?Chapter 1431:


    The car door flew open, slicing through the rain. Kiley staggered out, her steps uneven, the downpour instantly ruining the wless makeup she had so carefully applied. Her body was taut with tension, and naked fear flickered in her eyes.


    She was consumed with worry for her younger brother, the anxiety gnawing at her without mercy. At the same time, she had nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. Across Wront, Kolton’s eyes seemed to be everywhere. Hiswork of spies formed an invisible, tightening by the second, pressing down with a suffocating sense of being watched.


    Raegan was still missing. Kiley had called again and again, only to be met with silence each time. Raegan — her most trusted assistant, the person she relied on without question — had vanished as though she had been erased from the world. Worse still, Kiley could not reach her security team at all. That had never happened before. Not once. The message was unmistakable: she waspletely alone, her defenses stripped away, her ws cut to the bone.


    If she ran into her father’s covert operatives under these conditions, she would have almost no ability to resist. Even with a gun in her hand, Kiley knew it would make little difference against those ruthless enforcers who never showed mercy.


    She needed protection. She needed something solid enough to stand against the storm closing in on her.


    At udius’s side, at least, there was a fully armed, rigorously trained special operations team — her younger brother’s final trump card. And now, they were likely her greatest lifeline. Perhaps her only one.


    Standing beneath the relentless rain, Kiley drew a deep breath. Cold air flooded her lungs, washing through her chest and clearing the fog in her mind, if only slightly. She trusted her judgmentpletely. udius would never abandon her. He was her only family left.


    She shut the car door behind her and hurried toward the hospital entrance, her high heels striking the wet pavement in sharp, frantic clicks. Her figure looked disheveled against the rain-soaked night, yet there was a stubborn, desperate resolve in the way she moved.


    Meanwhile, inside the CEO’s office at Cooper Group headquarters, Kolton sat on a leather sofa facing the massive floor-to-ceiling window. Aptop rested before him, a recorded video ying across the screen.


    The footage showed Kiley inside the office — opening the USB drive, scrolling through the ssified files, terror and fury inly written across her face. Kolton watched without blinking, his expression as dark and heavy as the sky before a violent storm.


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    Kiley would never have imagined that herptop had been tampered with long ago by covert operatives. Hidden within it was top-tier surveince software capable of recording every screen movement and transmitting it directly to Kolton’s terminal. Within Cooper Group, secrets did not exist — not even for his own daughter.


    When the video ended, Kolton closed his eyes. His brows drew together, the deep line between them cutting across his face like a wound that refused to heal. He felt as though he were standing at the edge of an abyss, suspended between stepping back and throwing himself forward. If he did nothing — if Kiley leaked the evidence — Cooper Group would copse beyond saving. But if he acted, it meant ending his own daughter’s life with his own hands.


    He let out a slow breath. When his eyes opened again, thest trace of warmth had vanished, reced by pure, merciless rationality.


    He turned to the covert operative standing nearby and asked, his voice rough. “What did Thomas say?”


    The man’s face was nk, as lifeless as a statue. “He said to handle it yourself. You already know which choice to make.”


    Kolton’s hands curled into tight fists, his nails biting into his palms as heart and duty shed inside him. Yet in reality, barely a second passed before the struggle ended. He had already chosen. When family interest and blood ties stood opposed, he had always chosen the former. And that choice meant sacrificing Kiley to preserve Cooper Group — to protect everything he had built.


    “Find the USB drive,” Kolton ordered, his voice saturating the office with unmistakable killing intent. “Eliminate anyone who hase into contact with it.” He paused. “Including Kiley.”


    “Yes, sir,” the operatives answered in unison, their voices resonating through the room, the air thick with lethal resolve.


    Just then, the operative responsible for monitoring spoke up, his fingers moving rapidly over the keyboard. “Located her. Kiley’s car has just arrived at the private hospital under Cooper Group.”


    Kolton’s gaze darkened instantly.


    The hospital? Why would she go there?


    In the next heartbeat, a terrifying possibility detonated in his mind. She had taken the USB drive to udius. No — udius could not be allowed to see what was inside. Even if he never opened it, the operatives would still consider him a knowledgeable party, and that alone would mark him for elimination.


    Kolton had to stop Kiley from making contact with udius, and fast. Losing Kiley was one thing. But he could not afford to lose udius as well. If that happened, both of his heirs would be gone.


    He shot to his feet, intending to intervene himself.


    But it was already toote. The operatives had rushed out ahead of him.


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