?Chapter 1467:


    “I am fine…” She hesitated, her breath catching. Her voice came out rough, scraped raw. “Chris… he…”


    She never finished. Zoey cut in immediately, relief spilling through her words. “Thank goodness. I have been worried sick. Has Chris been taking care of you? If he dared let you get hurt, I will give him a piece of my mind…”


    The rest faded into the background. A memory mmed into Maia’s mind without mercy.


    The sharp crack of gunfire. The metallic stench of blood. And Chris — moving without hesitation — stepping into her path, his body absorbing the bullet meant for her.


    She remembered his eyes in that moment. Unyielding. Resolute. And unmistakably filled with affection.


    Maia’s lips parted, but no sound emerged. Her throat felt stuffed with cotton, heavy and suffocating. She could not force a single word past it.


    She reached out instead and pressed the window button down. Cold air surged into the car, whipping against her face.


    “Is something wrong? Did Chris fail to take care of you properly? Give him the phone — I’ll talk to him myself.” Zoey’s voice rose again,ced with the protectiveness only an elder could carry.


    Outside, the wind howled, carrying with it the damp scent of rain-soaked earth. Maia didn’t know why, but her eyes suddenly burned, tears blurring her vision. The frustration, fear, and sorrow she had suppressed for so long finally burst through the dam she had built.


    “Chris… he’s gone.”


    Her voice cracked, a sob breaking free despite every effort to contain it.


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    Her words carried a double meaning. Chris wasn’t only gone in body — his heart seemed to have vanished with that surgery. The man who had once looked at her with unmistakable love no longer existed.


    On the other end of the line, silence fell.


    Zoey sensed immediately that something was terribly wrong, and her tone turned solemn. “What happened? Where did Chris go? Take your time. Tell me everything.”


    Maia drew in a shaky breath.


    Under normal circumstances, she would have faced any crisis withposure, locking her emotions away no matter how violently they churned. But now, with Zoey’s concern flowing steadily through the phone, every facade Maia had painstakingly built copsed. It felt as though a hollow had been carved straight through her heart.


    The wet wind roared into the car, rattling softly against the ss. Still, she knew she couldn’t afford to drown in grief. There were too many unanswered questions. Too many things left to do.


    Maia tightened her grip on the phone, forced her breathing steady, and briefly exined everything that had happened.


    When she finished, a loud thud echoed through the line — as if Zoey had mmed her fist onto a table. Her anger was unmistakable.


    “I am familiar with the situation now.” After a brief pause, Zoey spoke again, her voice calmer and gentler, like a soft hand pressing against Maia’s raw nerves. “I’ll have Siena take a team to South Lake Park to assist you. But before Siena arrives, you must not go in alone — no matter what. Whether it’s a trap or something else entirely, you must be extremely cautious. Your safetyes first.”


    Maia’s fingers tightened around the steering wheel, her knuckles whitening. She did not answer.


    Zoey seemed to read the silence. After a moment, she continued more softly, “Do not worry about Chris for now. I will pull every string I have. If he is still in Wront — or even if he is still on this — I will find him.”


    Her tone sharpened with focus. “As for this Mr. M you mentioned, I have no impression of him, which suggests a false identity. However, you said one of his subordinates is a well-known oil tycoon. That is enough. I can trace him through that connection.”


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