Hans watched her storm off, his lips pressed into a thin line.


    ...


    After sessfully escaping the hospital, Evadne jumped into the car, and Jason sped away. Noticing her pale face and colorless lips, he asked with concern, "Ms. Evadne, did you find John? Was he in there? How is he?"


    Evadne was still lost in her turbulent thoughts, her dark eyes heavy.


    "Ms. Evadne, are you alright?" Jason asked, raising his voice slightly.


    "She turned around..."


    Jason was confused. "Who?"


    Evadne looked up, her gaze sharp as a de. "I called her Acacia. She turned around."


    A screech of tires tore through the night as the car jerked to a stop on the side of the road.


    After hearing Evadne''s story, Jason was filled with a mixture of anger and shock, his fingers gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles turned white. "Ms. Evadne, she answered to the name? Does that mean... she really is Acacia, after all the stic surgery?"


    "The hallway was silent. If you call out a name, most people will turn around out of curiosity. But Alexia''s reaction was different." Evadne closed her eyes, her knuckles white. “She looked... surprised. Almost panicked."<fn623b> This text is hosted at </fn623b>


    "She went through all that trouble to change her identity and start over. Of course she''d want to keep her past buried," Jason gritted out. "But she lived as ''Acacia'' for her entire life. You can''t just forget that. Hearing her real name unexpectedly, her reaction would have been instinctive!"


    A flood of information overwhelmed Evadne''s mind. "Acacia became Alexia, Chad''s personal doctor. If Chad is Sir,'' then Alexia and Avery are his right and left hands. They came back to Elmsworth to stir up- trouble. They''re hiding John for some hidden purpose, and that hospital, with all those dying


    patients... it''s all part of some dark, terrifying conspiracy."


    After all, the human drug trials that had once terrified Elmsworth had been traced back to Avery. Now, it seemed the true puppet master was likely Chad.


    Evadne pictured Chad''s gentle, refined face and felt a chill creep down her spine. That seemingly innocent facade was like a mask hiding a nest of vipers.


    What was Chad nning? If he wanted the Abernathy Group, he could have just targeted Thaddeus. What was all this for?


    "Ms. Evadne, that hospital is bad news! Should we call Mr. Ashbourne? Get the police involved?" Jason asked urgently.


    "No, not yet. We can''t tip our hand," Evadne said, shaking her head grimly. "If they''re bold enough to do all this, you can bet they have contingencies. They have people in the prison; what''s to say they don''t have contacts in the police force? The moment the police move in, that hospital will be empty. We''ll lose our chance to catch them for good."


    "Then what do we do?" Jason sighed in frustration.


    Evadne''s voice was low. "Chad''s uncle, Mason, is serving his sentence in the Fifth Penitentiary, right?"


    "Yes. And Ms. Evadne, when you asked me to look into him, I found out he''s being held as a special psychiatric inmate under maximum security. Only his direct family can visit him."


    A heavy silence fell. Then, a spark ignited in Evadne''s mind. She shot up in her


    seat. "Ah! That''s it! Of course!"


    A solid *thump* followed as her head hit the car''s ceiling, bringing tears to her eyes.


    "What''s it?!" Jason asked, desperate to know.


    Evadne rubbed her head, a brilliant light shining in her eyes. "It''s a distraction... a ssic bait and switch!"