Chapter 653
Sienna stayed quiet, leaning against the window, her gaze unintentionally drifting over the winding coastal path down below.
At the very edge of her vision, a group of tall, well-built individuals in dark civilian clothes moved swiftly along the base of the mountain toward the shore.
Sienna’s gaze stalled, a spark of confusion flaring up.
The entire crash zone had been heavily cordoned off today by the police, the rescue teams, and Jarred’s people.
Anyone entering or leaving was either in police uniform, rescue gear, or wearing a Sterling family badge.
Yet the squad below clearly didn’t belong to the authorities, nor were they Jarred’s men.
“Thea, is that group Silas Draken’s people?” Sienna asked.
Thea glanced over, giving the receding figures a brief look before shaking her head.
“No. Silas has been helping you gather evidence behind the scenes lately. He’s crossed Jarred’s bottom line multiple times and has already received warnings.
Given the current situation, no matter how anxious Silas is, he wouldn’t dare operate out in the open.
Showing up with a crew in Jarred’s territory would essentially be a death wish p>
Sienna furrowed her brows. “Then who are they p>
Thea’s eyes were calm. “I think Silas mentioned something about this. They’re Marcus’s men p>
Sienna felt a twinge of surprise.
She had always assumed Marcus was the most detached, clean, and powerless of the three brothers.
But witnessing this today snapped her back to reality.
Marcus, just like Jarred, maintained a private force of loyalists who answered to him alone.
However, this crew was entirely different from Jarred’s subordinates.
Jarred’s people were mostly ex-SWAT, radiating a lethal, aggressive presence for all to see.
In contrast, Marcus’s team dressed inconspicuously, looking entirely unthreatening, capable of vanishing into a crowd without raising a single alarm.
Yet it was precisely this unassuming nature that carried a far deeper, more unpredictable sense of oppression.
Thea spared another glance at the vanishing squad and continued in an even tone.
“Right now, the Sterling patriarch is in a coma, and Maloney’s fate unknown. The family is facing threats from all sides.
In this scenario, anyone with the surname Sterling is dragging themselves into the fray.
No wonder the old man chose to hand the reins over to an outsider like you rather than trusting the board of directors.
Those old vultures look like they’re protecting the family legacy, but in reality, they’re all clinging to their own vested interests.
The patriarch saw it crystal clear: handing power to them would only fast-track The Sterling Group’s collapse.
Jarred and Marcus, despite their reluctance, understand the stakes. That’s why they’re so desperate to find Maloney p>
Sienna watched the trees blur past the window, saying nothing.
Beneath the glittering facade of a century-old aristocratic family lay nothing but treacherous currents.
She had been forced into this mess, and now, all she wanted was to hand over the power as soon as possible.
From this day forward, none of it would be her problem.
Thea’s voice dropped as she circled back to their initial topic.
“These back-to-back incidents-if they were aimed at you, all they had to do was delay Maloney and prevent him from returning.
As long as you couldn’t hand over the authority, you wouldn’t be able to leave. There was absolutely no need to kill him.
But they clearly went for the kill with Maloney, leaving absolutely zero margin for error p>
She turned her head to look at Sienna. “Their target isn’t you. It’s the Sterlings p>
Sienna’s fingers suddenly stopped spinning her phone.
Exactly. She had previously believed her kidnapping was a personal vendetta against her.
That someone in the shadows was blackmailing her to surrender the management rights or something else.
But if the real target was the Sterling family… if it was Maloney p>
Then the motive behind her kidnapping suddenly became incredibly murky.
Why would an assassin determined to wipe out the Sterlings waste energy kidnapping an outsider like her?