Chapter 398

"Mr. Sterling, what's happening?" Simon's voice cut through the tense silence. "I thought we were helping Ms. Carter. Why are we leaving now?"

Nathan remained silent, his jaw clenched tight.

"Sir?" Simon pressed again, confusion evident in his tone.

Nathan finally spoke, his voice hollow. "Let's return to the city, Simon."

Simon hesitated but nodded obediently.

The change in Nathan was startling. Just hours ago, he'd been determined to fight for Evelyn's justice. Now he looked like a man who'd received a devastating blow.

As they walked toward the car, Nathan suddenly stopped. "Has Evelyn returned from Coronia yet?"

Simon checked his phone. "No, sir. Ms. Carter is still there."

Nathan's expression darkened. "Book us the next flight to Coronia."

Though bewildered, Simon immediately pulled out his phone. "Right away, Mr. Sterling."

———

Two days had passed with no new leads for Evelyn and Harrison. Their investigation had hit a wall - their target had gone deeper underground, leaving no digital footprints.

Evelyn couldn't shake the eerie feeling that someone was feeding their adversary information. It was as if this person knew exactly when they weren't in Pamore.

Just then, Callum burst into the room with news. "Harrison! I tracked down the clinic where Juliette had her reconstructive surgeries."

Evelyn's eyes lit up. "Where?"

Callum handed over a thick medical file. "Juliette was clever. She never used her real name, which explains why we hit dead ends before."

He flipped through the pages. "Records show over twenty procedures - four major skin grafts and multiple facial reconstructions of varying complexity."

Harrison scanned the documents before passing them to Evelyn. "Look closely, Evelyn. See anything unusual?"

Evelyn's fingers froze on a particular page. The name listed wasn't Juliette Blackwood.

"Anna?" She frowned. "She used an alias?"

Callum shrugged. "Appears so. Every record shows this 'Anna' identity. And..." He hesitated. "There are before-and-after photos included."

He exhaled sharply. "The burns were catastrophic. Nearly half her face was destroyed. The fact she looks human now is nothing short of miraculous."

Evelyn turned to the photo section. The images showed a woman's face horrifically disfigured by fire damage. As Callum said, the burns covered nearly half her facial tissue, rendering her features unrecognizable. Her arms bore similar scarring.

"No wonder she went to such lengths," Evelyn murmured. Neither skin grafts nor reconstructive surgery were pleasant experiences.

"But here's what puzzles me," Callum added. "Is it even possible to restore one's original appearance completely without any scarring?"