Chapter 1174:

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Eaton kept his gaze fixed on him. “I know what you really want. You want him alive again.” His voice deepened. “I want the same thing, and I already have the reagent.”

He leaned closer across the table. “The only thing left is Theo’s body. Once I have it, he can begin again. This time, I’ll make sure he truly lives the life he deserves.”

Lyndon slowly narrowed his eyes, studying Eaton in silence.

Then a smile slowly spread across his face. “That expression…” he muttered. “I know it too well. It looks exactly like mine once did.”

He tilted his head slightly. “Tell me, what are you to my son? Why are you this desperate to bring him back?”

Eaton’s lips moved faintly before he answered, “We were best friends.”

“Just friends?” Lyndon folded his arms as he examined Eaton more carefully. That gaze was not the kind someone reserved for friendship. It carried something deeper, something closer to yearning.

𝘕𝗲𝘸 𝖼𝘩a𝗉𝘁е𝘳𝘀 𝖾𝘷𝘦𝗿𝘺 𝘸𝖾𝘦𝘬 𝗼ո 𝘨a𝗹𝘯𝘰𝘷e𝗹𝗌.𝘤𝗼𝘮

Still, it no longer mattered. Theo’s heart had only ever belonged to Gracie anyway.

“My son’s body is currently with my assistant overseas. But we lost contact recently. I’ll give you his information. If the two of you work together, perhaps you really can bring him back,” Lyndon finally said. He passed over Ian’s contact details.

Eaton memorized everything carefully before rising to his feet. “Everything can still be rewritten. But this time, he won’t become your puppet again. I’ll let him live the way he truly wanted, openly and freely, as a good man.”

Without another glance backward, he walked away.

Lyndon remained seated alone. A smile slowly crept across his face.

“So naive,” he muttered quietly. “Some darkness is carved into a person’s soul. Even with another life, he’ll still choose the same road. Do you really think you alone can change him?”

Meanwhile, Eaton exited the prison grounds and noticed a young man standing across the road.

The stranger looked no older than his twenties, yet something about his eyes stirred a strange sense of familiarity inside Eaton.

The young man only glanced at him once before brushing past him and entering the prison grounds himself.

Eaton shook his head lightly with a bitter smile. “I must’ve lost my mind,” he murmured. “Everywhere I look, I keep seeing traces of you.”

When Gracie finally woke, sunlight had already flooded the room.

She quickly cleaned herself up before hurrying next door to the VIP ward. The moment she stepped inside, she saw Brayden opening his eyes.

Warmth and relief instantly flooded her chest, turning her eyes red. Though he had only been unconscious for a short while, every second had felt unbearably long to her.

At that moment, Charlie was helping Brayden eat.

Because of the skin graft procedures on his arms and legs, even basic movement remained difficult.

“Come closer…” Brayden’s voice sounded rough and weak, though a faint smile still touched his lips. “Let me check if you’re hurt.”

Gracie walked toward him slowly, tears already spilling free. “I’m okay. You protected me and the babies perfectly.”

Brayden looked her over several times before finally relaxing with a quiet breath.

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