Chapter 778: Wrong Person Investigated

Chapter 778: Wrong Person Investigated

"Then forget about the Day family for now — finding Nicole is my priority."

The name crossed Axel's lips like a blade, something dark and vicious flickering behind his eyes.

He had to admit, Nicole had been good in bed. Capable, too. He'd been willing to keep her around — even just as a regular arrangement. Nothing complicated.

What he hadn't counted on was her teaming up with Daniel to play him.

That mistake was going to cost her.

Ryan weighed his next words carefully before speaking. "Mr. Stevens, there's one more thing I think you need to hear. Emily didn't die. She's back."

The news hit Axel like a fist to the chest.

"Emily."

He forced the name through clenched teeth — yet underneath the fury, something burned in his eyes. An obsession. A certainty. "Of course she survived. That's exactly why I've always admired her. She's got more lives than most men have nerve. How did you find out? Where is she now?"

"While you were detained by the enforcement division," Ryan said, "Emily resurfaced without warning. She showed up at the elite networking gala hosted in Silverlight City. Several guests who recognized her confirmed the sighting. As for her current whereabouts — it looks like she was traced the day after the event. She boarded a flight to Emerald City."

Axel's expression darkened.

Emily racing to Emerald City like that was no coincidence.

He wouldn't even be surprised if she had a hand in Otto's return to Emerald City. That was exactly the kind of move she'd make.

Emily was not an ordinary woman. Her cunning, her intelligence — most men couldn't hold a candle to her.

Which made her dangerous.

What kept him up at night was the possibility that she hadn't just come back. She'd come back for him. For the Stevens Group. For everything and everyone standing behind it.

"We're not staying in Silverlight City. Book the flights — I'm heading back to Emerald City now."

He couldn't wait any longer. He needed to move.

Ryan moved to carry out the order without hesitation.

Though before he did, he remembered Axel had just been talking about settling things with Nicole — so he asked, "What about Calista? And the patent she's holding? How do you want to handle that?"

Axel's brow furrowed as he thought it through. Then: "That patent matters. Here's what we do — you find someone reliable, someone capable, and have them stay behind to get it out of Nicole's hands. Extraordinary circumstances call for extraordinary measures. Whatever it takes."

Since Axel wasn't handling this one personally, Ryan identified someone he trusted and tasked him with it before boarding the flight back to Emerald City alongside Axel.

The man Ryan chose was named Austin.

Austin was thorough and took his work seriously. The moment the assignment landed in his lap, he got to work tracing Nicole.

The problem was, Ryan had been rushing and only mentioned 'a woman in Silverlight City.' That was all Austin had to go on.

So Austin, being Austin, tracked down the wrong person entirely — and landed on Sophia instead.

Sophia came from one of Silverlight City's prominent old-money families, which made her easy to find. And given how much weight Axel seemed to place on this 'Nicole,' Austin had assumed she'd have to be someone with serious standing — the kind of woman a man like Axel would actually notice.

Sophia fit that picture.

So Austin reached out to her directly. Using Axel's name.

Sophia, for her part, hadn't forgotten what she suspected — that Axel had something to do with what happened to Emily. The fact that he was suddenly reaching out, out of nowhere, when they'd never had any dealings before, set off every alarm she had.

Her gut told her this was about Emily.

So instead of replying — instead of saying yes or no — she went straight to Byron and laid it all out for him.

"You think he's coming after Emily?" she asked, her brow creasing. "Like, he can't get to her directly, so he's going through me because I'm her most loyal person? That why he's calling? Should I go?"

Byron heard the words 'a man is asking Sophia to meet' and every instinct he had snapped to attention.

Then he heard it was Axel. From Emerald City.

Axel's reputation preceded him — money, power, and looks to match. But what people really talked about was the strange, off-balance dynamic between him and Calista. A man that controlled, that self-contained — and the first thing he does after Calista dies is reach out to Sophia?

Something was very wrong with that picture.

"Don't go," Byron said flatly. "What's there to go for? If the situation were reversed — if something happened to you — I wouldn't be out here chasing other women. This guy wants something from you. That's all this is."

Even if chasing down a lead on Emily was part of Axel's angle — Byron was a man, and he knew how men thought. He wasn't about to let Sophia sit across a table from Axel alone.

The risk wasn't worth it.

"But what if he really is after Emily?" Sophia pressed, still uncertain. "If I go, maybe I can find out what he's planning. Get ahead of it somehow."

Byron didn't budge. "No. Axel doesn't play straight. You're too trusting. Nothing good comes from that meeting — I'll handle it."

Sophia looked at him for a long moment. Then, faced with how serious he was, she let it go and stood down.

When Byron said he'd handle something, he meant it.

There was a side of him — impulsive, a little reckless — that he'd kept buried for a long time. Mostly because of Emily. Out of respect for what she meant to him.

But the thought of Axel turning his attention to Sophia lit something up in Byron's chest that he hadn't felt in years.

He made a call — to people he hadn't contacted in a very long time. People who operated in the kinds of shadows that didn't make it into police reports.

The instructions were simple: find Axel before he made it back. Make it hurt. Nothing fatal — but enough to put him down for a while.

What Axel never saw coming, somewhere on the road back to the Stevens family estate, was the crash.

He didn't make it home. He made it to the hospital instead.

The men responsible didn't stick around to see what happened next. The moment Axel was down, they took the money and left the country.

By the time Axel was out of the danger zone, the first order out of his mouth was: "Find them. Whoever did this — I want them found. I want them wishing they were dead."

The fury rolling off him was suffocating. He looked like a man who might tear the IV from his arm and climb out of the hospital bed just to settle it himself.

Ryan had anticipated this. He'd known the moment Axel woke up, the first question would be who caused the crash — so he'd already been working on it.

"Mr. Stevens," he said carefully, "we've identified the men responsible. But it looks like they anticipated our investigation. They were already out of the country before we could close in. No family ties we can trace. No current location. And no lead yet on who gave the order."

Ryan finished speaking and dropped his gaze, bracing himself.

He hadn't solved the problem. With Axel already at a boiling point, that was only going to make things worse.

"Useless." Axel's voice was ice over gravel. "Can't track down one loose end. What exactly do I keep you around for?"

When Axel's temper broke, it broke completely — no filter, no restraint. It was part of why he inspired more fear than loyalty in the people who worked for him.

He grabbed the vase off the bedside table and hurled it to the floor. The crash of shattering glass split the air. "Stop standing there. Go find them."

"Yes, sir."

Ryan straightened, turned, and made for the door as quickly as he could without running.

He stepped out of the hospital room — and nearly walked straight into the person coming in.