Chapter 504 Hidden in Plain Sight
Eliza never thought she’d hear something like that come out of Felix’s mouth.
After everything the Foster family had done–the lies, the cover–ups, all the shady dealings–how could they possibly expect to walk away clean?
“There’s no way things at Claire University were that innocent. I’m starting to think those grad students might’ve uncovered something–and got pulled into some kind of human experimentation.”
It sounded insane, but Eliza couldn’t think of any other explanation.
“By the way, did we ever get results on that ring?”
They’d left the ring with professionals for days, hoping for answers, but still came up empty.
At this point, the only way to get to the bottom of it was to dismantle the ring.
But doing that would seriously damage its value.
Nolan gave a small shake of his head.
Eliza stayed quiet for a moment, then said, “Let’s do it.”
They’d already agreed–if nothing came back, they’d dismantle it.
No matter what, they had to find out what the ring was hiding.
The next morning, Nolan had a team working on it.
The ring’s craftsmanship was incredibly intricate, using detailed inlays and precision settings. It took over half an hour just to take it apart carefully, making sure nothing inside was damaged.
Eliza glanced down at the red diamond. Even without the setting, the stone was still stunning.
She stood there quietly for a moment.
While she was zoning out, one of the technicians suddenly called out, “We found something!”
Eliza snapped to attention. She and Nolan saw a tiny hidden compartment beneath the ring setting, and inside was a chip, about the size of a thumbnail.
It was perfectly sealed, almost like new.
Eliza’s heart started pounding.
She had no idea what was stored on the chip or what kind of secret could drive the Foster family to chase after it so desperately.
“It’s got a thin layer over it–I’ll take it off and give it a try.”
The technician quickly brought the chip over to the computer.
Eliza suddenly tensed up. She instinctively reached out and grabbed Nolan’s hand, as if the touch might steady her nerves.
Chapter 504 Hidden in Plain Sight
Seeing how anxious she was, Nolan gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. “It’s okay. We’ll know soon enouch
This was, after all, something her mother had left behind. Nearly twenty years had passed since then.
Eliza wanted to know what her mother had hidden.
Was it meant for her–or for the world?
Just then, the technician said, “Mr. Hayes, the chip is encrypted. It’ll take about a day or two to decode”
“Start immediately. I want answers by tomorrow.”
“Yes, sir.” The technician didn’t dare delay and got to work right away.
The decryption would take another full day. Eliza knew that no amount of worry would speed things up. Even if she were on edge, the information inside that chip wasn’t going to reveal itself any faster.
Nolan tried to distract her. “Let’s do something else for a while. The day will go by faster. Once the data’s out, we’ll finally know what that ring was hiding.”
“Okay.”
Still, Eliza couldn’t believe her mother had hidden a data chip inside something so valuable. It was clever, really. No one would ever think to destroy an expensive ring like that. It was the perfect place to hide something.
Day turned to night.
Suddenly, one of the techs burst out of the lab. “Mr. Hayes! It’s decrypted!”
As soon as Eliza heard that, she rushed into the lab, eager to see what the chip contained.
On the screen was a video. It opened on a soft–featured woman adjusting the camera before sitting back down on the couch, carefully showing off her pregnant belly.
“Baby, this is a video I made for you,” the woman said. “It’s my first time becoming a mom. I don’t know if you’re a boy or a girl, but I hope you grow up healthy and strong. Please go easy on me–I really can’t handle pain.” She gave an awkward smile. “This is my first time recording something like this, so I’m not really sure what to say. I just want you to know… your mom isn’t a mistress. I didn’t ruin anyone’s relationship. Your dad and I loved each other. We chose this. I don’t regret a thing.”
As the woman spoke, Eliza already knew who she was.
She’d seen photos of Emilia before, back when she was at Solara. In those images, she’d looked full of life- calm, radiant, and completely at peace
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