Chapter 1220

Back in Eclara City.

Juniper pushed open the hospital room door, expecting chaos. Instead, she found Silas lying calmly in bed.

Juniper blinked in surprise. She had fully expected her father to have a total breakdown-ripping out his IVs, tearing off his oxygen mask, and storming out to tear the city apart looking for his wife.

But he was entirely composed.

"Juniper." Seeing her standing in the doorway, Silas offered a gentle smile and waved her over. "Come sit with Dad."

"Okay." She let go of Shanley's hand and approached the bed. She kept her eyes cast downward, too consumed by guilt to look at him.

"It's not your fault." Seeing her distress, Silas reached up and softly stroked her hair. "I know your mother. She didn't make this decision lightly. She would never abandon me, and she would certainly never abandon the seven of you."

"Besides—" Silas gently wiped away the tear slipping down Juniper's cheek, smiling warmly. "My baby girl is about to get engaged. She wouldn't miss that for the world."

Juniper's head snapped up, her eyes flooding with fresh tears.

Standing by the door, her siblings felt their hearts physically ache at the sight.

"I believe she'll find her way back to us. Don't worry too much, okay?"

Nobody could find the words to speak.

The love of his life was gone. He was the one who should be falling apart, yet here he was, comforting them.

"Alright," Silas said, looking at the rest of his children with a soft, tired smile. "I'm feeling a bit exhausted. I need to rest."

They filed out quietly.

The second the door clicked shut, Silas slowly opened his eyes. He stared blankly

at the ceiling as hot tears finally spilled over his lashes, soaking into his pillow.

*Stupid woman.*

Did she honestly think he could survive in a world without her?

She vastly underestimated him.

"Theia." Silas thumbed his phone screen, tracing a photo of the two of them, his voice shattering into a broken whisper. "You have to come back."

After leaving the room, Juniper didn't waste a single second. She practically dragged Harold straight into the lab.

Five agonizing hours later, they had finalized the synthesis, analysis, and testing of the ultimate antidote.

If Silas took this for one month, the virus ravaging his body would be entirely eradicated.

"What's our next move?" Harold asked, pulling off his mask. "About Mom..."

"Stop searching," Juniper murmured, staring at the floor.

"What?" Harold blurted out, stunned. Did he hear that right? She was calling off the search?

Before he could process it, Juniper walked out of the lab and headed straight into the war room where Jimmie and the others were desperately mapping out Corvus's possible escape routes.

"Stop searching," Juniper ordered coldly. She looked directly at Shanley. "Pull every single operative from the Sigma Network and Subterra Vanguard back immediately."

"Why?" Shanley was taken aback. He stepped forward and grasped her shoulders. Was the grief making her delirious? It was her mother-why wouldn't they look for her?

"Because Dad was right," Juniper, said, tilting her chin up, her expression dead serious. "Mom· always said that no matter what happened, in life or in death, she and Dad were a package deal."

"She knows that if something happens to her, Dad will absolutely not survive the grief."

"She wouldn't do something this drastic if she didn't have an endgame."

"You're saying Mom had a plan when she agreed to Corvus's terms?" Jimmie asked, his brow furrowing deeply.

"Yes." Juniper nodded calmly. "Corvus is a cornered rat right now. He has nothing to lose, which means if we push him too hard, he's capable of anything."

ét

"Our operatives are closing in fast. The pressure is suffocating him. Juniper looked around the room. "If we trap him I'm terrified hest shap and take Mom down with him."