<b>Chapter </b><b>265 </b>
:
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When Briar turned to look for the man in ck, he had vanished, leaving only a pool of blood on the ground.
For a time, Briar believed the assassins had taken the man in ck, and she searched for him frantically.
She feared the man in ck would die in vain, just like the leader of their Hacker Alliance.
Later, the man in ck who took a bullet for her became a weight on her conscience, and she felt incredibly guilty whenever she thought of him.
In the end, Ashton revealed to her in the most direct way that he was the mysterious, super–rich man who had bought her form.
He was also the man in ck she had been looking for so many years…
Ashton exined everything to Briar, “That’s basically what happened. Connor and his men rescued me after I was injured. I wasn’t intentionally avoiding you.
“As you know, a gunshot wound takes a long time to heal.
“Besides, I was the future head of the Wade family back then, so I couldn’t let anyone know I was injured.
“So, I returned to the 121 overseas organization to recover and had no idea you were searching for me everywhere.”
Ashton’s voice grew more forlorn and emotional as he spoke, “Besides, if I had known you were so worried and searching everywhere for me, I would havee to you, even with my injuries…”
“Oh, give me a break,” Briar said irritably. “Why would you have looked for me? Didn’t you find meter? You used the identity of a mysterious billionaire to buy three vials of truth serum from me.”
Ashton fell silent, not daring to continue the conversation.
At the time, Briar was <b>just </b>a young girl, and he had approached her solely for the truth serum she possessed.
But of course, Ashton wouldn’t dare say that.
Briar was still fuming. She crossed her arms, tilted her chin up, and scrutinized Ashton. “Be honest. Are you hiding any other secrets from me?”
Ashton shook his head immediately and answered crisply, “Of course not.”
Briar was nomittal.
Sensing the right moment, Ashton asked, “Babe, do you have any other secret identities you haven’t told me about?<b>” </b>
Briar replied, “Of course I don’t!”
10:19 Mon, Sep <b>22 </b>
Her heart skipped a beat; she had nearly been tricked by Ashton.
Ashton nodded with some regret. “Fine. So we’ve confided in each other. No more secrets, right?”
Briar smiled. “Of course.”
Just then, Ashton’s phone rang.
It was a call from Connor.
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The excitement in Connor’s voice was evident even through the phone. “Ashton, Freddie has confessed.”
Ashton raised an eyebrow in surprise. He put his phone on speaker and asked, “Why the sudden confession? What did he confess?<b>” </b>
For Connor to be this excited, Freddie must have confessed Brody’s whereabouts.
‘But could this sudden confession be a trap?‘ he thought.
Connor said, “Ashton, Freddie confessed that Brody is hiding in Shoneport. He’s in seclusion, working on a new experiment. Word is he’s using a special universal blood type as a catalyst…”
As he spoke, Connor suddenly began to stammer, “Um, Ashton, is Briar there with you?”
Ashton nced at Briar, who was leaning in and listening intently. “She’s right here next to me. My phone is on speaker.”
This meant that even if Briar wasn’t beside him, she could still hear everything with the phone on speaker.
Connor immediately sounded hesitant, “Oh, Briar’s there too, huh?”
Briar frowned. “Connor, what Freddie confessed… is it about my mother’s cause of death?”
On the other end of the line, Connor’s breath caught, followed by two audible gasps. “Y… yes! You’re so smart,
Briar…”
The two sharp gasps undoubtedly came from Brandon and Ian.
It was clear this was no simple matter.
Without thinking, Briar lunged for Ashton’s phone, but he was too quick and pulled it out of her reach. Annoyed, she eximed, “Ashton!”
Ashton pulled the fuming girl into his embrace. “Rx. I’m not going to hide anything from you. We’ll listen together. Be good.”
Then, Ashton said in a low voice, “Connor, just say what you have to say.”
Connor hesitated. “Ashton, are you sure? You want me to say it outright?”
Ashton said, “Speak.”
Left with no choice, Connor recounted everything Freddie had confessed, holding nothing back.
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“ording to Freddie’s confession, thetest experiment Brody is working on requires a special blood type as a medicinal catalyst. The source of this blood type is the drug they fed to the first batch ofb rats twenty
years ago…”
Briar kicked over the mahogany coffee table, sending everything on it crashing to the floor.
With her medical background, Briar immediately understood what Connor left unsaid.
“Connor, how did they get my mother’s blood?” A chill ran through Briar, and her voice trembled.
A terrible premonition crept up from the soles of her feet to her heart… ‘No, that’s impossible. No matter how ruthless the Lopez family is, they would never do something like this,‘ she thought.
The three men on the other end of the line held their breath. Connor, feeling utterly helpless, didn’t dare answer Briar directly. “Madam, we haven’t confirmed it yet…”
Briar said, “Tell me exactly what Freddie said.”
“Mr. Wade…” Connor panicked. Even through the phone, he could feel Briar’s bone–chilling coldness.
Ashton was a shrewd man, so he could hear the hesitation in Connor’s voice. However, he knew Briar had to find out sooner orter.
“Just repeat his exact words.” Ashton pulled Briar back to his side, wrapping an arm around her waist to prevent another outburst.
“Alright, here it goes.” Connor took a deep breath. “ording to Freddie’s confession, all the blood was drained from Rosalia’s body within half an hour of her death…”
“My grandfather was there. How did they take my mother’s blood right under his nose?” Briar’s voice was still cold, but at least she had calmed down.
But Ashton’s expression was grave. Her sudden outburst was still a cause for concern.
Connor struggled to get the words out. “Freddie said… he said that Mr. Jennings agreed…”
The other end of the line went silent.
The biggest blow to Briar wasn’t that Brody had hidden Rosalia’s blood to use as a medicinal ingredient, but Connor’sst sentence.
“My grandfather agreed?” she murmured. “He agreed to let the Lopez family drain all of my mom’s blood
after she died?!”