Chapter 1393:


    Her brother’s voice echoed sharply in her mind. “I don’t have such a father.”


    She would never have imagined those wordsing from him. udius, who had worshipped their father since childhood. udius, who would’ve walked through fire for the man.


    Kiley’s eyes narrowed. Something ran deeper than the surface tension she had sensed. A fracture, not a disagreement. A truth she had never been told.


    Maybe she needed to ask her brother directly. After all, she had only pretended to ept the role of Cooper Group’s head. In her heart, she had always intended to return it to udius when the time was right.


    She started forward, intending to catch up, to demand answers, but the world ahead exploded into chaos. People who had rushed into the banquet hall now barreled back out in terror. A heartbeatter, smoke erupted from inside, thick and wing, followed by mes that roared upward as the wind fed them.


    “Fire! Run!” Voices scattered around her, frantic and raw.


    The wind whipped her hair andshed her face, carrying the acrid bite of burning debris.


    Kiley lifted her chin, and for a breath, the corners of her mouth curved faintly. The result wasn’t what she expected—but Maia, one way or another, was gone to the mes.


    Ahead, udius stumbled to a halt. His face drained of all color. “Maia… am I toote?” His voice cracked, a thread pulled too tight.


    His knees buckled, hitting the ground with a hollow thud.


    Before Kiley’s stunned eyes, the hair at his temples paled, bleaching into silver. In seconds, he looked a decade older—maybe more.


    In that moment, the strength drained out of udiuspletely. Fear. Devastation. A copse of everything holding him upright.


    His vision blurred, shrinking into darkness. His body swayed, and then fell sideways.


    “Sir!” The team leader lunged, arms catching him before he struck the pavement.


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    Kiley rushed forward, her breath catching. Legends spoke of lovers turning gray overnight from heartbreak—old stories, poetic illusions. Never real. Never this real.


    She grabbed the team leader’s arm, her voice trembling with urgency. “Tell me. What is happening to him?”


    “It’s the side effects,” he said, eyes sharp with worry. “He took X-079 just to get here in time. When we found him in the Cooper Estate’s dungeon, he’d been tortured almost to death—unrecognizable. Barely breathing.”


    The words hammered through her skull, each one striking a nerve she didn’t know existed.


    The team leader continued, lowering his voice. “He told me that… if anything happened to him, I should give you this.” He produced a USB drive, small and cold in his palm.


    Kiley’s breath hitched.


    The Cooper Estate’s dungeon? Tortured? Unrecognizable?


    Her voice wasn’t just shaken—it trembled with the dawning terror of a truth she had never suspected. “What did you just say? What dungeon?”


    The team leader pressed the USB drive into Kiley’s hand. “Your brother has been locked in the Cooper Estate’s dungeon this entire time. He never left Wront.”


    Kiley felt the ground drop beneath her. In that instant, the image she had always held of her father crumbled to dust. Her fingers shook as she epted the USB. She looked up at the man before her. “Is there still a chance to save udius?”


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