Chapter 179
The expressions on Thorpe and Hollis’s faces soured instantly.
Hollis’s smile twitched, his previously affable grin near breaking point. “You’re… pulling my leg, right?”
Noella chuckled lightly, her head held high with a touch of arrogance as she looked down at a somewhat flustered Hollis.
“Whether I’m joking or not, you’ll have the chance to find out. But if I’m not, I’m afraid you won’t be able to handle the repercussions.”
“As Lunaris, aren’t you afraid of the backlash for pulling such a stunt?”
Noella shrugged nonchalantly. “Who cares? If Cerulean Whale had the chops, they wouldn’t be perennial underdogs, right? Why aren’t you guys the top hit squad on the deep web? Is it because you don’t fancy the title?
Of course, it was a matter of not having enough power!
Thinking that Cerulean Whale alone could make the entire deep web condemn Lunaris was nothing short of a pipe dream.
Palmer chuckled along. “It’s not that complicated. If they die here, who’s to know?”
The smile finally vanished from Hollis’s face. “Spill it, what do you want to know? You’re aware I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed; I tend to forget things.”
“What went down when the Pollack family had their baby?”
Hollis let out a deep sigh, signaling Thorpe to cool his jets. “In a nutshell, it’s a classic game of getting rid of the mom and switching the baby. You follow, Ms. Schnabel?”
Xavier pulled out his pistol and aimed it at Hollis’s head! “Watch your damn manners! Speak to her like that again, and I’ll feed your brains to the fishes!”
Hollis chuckled and shook his head, pushing Xavier’s gun aside with a finger. “Let’s not be so dramatic; my brains aren’t that tasty. Spare a thought for your fish. We didn’t exert much effort in that mess. It was mostly the Pollack family’s own power struggle.”
The Pollack family’s grand feud had cost Palmer his mother too. No wonder the Pollack sons never recovered.
Noella frowned slightly. “Second matter: was Harriet’s child born at Tandy Hospital?”
Hollis nodded coolly. “Yes, and then we took the baby. Ran into a dim–witted woman itching to marry Marcel. Ambitious but brainless. We handed the kid over. Heard Marcel divorced her anyway. Hilarious.”
“What happened to Harriet afterward?”
“She lost her memory. We gave her some random child, and she took off with it.”
It all matched up with what Tandy had said. If he was right, then the kid Harriet took by mistake must be Vincent.
Hollis added, “Later, that woman, Ashlyn, proved quite useful to us. Without her, your mother wouldn’t have gone to Tandy Hospital to give birth. Mother–in–law and daughter–in–law issues are as old as time, aren’t they?”
Noella recalled Marcel mentioning that Sienna going to Tandy Hospital was all Ashlyn’s doing. It seemed that Ashlyn had orchestrated everything! Her eagerness to marry her niece off to Tristan was because she
knew he wasn’t her biological son. She was paving the way for her own family. As for her disdain for the Schnabel kids, that was a given, especially with her own granddaughter Yvonne around.
Third question: who’s behind all this? Who asked you to do these things?”
Hollis pressed his hand to his temple, exchanging a worried look with Thorpe and shaking his head slightly
Ms. Schnabel, as the head of the Obelisk Organization, you must have navigated these waters before. Ever heard of an organization?”
“What?”
Hollis turned serious. “Polaris Star!”
A wave of shock washed over Noella. “You’re saying Polaris Star is behind all this?”
Hollis nodded solemnly, his eyes filled with deep fear. “They’re shadowy figures in the international warzone. Maybe you’ve encountered them before, but only the tip of the iceberg. We took orders from Polaris Star, but we never knew who was issuing them. They’re terrifying. Guess what kind of people would scour the globe for geniuses and forcibly develop their intellect?”
Even speaking of his experiences with Polaris Star sent chills down Hollis’s spine. He couldn’t imagine what horrors awaited those who actually survived the brutal experiments conducted by Polaris Star.
“They name their members after constellations. Failures are brainwashed, and that process might not always succeed. You could end up a fool. I’ve been to Polaris Star, but they turned their noses up at my intellect and let me go.”
Noella caught the implication in Hollis’s words. “You weren’t brainwashed?”
“No, because I didn’t fancy being a fool. You see, I have brothers to look after. They’re not too bright; they wouldn’t last without me. So, I became a pawn for Polaris Star, to be manipulated at will.”
“The contact from Polaris Star, who was it?”
Hollis shook his head gravely. “I don’t know. The messages were always fragmented. You were right; it wasn’t Xavier who ordered Marcel’s hit last time. In truth, we were told to eliminate both Marcel Schnabel.
and Sexton Pollack!”
It all made sense now!
The sting operation in the hospital room was aimed at both Marcel and Sexton from the start!
The pain was still evident in Hollis’s voice as he recalled his dealings with Polaris Star.
“They’re terrifying, man. I can’t even think about crossing them!”
Clutching his head, Hollis started to squirm, caught in a wave of excruciating pain. Memories, the bad ones, flooded in, threatening to overwhelm his already fragile mind, still in recovery.
Thorpe quickly crouched down beside him, kneading his temples in a bid to offer some relief.
Noella frowned deeply as she watched them, her heart pounding like a drum inside her chest. She knew all too well what Polaris Star was capable of. She was one of the survivors.
If those orders had indeed come from Polaris Star… Noella’s gaze shifted to Xavier, who seemed to dodge
her stare.
“Who was Grandma’s mentor?”
“Ah, that… I don’t have a clue!”
“If you don’t come clean, I’m cutting you out of my life for good.”
fler was suddenly frantic. “I swear, I don’t know. Harriet didn’t know my mentor was from Lockhart as well. But Harriet… she did visit Polaris Star once.
That was about all Xavier knew.
“In those days, knowing your sibling was still breathing was a blessing. Harriet and I, we kept our distance; didn’t want to drag each other into trouble. That photo is the only thing I have left of her.”
It was for this reason that Xavier was so furious to learn of Harriet’s sudden death and Marcel’s quick remarriage!
Palmer’s gaze never strayed from Noella. He knew she was intricately tied to Polaris Star, perhaps she was once one of those geniuses strapped to a lab table, forced to undergo intelligence enhancements!
The thought of Noella–who was so delicate–enduring such inhuman torture made Palmer’s heart ache silently.
His girl had faced such profound darkness!
He reached out and took Noella’s hand, his eyes softening with concealed sorrow. “What do you want to know? We’ll dig it up slowly; I’m with you every step of the way!”
Even if it meant delving into the abyss to uncover the secrets of an organization that had vanished without a trace, he’d be by her side!
After taking his medication, Hollis let out a long sigh of relief. “Ms. Schnabel, I think my brother’s a poet, don’t you?”
Thorpe pointed to himself, visibly puzzled, “Me?”
Xavier rolled his eyes. “More like a dead man walking!”
A poet?
Noella’s thoughts drifted to the ramblings Tandy had spilled after taking a few sips of vodka.
Each line played over in her mind, transforming from a tangled mess into something patterned, almost like a code.
A lightbulb went off in Noella’s head. She turned to Palmer, her expression serious. “Palmer, I think there’s a chance that Elara’s mom might still be alive!”
