Chapter 1186:

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Despite the injuries his body had sustained, his presence remained absolutely commanding. “Holt Group built its empire on real estate development. From this moment forward, I’ll ensure you don’t sell a single unit.”

Meanwhile, across the city, groups of intimidating men armed with clubs had formed blockades outside every Holt Group sales office, effectively shutting down all operations. Prospective buyers took one look at the menacing scene and turned around before even approaching the entrance.

Inside the offices, sales staff paced in panicked circles, phones pressed desperately to their ears as they flooded headquarters with frantic calls for help.

But the moment they learned the enforcers were Stanley Group’s people, they had no choice but to swallow their outrage and fall silent.

As Brayden strode out of the Holt Group building, Charlie hurried to keep pace and spoke quietly. “Mr. Stanley, why did you even bother trying to reason with him? He’s already committed to this destructive path. There’s no turning back for him now.”

“Regardless of what he’s become, he’s still Jessie’s brother. And once upon a time, he was a decent man,” Brayden replied quietly. “Besides, to be completely fair, Eaton played a significant role in exposing Theo’s crimes.”

At the hospital, when Gracie’s eyes finally fluttered open, afternoon sunlight was streaming through the window.

She found Brayden still resting in the hospital bed, and a faint smile touched her lips. She stood slowly, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “I actually slept well for once, but I need to head back to the estate to check on Valeria.”

“Go. Don’t worry about me.” Brayden’s smile was gentle and reassuring. “I promise I’ll follow the doctor’s orders to the letter and focus on recovering.”

Gracie turned to fix Charlie with a stern look. “You keep a close eye on him. I don’t care how many urgent matters pile up at the company — they can all wait. And under no circumstances are you to help him hide anything from me. Understood?”

Charlie shifted uncomfortably and mumbled something that might have been agreement.

𝘛𝗵е 𝖻𝘦ѕ𝘁 𝘳e𝘢𝖽𝗂𝗇𝗴 𝘦x𝗽𝘦𝗋ieո𝖼𝖾 𝘰𝘯 𝗀𝘢𝗅𝗻𝗼𝗏𝖾𝗹𝘴.𝘤𝘰m

Gracie, satisfied with his response, didn’t catch the guilty expression and swept out of the room.

The moment the door closed, Charlie released a heavy breath and turned to Brayden with an exasperated expression. “Mr. Stanley, you know I’m absolutely terrible at lying. Could you please stop putting me in these impossible positions?”

Brayden’s eyebrow arched, and a faint, amused smile played at the corner of his mouth. “Feeling hard done by, Charlie?”

An hour later, at the Stanley family’s estate, Gracie stood before the assembled household staff — gardeners, housemaids, kitchen workers — her expression dark with frustration.

Despite conducting yet another exhaustive round of background checks and interviews, they’d uncovered absolutely no evidence pointing to a mole.

Zane, who’d been standing quietly behind her, leaned forward and dropped his voice. “I believe I might have a way to identify the traitor. Would you like me to try?”

Gracie turned to him with surprise. “You have a method we haven’t tried?”

“I took several psychology courses in university — just for personal interest. I learned to read micro-expressions and detect deception through subtle behavioral tells,” Zane explained.

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