Chapter 343

Thorn let out a bitter, self-deprecating laugh, unsure if he was laughing at his own naivety or his own stupidity.

“All this time,” Thorn said, his voice hollow, “since I was a child… you were just setting the board. All that kindness… it was just because I was your pawn, wasn’t it?”

At this point, there was nothing left to hide.

“No point in denying it now, is there?” Victor clapped him on the shoulder. “But look at it this way, Thorn. You play along, and I’ll help you take back what’s yours. You’ll still be the heir to the Noir family. Think of the prestige.”

Victor’s condescending tone implied that only good, obedient boys get treats. He needed Thorn, the publicly recognized heir, as the face of his coup.

And in that moment, Thorn finally understood why Hazel had given him an ultimatum: kill Victor, or be destroyed with him. She’d left him no other path.

She must have seen Victor for what he truly was from the very beginning. And he, like a fool, had believed his uncle was the one person who truly cared for him. What a joke.

“Sorry, Victor,” Thorn muttered, pulling a pistol and aiming it squarely at Victor’s forehead. He pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. The gun was empty.

“How? I made sure…” Thorn was shocked.

Victor’s eyes glinted with malice. He casually pushed the gun away from his head as his bodyguards seized Thorn.

“You…” Thorn choked out, realizing the truth. “You switched the gun!”

Thorn’s eyes were bloodshot as he glared at his uncle. “You bastard, Victor! What the hell is this all about?”

Victor toyed with the useless pistol. “Patience. We’re just waiting for our guest of honor.”

And once Hazel arrives, he thought, the real show can begin. Victor smiled.

“You…” Thorn’s blood ran cold. “Your target was Hazel all along.”

Thorn thrashed against the guards’ hold, but they were like solid steel. “Let me go! Don’t you dare touch her, Victor!”

“You really are a lost cause, aren’t you?” Victor sneered. “Still simping for that woman. If you’d just listened to me, she’d be dead by now. Don’t worry. You’re about to see what she’s really made of.”

Hazel walked steadily toward the villa, flanked by Lana and Reno.

“Our guest of honor has arrived!” Victor beamed at the sight of her, standing to give a mock-welcoming gesture.

Hazel’s gaze swept over Thorn before settling on his parents—her adoptive parents, Arthur Noir and Isabel Noir. With a single, sharp nod, she sent Lana striding past the guards to untie them.

“So, should I call you Miss Noir? Or perhaps Miss Hart?” Victor asked, his voice oozing false patience. “Can we talk?”

“Hazel, dear, what are you doing here?” Isabel cried, wiping her tears. "You have to go. Leave now."

Hazel took her hand firmly. “Don’t worry. I’m here now.”

“You’re not worthy of a conversation with me, Victor,” Hazel said, her voice dripping with ice.

“Do you recognize this?” Victor gestured to a small vial on the table. “It’s a little something from your very own Umbra Organization. A poison that kills in exactly three hours. And it’s been two and a half hours already. Tell me, Miss Hart, is the merchandise from your organization as reliable as they say?”

Thorn went pale, then red with fury. “Victor! You bastard! How could you?”

“How could I not?” Victor shot back, his eyes turning red-rimmed and crazed. He fixed his gaze on Thorn, pure hatred and murder in his eyes. “This is because of you! It’s because of you that my son is dead!”

Thorn froze. His son?

He’d never known Victor had another son.

Hazel pulled out a chair and sat down, completely unfazed. “Twenty-eight years ago,” she began, her voice steady, “on Thorn’s first birthday—which was also the first birthday of your son, Silas—you suggested a joint party. Your goal was to get rid of Thorn so the Noir family…”

At this, Thorn's adoptive parents stared at her, utterly horrified.

They had always been told Silas’s death was an accident. How could this be?

Victor’s expression darkened. He couldn’t believe she’d managed to dig up the truth after all this time.

“So what if it is?” he snarled. “If you hadn’t crawled away, my son would still be alive.”

“Victor! You son of a bitch,” Arthur roared, his fists clenched. “You tried to kill my son.”

Arthur never imagined the truth from back then would turn out like this.