“Why aren’t you the one answering my questions?” Erik snapped, his cheeks flushing with fury as he fixed Brayden with a hostile stare. “Those guards watching the ward are utterly incompetent—they need to be replaced immediately. Some impostor posing as a physician managed to spirit your grandpa away right under their noses. If I hadn’t crossed paths with him by pure chance today, he could have been harmed.”

Brayden’s eyes narrowed to slits, his voice laced with frost. “How remarkably convenient that Grandpa vanished just when you happened to show up.”

“You ought to be expressing gratitude instead,” Erik retorted with a harsh scoff. “Enough of this bickering. The priority right now is finding a way to treat his condition.” He stormed off abruptly, with Aiden trailing close behind.

Theo lingered at the rear, releasing a weary exhale as he brushed past the pair. “Why can’t the two of you discuss matters rationally instead of escalating into outright hostility?”

He rolled his shoulders in a casual stretch. “Assuming everything proceeds smoothly, we should soon be able to administer the trial therapy to Grandpa. Fingers crossed that Gracie’s ongoing experiments don’t carry any serious adverse reactions. If they do… well, you know the consequence.”

With a cryptic laugh, Theo sauntered away in Erik’s wake.

Gracie leaned in closer, her tone hushed. “The security team is already digging into the incident. They’ll track down that phony doctor before long. Erik’s behavior today struck me as highly unusual; I’m convinced he played a role in whatever happened to Grandpa.”

Brayden nodded assuredly. “I’ll devise a strategy to deal with it.” He continued, “I’ve vetted the specialists gathered for the consultation—they’re legitimately top-tier professionals in their fields. That said, they’ll require your full clinical trial data to formulate a definitive treatment plan.”

“That’s not an issue,” Gracie replied. “I’ll swing by the office right away to retrieve the files.” She added firmly, “I’m entrusting Kevin’s well-being entirely to you in the meantime.”

Once Gracie departed, she steered her vehicle toward her lab.

However, no sooner had she exited the hospital premises than a lone figure darted into her path, forcing her to brake sharply. “Valeria?”

Gracie’s brow creased in confusion as she halted and leaned out the window. “What on earth are you doing? I nearly ran you over.”

Without hesitation, Valeria swung open the passenger door and settled in. “Gracie, we need to have a serious conversation.”

Gracie eyed her cautiously. “I’m incredibly short on time at the moment. Could this wait until evening?”

“Absolutely not!” Valeria insisted, her face etched with distress. “It has to be now. Drive us to a secluded place—we need absolute privacy for this talk.”

Relenting to her evident turmoil, Gracie redirected the car toward an exclusive clubhouse. En route, she fired off a quick text to Phoebe, directing her to courier the necessary data straight to the hospital.

Inside a secluded lounge at the club, Valeria secured the door and seized Gracie’s shoulders with desperate intensity. “That conversation we had before… was every word of it the truth? Is Theo genuinely plotting to kill Brayden?”

Her eyes were bloodshot, betraying nights of sleepless torment.

Gracie guided her gently to the couch. “I wasn’t exaggerating—it’s all factual. Theo’s driven by ruthless ambition and has made multiple attempts on Brayden’s life. Beyond the staged car crash, he orchestrated the blaze at the media event as well.”

Valeria shuddered violently, tears cascading down her cheeks. “But why? What could possess him to go that far?”

“It’s rooted in resentment over perceived injustice,” Gracie elaborated. “As members of the Stanley lineage, he feels Brayden received preferential treatment, being positioned as the successor from early on.”

“Brayden earned that through his composed nature and sharp decision-making—he’s simply better equipped to lead the empire.”

She added softly, “And Theo’s always been more gentle-spirited; we encouraged him to pursue a carefree existence. How could that possibly be seen as unfair?”

Gracie chose silence, recognizing the subjectivity of viewpoints. Theo might rationalize the family’s partiality as acceptable, insisting that any desire for power should be pursued through legitimate effort rather than covert schemes and treacherous strikes against rivals.

Valeria wept for an extended period before finally composing herself enough to speak. “Is there any hope for mending this rift? If he’s harboring this sense of grievance, perhaps I can compensate him somehow. I would even lay down my own life if it meant reconciliation.”

Gracie interjected with a worried frown. “Confronting him directly could put you in grave danger—possibly ending up like Kevin. If you’re skeptical, put it to the test yourself. Certain realities are safer left unvoiced; exposing them might prove fatal.”

She clasped Valeria’s hand reassuringly. “All I ask is that you remember you’re not just his mother—you’re Brayden’s as well.”

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