Chapter 394

In truth, no one truly knew the extent of Lambert's influence or the breadth of his connections. Not even Old Mr. Stone was fully aware. From Lambert's early teens, he had been quietly building his own network. Back then, he was the family's black sheep, constantly belittled and obstructed by his uncles and cousins. But Lambert wasn’t the type to endure such treatment in silence. He had long suspected that, given the way the old man treated him, he would never be allowed to inherit the Stone family fortune. Not that he cared. So, even back then, he had begun laying the groundwork for his own future. For years, he worked in the shadows, building a network of power that operated outside the bounds of legality. By the time he met Ariana, he already had a considerable, albeit hidden, force at his disposal. However, after Ariana came into his life, Lambert gradually began to distance himself from that dark world. He handed over control of his underground empire to a trusted subordinate—one