Chapter 242
Chapter 242:
Beneath the image, a message from Abbie read: She gave it to me. Just like you predicted. I’m on my way.
June stared at the screen. Her dark eyes went cold, a frigid, unshakable calm settling over her entire body. She typed back immediately, ordering Abbie to bring the vial directly to the lab via the underground parking elevator — a route that bypassed every public security checkpoint.
Exactly ten minutes later, the heavy glass doors slid open.
Abbie slipped inside with a cheap baseball cap pulled low over her face, her entire body shaking, her breath shallow and ragged. She crossed to the stainless steel workstation and set the black vial on the cold metal surface as though setting down a live grenade.
June said nothing. She snapped latex gloves onto her hands, picked up the vial, extracted a single drop of the clear liquid with a sterile glass dropper, and fed it into the mass spectrometer.
Five minutes later, the machine beeped. A printed report slid from the tray.
June lifted the page. Her eyes moved across the chemical compounds with practiced speed. When they landed on the specific synthetic hormone disruptors — chemicals engineered to cause irreversible premature ovarian failure — a lethal, freezing fury blazed to life in her gaze.
𝘚𝗮𝗏e 𝘺𝗼u𝘳 fa𝗏𝗈𝗋𝘪𝘵е 𝗇o𝘷е𝘭𝘀 оn ѕ.со𝗺
Alycia didn’t simply want to hurt her. She wanted to permanently strip her of the ability to ever become a mother.
Abbie watched the terrifying shift in June’s expression and felt her knees buckle slightly.
“I swear to God,” Abbie sobbed, her voice cracking, “I never had any intention of poisoning you. I only agreed so she would trust me p>
June set the report down and looked at the trembling young woman before her. Her expression was completely blank. She took a slow, deliberate breath, locking the white-hot rage behind a wall of cold, calculated strategy. She studied Abbie — not as a pawn, but as a reflection of the version of herself she had long fought to leave behind.
“I know,” June said, her voice unexpectedly soft. She stepped closer, stopping a few feet away. “You did exactly what I needed you to do. You were brave p>
“I wasn’t brave,” Abbie whispered, shaking her head. “I was terrified. I still am. She has so much power over me p>
“Fear is a tool, Abbie,” June said, her gaze locking onto the younger woman’s with quiet, hypnotic intensity. “They forged it into a cage to keep you small. But you can reforge it — turn it into a weapon.” Her voice sharpened. “She thinks you’re weak. A dog she can kick. That is her fatal mistake, and our single greatest advantage p>
June pulled a sanitizing wipe from the dispenser and held it out.
“Dry your face,” she said, her tone flat and clinical. “Tears have no value in this fight. What we need right now is ironclad proof p>
She opened the heavy metal drawer beneath the counter and produced an impossibly small hidden camera, perfectly disguised as a plain plastic coat button. She placed it in Abbie’s palm.