A Woman Worth Billions Dated the Wrong Brother novel Chapter 353

པཱད།

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The child

Amber POV

For almost twenty minutes, everyone in the cave watched Alexander’s body camera in complete silence.

The image shook as he climbed over rocks, crossed narrow paths, and cursed under his breath every time his flashlight slipped.

Jasmine was the first to notice.

“He’s giving up.”

Jason frowned. “On what?”

“Whatever he was looking for.”

And she was right.

Alexander stopped searching the cliffs and, after one last look toward the ocean, simply sighed.

“Fine,” his voice came through the speakers. “Beach it is.”

Franklin, sitting beside me, crossed his arms.

“That man sounds disappointed that he has to investigate a massacre.”

“To be fair,” I said, “he does sound disappointed about everything.”

The cave fell silent again as Alexander and his team descended toward the beach.

The sound of the waves reached us first.

Then the smell.

Even through the microphone, people could hear his teammates coughing.

“Jesus Christ…”

The flashlight moved.

And suddenly the beach came into view.

Several soldiers gasped.

Bodies.

Dozens of them.

Some scattered across the sand, others piled beneath a large military tent, almost as if someone had tried to hide them in a hurry.

Daniel immediately covered his mouth.

“Oh my God.”

Alexander slowly approached the tent and lifted part of the fabric.

The entire cave froze.

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The uniforms weren’t from Starlight.

Rey weren’t fron River City.

They belonged to Evermore.

“Those are Evermore soldiers,” Noah whispered.

Jasmine stared at the screen.

“But… everyone thought they had disappeared.”

“No,” Jason said quietly.

“They didn’t disappear.”

For a moment, nobody spoke.

“They’re gone.”

Alexander’s camera slowly scanned the pile of bodies.

The four Evermore teams hadn’t escaped.

They hadn’t betrayed the others.

Someone had killed them and hidden them beneath the tent.

Alexander silently took picture after picture, recording every face, every insignia, every bullet wound.

Mr. Stait’s expression darkened on the screen.

“Keep recording,” he muttered.

Without another word, Alexander lowered the tent and walked away from the beach.

No jokes.

No sarcastic comments.

Just silence.

Meanwhile, I returned my attention to Mr. Stait.

“We need to coordinate the rescue.”

The old man nodded.

“The boat is still twelve hours away.”

“Can it approach from the escape tunnel?”

“We’re studying the maps.”

And then something clicked in my mind.

Elizabeth Vincent.

The last thing she remembered.

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The hatch near the ocean.

The tunnel.

The escape route.

I slowly straightened in my chair.

“Wait.”

Jason looked at me.

“What?” 1

“If Elizabeth remembers being near the ocean hatch…”

Emory immediately understood where I was going.

“…then the hunters know about it.”

My stomach twisted.

I stood up so abruptly that several people turned toward me.

“The hatch isn’t an escape route.”

The cave fell silent.

“What?” Franklin asked.

I began pacing.

“The women escaped through that tunnel, but if the hunters use it too…”

Jasmine’s eyes widened.

“Then they’re letting the women think they’re safe.”

“Exactly.”

Mr. Stait frowned on the screen.

“You think the escape route is compromised?”

“I think it always was.”

The realization sent chills through me.

For all we knew, the tunnel wasn’t an exit.

It was another cage.

“Emory,” I said.

The medic immediately stood up.

“We need the women and the boy up here.”

He nodded.

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The chat

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“I’ll get them.”

Take soldiers with you.”

Within seconds, Emory disappeared down the stairs with four volunteers.

I lowered my voice and turned back toward Mr. Stait.

“I think we’re looking at two different crimes.”

The old man frowned.

“What do you mean?”

“The trafficking operation and the families we came here to rescue-they don’t seem connected.”

Mr. Stait remained silent.

“The women downstairs were hunted. But Elizabeth Vincent wasn’t hidden with them.”

Jason slowly crossed his arms.

“And Oliver wasn’t with them either.”

I nodded.

“Exactly.”

The trafficking victims may have been prisoners of the island owner.”

“But the Vincents?” Mr. Stait asked.

