?Chapter 1426:


    A sharp metallic snap shattered the silence.


    The lock on the office door released. The heavy wooden door inched open, revealing a thin slice of darkness — like a watchful eye cracking open.


    Kiley immediately crouched low, taking cover behind the broad desk. Her grip on the pistol tightened until her knuckles went white. Her heartbeat thundered so loudly she could hear nothing else, each pulse like a hammer striking inside her skull. Adrenaline flooded her veins. Her chest burned with every breath.


    She clenched her teeth and forced her breathing steady. She was ready. She would shoot the moment they entered. It was them or her.


    The air itself turned thick and heavy, a suffocating pressure that made every breathborious.


    Time stretched grotesquely.


    One second. Two seconds. Ten seconds.


    Still nothing. No footsteps. No breathing. The door hung open just slightly, and silence draped the room like a shroud.


    What was going on?


    Kiley’s heart leapt into her throat. Cold sweat gathered at her temples and slid down, dripping onto her hand and icing her skin. Had they discovered something? Or had she missed a sound in her hyper-alert state? The unknown was worse than death.


    More seconds crawled by.


    Kiley held her breath and slowly tilted her head, peering around the edge of the desk. Her eyes swept the dim room. The office door now stood wide open, as if nudged by an invisible hand. Nothing else seemed out of ce.


    She inhaled deeply, swallowing down the rising dread, then sprang to her feet with both hands on the gun and the barrel aimed straight ahead. Her steps were feather-light, each one a careful dance along a razor’s edge as she approached the door. At the threshold, she lunged forward in one swift motion, sweeping the gun left, then right.


    The corridor was empty.


    Pale, eerie light stretched across the deserted hall. Not a soul in sight.


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    “Damn it,” Kiley muttered, her voice echoing faintly, disbelief bleeding into her tone.


    A wave of pure, disorienting dread hit her. This wasn’t right. None of it was right. The sound of the door unlocking had been unmistakable. The sense of being watched had been so real it had prickled her skin. Someone had been there — so why had they vanished without a trace? Was it a warning? A game of cat and mouse?


    She couldn’t piece it together, but every instinct screamed that this ce was dangerous. The very air tasted like death.


    She needed to leave. Now.


    Without hesitation, Kiley holstered her gun and sprinted to the elevator. Her fingers jabbed the down button repeatedly. The doors slid open and she rushed inside, hammering the close button over and over. As the doors shut, she sagged against the wall, the tension draining from her limbs for just a moment.


    The elevator began its descent.


    Back in the CEO’s office, behind the still-open door, a panel slowly shifted. From the shadows, a pair of eyes emerged — cold and mocking, fixed on the direction of the descending elevator.


    Rain hammered the night outside the Cooper Estate. Though the living room zed with light, a cold, sinister aura filled every corner of it.


    Kolton sat in the high-backed chair at the head of the room, a porcin mug in hand. The coffee was a rich, deep brown, steam curlingzily upward. He took a sip,pletely at ease — like a man watching a particrly engaging performance.


    Before him, the servants and guards he’d had doused with cold water knelt on the marble floor, shivering violently. Teeth chattered in rhythmic bursts. Around them, fully armed covert operatives in ck stood motionless, weapons trained on the trembling group. At the very fronty two bodies, each shot cleanly through the forehead. Charred bullet holes marred their skulls, and blood pooled behind their heads, spreading across the pristine white marble like grotesque crimson flowers blooming in snow.


    Vivid. Merciless.


    The nauseating blend of blood and coffee hung in the air. Kolton set his mug down with a decisive click that rang through the silent room like a thunderp. His sharp gaze swept over the cowering servants.


    “The mole. Who is it?” he asked, his voice utterly cold.


    Foreheads pressed to the floor, the servants trembled, their backs soaked with sweat. Silence pressed down until it crushed. Atst, someone broke.


    A young staff member raised his head, tears streaming down his face. “Mr. Cooper, it wasn’t me. I’ve always been loyal — please —”


    A gunshot tore through the air, cutting off his plea mid-breath. A neat hole appeared in his forehead, and his body copsed backward with a heavy thud. Another corpse on the floor.


    Sobs and muffled wails rippled through the group. Kolton didn’t blink. He extended his hand, and an operative stepped forward immediately to refill his coffee. He took another sip, warmth sliding down his throat, his eyes growing colder still.


    udius was cunning. Escaping right under his nose had been quite an aplishment. But Kolton would never tolerate anyone prying into his territory — especially not now.


    He had attended the charity g deliberately, taking all his covert operatives with him, confident the Cooper Estate was imprable. Even without them, no outsider should have been able to get in. Yet reality had pped him across the face.


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