"Crash"

Hearing Juniper's words, Corvus furiously slammed the watering can onto the ground, his chest heaving. "Lock her back in her room!"

"You're the one telling me to leave."

Juniper casually tossed her own watering can aside, dusted off her hands, and said with unapologetic bossiness, "Don't forget to send the meds, old man."

"Get. Her. Out. Of. Here. Now!!!"

Corvus rubbed his throbbing temples. He couldn't stomach another syllable from this girl.

"Right away." His subordinates rushed forward, not daring to lay a finger on her. "Miss Specter, please return to your room."

"I'm going, I'm going."

Juniper was still handcuffed, the metal clinking with every step, but she didn't stop muttering. "Told him I didn't want to come. Make me come out here, and now he's throwing a tantrum."

She glanced at the guards. "Has your boss had his head checked lately? Doesn't he realize there's something seriously wrong with his brain?"

The guards kept their mouths shut, not daring to make a sound.

They certainly didn't dare to have an opinion on the matter.

Once Juniper was out of sight, Corvus sat in the garden chair for a long time until his mood finally stabilized.

Looking at the flowers she had ruthlessly trampled, a sudden smile crept onto his face.

"Sir, why are you smiling?" Gino the steward asked, looking mildly terrified. Miss Specter had insulted him so viciously-how could he possibly be smiling? Had the stress finally broken his mind?

"Don't you think she acts exactly like Theia did when she was young?"

Corvus carefully buried the broken stems into the soil, murmuring in a low, raspy voice. "That fearless, vicious little temper of hers... I actually admire it."

"There is a resemblance," Gino replied cautiously after a moment of serious thought.

In truth, Miss Specter was far more 'lethal' than Dr. Sommers ever was.

The most Dr. Sommers would do was make Corvus so mad he'd storm out of the room. But Miss Specter's mouth was laced with venom.

Every time they spoke, it felt like she was trying to send him to an early grave.

"If only she were my daughter with Theia," Corvus said, staring blankly at the flowers. "Tell me... if Silas Blackwood dies, and I alter Theia and Juniper's memories —implanting the ones I've prepared-do you think she'd accept me as her father?"

Gino was too stunned to speak, frozen in place.

Technically, it was possible.

Their research could modify genetics; altering memories was child's play in comparison.

But-

Wasn't Miss Specter Silas's daughter?

Corvus despised the man with every fiber of his being. Could he really stomach Silas's daughter calling him 'Dad'?

Was his obsession with Theia really that deep?!

After four days of tracking.

Sigma Network finally caught a break.

One of Coryus's men had taken a leave of absence and drove alone to a remote mountain road, constantly looking over his shoulder as if

looking someone: Content"

waiting

"Boss, we've planted the tracker on him," Felton said, eyes glued to his monitors It's our latest tech. It's survived countless trials and can bypass most standard detection Scanners. We shouldn't have any issues."

"Should we send a team to tail him immediately, Boss?"

"Hold your position for now."

Shanley Schwartz raised a hand, his expression carved from ice. "Corvus isn't an

amateur. If we tail him too closely, he'll smell us."

All he needed was the location.

Find Corvus, and he'd find his Juniper.

They only had one shot at this operation. Failure wasn't an option.

They had to be flawlessly precise.

"Understood."

Felton turned his head and ordered his team, "Have our operatives pull back immediately."

Half an hour later.

The target's movements shifted.

Data streamed into the tracking system. The man was driven in circles around Eclara City's downtown area before weaving through the most complex highway, interchanges.

Finally, he left the city limits, heading toward a small, obscure town barely a hundred miles outside of Eclara City.

The town was geographically isolated, nestled in rugged terrain with terrible roads.

It was vast, sparsely populated, and practically invisible on the map.

"Magnify the coordinates." Shanley sat in front of the monitors, his cold eyes locked onto the screen.

"Right away."

Flint quickly zoomed in on the map, finally pinpointing the man's exact location.