I looked back at Alexander’s body camera.

The feed showed him silently walking away from the beach, not toward safety, but back toward the cliffs he had been searching before.

A horrible possibility formed in my mind.

“Maybe Alexander wasn’t looking for evidence.”

Jason looked at me.

“Then what was he looking for?”

I swallowed.

“Maybe he was looking for Oliver.”

Nobody said a word.

Because suddenly Alexander’s behavior made sense.

He hadn’t cared about the competition.

He hadn’t cared about the flags.

He hadn’t cared about the massacre.

From the moment he stepped onto the island, he had been searching for something.

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Or someone.

And downstairs, hidden beneath the island, was an eleven-year-old boy named Oliver Vincent.

A boy that nobody had known existed.

A boy Alexander might have crossed an entire island to find.

Just then, footsteps echoed from the staircase.

Emory returned first.

Behind him came the women.

And the little boy.

The moment Oliver stepped into the cave, every soldier fell silent.

Because the child looked exactly like Alexander Vincent.

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Amber POV

The cave had become a small city.

Soldiers sat against the walls, medics treated cuts and bruises, and people from countries that had been competing against each other less than twenty-four hours earlier were now sharing water bottles and emergency

blankets.

At some point, the competition had ceased to exist.

Survival had become the only objective.

I stood in front of the map, trying to keep track of everyone.

“Status report,” Jason said, kneeling beside me.

I nodded and looked at my notes.

“Starlite has two teams accounted for. Three, if Alexander’s team makes it back.”,

Jasmine let out a tired whistle.

“That’s better than I expected.”

I continued.

“Sum has all four teams.” 1

Franklin raised a hand from the back of the cave.

“Miraculously.”

“Snake City has three teams.”

One of the Snake City soldiers nodded.

“Cloud City has two.”

A woman in a blue uniform lifted her hand.

“Lake View has all four teams.”

That caused several people to sigh in relief.

!

“And River City…” I looked at Jason, Jasmine, Noah and Daniel. “…all four teams are accounted for.”

For the first time that night, the cave erupted into quiet applause.

Not because we had won.

But because we were still alive.

Noah sat beside the wall and crossed his arms.

“So, what’s the plan?”

“The plan,” Jasmine said, “is to get off this cursed island before someone tries to hunt us again.”

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“Surprisingly reasonable.”

Stait’s voice Came from the speakers.

“We’re working on it.”

The cave immediately fell silent.

“The navy is preparing an evacuation, but we’ve decided to send helicopters as well.”

“How many?” Jason asked.

“Enough.”

“And the owner won’t notice military helicopters approaching his island?” Daniel asked.

Mr. Stait smiled for the first time since the call began.

“Oh, he’ll notice.”

That got everyone’s attention.

“We’ll send decoys.”

Jasmine blinked.

“Decoys?”

“Several helicopters will approach from different directions. Some will be empty. Others will turn back before reaching the island.”

Franklin frowned.

“To confuse whoever is waiting for us?”

“Exactly.”

I studied the map.

“And the real helicopters?”

Mr. Stait’s smile disappeared.

“They’ll come in fast, land, and leave as quickly as possible.”

Noah looked toward the entrance of the cave.

“So the plan is to survive another twelve hours.”

“More or less.”

“Wonderful.”

Three hours later, people were still awake.

Nobody trusted the darkness outside enough to sleep.

Then footsteps echoed from the mountain path.

Weapons were raised instantly.

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“It’s us!” a voice shouted.

Jasmine lowered her rifle.

“About time.”

Alexander Vincent walked into the cave, followed by the rest of his team.

Covered in dirt.

Exhausted.

Silent.

The body camera hanging from his chest had stopped transmitting nearly an hour earlier.

The entire cave relaxed as soon as they entered.

Three Starlight teams accounted for.

One more group alive.

Alexander didn’t even acknowledge anyone.

He simply walked toward the corner of the cave, as if preparing to continue his search.

I intercepted him.

“You took your time.”

He grunted.

“You’re welcome.”

“I’m serious.”

“So am I.” 1

I crossed my arms.