?Chapter 851:


    Jason alone maintained hisposure, greeting Cole with characteristic respect. “Cole.”


    Cole returned the acknowledgment with a brief nod before his attention shifted to Ruben. Ruben met Cole’s gaze, his weathered features twisted with conflicted emotions. “Let’s retreat upstairs and speak privately.”


    Cole moved without hesitation, extending his arm to steady Ruben as they climbed the stairs together.


    Within the second-floor study’s oak-paneled sanctuary, Ruben imed the sofa’s mostmanding position, his gaze never leaving Cole’s face. Ruben carried the weight of knowing that Eva had slipped into Cole’s roomte one night, that they had spoken for a while before she fled into the night. This knowledge had gnawed at him relentlessly.


    Decades ago, Eva had shattered Ruben’s heart and dragged the Evans family name through an unspeakable scandal. The agonizing decision to cast her out, made alongside Jarrett’s iron resolve, had demanded every ounce of Ruben’s patriarchal strength. As the previous head of…


    The Evans dynasty, he never retreated from his pronouncements. He had severed all ties with his daughter, epting that chapter as permanently closed. Yet, here stood Cole, his memory fragmented like shattered ss, engaged to Eva’s adopted daughter. This twist of fate had woven the Evans bloodline back into Eva’s orbit.


    Should Wanda be Cole’s wife, Eva’s return to the Evans family fold would prove inevitable. Had Eva married beneath her station, thisplication would barely register. Instead, she had allied herself with the Campbell dynasty, a house wielding equal power and influence. This delicate bnce teetered on a razor’s edge. One miscalcted move could ignite a devastating war between the two families. The Evans n harbored no desire to make an enemy of the Campbells, much less engage in a blood feud that could destroy both houses.


    Unfortunately, sharing theseplexities with Cole was out of the question. Elliana’s final instructions before departing Ublento had been unambiguous. Cole was in a fragile state of mental reconstruction. His psyche required organic healing, free from external pressure. Forcing him to confront memories linked to his psychephrenia could shatter his progress entirely, erasing months of painstaking recovery.


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    Ruben observed Cole through the lengthening silence before releasing a weary sigh and summoning a brittle smile. “What weighs on your mind?”


    Cole’s brow creased as he studied his grandfather with growing intensity. When consciousness had first returned to him on that distant ind, his mother’s supposed dying wish had consumed his every thought, blinding him to the subtle currents swirling around him. Now, with a clearer perspective, he recognized how strangely his father and grandfather had been acting ever since.


    His grandfather had always been such a vibrant force. He couldmand the room effortlessly with his formidable authority when circumstances demanded it, but those moments were rare exceptions. Typically, he embodied perpetual youth—quick with clever jokes, delighting in teasing the younger generation, and asionally feigning wounded pride to get his way. But those days had vanishedpletely. Now, his grandfather wore sorrow like a second skin. Even his smiles appeared hollow, mere masks concealing a bone-deep exhaustion that seemed to drain his very essence.


    The change extended beyond his grandfather. His father’s transformation was equally disturbing. Not once since awakening had he witnessed his father’s genuine smile. The man wandered through each day, consumed by invisible burdens, lost inbyrinthine thoughts.


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