Chapter 405 Bloodline Revealed

    Chapter 405 Bloodline Revealed

    、 (35)

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    Everett’s pupils widened, disbelief crashing across his face like a rogue wave tearing into a cliff.

    “What? What did you say? What’s her name again?” His voice pitched higher than he remembered it could go.

    “Quinn Bridger,” Harbs repeated, patient yet wary. “She was a drone specialist in the military. After her discharge, she and her ex–husband founded Grafton Technologies. I worked with her -her grasp of unmanned systems is absolutely-”

    The rest of Harbs‘ exnation dissolved into a distant hum; words no longer reached Everett through the rush of blood pounding in his ears.

    Images of Quinn shed through his mind–her steady posture at a shareholders‘ meeting, the resolute line of her mouth in a faded military portrait, the quiet storm behind her eyes.

    If that ne truly had belonged to Quinn’s mother, then, given the timeline, Quinn’s mother could only be his long–lost sister.

    That would exin why Leander Fane–the young man Everett had met not long ago–carried features so uncannily simr to his own. Leander might very well be his sister’s son, a child bound to him by unbreakable blood.

    Violeti! /iiHave /iiI finally /iifound /iiher/ii? /i

    Joy detonated in his chest, but in the very next heartbeat, the expression froze on his face, turning jubnce into stone.

    He remembered, with a sickening lurch, that he had once ordered a private investigation into Quinn.

    Those documents had listed her mother as Arlene Gurney, killed three years ago on a mission.

    Gurney…

    iWhy /iidid /iiI /iinot /iinotice /iiwhen /iiI /iiwas /ireading ithe /iidocuments/ii? /i

    Gurney was Margaret’s maiden name. The ne carried that very engraving, and Violet— his sister–had once worn it every single day of her youth.

    iname /iiin /i

    iSo /iiit /iis itrue /iiafter /iiall/ii? /iiMy /iisister /iihas /iislipped /iibeyond /iithis /iiworld’s /iireach/ii, /iileaving /iinothing /iibut /iithe /iiecho /iiof /iiher /i

    imy /iichest/ii? /iiBecause /iiI /iifailed /iito /iisp /iiher /iihand /iithat /iisingle/ii, /ifateful iafternoon/ii, /iidoes /iiit /iimean /iI ishall /iinever/ii, /iifor /iithe /iirest /iiof /iimy /iilife/i, ifeel /iiher /iifingers /iice /iiwith /iimine /iiagain/ii? /i

    Chapter 405 Bloodline Revealed

    b35 /b

    +10 Free Coins

    A violent spasm seized him. Dark, half–clotted blood burst from his lips, sttering red across the polished marble like a signature of doom.

    Moments ago, he had stood broad–shouldered and indomitable; now his knees buckled, his imposing frame folding in on itself as though the weight of grief had broken every rib.

    Two assistants lunged forward, catching him under the arms before he met the floor.

    “Mr. Fane, are you all right?” a voice quavered.

    “Medic! We need a medic–right now!” someone else yelled, panic crackling through the air.

    The surrounding dissolved into a jumble of screams, pounding footsteps, and the distant hiss of sprinklers cut short by fire. Through the fog in his head, Everett kept his sight fixed on the gilded doorway, watching firefighters sprint past like streaks of scarlet, hope flickering with

    every pass.

    iLeander /iiand /iiQuinn/ii–/iiare /iithey /iiboth /iiViolet’s /iichildren/ii? /iiHeaven /iiced /iithem /iiin /iimy /iipath/ii, /iiand /iiI/i, blind ifool/i, ifailed /ito itreasure /iithem/i.

    “Gather every resource the Fane family possesses. Protect Leander and… Quinn. Nothing must happen to them,” he rasped, each syble scraped from the bottom of his lungs.

    As darkness closed in, his mind flickered with fractured images–his sister chasing butterflies,ughing under summer sun, her hand reaching back for him. iI’m /iisorry/ii… /iiYara/ii. /iiForgive /iime/i.

    Thick smoke curled through the hallway, a churning gray river that stung the eyes and scraped the throat. Quinn slung Serena over her shoulder, muscle and resolve burning in equal measure. “Can iyou /imove?” she demanded, grabbing Julius by the wrist.

    Julius lifted his gazei, /ilips bloodless, skin the color of ash. “And what if I told you I can’t?”

    “Then I’ll drag you out,” Quinn shot back, voice hard as gravel.

    Julius coughed a bitterugh. “You really think you can haul two bodies through this inferno?”

    “Yes.” Quinn’s replynded like a stone–small, simple, immovable.

    Pain roared along her fractured calf with every heartbeat, each step promising new agony. Yet the word surrender had never lived in Quinn’s dictionary; she would carry Julius and Serena into the open air or die trying,

    “Enough talk. Lean on my shoulder and move,” she barked, jutting an elbow beneath his arm.

    Every second, the mes devoured more ceiling tiles, the heat climbing like a living beast.

    17:43 Wed, Sep 17 bN /b

    Chapter 405 Bloodline Revealed

    Staying here would only make things worse.

    b35 /b

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    Julius hesitated, eyes wide, so Quinn threaded her arm under his armpit and heaved, forcing his legs to remember the art of walking.

    “Move–now! We have to w our way out of this hell.”

    every breath

    Quinn dragged her right leg over the broken tiles. Pain knifed up her thigh, and felt like swallowing embers, yet she pushed forward, one staggering step at a time.

    “I was careless,” Julius rasped, voice shredded by smoke. “Security wasn’t tight enough.” A drop of ash slid off his brow. “Do you me me for this?”

    She hooked an arm around his waist. Warm, viscous blood seeped through his ruined shirt, coating her palm in a sticky glove that made every heartbeat thunder louder.

    “Save your strength,” she said, tightening her grip. “I only me the people who sparked the mes and nted the charges. Talk again, and you’ll swallow more smoke.”

    “If you and I really die here,” he whispered, “will you regret pulling me out of the fire?”

    “Never.” She meant it, and the certainty rang like steel between them.

    Moments earlier, chunks of ceiling had mmed down. She had curled over her head, unsure whether the next second would be herst, and his face had shed through her mind like a lifeline.

    In that instant, a sharp regret had pierced her. iWhy /iihadn’t /iiI /iifound /iithe /iicourage /iito /iitry /iiagain /iwith him?