?Chapter 1599:


    Dominic waited, convinced she would beg.


    Instead, Maia walked straight to the bedside without saying a word. She reached out, unplugged the red call-bell cord, and deliberately ced the button at the foot of the bed—well beyond his reach.


    “You—” Dominic froze. “What do you think you’re doing?”


    Maia brushed her hands together calmly and met his stare. “General Watson, you really need to rest now. For the next hour, no one wille into this room. Joshua’s gone to get your medication, and the nurses won’t disturb you.” She paused, her tone clinical and precise. “In an hour, I’ll arrange for a doctor to check on you. So don’t worry—nothing will go wrong.”


    “You!” Dominic’s eyes flew wide.


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    He hadn’t seen thising. Not even remotely. Just minutes ago, he had been deciding how to deal with her. Instead of yielding, she had returned solely to iste himpletely.


    This was confinement.


    “What exactly are you trying to pull?” Dominic exploded in fury.


    Maia met Dominic’s stare calmly, her eyes steady and unruffled. “The doctor has already briefed me on your condition,” she said evenly. “You require absolute quiet and uninterrupted rest.”


    She yed her role wlessly, her voice dropping into the same stern cadence Dominic himself once used—repeating his own words back to him without mercy. “This is for your own good.”


    It sounded sincere, convincingly so, like genuine concern for an ailing grandfather.


    Dominic hesitated, uncertainty flickering across his face. Was she truly worried about him? His thoughts drifted to thest time he had fallen ill in Drakmire. The doctors had given the same instruction then—no stress, no visitors,plete istion.


    For a fleeting moment, he wavered. Perhaps her concern was real. Or perhaps she wasying the groundwork to bargain for Chris.


    Before he could reach a conclusion, Maia had already turned her back on him.


    “Rest well,” she said tly.


    With that, she stepped out, the door closing quietly behind her.


    Dominicy frozen. Did she just leave? Just like that?


    The silence pressed in, thick and unsettling. Staring up at the ceiling, he felt a vague unease coil in his chest—something wasn’t right.


    Maia hadn’t left the hospital grounds.


    She moved quickly toward a secluded red-brick building tucked behind the mainplex—a temporary detention facility. Everything she had done earlier had been deliberate. A calcted dy. If Dominic managed to contact Cade or issue a transfer order, it would all be over.


    Ten minutes ago, her tech specialist had already traced Chris’s position through the phone she’d slipped back to him. By sheer coincidence, he was nearby—on the third floor of this very building.


    Maia stopped beneath the shadow of dense shrubs and dialed a secure number.


    “How long until the audio model is ready?” she asked in a low, urgent whisper.


    Earlier, she had intentionally provoked Dominic, drawing him into extended speech. Every word, every inflection—captured.


    “Almost there,” came the reply, fingers ttering furiously in the background. “Give me ten minutes.”


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