Chapter 1098

"This guy..." Harold took the phone, his brow furrowing as he studied the man's features intensely.

"Do you recognize him, Dr. Houston?" Shanley asked.

"He looks incredibly familiar," Harold nodded slowly. "I just can't pinpoint where I've seen him before."

"That makes sense." Juniper licked her lips, her voice dropping a register. "Because he's a doctor, Sanctum Holdings locked him in their underground lab."

"His wife is down there, too," she added, a note of regret creeping in. "Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get a picture of her. I can't remember right now."

Harold took a picture of her screen with his own phone and sent it to a private group chat of trusted medical professionals. "I'll have some of my senior professors take a look. If anyone knows him, I'll let you know immediately."

The familiarity was overwhelmingly strong. It was likely a case study or a presentation from a professor back in medical school that had embedded itself in his subconscious.

"Sounds good."

"Juniper..." As they finished their meal and stood up to leave, Harold suddenly grabbed her by the shoulders. His expression turned deadly serious. "Don't involve yourself in anything too dangerous. Don't forget, you have brothers and sisters backing you up."

"Sure." Juniper blinked, giving a nonchalant reply.

It sounded nice in theory, but truthfully, the six of them combined probably had less combat power than her left arm.

"Mr. Schwartz, take good care of my sister."

"Of course," Shanley answered without missing a beat. "I'll support whatever she chooses to do, but I will never let her get hurt."

Harold didn't doubt Shanley's sincerity for a second. After all, the man had literally let his own research facility get blown to pieces just to support her. How much more committed could a guy get?

"Stay safe on the road," Harold reminded them.

"Let's go." Shanley grabbed Juniper's hand.

Just as they turned to leave, Juniper suddenly stopped. "Harold, maybe you should

just sit down and have a completely honest conversation with her?"

Harold looked at her, confused.

"I don't think she's totally over you," Juniper murmured.

"You guys head back."

Harold just offered a faint smile and didn't bother explaining. He had been married to her for years. Their dynamic was a suffocatingly

award mess. He knew better than

swnow.ne

anyone whether she loved him or not.

He knew the truth: from the day they got married, she had counted the seconds until they could divorce. Because the man she truly wanted to marry was never him.

"Fine." Seeing he didn't want to talk about it, Juniper didn't push.

Let them divorce. Once they did, she'd officially have three chronically single older brothers in the family.

Jimmie: *Excuse me?*

Melvin: *Excuse me?*

Just as Juniper predicted, it only took a few days. Sanctum Holdings couldn't handle the radio silence and reached out first.

"Specter, if you want a complete

look inside Sanctum Holdings, we can arrange that." Corvus stood with his back to the floor-to-ceiling

windows, his aged eyes calmn

studying the 'strategic blueprint pinned to his wall.

The blueprint tracked a path full of twists, turns, and heavy obstacles. There had been a devastating collapse along the way, but they had rebounded and forged ahead. Now, the fine stopped agonizingly close to the finish line.

They were just one step away. One final push, and the blueprint would become a reality.

"Spit it out." Juniper lay comfortably in Shanley's arms, the call on speakerphone.

"Kill the head of the Sigma Network," Corvus stated without an ounce of hesitation. "You get the Sigma Network, I get Borealia. When it's done, I will personally show you my greatest masterpiece."

Hearing this, Shanley went rigidly still. He looked down at the girl in his arms.

He had played along with blowing up his own base. But now the guy wanted her to

kill him? How the hell was he supposed to cooperate with that?

"You're insane!" Juniper spat out the words like ice and ruthlessly hung up.

On the other end of the line, Corvus stared at his phone. "Huh???"

A few seconds of deafening silence passed before he dialed her number again.

"Specter, what exactly is the meaning of hanging up on me?"

"Do you think Subterra Vanguard is your personal hit squad? You snap your fingers and we kill whoever you want?"