?Chapter 885:


    Just when hope seemed lost, Elena emerged, with Earle as her hostage.


    Lydia’s face brightened. “Elena, you pulled it off!”


    Lydia’s respect for Elena soared as she witnessed Elena handle the situation with suchposure.


    Elena held Earle in a tight grip, a dagger at his throat, and pushed him forward. Seeing Earle in captivity, the assassins halted, their faces a mix of shock and disbelief. Their leader had been captured by a woman? How could that even happen? Who was she?


    The assassins stared at Elena in shock, while Earle, the hostage, remained unfazed. “Everyone, stand down. Let them through,” he instructed calmly. The assassins didn’t dare defy Earle. They lowered their weapons, making way for the ops team.


    Outside, a helicopter awaited the ops team’s escape. As they emerged from the reservoir, they hurriedly secured the children aboard.


    Lydia, already on the helicopter, extended her hand to Elena. “Elena, grab my hand!”


    Elena kept the dagger tight against Earle’s throat, every muscle in her arm rigid. She wasn’t giving him a single inch—not for a heartbeat.


    The captives had been secured, and the ops team was preparing for extraction.


    Lydia’s nerves frayed as she shouted, “Elena,e on! Get up here, now!” The deputy team leader’s eyes swept over the ring of assassins closing in—easily a hundred strong. They needed to vanish. Now. Each heartbeat made escape less likely.


    “Miss Hunt, we have to move. If this goes bad, we’re all done.”


    Lydia never looked away from Elena. “Elena!”


    “You go first,” Elena’s words cut through the tension, her tone like steel. Lydia’s expression tightened as she shot back without pause. “No chance! We came in as a team—we’re leaving as one.”


    g?lnσνe??s is your update hub


    To Lydia, abandoning Elena simply wasn’t an option. She couldn’t understand why Elena kept refusing to move. But just as she opened her mouth to press the point, a faint voice cut through the noise and drew every eye.


    “Casper…” Lara huddled on the floor, skin ghost-pale and trembling. Despite her fear, her voice carried. “Miss… He’s still down there.”


    Lydia went still. Lara’s voice echoed like a p across her face—sharp, sudden, impossible to ignore. Amid the earlier whirlwind of gunfire and spilled blood, she’d let it slip from her mind. Lydia turned to Elena, eyes narrowing—and in that instant, everything clicked. Elena was staying for Casper.


    Without missing a beat, Lydia snapped at the deputy team leader, “Get the kids back to Houis. Elena and I will get Casper.”


    With that, Lydia leapt from the chopper. The deputy team leader lunged to stop her, but she was already gone.


    With both Lydia and Elena remaining behind, the door to escape mmed shut. “Miss Hunt…” The deputy team leader hesitated, jaw clenched, torn between protocol and instinct.


    “Quit stalling and go!” Lydia barked, her scowl carved in stone.


    Given no other option, the deputy team leader followed through. The helicopter rose, carrying them away from Avaloria.


    .


    .


    .