Chapter 988
"Stole the woman he loved?"
Luella rested her chin on her hand, offering a look of mock sympathy. "Tragic!"
"However, I don't have the authority to greenlight an alliance of this scale," Luella said. "I'll have to take this back to Specter."
"Very well."
The man nodded. Just as Luella was about to stand up, he added, "I've heard that your intelligence division, the Binary Oracle, is unparalleled at tracking people down. Could they locate Dr. Nocturne?"
"?"
Luella's internal alarms instantly went off, her tone turning cold. "Why are you looking for her?"
She knew Sanctum Holdings was up to no good.
"We have our reasons."
The proxy stood up as well, a faint, polite smile masking his intentions. "Please have
Specter strongly consider our proposal. As for Dr. Nocturne..."
"If you can deliver her, money is no object."
"Sure thing."
Luella nodded with an easy, nonchalant grin. "I'll pass the message along."
Luella walked out to her car and drove off.
The moment she was out of sight, the proxy muttered into his lapel mic.
Moments later.
A sleek black sedan pulled up to the curb. The man bowed respectfully to the tinted rear window before opening the passenger door and sliding in.
In the brief second his body shifted, the hidden street cameras caught a fleeting glimpse of the passenger in the back seat.
...
Meanwhile.
Back in the hotel suite, Luella was lounging on the sofa eating fruit, her words slightly muffled.
"The footage is pretty grainy. We can only make out a rough silhouette."
But it was definitively a man.
"Quiet." Juniper's fingers flew across her laptop keyboard, running specialized enhancement algorithms on the video feed.
A few moments later.
The blurry pixelation sharpened, revealing the man's face.
He appeared to be in his fifties. With hollowed cheeks, sunken eyes, and an aura of
pure, predatory malice, he did not look like a man to be trifled with.
More importantly.
There was a deep, jagged scar carved into his eyebrow.
That scar...
Why did it look so incredibly familiar?
Juniper stared intently at the screen. The face triggered a faint sense of déjà vu, yet
she couldn't quite place it.
"What's wrong?"
Noticing the subtle shift in her expression, Shanley asked softly.
"He looks familiar. He might be an old enemy," Juniper murmured, her brow furrowing.
"An enemy?"
Luella immediately sat up straight, all traces of humor vanishing as a lethal, protective aura rolled off her.
Juniper had a terrifying amount of enemies.
If they all formed a line to assassinate her, it would take days to get through them
all.
"Take your time, don't rush it,"
Shanley said, his voice dropping an octave as his eyes turned glacial "Compile a list of suspects. have Felton and Flint round them all up."
If the man was currently in Eclara City, capturing him would be child's play.
"No need."
Juniper handed the laptop back to Luella. "Print the photo and send it to the Binary
Oracle. Let them run a deep facial recognition sweep."
As she stood up to stretch, she
added, "He might also be one of your
old enemies. Maybe I saw him
during one of the times they were
hunting you down." fo
"Oh, really..."
Luella instantly relaxed, settling back
(toe
into the sofa with a smirk, eager
watch the drama unfold. that might actually be
MS
If he was Juniper's mortal enemy, why would he come begging for an alliance?! Shanley shot Luella a dark, venomous glare, fighting to keep his temper in check.
Could he just poison this guy's vocal cords?!
"Notify me the second we have a match," Juniper commanded.
"Should I have the Cybernetic Shadows assist with the search?" Luella asked.
"No." Juniper's gaze softened, a hint of melancholy creeping in. "Keep the Cybernetic Shadows focused on finding my parents."
All seven siblings were alive.
She firmly believed that.
Which meant their parents had to still be out there somewhere.
If they hadn't come looking for them, they must have a desperate, unavoidable
reason for staying hidden.
If her parents couldn't come to her, then she would find them.
...
A short while later, Luella received an update.