Chapter 1002:

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I immediately forwarded the photograph to the medical team, my hands shaking so badly that I nearly dropped my phone. Then I rose to my feet. Fury surged through me, hot and uncontrollable.

One of the silver knives Brian had abandoned lay within reach. I snatched it up and wrapped my fingers around the handle. All I wanted was to find that bastard and make him pay with his life for destroying everything.

Jeremy caught the murderous expression on my face and rushed toward me. “Ethan, stop!” He seized my wrist. “You can kill Brian later, but if he dies now, we lose our final lead to the antidote. He was the last person with Melisa. He could have gotten the rest of the sequence from her.”

I violently knocked his hand away. “Move.”

Jeremy stumbled, but instead of backing down, he stepped in front of me again. “Listen to me! What good will killing him do if Lianne dies because of it?”

My fingers tightened around the knife until my knuckles turned white, the veins in my forearm standing out sharply.

I had never been someone who let emotion dictate my actions. Yet with Lianne’s life at stake, every ounce of reason seemed to be slipping away. I glanced at the unfinished sequence displayed on my phone, then toward Melisa’s lifeless body. A crushing pressure settled over my chest. Breathing suddenly felt like a struggle.

Then my phone buzzed. Lianne’s name appeared across the screen.

I stared at it for several seconds. The tension in my hand slowly eased, and the knife dropped slightly.

Jeremy was right. Brian could wait. Right now, I had to hold on to every possibility, no matter how small, that could keep Lianne alive.

Fо𝗹𝘭𝗈𝘄 𝘂𝗌 𝗼𝗻 𝘨𝘢𝗅𝘯𝗈𝗏𝖾𝘭𝘴.c𝗼m

Lianne’s POV:

I called Ethan again and again, but every attempt went unanswered. Sitting alone in the living room, I held my phone tightly between my fingers, which had gone numb with cold.

Silas and Ruby had already gone to bed. The enormous house was silent, leaving me alone with my thoughts. The stillness was so deep that I could hear the faint rhythm of my own heartbeat.

Then Tracy called.

I answered immediately, but before I could speak, her frightened voice rushed through the receiver. “Lianne! Melisa is dead!”

My heart dropped.

Somewhere inside, I had already known this was coming. Brian was not the kind of man who left unfinished business behind once he’d made his move.

Even so, hearing the truth out loud sent a painful squeeze through my chest. I steadied myself before asking, “Where’s Ethan? Is he alright?”

“He’s completely out of control!” Tracy sounded close to breaking down. “He’s hunting for Brian, and Jeremy can’t stop him! You have to talk to him before he does something reckless!”

I inhaled slowly, forcing myself to remain composed. “Tracy, calm down. Melisa may be dead, but I’m almost certain Brian still has the antidote. When he threatened me over the phone, he said I’d die if I refused to stay with him. That tells me he knows exactly what I need. If I cooperate with him, we may still be able to get the antidote.”

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