Chapter 146: Chapter 146: The Fox and the Hunter

At their core, perhaps people are not born evil. Human nature tends to lean towards kindness. But in reality, the corrupting influence of power and vast wealth can skew a person’s moral compass significantly. The infighting between great families, and even the brutal conflicts within a single family, were commonplace occurrences.

Ethan Caldwell was no saint. He was not a pacifist who would refuse to hurt a fly. He lived by a very clear, pragmatic set of rules: his own interests must be protected at all costs, and the power he held in his hands would never be easily relinquished.

As long as Julian’s actions did not cross the line into illegality or violate serious ethical boundaries, Ethan found them entirely acceptable.

Just as Julian had said, he had merely given Kevin Harrington a tool. How Kevin chose to wield that tool was entirely his own prerogative. A stupid person could never survive in the shark tank of the business world, let alone someone who was both stupid and blinded by ambition.

If Julian did not teach him a lesson, this cruel and unforgiving marketplace would eventually school him anyway.

And the tuition fee for that lesson from the world? It would likely be far more expensive than what Julian was charging.

It might even cost a life.

No one could say for sure.

Although you did not grow up being groomed within the gilded cage of high society, I believe that the time you spent returning to the Sterling family was more than sufficient for you to witness the true, unvarnished nature of this circle. The dazzling beauty and the extravagant, glittering facade that the world sees are nothing more than a superficial shell, a thin veneer painted over a rotting structure. There are things that you might currently perceive as truly evil, actions that seem morally reprehensible, but in reality, compared to the foul, stagnant filth that exists deep within the foundations of these old families, those surface-level evils are practically insignificant.

Ethan Caldwell shifted his body slightly, adjusting his posture to pull Julian Sterling tighter into his embrace. He rested his chin gently atop the younger man’s head, rubbing it back and forth against the soft hair with a possessive, affectionate friction. His voice, when he spoke, was low and contemplative, vibrating against Julian’s back.

“In the beginning, I honestly thought you were just a small, defensive kitten with its fur standing on end, a creature that would hiss and perhaps scratch wildly a few times if someone dared to provoke it. Who could have possibly predicted that my precious darling would turn out to be a cunning little fox who knows exactly how to retract and hide his claws until the perfect moment to strike? It truly baffles me how the Sterling family could have been so blind as to let someone like you slip through their fingers, or worse, how they could have looked at you and seen only a naive, expendable sacrificial lamb to be tossed aside for profit.”

“Ah, that is simply because they are stupid.” Julian wrinkled his nose, letting out a small, derisive snort: “Or perhaps, it is also possible that since the blood flowing through my veins belongs to them, I am inherently just like them. The ambitious nature of the Sterling bloodline cannot be hidden forever, and clearly, my capacity for calculation and scheming does not lose out to anyone in that house.”

“Who says you are like them? My darling is far too adorable to be compared to those people.” Ethan immediately countered the self-deprecation, emphasizing his point by pressing a loud, wet kiss firmly onto Julian’s cheek.

The reaction he received was a look of utter disgust from Julian. The younger man immediately raised his sleeve, scrubbing vigorously at his cheek as if trying to wipe away a toxic substance, and then proceeded to push Ethan’s face away with the palm of his hand.

“We are having a serious conversation here, stop messing around and behaving like a child!”

“Is there anyone else in the world who claims to be having a serious conversation while climbing into another person’s lap and sitting there comfortably like you are doing right now, my baby?”

“If you have a problem with it, then let me go. Do not hug me anymore.”

“I refuse.” Ethan buried his face into the crook of Julian’s neck, inhaling deeply. The man’s hot breath ghosted over the sensitive skin of Julian’s shoulder, sending shivers down his spine. His voice came out muffled and deep, resonating with a comfortable warmth: “But returning to the topic at hand, your plan is still missing a crucial link, is it not?”

“Mm, it is not yet in its most optimal state. I need to wait for the meeting with Dahlia Thorne before I can finalize the next steps.”

“Is the purpose of that meeting to determine her true objective?”

“Yes. Dahlia Thorne is a variable I have not yet solved. She could be a sharp knife aimed specifically at the Harrington family, which would align with our interests. Alternatively, she could be a tool used to handle Gabriel Cole perfectly. However, she represents a parallel proposition, the other side of the equation is that she could just as easily be a spearhead aimed directly at us. Until I look her in the eye, I cannot be sure.”

“I will make an effort to have our people dig deeper and uncover more information about this girl. However, I have to admit, she handles her own information security remarkably well. I suspect she has someone powerful standing behind her. A girl who grew up in an ordinary intellectual family would not possess the capability to erase her tracks so thoroughly.”

“Could it not be Gabriel Cole?” Julian asked, a frown creasing his brow: “Isn’t she supposedly working for Gabriel? In the beginning, Julian had even hypothesized that she was the very weapon Gabriel was using to dismantle the Harrington family. It was even plausible that the scandal involving Jason Harrington was something orchestrated and pushed from behind the scenes by Gabriel himself.”

“Initially, I thought so as well. But what if she is secretly targeting Gabriel Cole too? Or, what if she is even collaborating with the Harrington family?”

“Hmm?” This piece of speculation took Julian by surprise. Naturally, they had already suspected that she might be targeting Gabriel Cole. After all, she had used that very premise as leverage to arrange a meeting with them. But the idea that Dahlia Thorne might be collaborating with the Harrington family? That seemed counterintuitive.

Would she simply overlook the blood feud of her entire family’s death?

“There is no clear information yet.” Ethan sighed, a sound of frustration at the lack of control: “To be precise, our intelligence network has grasped a few vague threads of information, but the traces have been wiped too clean. I am merely making a vague guess based on intuition and the absence of evidence.”

Hearing this, Julian took a sharp intake of breath. This girl was truly not simple. At the start, he had merely thought of her as the younger sister from a powerless family, a victim being used by the wealthy elite as a tool for their struggles. He had not expected that, in the end, pulling on her thread would reveal so many tangled connections.

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