Chapter 238:

🍙 🍙 🍙 🍙 🍙

I looked into his clear eyes and made a silent decision. If he was worthy, I didn’t mind being the turning point in his career.

The carriage traveled for nearly an hour. The buildings grew sparse, and we finally stopped in front of an abandoned warehouse on the edge of the Pack’s territory.

“This is it,” Sonny said, jumping down. He was both excited and uneasy. “It used to be a leather processing plant. It completely meets your requirements for size and independent utilities, and the price is very cheap.”

I stepped out of the carriage and surveyed the area. The warehouse itself was solid, but the surroundings made me frown.

It was too remote, overgrown with weeds, and a faint smell of decay hung in the air.

More importantly, I could feel several hostile gazes from the low shacks in the distance.

𝗣𝘰p𝘂𝗹𝘢𝗿 𝗌tо𝗿𝗂𝗲ѕ 𝗼𝘯 g𝖺𝘭nоve𝘭ѕ.𝖼𝗈𝗺

Those gazes were scrutinizing and unwelcoming, filled with a natural hostility towards strangers. They weren’t members of the Contreras Pack. I couldn’t identify their Pack from their scent; they seemed more like Rogues, wanderers with no home.

I studied the shacks quietly, my surgeon’s eye scanning for details the average person might miss. The men lingering in the doorways moved with a certain sluggishness—not laziness, but the telltale unsteadiness of prolonged malnutrition.

Their postures were wrong, too, some swaying slightly even while standing still. And the way a few of them scratched at their arms, restless and twitchy—that pattern I recognized from my years in emergency medicine. Substance abuse. Chronic, untreated, and probably fueling whatever desperation kept them squatting on someone else’s land.

My stomach tightened. This was not a suitable place to build a secret laboratory. Safety was paramount.

Sonny hadn’t noticed any of this. He was still enthusiastically pointing out the warehouse’s advantages. “You see, the ceiling is high enough for a two-story conversion…”

I interrupted him. “Mr. Sawyer, where is the nearest guard patrol point?”

Sonny froze. He checked his map, and his face turned awkward. “Uh… three kilometers away. But this is our Pack’s territory. It’s very safe.”

I shook my head and pointed to the distant shacks. “Those people—do you know them?”

Sonny followed my finger and finally noticed the hostile stares. He shivered and unconsciously moved a step closer to me.

“I… I don’t know. The file didn’t mention any residents here.” His voice was filled with panic.

I told him calmly, “A woman working alone would not choose a place with no security for three kilometers, surrounded by a group of unidentified men, as the starting point for her business.”

My words were a revelation to him. He finally realized he had only considered the physical conditions and completely ignored the client’s safety needs.

His face turned bright red with shame and self-reproach. “I’m sorry, ma’am! It was my oversight! I… I was so desperate to make this sale that I didn’t think it through for you!”

Seeing his sincere apology, I wasn’t angry. At least he was willing to admit his mistakes.

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