Once a Doormat Now Untouchable (Caleb and Sydney) novel Chapter 702

A brief silence settled over the line.

Then Eloise spoke through gritted teeth. "Why? Don't tell me you can't handle one woman, not with everything you have behind you.

"She's Julian's weakness. She's the Huttons' weakness. Get hold of her and you have both of them by the throat. Wiping the slate clean for me and Victor would be nothing for you. One decision. That's all it takes."

Eloise was done with this life. Done with every day of it. Back when she still had a place in the Sterling household, even after Julian stripped her of real power, people had kept their heads down around her.

Now they crossed the street when they saw her coming. Some did not even wait until she was out of earshot before the mockery began.

"Things are different now," Jeremiah said. "One wrong step, and I won't just lose DK. I'll lose everything."

The Huttons and Julian were almost certainly turning over every stone in search of him.

"I have to be careful. I need to wait for the right moment."

"There is no right moment." Eloise's voice flattened, edged with bitterness. "Or maybe you just don't have the nerve you used to. Maybe you've gone soft. Hesitant. Afraid of your own shadow."

It was not a matter of resources. What he had now was at least as strong as before, if not stronger. Twenty years behind bars had not stopped Tristan from expanding the operation into something larger and more powerful overseas. Hired guns and men willing to die for the cause were not in short supply.

What Eloise had not expected was that, even after all this time out of prison, he was still held in check by Julian. He had not managed to reclaim the Sterlings for her and Victor.

"Keep waiting," Jeremiah said, his tone patient and steady as he soothed her. Then something shifted in his gaze, a calculated gleam cutting through. "I've been watching Sydney these past couple of days. She has two, maybe three months left."

Eloise's resentment vanished in an instant. "You're going after the child."

The moment the words left her mouth, everything clicked.

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