–floor ballroom of an international hotel. The last event of this scale was three months ago. Which means the next one should be due. Check the hotel’s schedule. Only certain people could book that space.”

1/3

17:22 Thu, Sep 18 N

…

Chapter 576 Fighting Fire with Fire

57

Finished

“Exactly,” Eliza said quickly. “If we infiltrate, we can record everything. Once it’s exposed, Wendy won’t be able to survive abroad. Then we can drag her back to Westbrook and uncover the people behind her.”

“Unrealistic.”

Halbert shook his head. “Everything you just said is fantasy.”

“Why is it unrealistic?”

“Wendy’s been committing crimes for years. Have you ever seen anyone take her down? No. That proves her influence abroad is beyond your imagination. Even if you record the whole thing and spread it online, as long as powerful people protect her, she’ll walk free.”

“So you’re saying everything we’ve done has been pointless? That we’ll never bring Wendy to justice, and we should stop dreaming about it?”

“You already know the truth,” Halbert said evenly. “I don’t need to spell it out. Nolan understands too. There are too many criminals in this circle who never face justice. Their backers are too strong. Wendy is no different.”

Eliza suddenly felt drained, as if her resolve had been knocked loose. For a moment, she questioned everything she had been holding onto.

“Then why give me these files? Just to tell me it’s hopeless?”

She stared at him. She knew Halbert had a plan. He was only waiting for her to ask.

“It’s simple,” he said. “Just one word.”

“Stop being cryptic. Which word?”

“Violence.”

Halbert’s gaze was steady. “Wendy operates in the black market. Everything she does is in the shadows. If that’s the case, then we can use the same methods against her. She won’t dare call the police. She’ll have no choice but to fight back with her own strength–until she has no strength left.”

Listening to him, Eliza felt she was seeing him for the first time.

It was a solution she had never considered.

“But I don’t have any black market ties.”

“You don’t,” Halbert said, his voice calm. “But the man beside you does.”

2/3

17:22 Thu, Sep 18

The Heiress’s Second Chance at Vengeance

Chapter 577 The Nameless Corpse

Halbert’s slid toward Nolan. “I imagine Mr. Hayes won’t hesitate to help you.”

eyes

Eliza turned to look at him.

Finished

Nolan had kept quiet until now, but there was a glint in his eyes, a trace of amusement that told her he already had an answer. It was the kind of look that said he didn’t need to be asked twice.

His strength in Westbrook was unquestionable. Even Halbert, who rarely conceded ground to anyone, wouldn’t dare cross him lightly. Eliza knew this well enough, but she had never wanted Nolan to use the shadows he kept under his control.

“…No.” She lowered her head, her voice barely above a whisper. “If something happens to you, what then?”

Halbert let out a short laugh. “You still think the man next to you is someone fragile? Nolan is not the sort who needs protecting. Even Tristan knows better than to underestimate him. As for Wendy—he’s more than capable of dealing with her.”

He lifted his chin in Nolan’s direction, waiting for him to confirm it.

Nolan didn’t bother looking at Halbert. His gaze stayed fixed on Eliza, steady and unshaken. A faint smile touched his lips.

“Leave it to me.”

Her breath caught. She wanted to refuse, but the words wouldn’t come. In the end, what slipped out was a quiet, “Alright.”

Every time she accepted his help, she felt a flicker of shame, as though she were forcing Nolan to shoulder something that should never have been his burden.

When he stepped outside, Halbert noticed the worry still clouding her expression. “Nolan isn’t someone you need to fear for,” he said. “If he hadn’t been worried about dragging you into the mess, he would have already used the Xiao family’s darker network. There’s nothing for you to be afraid of.”

Eliza’s eyes

flashed. “And that’s supposed to make me feel better? Nolan shouldn’t have to sink into that world just because you pushed him to. If you hadn’t brought it up, he wouldn’t be risking anything. Don’t pretend you did this for my sake.”

Halbert’s tone was calm, almost careless. “I’m only telling the truth. You’re the one treating him as if he’s weak. For all you know, he could bring Wendy down overseas before you even realize

it.”

1/3

17:22 Thu, Sep 18

Chapter 577 The Nameless Corpse

“You-”

57

Finished

Before she could finish, he tossed another file onto the table. The folder landed with a heavy slap. “This will interest you more. Take a look.”

She frowned. “What is it?”

“A nameless corpse.”

Her heart clenched. She pulled the file open, and the first thing she saw was the photograph of

a bloated female body, dragged from the water and ruined beyond recognition.

Her stomach turned violently. She pressed a hand over her mouth, forcing back the bile.

Halbert barely reacted. “Already unsettled?”

“Why are you showing me this?”

“Because you should know who it is.”

“That’s impossible,” she whispered. “She’s unrecognizable.”

A faint smile curved his lips. “She raised you for years. Don’t tell me you can’t see it.”

Eliza froze. The words cut through her like ice.

Her hands trembled as she forced herself to look again. The face was gone, destroyed beyond saving, but the outline of the body… the build…

It was her.

Evelyn.

Her breath caught. “How could she be dead? Just like that?”

When she had left Westbrook, Evelyn had been alive. Matteo had said she and Naomi disappeared at the same time. Naomi had returned. Evelyn never had.

And now, here she was–pulled from a river, mutilated, nameless.

“She was dragged out of the water,” Halbert said evenly. “Her face ruined. At first they assumed she was some woman who’d had botched surgery and decided to end her life.”

“The police… closed it?”

“They did.”

2/3

17:22 Thu, Sep 18 N

Chapter 577 The Nameless Corpse

57

Finished

His tone didn’t change. “She couldn’t be identified. DNA testing later confirmed it was Naomi’s mother. But with no further leads, they closed the case as quickly as they could.”

Eliza’s fists clenched around the edge of the folder. Every word reeked of cover–up.

One camera–just one–should have been enough to reveal the truth.

Halbert read the question in her eyes before she spoke. “There’s nothing to find. The surveillance cameras on that stretch had been broken for years. They were under repair during those days. No footage, no witnesses. That’s how it’s done. Whoever killed her made sure no one would ever know how. With no evidence, there is no case.”