?Chapter 1568:


    Siena’s heart skipped. She quickly caught up, lowering her voice. “Did something happen?”


    Maia stopped short. After a brief pause, she drew in a steadying breath. “It’s nothing. I ran into Chris.”


    Siena’s brows knitted together. Maia had met Chris—then where was he now? Why hadn’t he followed her out? Had they argued? As Zoey’s closest aide, Siena knew better than anyone how tangled things were between the two of them. Even so, something about this felt wrong. Chris had once treasured Maia above all else. How had he be someone so indifferent? This needed to be reported to Zoey immediately.


    Lost in their own thoughts, the two walked side by side toward the ck sedan waiting at the mouth of the alley. No one spoke. Once inside, the door shut with a muted thud, sealing off the noise of the street.


    Maia seemed to reach a conclusion. She turned toward Siena. “After you drop me off, I need you to help me look into something.”


    Siena nodded without hesitation. “Of course. What is it?”


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    Maia looked out the window as the city lights slid past, her voice settling into its usual calm. “Chris asked me something strange just now. He wanted to know if we’d met when we were young. But my memories from that time are unclear—it’s been too many years.” She paused, her eyes sharpening slightly. “Check whether Chris ever attended any of the Morgan family’s private gatherings back then. Or whether there’s any chance we crossed paths at another event.”


    Back then, she had been the Morgan family’s overlooked daughter. Even though Richard and Sandra were often absent, they had still taken her and Jarrod to various elite functions, carefully maintaining the image of a united family.


    Chris’s attitude earlier had infuriated her. Which woman, ced in that situation and spoken to like that, could truly remainposed? But once her emotions cooled, reason slowly returned. Why was Chris so fixated on that question? Was he trying to find someone through her? Or—


    An absurd idea surfaced.


    Could it be that his recent avoidance—even the so-called divorce settlement—stemmed from some unpleasant memory from childhood? Had she bullied him back then?


    Maia scratched her nose awkwardly at the thought. In her younger years, desperate for Richard and Sandra’s attention, she had built a reputation for causing trouble at parties. Still, as far as she could remember, her antics had been harmless enough. Once, she had secretly added extra wasabi to the desserts, watching a row of polished young gentlemen struggle to maintain theirposure.


    Chris couldn’t possibly be that petty—could he? Holding a childhood grudge over a mouthful of wasabi? Maia shook her head, dismissing the thought as absurd.


    At the same time, within The Mask’s hidden base, Chris stepped inside with an air of cold resolve. He had intended to look in on Laurence before heading straight to Elysium Apartments.


    But the moment he entered the hall, Grayson approached, his expression tight. “There’s a problem, sir.”


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