"Evadne!"


    Chad was usually a man of calm elegance and detached refinement, but right now, he hurried toward her with impatient desperation, as if nothing else in the world mattered.


    Watching the way he treated Evadne, Alexia pressed her lips into a thin, bloodless line. Jealousy churned like violent acid in her stomach.


    Why?


    Why her?!


    That bitch Evadne had driven Thaddeus—a man as untouchable as a high- mountain flower-into the dirt, making him risk his life for her time and time again. And now, their boss, a man of practically divine intellect who looked down on the entire world, was bending over backwards for her.


    She was a subus, born entirely to seduce and ruin men.


    Her mother must have been a shameless seductress too. The apple clearly didn''t fall far from the tree!


    Before Chad could even get close, Arnold and Bet physically blocked his path.


    Arnold''s eyes were bloodshot with absolute fury. He got right in Chad''s face. "You toxic bastard, you actually have the nerve to show up here?! What the hell did you give my dad? What is your game?!"


    Chad looked at them with wide, sincere eyes. "I want the Chairman to wake up just as badly as you do. We''re on the exact same side."


    Arnold let out a dark, mockingugh. "We''re on the same side? Are you out of your mind? We are his sons. You are nothing!"


    Alexia red at Arnold. "Watch your mouth! You don''t get to insult my boss like that!"


    Arnold didn''t even blink. "You''re nothing, too!"


    Alexia''s face flushed deep crimson. "You-!"


    Chad didn''t react at all. His dark, bottomless eyes gave away absolutely nothing.


    Standing next to Evadne, Elvis locked a dead-eyed stare on Chad. A freezing, lethal aura exploded from him. His massive fists clenched at his sides, his joints popping aggressively.


    Evadne took a deep breath and gently tugged on Elvis''s sleeve, signaling him to keep a level head.


    It wasn''t just because beating Chad to a bloody pulp wouldn''t help them find Elsie Archer.


    It was because she was genuinely terrified that this two-faced, venomous snake would retaliate by brutally torturing Elsie in her cell just to satisfy his bruised ego.


    He was absolutely capable of doing something that evil.


    Though he was the younger brother, Bet was significantly calmer than Arnold. He stepped forward, his handsome face carved from stone.


    "Mr. Abernathy, you can''t me my brother for pressing you. My father woke up, but he has no memory. He didn''t even recognize his own favorite daughter."


    Chad''s elegant face registered genuine shock. "Amnesia? How could that..."


    Behind him, Alexia hid a dark, twisted smirk.


    Evadne, youpletely deserve this.


    Thaddeus lost his ability to love you, and now the father who doted on you has forgotten you exist.


    Isn''t this karma for trying to steal Thaddeus and fighting against me?


    Just then, Mr. Larry walked over with the test results.


    "Mr. Larry, how is my dad?!"


    Evadne immediately rushed to the director, her bloodshot eyes blown wide. "Why did he lose his memory? It''s just temporary, right? Once he rests up, it will alkome back, wont it?!"  s?novels


    She peppered him with questions, desperately trying to hand him the only answer she could ept.


    Her left brain fought a war with her right brain.


    All her famous calm, rationality, and brilliance hadpletely failed her.


    She was agonizingly tearing herself apart from the inside out.


    "Ms. Evadne, I am so sorry."


    Mr. Larry looked deeply grim and let out a heavy sigh. "Forgive my ipetence. Chairman Emeric has awakened, but as for when his memories will retum I simply cannot guarantee anything."


    The entire family turned deathly pale.


    It was the absolutest thing they wanted to hear.


    "What do you mean... you can''t guarantee anything? There''s no timeline?!" Evadne couldn''t hold


    back anymore. Her


    narse scream


    echoed down the barren hospital


    hallway.


    "It could be a month. It could be a year. Or it could be..."


    Evadne''s eyes were so red she looked like she was weeping blood. "Or it could be... never. Right?"


    Mr. Larry lowered his head, not daring to answer.


    A deafening ring echoed in Evadne''s ears.


    Her entire mind felt like it was detonating. The sky was crashing down; the earth


    was splitting open beneath her feet.


    A secondter, her vision faded to pitch ck. Her delicate body crumpled like a falling leaf, copsing lifelessly toward the floor.


    "Evadne!"