Karl hadn''t even made it through the doorway before someone blocked his path.


    A crisp, cool voice sounded from the side.


    "Mr. Burton, what exactly are you trying to do?"


    Karl shot Joshua a chilly nce and spat out a single word.


    "Move."


    Joshua only shrugged. "Sorry, don''t really know how. Care to teach me?"


    Karl had crossed paths with Joshua a few times before. He''d always pegged him as a pampered pretty boy. That was, until the time he''d tried to drag Candida away. Ste had stopped him, and when he tried to put her in her ce, this so- called pretty boy showed up.


    The memory made rage flicker red-hot in Karl''s eyes.


    Joshua might look wiry and delicate, but his skills were anything but. Karl''s hand still throbbed from where Joshua had driven a knife straight through it. He remembered Candida calling him Joshua.


    With this guy around, getting to Ste wasn''t going to be easy.


    A shadow of malice crossed Karl''s gaze. He''d have to find a way to get rid of Joshua.


    He turned away, fixing Ste with an icy re.


    "Ste, where are you hiding Sellers?"


    To Ste, the three of them-Sellers, Sherman Burton, and Karl-were all out of their minds. Anytime something went wrong, the mended squarely on her.


    Mr. Burton was the first to lose his patience. "Nonsense! Ste''s been in the hospital recovering for a month. How in the world could she have hidden Sellers? And what possible reason would she have for doing it?"


    Karl found himself momentarily speechless, unable to answer Mr. Burton''s questions.


    At that moment, Sherman hurried in, breathless. When he saw his grandfather in the room, his expression shifted. Mr. Burton was the one person he truly feared.


    Sherman straightened up immediately. "Grandfather."


    Mr. Burton barely nced at him. "Still haven''t found Sellers?"


    Mr. Burton was aware Sellers had gone missing, though he hadn''t mentioned it to Ste.


    Sherman stammered, "W-we''re still looking..."


    Mr. Burton narrowed his eyes. "So instead of searching, you alle here to interrogate Ste? She''s just been through a kidnapping and


    spent weeks in the hospital


    you


    suggesting Sellers'' disappearance is somehow connected to Ste''s


    abduction?"


    A sly old fox, Mr. Burton might have been entric and reclusive, but he certainly wasn''t stupid.


    Sherman''s nerves couldn''tpare to Karl''s or Sellers''. His gaze darted nervously around the room.


    "Well... I just..."


    Karl suddenly cut in. “Grandfather, Uncle Sherman wasn''t involved in the kidnapping. Leonard lured him out with a phone call. But thest trace of Sellers'' phone was at the exact same house where Ste was held. What are the odds of that?" Cóntent


    Mr. Burton frowned. "What are you implying?"


    Karl turned to Ste, his stare sharp as a de.


    "I''m saying Ste faked her own abduction—so she could kidnap Sellers herself!"


    Abby, who had just entered the room, caught Karl''s usation and couldn''t hold back. "Oh, give me a break! Faking her own kidnapping? Do you even hear yourself? Maybe you should ask Mr. Burton how badly Ste''s hand was hurt!"


    Karl scoffed. "No matter how bad her hand is it''s nothingpared to Sellers'' life! Sellers is the head of the Burton_family—if Ste didn''t injure herself how else could she make her story believable? And if I''m not mistaken, you still haven''t caught this so-called kidnapper, have you? Or is it that-"


    He paused, eyes locked on Ste, voice hard as steel.


    "—there was never a kidnapper to begin with?"