Lost and Found: Return of My Mysterious Fiancee by KIKI

Chapter 1004: The Heart She Waited for Twenty Years

Before Hayden could speak another word, Claudia waved her hand, silencing him instantly.

"Today, I'm in a good mood," she said with a wicked grin. "I'll spare your life just so you can witness everything unfold-watch them die one by one and become part of my grand plan."

Hayden's eyes widened in rage. If looks could kill, he would have murdered the old witch a thousand times over and fed her corpse to the fish.

Her "grand plan"? What nonsense. It was nothing more than the delusions of a madwoman. Immortality? If she was so powerful, why hadn't she ascended to the heavens already?

Unfortunately, he couldn't do anything-his body was paralyzed, leaving only his eyes able to move. He couldn't even speak. If he could go back two minutes, he would have screamed at Serena and Jared to run. The old witch was coming for their lives, and if even one of them escaped, there would still be hope to warn others.

But now, they were all trapped. Who would save them?

Before activating the ritual, Claudia's hands began to glow with a strange energy, and a white mist spread through the air. Everyone inside the ritual circle started gasping for air. Hayden, who had been glaring at her moments ago, rolled his eyes back and fainted.

Ten meters away, Tina and Jared stood still, watching the scene unfold with cold, unmoving eyes.

Claudia frowned as she noticed Tina appeared entirely unaffected. With a wave of her hand, she increased her power to thirty percent, but the result was the same-no effect.

Her expression darkened. "This is impossible!"

Tina, tired of pretending, smirked faintly. "There's nothing impossible about it. I was never poisoned in the first place."

Suspicion flickered in Claudia's eyes, but she quickly dismissed it, assuming Tina was bluffing. Her red lips curved into a sinister smile. "If you're not poisoned, why would you follow me here?"

Tina's tone was calm, but her gaze was sharp as a blade. "I came here not to be controlled by you, but to watch how you destroy yourself."

have fallen for Claudia's schemes long ago. Initially, she thought the poison was in the jade pendant, but Oliver's strong reaction made her realize she had come into contact with something else before her nightmare

just the pendant-it

poison had been on Oliver

have built up over time, was actually Claudia's doing. She had refined a variety of exotic poisons and planted them in Oliver's body over the years, creating the illusion of a long-term build- up. When these poisons combined, they formed a new type of toxin-one with

than a vessel for Claudia's plan

needle was lethal and incurable, but the toxin smeared on Oliver's skin only caused mental disorientation. Over time, it would deepen, turning

designed to harm her brain without damaging her body. That's why neither the Warren family nor her master could

applying the toxin, he must have realized its nature. At first, he believed it was the same as the poison already in his body. But Oliver, unwilling to let her suffer the same pain as he did, had endured excruciating agony to keep her

have realized the poison

the mother he had yearned for all his life. No matter

pain alone, never suspecting that his "mother"

concern. Even though they had taken antidote pills before entering, he still couldn't bear

tugged on his hand, signaling that she

twisted, her calm demeanor cracking. "You can't possibly

coldly on Claudia's face.

"You're not Nancy!"

out a sharp laugh. "I perfected Nancy's traces. You couldn't

thought of people like Nancy's ex-husband. No matter how deeply my people dug, it was

had swallowed a fly, Tina sneered. "Do you know why he couldn't reach the Reed family

to use Oliver to extort money from the Reed family, but as soon as he heard Oliver was gravely ill, he fled in panic. If he wasn't hiding

questions. That was all it took

didn't care about these details. Her goal had already been achieved.

The red veil she wore fluttered in the wind as she aimed her power directly at Jared. "I only want