Hearing the shift in tone, Abby also dropped her voice to a whisper. "I gotta hand it to Gideon, the guy actually knows what he''s doing. He managed to dig up a solid lead."


    Her voice dropped even lower. "We''re almost one hundred percent sure Joshua is the one who took Sellers Burton. But as for where he''s holding him, we need to keep digging. The problem is... Gideon has to leave. Even if we bring in new people, we can''t hand off something this sensitive to rookies."


    Abby paused. "Star, what if we asked Neville Connolly to look into it?"


    "No," Ste immediately vetoed the idea. "Joshua is too sharp. Neville might have some muscle in Solmaris, but it''s almost impossible to pull one over on Joshua. Plus, it''s a thankless job. If Joshua finds out Neville is digging around for Sellers behind his back, he might think Neville is trying to drive a wedge between us."


    Abby had to admit that made sense. "But with Gideon gone, our own people are tied up, and we can''t outsource it... Are we just going to drop the whole thing with Sellers?"


    Ste stared at herputer screen, her eyes darkening. "Leonard Lerman''s shares might be frozen, but I can still mobilize some of his personnel. When ites to intelligence gathering, the Lerman family''swork is definitely superior."


    Abby paused, stunned. "You''re... you''re going to use Leonard''s people?"


    "Why not?"


    "I just thought you''d never touch anything that belonged to him," Abby muttered. Ste let out a dry, self-deprecatingugh. "We''re going to need Mr. Burton''s help down the line, which means we have to find Sellers before Joshua does something irreversible. The longer this drags out, the higher the chance Sellers ends up dead. Since our hands are tied, using Leonard''swork is the only y we have left. I signed the paperwork epting those assets; there''s no point in acting high and mighty about it now."


    After wrapping up the details with Abby, Ste hung up.


    With Gideon gone, she was desperately short-handed. She quickly selected a few promising candidates and sent the list back to Abby for initial screening.


    Abby worked fast. By the next day, she had a shortlist ready, urging Ste to pick three girls to start immediately.


    After conducting the interviews at


    the office, Ste hired three young, highly trained women to help shoulder Abby''s workload.


    Vel


    Whenever Ste needed to go & and Joshua was busy, these three would handle her security and tránsportation.


    Time ticked by. Dr. Winter proposed several treatment ns that got the green light from taurel Quinn and Dr Chase, but the actual results were negligible. Ste''s anxiety continued to mount.


    She never stopped looking for other specialists, but the moment they


    heard the name ''Gardner,'' they


    outright refused. The Gardner


    family''s gic illness was an open


    secret in the medical world. Over the


    years the family had spared no had spared no


    expense hunting down every top


    doctor on the-even Mr.


    Burton had been flown in-but


    nothing worked. A gic w was


    baked into the DNA; it simply


    couldn''t be cured.


    One night, deep into the early hours, Ste was jolted awake by the buzzing of her phone.


    She instinctively reached behind her, only to find the other side of the bedpletely empty.


    Her sleepiness vanished in an instant.


    Where was Joshua?


    She flipped on the bedsidemp. The clock read 1:00 AM.


    The room was dead silent. Joshua was nowhere to be found.


    Was he in the study workingte?


    Ste picked up her phone to see if he had texted her, only to find a notification for an unread email.


    Who would be emailing her at this hour?