?Chapter 1269:


    For a heartbeat she imagined her mother—smiling, closing the distance, folding her into a warmth she hadn’t known in years. If only her mother were here… She swore she’d never be that motherless kid again.


    After they’d shipped her off to the countryside as a child, other kids had thrown stones and jeered, calling her unwanted. But she wasn’t unwanted—she’d just lost her mother for good. Her mother had loved her fiercely and had never intended to abandon her.


    Overwhelmed, Davina stepped forward, desperate to take back her mother’s ashes.


    Suddenly, ck vans screeched to a halt nearby and men poured out.


    Within seconds, she and her two guards were ringed by more than twenty hulking men.


    Her bodyguards fell into position, forming a shield around her.


    “Miss Morris, find a gap and get out of here. We’ll hold them off,” one of the guards ordered, his stare locked, fearless in the face of the neers.


    These weren’t ordinary thugs—these were professional muscle, a cut above the rest.


    A fight could easily overwhelm them and leave Davina exposed. Their priority was to protect her at all costs—Christina prized her, and they were ready to die for that.


    “You were sent by Christina to watch my back. I’m not leaving without you,” Davina said, her tone calm yet unyielding. She wasn’t walking into this meeting blind. Not this time.


    She’de prepared for every deceit the vile Murray family could muster.


    They’d caught her off guard before, but those days were gone. Her quiet determination lit a fire in her bodyguards’ eyes; their loyalty hardened into resolve.


    They would die before they let harme to her.


    Conrad gave a sharp, mockingugh. “None of you are leaving here alive!” he snarled, brushing past the men he’d summoned to surround them.


    Terence swaggered behind him, pride swelling in his chest. “That’s my boy! Brilliant move!” he crowed, pping Conrad on the shoulder.


    “Hand over the antidote, now—or we’ll make sure you regret it!” Nelly barked, squaring her shoulders and nting her hands on her hips.


    “Mom, don’t waste your breath. Let’s just take it from her,” Katy spat, her eyes zing with venom.


    The sting of humiliation from Morfort Restaurant still burned hot between her and her brother, and they were both thirsting for revenge.


    They wanted Davina to suffer—and the woman who’d dared apany her to the restaurant that day as well.


    “Exactly! We’ve got the numbers. What are we waiting for? Take it from her!” Terence said with a cruelugh.


    Davina tilted her head, a faint, mocking smile ying on her lips. “Do you really think I brought the real antidote?”


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