Tyler rushed over, tearing a strip of cloth from his shirt to bind James’s bleeding palms before hauling him upright.
“Your <b>back’s </b>bleeding too…”
He caught sight of the darkening bruise around the wound, and when his eyes flicked to fames’s lips, they were tinged with purple.
A heavy dread sank into Tyler’s gut. “James.. are you poisoned?”
“I’m fine… need to find my mother.” James forced the words out, teeth clenched against the pain. staggered back toward the room.
Tyler followed close behind–and then she appeared before them.
“My son… Harrison…”
He
Kelly caught her boy as he stumbled, her tears falling freely. Tyler’s chest tightened at the sight. After years of searching, she was real. She was here.
“Madam, it’s really you. Tyler said, his voice breaking with relief. “We finally found you. Please<b>, </be with us
<b>now</b><b>!</b><b>” </b>
Kelly nodded through tears. Together they supported James down the stairs and out of the suffocating castle.
But the moment they crossed the threshold, James’s strength failed him. He copsed unconscious.
“James! James!”
“Harrison!”
“I’ll carry him,” Tyler barked, slinging James onto his back. He hurried across the grounds, Kelly at his side, until they reached their hidden <b>car</b>.
Heid James carefully across the back seat. Kelly climbed in, clutching her son’s hand, unwilling to let go.
Before starting the engine, Tyler dialed Sebastian. His voice was urgent, but triumphant: they had found Kelly.
On the other end, Sebastian and his team were scouring another part of the ind. The moment he heard, his entire group lit up.
“You found her? Bring her <b>back </b>at once!”
Sebastian immediately ryed the news to Caitlin.
“Are you serious? They found her?”
Caitlin sat rigid in the car beside Zeke, her heart leaping into her throat.
“Yes,” Sebastian said.
Buchere
Her eyes flooded. She clutched the phone, sobbing as <b>she </b>told Zeke, “Zeke, they found my mother! They really found her!”
Zeke’s jaw clenched, his eyes wet. “That’s incredible. The best news I’ve heard in years.” He ordered his men to turn back at once.
Before long, everyone converged at the hotel where they’d agreed to regroup. Caitlin and Sebastian waited. anxiously at the entrance.
Atst, headlights cut through the dusk. Tyler’s car pulled up, brakes squealing.
He leapt from the driver’s seat.
“Tyler!” Caitlin cried, running down the steps. “Is it true? Did you really find my mother?”
“We did. She’s here.”
He opened the door. Slowly, Kelly stepped out.
Caitlin froze.
The woman before her wore in clothes, her long hair spilling freely, her face changed by the years but still unmistakably hers. Time had altered the features, but not the bond of blood.
–
Four years of searching. Endless heartbreak. <b>And </b>now she was here.
Caitlin’s chest ached. Words failed her. Tears poured down her cheeks,
“Caitlin_”
Kelly’s <b>voice</b>, hoarse and lower than she remembered, carried her daughter’s name.
That voice–aged, wounded, but still her mother’s.
Caitlin shook, lips trembling, “Mom”
She broke into a run. Kelly’s arms opened wide.
Mother and daughter crashed together in an embrace, clinging desperately as sobs wracked their bodies.
Sebastian, Zeke, and the others stood back, their throats tightening at the sight. Even hardened men felt their eyes sting, Caitlin had her mother again.
When at <bst </b>Caitlin drew back, she cupped Kelly’s face, still weeping. “Mom, I finally found you. I finally found you….
Kelly’s tears mirrored hers. “Caitlin.”
TO:UB
Tue, Sep y O
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Then Caitlin thought of her brother. “Mom did you see Harrison? I found him too. He’s grown up now!
“I know. But Harrison.” Kelly’s voice faltered.
“What about Harrison?<b>” </b>
Before she could answer, Tyler hurried forward, rmed. “Mr. Vanderbilt! Madarn! James is injured, you need
toe!”
“Injured?”
Caitlin bolted toward the car. Sebastian and Zeke followed<b>. </b>
“Get him out, quickly!” <b>Sebastian </b>ordered.
Tyler and Vaughn lifted James from the back seat. His body was limp, blood smeared across his hands <b>and </b>shoulders.
Caitlin’s heart wrenched at the sight. She bent closer–and froze. The wound on his back was ringed with strange discoloration, veins spidering outward in an eerie, purple web.
“This isn’t just a wound. He’s been poisoned.”
Tyler’s face darkened. “Yes. During the fight in the castle, James was cut by that ck–d man. The de must’ve beenced with venom.
“Hospital. Now.” Sebastian didn’t waste a second.
They sped through Ebonreach Isle to the only hospital on the ind. Doctors rushed James into emergency
care.
Hourster, a physician emerged. “We’ve cleaned <b>and </b>stitched the wounds. We identified traces of hemolytic venom from Loxosceleseta. The amount was small, not fatal, and we administered treatment for it. But…” His voice faltered. “There are otherpounds in his blood. Unknown toxins. We don’t recognize them, and we have no antidote. I’m sorry.”
The words struck like a hammer.
Caitlin’s pulse roared in her ears. They had <b>found </b>her mother, only to risk losing her brother.
She forced herself to steady her voice. “At least it isn’t <b>lethal</b>–yet<b>. </b><b>But </b>if we don’t identify the rest…”
She clenched her fists. If only she’d studied longer under Aurelius, if only Alicia hadn’t cut her off. She might have had the knowledge to save him herself.
James was transferred to a ward, pale <b>and </b>still. Kelly sat by his side, wracked with guilt.
“This <b>is </b>my fault,” she whispered brokenly. “Harrison’s like this because of me…”
“Don’t me yourself, Mom,” Caitlin gripped her <b>hand</b>, her own eyes burning. “I’ll find a way. I swear I will.”
She examined James’s wounds again. The purplish veins spread outward, twisting like snakes beneath his skin. like a of poison weaving tighter with every hour.
Her chest clenched in helpless rage. Then–she thought of something
“I know two people who might be able to save <b>him</b>.”
Sebastian leaned in sharply. “Who?”
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