?Chapter 1475:


    Her rescue had been moments away. Why now? Why did everything crumble when she was almost free?


    Her hand stretched toward the distant shing light, fingers wing at nothing but rain and darkness. That light remained forever out of reach, taunting her like her own fate — always slipping from her grasp no matter how fiercely she fought.


    “It’s me.”


    Just as Kiley shut her eyes and braced herself for the end, a low, familiar voice cut through her panic. Though deliberately pitched low, she recognized it instantly.


    Falcon. udius’s most trusted team leader.


    He pressed her head firmly into the grass, shielding her from stray rounds. In swift, practiced motions, he stripped off his tactical vest and bulletproof jacket. “Put this on. Follow me.” His words were sharp and absolute.


    Then he was up, rifle raised toward the enemies closing in from behind. Gunfire ripped through the night, muzzle shes lighting the rain as heid down covering fire — his body a wall between Kiley and death as she pulled on the jacket that still held thest trace of his warmth.


    The team of special operatives closed ranks around her, forming a solid wall of protection. “Fall back! Cover her withdrawal!”


    The fierce engagementsted nearly an hour before the sporadic shots dwindled into an uneasy quiet, and silence gradually reimed the battered park.


    The downpour had finally ceased.


    In the east, the sky softened into a pale, bruised gray, heralding the approach of dawn. A new day was breaking, yet the air remained thick — saturated with the metallic scent of blood and the acrid tang of spent gunpowder.


    Maia stepped out from behind the bullet-riddled SUV, her sharp eyes sweeping the devastated field. There was not a single trace of Kiley.


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    “So it was Kiley’s trap all along,” she muttered, a cold sneer twisting her lips, a glint of bitter self-reproach in her eyes. She should have known better than to hope. That woman was poison — selfish, duplicitous, a nest of lies. Utterly unreliable.


    Maia concluded it had been Kolton’s n all along to draw her out.


    At that moment, Siena moved closer, her gaze fixed on the motionless shapes near the trees. A faint crease appeared between her brows. “They know what they’re doing,” she said, her tone detached, almost conversational. “The area’s clean — no identification, no markers. Has to be Kolton’s covert operatives.”


    “Covert operatives?” Maia seized on the unfamiliar term. It was the first she had heard of a secret organization within the Cooper family structure.


    Siena’sposure cracked for a fraction of a second. She blinked, a flicker of rm in her eyes, and her hand rose almost involuntarily to her mouth. She had said too much.


    Maia didn’t press. She understood that Zoey likely had reasons for keeping certain things sealed off.


    “Take me to Zoey,” she said tly instead. If Siena couldn’t talk, she would get her answers directly from the source. She already had too many questions weighing on her mind — one more wouldn’t tip the scales.


    Just then, the situation took an unexpected turn.


    A sudden movement erupted from the shadows near a scorched tree trunk. A covert operative, presumed dead, lunged with his remaining strength. A pistol gleamed in his right hand, its muzzle swinging unsteadily toward Maia’s exposed back.


    “Look out!” Siena’s shout cracked through the air like a whip. She didn’t hesitate — throwing her full weight against Maia and shoving her clear.


    As the operative’s finger tightened on the trigger, another sound split the dawn.


    The operative’s body jolted violently. His right arm seemed to vaporize in a mist of crimson, torn from his shoulder and hurled several yards away. An inhuman scream ripped from his throat.


    The shot hade from a high-powered sniper rifle.


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