?Chapter 624:


    Her anger momentarily forgotten, Elliana stilled. Curiosity slipped in.


    “What is it?”


    A slow smile spread across Cole’s face as he pulled a ring from his breast pocket.


    Even at a nce, Elliana knew it was an antique of incalcble value.


    Just then, the car rolled to a stop outside the gates of Regal Grove.


    Myles and the driver stepped out, closing the car doors gently to give the two privacy.


    Leaning against the gate of Regal Grove, Damian hesitated. He wasn’t sure whether to open the gate.


    Cole turned the ring over between his fingers.


    “This ring is over two thousand years old. It’s the only one of its kind in the world—impossible to replicate. Whoever wears it controls all of ze Wildfire.”


    Then, his eyes met hers, intense and unflinching.


    “You’ve heard of ze Wildfire, haven’t you? The powerful force in the Delta?”


    Elliana’s eyes lingered on the ring in Cole’s hand, a dry, brittleugh almost escaping her lips. Had he really just asked if she was aware of ze Wildfire? Aware? She knew them far too well.


    Since the day she’d founded Thorn Rose, ze Wildfire had hounded and hunted her group, nearly annihting her forces more times than she could count. Carving her organization from the chaos of Delta’s unforgiving wilderness had been a grueling battle, marked by a gauntlet of near-death experiences—all orchestrated by ze Wildfire.


    In Delta, the leader of ze Wildfire—ze Wraith—was her unrelenting foe, the shadow that haunted her every step. The trials she’d suffered because of ze Wraith were carved deep into her soul. She loathed ze Wraith with an intensity that could scorch the earth, often imagining what it would feel like to finally eliminate him. If she ever managed to kill ze Wraith, she’d preserve that bastard’s head in a ss jar and curse it whenever frustration gnawed at her.


    And now, ze Wraith—the figure she despised more than any other, the embodiment of her deepest fury—turned out to be Cole, the man she had hopelessly fallen in love with. The irony hit so hard it nearly stole her breath.


    A raw, mirthless chuckle broke free from Elliana atst.


    “Cole… you’re truly ze Wraith?”


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    “Yes. I am,” Cole said, sinceritycing every word. “Back in Podgend, when I sensed the rpse creeping in, I didn’t waste a second—I filed for divorce. I gave the ring to Myles and told him that if anything happened to me, he should bring it to you. This ring… with it, the entire ze Wildfire empire has your back.”


    Unaware of the storm unraveling inside her, Cole continued to bare his soul.


    “In Delta, Thorn Rose has always been our greatest enemy. I spent years trying to destroy them—every resource, every weapon I had, I used against them. But their leader… Death Thorn… she was unlike anyone I’d ever faced. Sharp. Unpredictable. No matter how many traps I set, I could never win. At best, we ended in a draw. Recently, when I was ambushed by the Phantom Mercenaries in Podgend, it was she who saved me. She didn’t know I was ze Wraith and only intervened because she adored Jason. Anyway, I owe her my life. That’s why ze Wildfire stepped back from everypetition with Thorn Rose. For her sake.”


    Elliana’s mind clicked into ce. So, the sudden withdrawal of ze Wildfire hadn’t been a calcted tactic—it was a favor returned. A quiet, personal act of…


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