Outcast Queen: Her Return from Hell novel Chapter 29

Three pairs of eyes locked onto Julian's face in unison, filled with shock and confusion.

"Julian! What do you mean?!" Vanessa panicked. "You're letting that wretched girl off the hook? What about Phoebe's grievances..."

"Letting her off?" Julian let out a frustrated sigh. "It's not about letting her off! It's about enduring it... for now!"

He forced the words out with difficulty. "Tonight... I was supposed to discuss a project with Ms. Monroe. But..."

He paused. Flashes of the nightclub played in his mind, and a muscle in his face twitched as he mumbled, "...It was ruined by Phoenix."

He skipped over all his humiliating details, cutting straight to the chase. "Also, Ninth... showed up. He personally... called her his fiancée. From what I saw, his attitude toward her... is different."

"What?!" Vanessa shrieked, her voice shrill and ear-piercing. "Ninth hates women, how is that possible?!"

Julian thought it was absurd himself.

He forced himself to analyze the situation calmly. "Ninth was there at the same time as Ms. Monroe! Maybe... Ninth was actually there for Ms. Monroe! Phoenix must have used some dirty trick to latch onto Ms. Monroe! Ninth merely gave that bitch a little face to respect Ms. Monroe!"

The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. Why would Pierce Sterling ever care about a piece of gutter trash like her?

"I get it now!" Phoebe's eyes lit up brightly, her voice trembling with excitement. "So that's what it is! No wonder he chose Phoenix! This 'marriage' is nothing but a smokescreen! He's using her to placate his family while secretly seeing Ms. Monroe..."

She was thrilled by her own 'deduction.'

"Ignis Global is a rising powerhouse that even Ninth can't afford to ignore!"

Warren and Vanessa nodded in sudden realization.

This explanation perfectly resolved the contradiction of Pierce being a woman-hater who suddenly acquired a fiancée, and it explained why Phoenix was suddenly acting so arrogant.

As for how she got close to Macy? A cold, disdainful glint flashed in Julian's eyes. "She spent four years in prison; who knows what filthy tricks she learned? Clinging to a powerful backer is hardly a surprise."

"Anyway!" Julian pushed down the frustration and unease in his heart, gritting his teeth as he instructed his parents and Phoebe. "Just bear with it and keep her steady. Once Arthur Sterling transfers the marriage to Phoebe's name..."

His eyes gleamed with calculation. "Once she loses Ninth as her shield, and we expose her true colors to Ms. Monroe, we can crush her however we see fit."

Three heads nodded simultaneously, reaching a consensus to swallow their pride temporarily.

"Should... should we tell our brothers?" Phoebe asked hesitantly.

Her other brothers—one a top-tier movie star, the other studying at a premier university in North America—were highly influential in their own right.

With them in the picture, Phoenix's downfall would undoubtedly be much worse.

"No need for now," Julian said, rubbing his aching jaw. "They're busy. Don't bother them."

Phoenix shoved the blackout-drunk Macy into a cab and brought her back to the massive bed in her luxury downtown apartment.

Expressionless, Phoenix got up and went to the kitchen. She quickly brewed a bowl of hangover soup, placed it on Macy's nightstand, and left a note in elegant handwriting that read, 'Drink this when you wake up.' Then, she silently left the luxurious apartment.

Inside Eclipse Nightclub.

Leo was finally calming down. He was ordering his men to clean up the mess, his mind still stuck on the lingering terror of 'thank God I kept my life.'

Crash!

The nightclub doors were violently kicked open!

A swarm of men in black, exuding an aura far colder and more dangerous than The Obsidian Syndicate, flooded in like a tidal wave. They instantly surrounded the room, aiming dark gun barrels squarely at Leo's gang!

"Motherfucker!" Leo, having barely survived Pierce, instantly ignited in rage, losing all reason.

He violently pulled out his weapon, his face twisted in fury. "You bunch of mutts! You think I'm made of clay?! You think I've lost my teeth?!"

However, a voice burned deep into his bones rang out from behind the crowd, dripping with terrifying frost. "Leo, it's been a few years. You're sounding awfully cocky."

Leo's blood instantly ran cold!

He turned his neck stiffly, inch by agonizing inch, toward the entrance.

A tall, imposing figure strode in, backlit by the door's glow.