Chapter 259: Hidden enemy

Clara had no idea how long she had spent staring at the screen. Eventually, she decided to tell Vanta about the children’s erased records, sharing everything she had managed to uncover, including the details surrounding her own past.

She waited for his response, but when Vanta fell silent once again, she decided not to press him.

She had only reached out to discuss the matter with him. Now that she had shared everything she knew, there was little point in sitting there waiting for an answer he might not be ready to give.

With a quiet sigh, Clara closed her laptop and returned to bed.

However, even after lying down, she couldn’t stop her mind from wandering back to the same troubling question.

Who would go to such lengths to erase something as important as those children’s records?

Just as she was about to close her eyes, a name suddenly flashed through her mind.

Dominic.

If what Adrian had told her was true, and Dominic had indeed been kidnapped by the same human trafficking group, then there might be a reasonable explanation for why his records had been wiped clean.

There were two possibilities.

The first was that the Sterling family was influential enough to have their children’s records sealed or removed to protect their privacy.

The second was far more concerning.

Someone might have deliberately erased those records to conceal a secret they desperately wanted to keep buried.

The more Clara thought about it, the more the latter possibility made sense.

She knew all too well how many enemies the Sterling family had. Their wealth and influence had earned them plenty of admirers, but they had also made themselves a target for countless people who wanted to see them fall.

If there was a secret capable of destroying the family, someone would undoubtedly try to use it against them.

Clara’s expression darkened as another memory surfaced.

Alex.

She remembered how skillfully he had manipulated her in her previous life, using her trust and emotions to make her do things she would never have considered otherwise. He had gradually led her down a path that eventually brought her to a particular file, one that had played a significant role in the Sterling family’s downfall.

Her fingers curled into the bedsheet.

But what exactly had been in that file?

Clara squeezed her eyes shut, desperately trying to recall the details. She searched through the fragments of her memories, hoping that something—anything—would come back to her.

Yet the harder she tried, the more unsettling the realization became.

She had never truly understood why the Sterling Group had collapsed in the first place.

She had known what Alex wanted her to find, but had she ever known the entire truth?

Clara slowly opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling, uneasiness settling deep in her chest.

Perhaps the answer she had been searching for all this time was connected to something far bigger than she had ever imagined.

She let out a weary sigh and shifted against the pillows.

All of this was supposed to happen three years from now. However, since she had already gotten rid of Alex, the chances of him carrying out his original plan against the Sterling family seemed almost nonexistent.

And yet, something still didn’t add up.

No matter how she looked at it, she couldn’t understand how Alex could have brought down a family as powerful as the Sterlings on his own.

Even if Julianna had been guiding him from behind the scenes, their chances of succeeding should have been slim. After all, Clara knew that Julianna’s primary goal had been to get close to Dominic and eventually marry him. Alex had merely been a pawn she used to achieve that objective.

So, if neither of them had possessed the means to orchestrate the Sterling family’s downfall, who had helped them?

Someone else had to be involved.

Someone with enough influence, resources, and connections to bring an entire family to its knees.

But who?

Clara rubbed her temples, growing increasingly frustrated with herself.

"Why was I so stupid in my past life?" she muttered.

She couldn’t help scolding herself for the countless mistakes she had made. If only she had been more observant, questioned Alex’s intentions, or bothered to look beyond what he wanted her to see, perhaps she would have discovered the truth much sooner.

Unfortunately, regret couldn’t change the past.

She couldn’t undo the damage she had caused, nor could she reclaim the years she had wasted believing Alex’s lies.

But this time, things would be different.

She had been given another chance at life, and she had no intention of repeating the same mistakes.

If someone had been pulling the strings behind Alex, she would find out who they were before they had the opportunity to make another move.

And this time, she would make sure the Sterling family didn’t fall.

With that resolve firmly in mind, Clara finally allowed herself to relax. She had spent far too long dwelling on the past, and if she continued at this rate, she would end up losing sleep over problems she couldn’t solve in a single night.

She adjusted her pillow and was just about to settle down when her phone began buzzing incessantly.

Clara frowned and reached for it, wondering who could possibly be messaging her at this hour.

When she unlocked the screen, she found a flood of unread messages in the group chat with Silvia, Gen, and Lily.

"What are those three up to now?" she murmured before tapping on the conversation.

The moment the chat opened, she was greeted by a series of messages from Gen.

Gen: Girls, you’ll never guess who I ran into at the grocery store today!

Lily: Who? Don’t tell me you spotted another handsome guy.

Silvia: Honestly, that was my first thought, too.

Gen: Excuse me! Why do you two always assume I’m chasing after men?

Lily: Because you usually are.

Silvia: She’s got a point.

Gen: You two are impossible! Anyway, this is much more interesting than some random handsome guy.

Lily: Then stop dragging it out and tell us already!

Gen: I saw Julianna!

Clara’s fingers paused above the screen.

Silvia: Julianna?

Gen: How many Juliannas do you think I know?

Lily: Wait, seriously? Where did you see her?

Gen: At the grocery store. I was picking up a few things when I heard someone yelling. I turned around, and there she was, getting scolded by the store manager.

Silvia: What?! Why?

Gen: Apparently, she’d misplaced some packets on the shelves. The manager was furious and kept asking her how many times she had to explain the same instructions before Julianna would finally understand.

Lily: Oh my goodness! I would have paid to see that.

Gen: You should have been there! She stood with her head lowered the entire time. I thought she might actually burst into tears.

Silvia: I can’t believe it. The same Julianna who used to act like everyone else was beneath her?

Lily: Life really does have a sense of humor.

Gen: You should have seen the manager’s face. She was practically ready to pull her hair out. And Julianna couldn’t even argue back!

Silvia: So, what happened to all that arrogance of hers?

Gen: I guess reality finally caught up with her.

Lily: Honestly, I still can’t believe she ended up working at a grocery store. What happened to her after everything that went down?

Silvia: Whatever happened, she certainly seems to have fallen a long way from where she used to be.

Clara stared at the messages without responding.

She had no idea what had happened to Julianna after her own death in her previous life. Back then, she had been too consumed by her own suffering and the consequences of her choices to know how things had unfolded afterward.

Now, however, she was getting glimpses of the life Julianna had been living since Clara’s return to the past.

And strangely enough, she felt nothing.

No satisfaction. No sympathy. Not even the urge to find out more.

Perhaps it was because Julianna’s downfall no longer had anything to do with her. Or perhaps Clara had simply grown tired of wasting her emotions on people who had never deserved them in the first place.

Either way, Julianna’s current circumstances were no longer her concern.

"She brought this upon herself," Clara murmured.

She switched off her phone and placed it on the bedside table, leaving the other three to continue their discussion.

Whatever was happening in Julianna’s life had nothing to do with her anymore.

Clara had far more important things to worry about, starting with the mysterious person who might have been responsible for the Sterling family’s downfall.

If someone had been hiding in the shadows all along, she intended to find them.

And unlike in her previous life, she wouldn’t wait until it was too late to uncover the truth.

With that thought, Clara pulled the blanket over herself and closed her eyes, determined to get some rest.

Tomorrow, she would begin looking for answers; however, there was one particular person she wanted to meet first.