Chapter 1883 Eunice Tay

• The foyer opened into a sun-bright great room paneled in polished cedar. Not a single soul stood waiting. "Please wait here," Eugene said, bowing. "I'll announce your arrival." He vanished down a side corridor. Finnegan drifted toward a low couch, settling with a measured breath. Time stretched; bamboo leaves ticked against the window like distant metronomes. Footsteps finally whispered across the floorboards. A delicate, natural fragrance—woodland flowers after rain—reached him first, followed by Eugene, now half a step behind a woman of perhaps thirty. She was tall, willowy, her long curls tumbling in glossy waves. Crimson lipstick framed a poised smile, and there was something of the Keprarian influencer currently touring Loang in her polished, camera-ready beauty. Yet the charisma that filled the room was older, deeper—danger wearing perfume and silk.
• Finnegan stared at the gemstone glimmering beneath the display lights, but for the life of him, he could not recall its name. Whatever it was called, its iridescent surface pulsed like a living thing, bold and untamed. One glance and a wild urge to own—no, to conquer—the shining treasure surged through his veins.
• "Sir, allow me to present Mdm. Eunice Tay, wife of the Rising Star Group's president," Eugene said with practiced grace. He then leaned close to his sister, voice low enough to vanish beneath the music. "Sis, that's the Loang man our people reported. His eye for uncut emerald is uncanny."