Leopold and Matthew had just finished loading the Abernathy family into the van, including Cormac, when the stench inside hit them like a wave, almost driving them back out the door. But seeing Vivienne and the others frozen by the bedside, Leopold steeled himself and stepped inside.

The woman on the bed was a shadow of her former self, her hair tangled and matted like weeds upon the pillow. Her face was streaked with dirt, and it looked like the Abernathys hadn't bothered to clean her in ages. If it weren't for the faint rise and fall of her chest, Leopold might have mistaken her for a corpse.

Wait a minute!

Those features...

How come she looked a bit like Percival?

Realizing this, Leopold's pupils dilated, his finger pointing shakily at the woman on the bed.

Then he glanced at Percival, whose stony face was unreadable, and noticed the air around him growing colder and heavier. Leopold took a step back, feeling as if his throat had been seized. He couldn't manage to utter a complete sentence.

Finally, it was Vivienne who broke the silence. "Mr. Wolf, let's get her out of here first."

She was genuinely shocked. They had only come to fetch a witness back to Rivenwood, and here they were, stumbling upon the very person Percival had spent years searching for.

Mr. Wolf's aunt, the Ellington heiress-Holly Ellington!

"Gavin Abernathy!"

torrential rain outside devoured any trace of light, leaving their car in the darkness, save for the occasional flash of headlights that flickered before Vivienne's eyes. Percival, with lips pressed together and eyes as cold

to

man spoke. His voice was hoarse, almost eerie in the pitch-black setting, yet Vivienne heaved a sigh of relief as she said, "Mr. Wolf, trust me, I will heal your aunt." Percival's grim expression softened slightly. He shifted,

bubbling up inside

placed in an unknown hospital with professional care to at least keep her alive. But the reality was starkly different! In this remote

even he couldn't suppress the rising bile

understood where that foul stench

blanket was Holly's withered body,

Percival felt a murderous

people were still useful. But the agony he felt for

his head deeper into Vivienne's stomach, his clenched

her hand gently caressing his hair as a chill flashed in her eyes. "Mr. Wolf, the dead do not deserve our hatred." Matthew glanced up through the rear-view mirror at Vivienne

recall the last time he had seen such a

ancient warrior lineage was formidable, but was Vivienne

about, they couldn't just hand their life over to

glanced at

"Hand it over."

passed the phone

answered. Draven's voice, cool yet tinged with anger, came through,

Abernathy family done now?" Vivienne didn't need to guess; she knew Gavin

They've taken the ashes and are threatening that if we don't hand over the secret recipe within three days, they'll scatter her

tightened as she inhaled deeply. "How is

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