Outcast Queen: Her Return from Hell novel Chapter 11

"Is this it?" he asked, flipping through the file quickly. The lack of substance was frustrating. Her surface identity was just an ordinary housewife who accidentally killed her abusive husband? What a joke.

"That's all we have for now," Yancy said, his tone heavy. "But there's something very wrong with this Zora Quinn. Even the guards at Blackwood Penitentiary gave her a wide berth. Without someone powerful backing her, that would be impossible."

"Someone is pulling the strings," Pierce Sterling said, rubbing his temples, his voice turning ice-cold. A long-forgotten dead end had suddenly cracked open, revealing a sliver of light.

Zora Quinn. She was the key Phoenix Prescott had handed him.

"Keep digging into Zora. Look into her entire network, especially any anomalies around the time she went to prison," he ordered, his gaze predatory. "Remember, do it quietly. We can't alert the enemy."

"Understood."

The clues to a years-old injustice were finally in his grasp.

Phoenix stepped back into the living room. It was so empty that only the faint sound of cleaning could be heard.

"Fiona," she called out. Her voice wasn't loud, but it instantly cut through the ambient noise.

Fiona glanced over, let out a disdainful scoff, and turned her head away, aggressively scrubbing the coffee table with a rag.

Ms. Prescott? Who did she think she was? Phoebe had explicitly ordered her to treat the woman like a stray dog.

Phoenix moved in a blur, appearing right in front of her.

Fiona felt a suffocating wave of pressure wash over her and instinctively took a half-step back. "What do you want? Can't you see I'm..."

Slap!

A crisp, resounding slap echoed through the room. Fiona covered her cheek, completely stunned.

Slap! A backhand followed immediately.

The two strikes made Fiona's vision swim. The burning pain on her face was nothing compared to the shock and terror erupting in her chest. The woman standing before her... those freezing, dead eyes... this wasn't the old Phoenix who used to take beatings without a word.

"Fiona," Phoenix said, her voice colder than a blade scraping against bone. "You need to memorize this."

She took another step forward. Fiona trembled like a leaf, nearly collapsing.

"In the Prescott family, I am the only rightful heir."

Her frigid gaze swept across the hall. Every maid who met her eyes felt as though they had plunged into freezing water, shrinking back and lowering their heads.

"Did you hear me?" Phoenix's voice remained even, but it was enough to make everyone's heart skip a beat. "If you want to keep your jobs, you better get your heads straight."

She paused, her gaze finally pinning the shivering Fiona in place, sizing her up like a piece of garbage.

"Weigh your options. See if you have the guts to go against me."

Fiona's blood ran cold.

"Yes!" she said, not daring to hesitate for another second. She immediately gestured to the other terrified maids huddled in the corner. "Hurry! Do as Ms. Prescott says! Make it quick!"

A storm was coming, and none of them could escape it anyway.

At the Sterling Estate, the scent of sandalwood lingered in the air.

Warren led Vanessa and Phoebe, standing respectfully like statues in front of a massive armchair.

Arthur Sterling sat with his eyes half-closed, slowly thumbing a string of sandalwood beads, looking completely detached from the world.

"Arthur, that's roughly... the situation," Warren said, a sycophantic smile on his face as he bowed deeply. "That wretched girl is simply unpresentable. She grew up in the country, lacks manners, and carries the stigma of a prison sentence. It's a family disgrace. Having her join the Sterlings would completely humiliate you and Pierce. The Prescotts absolutely cannot bear that kind of guilt."

Vanessa quickly plastered on an expression of deep concern. "He's right! Phoebe is the daughter we properly raised. She knows the rules, understands the big picture, and she's admired Pierce for so long..."

She gave Phoebe a gentle nudge.

Phoebe immediately took a half-step forward, her eyelashes fluttering, her voice intentionally soft and sweet. "Arthur..."

The name dripped with honey. "Phoenix grew up in the countryside without proper guidance. She suffered a lot, so it's inevitable she picked up some bad habits... I really feel terrible for her."

Her eyes reddened perfectly on cue, cleverly shifting all the blame onto Phoenix's environment and flawed nature.