Betrayed, Then Back For Blood

Briar’s heart skipped a beat. Given Ashton’s sharp instincts, it was only a matter of time before he started questioning lan’s identity.

Still, she answered the phone, “Ashton?”

There was a lot of noise on Ashton’s end, and she could hear him ask, “Briar, is lan with you?”

Briar glanced at lan, who looked like he was about to jump out of his skin. She replied, “Yeah, he’s at my place. Are you looking for him?”

“Yeah, pass him the phone. I need to talk to him,” Ashton said.

“Sure thing.” Briar handed the phone to lan, a faint, teasing smile tugging at her lips as she caught his terrified gaze. She stated, “He says he wants to talk to you.”

lan fell silent as he braced himself before taking the phone. “Ashton, did you need me?” he asked.

“Why couldn’t I reach you on your phone? You need to get over to the lab right now. The cops want to talk to you,” Ashton said.

lan’s face drained of color, and he asked, “Ashton, do I have to go? Can’t we just talk on the phone?”

lan was feeling really nervous. His true identity was something he needed to keep secret. What if the police finished asking him questions and decided to investigate him even further? He’d never caused any trouble in Dasmieca, but the police here made him uneasy. Their instincts for uncovering the truth were quite intense.

Right now, he didn’t want to see Ashton, the most influential guy in town.

lan couldn’t shake the thought that Ashton might have already figured out who he was.

“What do you think?” Ashton asked, his voice dripping with confidence, as if he understood lan’s fears perfectly. “Just relax and come over. I’ve got your back.”

lan hesitated before responding, “Okay, just… give me a moment.”

Ashton’s following words made lan even more anxious. “I’ve already sent Connor to pick you up. He should be there in about ten minutes. Just go wait at the front gate.”

lan felt he had no choice but to agree, “Okay.”

Ashton hung up, looking satisfied.

Briar, who had listened to the whole conversation, patted lan on the shoulder, trying to comfort him. She reassured, “Relax. If Ashton says he won’t make things hard for you, he means it. Maybe the police just want to ask you a few questions. Don’t panic over nothing.”

do you

laugh, “Come on,

right mind would dare ignore the ‘reason‘ of one

shuffled over to the front gate, looking completely defeated as he waited for

Briar came out to join him, and the two of them stood there together. Sure enough,

up right

he was already out of the car and holding the back door

that made it clear he was supposed to sit

1/3

Tue, 19 Aug

Chapter 170

car as she replied, “I heard what lan said, so I figured I’d come along

response, “Got

were far too bloody

mind. She had tagged along partly because she wanted to see what kind of live experiment lab lan had gotten hunself mixed up in and partly

lab, and it was just a

after intersection, she spotted the stretch of police tape marking

University. It was so close, and yet two innocent girls had lost

out of the car, Ashton waved Briar over as he called out, “Briar, come

now that she was by his side, he suddenly seemed

matter how ruthless Ashton was, there was no way

lan was determined to pretend any old grudges had never

though she kept trying to get a better look at the lab, her face

crowd of onlookers gathered outside the police tape. Ashton calmly stepped in front of Briar, shielding her from the prying eyes. “It’s pretty serious,” he said. “They’ve confirmed the organs came from at least ten different people. The earliest was an unidentified victim from five years

people are absolute monsters. What about Sawyer? Did

paused, watching her closely as he replied, “No. By the time my team arrived, all the surveillance footage related to Sawyer had already been forcibly replaced. They’re

out a sigh, “They’re

highly organized and disciplined, and they’re pros in a lot of ways. If we can’t recover the surveillance footage, I’m afraid lan’s testimony identifying Sawyer won’t be

his rush to save the victims, lan ended up disturbing the scene slightly, which gave the lab personnel more time to destroy the

she glanced at the time. It was Sunday, so the school doctor wouldn’t

shouldn’t be too hard.

people around, his hand hovered, itching to reach out