Ethan Caldwell's tone was perfectly composed, his warm breath brushing past Julian Sterling's ear, yet the words he uttered sent a distinct chill racing down Julian's spine.
Indeed, there was no such thing as a flawless coincidence in this world. Just as Ethan and he found themselves entangled in the chaotic web of public opinion orchestrated by Gabriel Cole and Aaron Sterling, almost simultaneously, stumbling blocks began to surface over on Felix Tate's end.
CORE truly lived up to its reputation as an organization that took root and flourished in the shadows; their methods of striking were neither noisy nor hasty. They resembled a colossal, venomous spider, slowly spinning an invisible web to enshroud all of Ethan's core connections. They understood perfectly well that to topple a massive, ancient tree like the Caldwell family, one could not simply take an axe to the trunk. Instead, one had to unearth and sever every single adventitious root clinging deeply within the soil.
