Chen Ru remained silent for several moments after Lu Shaohan spoke. The composure she had maintained so carefully since his arrival was beginning to fracture—not openly, but in small, uncontrollable ways.

Her fingers stayed clasped in her lap, yet the tension in them had become visible, her knuckles paling beneath the pressure.

She was no longer calculating how to negotiate. She was trying to understand how much danger she had already stepped into.

Lu Shaohan watched her without interruption, his stillness more oppressive than anger could have been. Nothing in his expression softened. Nothing reassured. The silence around him carried the weight of someone who did not need emotion to establish control.

Finally, Chen Ru spoke. "I wasn’t lying about the child."

Her voice had lowered noticeably, stripped of its earlier confidence.

Lu Shaohan’s expression did not change. "That wasn’t the part I questioned."

Chen Ru lowered her eyes briefly before forcing herself to meet his gaze again. For the first time since he had entered the room, she no longer looked like a woman attempting to secure status inside the Lu family. She looked like someone realizing she might already be expendable.

"There are things I genuinely don’t know," she said carefully.

"And things you do."

It was not a question. It was a conclusion.

After several moments of deliberate silence, she continued. "A woman contacted me months ago. I never saw her directly—only calls, instructions, meetings arranged through intermediaries." Her breathing tightened. "She knew things about me. About my father’s debts. Our financial problems."

Lu Shaohan’s gaze sharpened almost imperceptibly. This was no random selection. The women had been chosen through vulnerability.

Chen Ru lowered her gaze. "She told me there was an opportunity to secure my future. At first I thought it was some kind of private arrangement. Wealthy families handle things quietly. I didn’t realize what it actually was until later."

"How much later?"

"After the procedure."

The room fell completely silent.

"You agreed to insemination without knowing whose biological material was being used?" Lu Shaohan asked.

"I was told the donor came from an elite bloodline." Chen Ru’s voice weakened. "They presented it as an exclusive fertility arrangement—carefully selected genetics, legal protection afterward, financial security. They made it sound normal."

But nothing about this had been normal. It had been acquisition.

"When I discovered the biological material came from the Lu family," she continued softly, "I wanted to leave."

"And yet you came here anyway."

"They contacted me again after the attack last night." Her words came more quickly now. "They said the situation inside the Lu Residence had become unstable. They said this was the safest moment to appear before decisions were made without us."

Us. Not me.

Lu Shaohan noticed the slip at once. "You knew about the others."

Chen Ru’s composure faltered visibly. "I only knew there were others. Not who they were."

"But you understood you weren’t alone."

"Yes."

Lu Shaohan lowered his gaze briefly in thought. The women had been compartmentalized, yet not completely isolated—enough information shared to keep them cooperative, but not enough to expose the full structure. Professional. Controlled. Carefully designed.

Chen Ru watched him more anxiously now, fear gradually overtaking caution. "What happens to us now?" she asked quietly.

The question sounded different this time—no longer strategic, only afraid.

Lu Shaohan looked at her for several long seconds before answering. "That depends entirely on whether you decide to become useful."

Chen Ru’s throat tightened. "And if I do?"

His expression remained unreadable. "Then you may survive what’s coming."

The words settled into the room with chilling calm. There was no reassurance in them, only truth.

And from the time since arriving at the Lu Residence, Chen Ru understood something clearly: the most dangerous force in this situation was not the pregnant women, not Su Wan, and not even the extended Lu family.

It was whoever had spent months constructing this operation in silence—and had finally chosen now to activate it.

But how certain were they that Su Wan wasn’t involved in all this?

Lu Shaohan did not stay much longer. His final words had already done their work. Chen Ru no longer looked like a woman demanding a position—only someone realizing she had been inserted into something far larger than herself.

He studied her one last time. "Until verification is complete, you remain in this wing. No calls. No outside contact."

Her expression tightened. "They’ll know something is wrong if I disappear."

His hand paused on the doorknob. "They already know."

She lowered her gaze, fingers pressing over her stomach. Not securing a future now—only waiting for consequences.

Lu Shaohan stepped into the corridor. The guards straightened. He didn’t acknowledge them.

The residence felt different. Not chaotic, but worse: controlled too tightly. Servants lowered their heads. Conversations died. Even the air seemed restrained. The Lu family had entered uncertainty—and uncertainty in powerful families became dangerous quickly.

He slowed near the central staircase, thoughts returning to the timeline. Stolen samples, months ago. Women selected with care. Pregnancies timed. Then the attack on Su Wan.

That part still refused to settle. The attack hadn’t felt random—too precise. Injury and disruption, not death. Pressure. Destabilization. Then, less than twelve hours later, the women appeared together, as if someone had been waiting for the household to fracture.

He stopped.

What if Su Wan had never been the target? The possibility settled coldly: the attack may have been designed not to eliminate her, but to weaken the structure surrounding succession before activating the next phase. She had become the perfect catalyst.

Footsteps approached. A security guard stopped several feet away.

"President Lu." 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

"What is it?"

The guard hesitated. "Surveillance recovered partial footage from last night."

Lu Shaohan’s eyes narrowed. "Partial?"

"Corridor cameras outside the guest wing malfunctioned during the attack window. But one exterior camera remained active for about eleven seconds before blackout."

"And?"

"The footage shows someone entering the eastern service corridor approximately three minutes before the glass shattered."

Silence.

"Who?"