Chapter 37

The bleached-blond punk suddenly jerked awake, stumbled to his feet, and whipped out a fruit knife,charging at them like a lunatic.

The robot dog was compact and packed with features, but that came at a cost-its tranquilizer darts only worked for about five minutes tops.

So, during that brief moment Megan and the others were talking, the bleached-blond punk had already come to.

He made a beeline for Megan and Amelia.

Just as he was about to reach them, Megan was yanked to the side into a warm embrace, while Amelia got shoved to the ground.

The bleached-blond punk missed his mark and staggered forward, blinking rapidly, trying to keep his focus.Then,he turned and lunged at Megan again.

Samuel let go of Megan, raised his leg, and cleanly kicked the fruit knife out of The bleached-blond punk's hand. Without even pausing, he landed a hard punch to the guy's face, knocking him out cold.

He turned to Megan. "You okay?"

Megan shook her head.

Honestly, she was a little thrown off by what just happened.

I mean, this guy didn't think twice before shielding a complete stranger but knocked his own sister aside?

She couldn't deny her own charm had something to do with it, but still... poor Amelia, having such a flaky brother.

Not that Megan needed help, anyway. She was totally capable of handling things herself. What a guy-meddling where he's not even needed.

Amella just stared at her brother, her pretty eyes glassy with unshed tears.

Natalie helped her up. "Are you hurt, Amelia? Seriously, what's up with your brother? Why push you aside just to protect Megan?"

Amelia blinked back the tears and forced out, "I'm fine. The guy was aiming for Megan, so she was in more danger.My brother made the right call."

Natalie muttered under her breath, "Yeah, but you're his sister. Shouldn't that count for something?"

Amelia lowered her eyes, her arms limp at her sides. If she really was his sister...wouldn't he have chosen to protect her first?

Right then, three police cars pulled up at the edge of the woods.

Three officers stepped out of each vehicle, rounding up the bleached-blond punk and the two other guys who had gotten violent.

Everyone else was told to follow them back to the station.

Meanwhile,high up in the executive office on the 88th floor of the Reid Corporation, Tristan looked cold and composed as ever.

Eyes locked on the red dot moving across the map on his phone screen-he'd started tracking it as soon as Megan left Meridian University.

He saw it stop for a brief fifteen-minute window at Benevita Hospital before returning to the university, and then darting out again, only to finally halt at the police station.

At first,he'd tried to piece together why she was at the hospital. But once he saw she ended up at the police station, he could no longer sit still.

He didn't dare to call her right away either-she was sharp, and if he pushed too hard, she'd definitely figure out he'd planted a tracker on her. Just as he was chewing over what to do, the police called to inform him to come get "his person."

Tristan grabbed his suit jacket and walked out of the office without another word. Cameron quickly followed,calling out, "Mr. Reid, the executive meeting starts in five minutes."

Tristan's tone turned icy, "Push it to tomorrow.n

Watching as the doors to the CEO's private elevator slid shut, Cameron muttered under his breath,"Figures.That drama queen must be acting up again. Even a falling sky wouldn't shake Mr. Reid, but now look-he's totally under her spell."

At the Pingdu Police Station, a sleek black Bentley drifted neatly to a stop at the entrance.

With a crisp motion, Tristan opened the door and strode in.

Chief Ford personally came out to greet him. "Mr. Reid, you're here. Your wife is giving her statement in the interrogation room."

Tristan paused. "Interrogation room?"

Chief Ford hesitated for a beat. "Yes."

"That kind of place is where you put my woman?" Tristan pulled out his phone. "Linus, where the hell are you?"

"I'm here! Just walked in."

Footsteps:echoed as Linus jogged over,sweating profusely."S-sorry, Mr. Reid."

Tristan shot him a chilling glance. "Do that again, and you better not show your face around me again."

Linus sucked in a breath. "Understood."

Just then, Megan stepped out of the interrogation room. Her eyes lit up as she ran into the tall man's embrace. "Babe, you're here."

Tristan wrapped his arms around her, genty patting her back.sover now. Let's go home. Linus will handle the rest." He turned to Linus. "I told you to come down hard on him. How did that guy even get another chance to pull a knife?

Linus's expression froze-seriously? It was just a fight yesterday, and the guy had gotten beat up. How was he supposed to go overboard?

But today was different. The guy had come armed.

Linus promised firmly, "Don't worTy, sir."

Right then, Samuel walked out of another room.

He paused when he saw the couple hugging, then flashed a slight smnile."Mr.Reid."

Tristan gave a small nod. "Thanks for stepping in, Mr. Lewis. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask.!"

Samuel responded calmly, "It was nothing."

As he watched Tristan walk away with Megan in his arms, his gaze darkened.

"Sam!"

A sweet voice called out as he turned back.

Amelia and Natalie were approaching. Amelia smiled up at himn. "Sam, join us for dinner tonight?"

His polite smile faded into indifference. "Can't. Got other plans."

And with that, he turned and left.

Natalie pouted and clung to Amelia's arm. "Jeez. Your brother's like a block of ice."

She glanced in the direction he'd left. "Though, he wasn't that cold with Megan. Suspicious."

"Tch. That Megan sure is something...Always snagging attention wherever she goes."

Amelia kept her eyes on Samuel's retreating figure, voice soft, "Natalie, do you think Megan kind of.looks like my brother?"

Natalie squinted, trying to picture their faces. "Huh! You know what. There is something there."Amelia raised an eyebrow. "Those eyes... don't they look kinda familiar?"

Natalie rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "You know what, now that you mention it-they really do!"

A strange glint flashed in Amelia's eyes, just a flicker of red deep down.

Meanwhile, after walking out of the police station, Samuel slid into his Aston Martin.

He didn't drive off right away. Instead, he pulled out his laptop from his backpack and opened it up.

His account really was short by a zero today-thirty million turned into just three mil.

The culprit? A notorious, sleazy hacking tool called "Fortune Leech."

A nasty little invention courtesy of Blackwing, a hacker who made Samuel grit his teeth in frustration every time he heard the name.

Once the program is activated, it sucks a zero off any account within five meters from the user-doesn't matter how much money is in there.

To this day, no one's been able to crack it. Not even him.

Blackwing was clever, twisted, and seemed to have no moral compass whatsoever.

Samuel had never lost battles in the cyber world.except to Blackwing. Over and over again.

For,a while, things had been peaceful. Blackwing disappeared six months ago, and Samuel had finally been able to breathe.

But yesterday, a massive deal landed on his desk-ten million on the line. And guess who swooped in,snatched it, and gave it away for free?

Yep.Blackwing.

His blood was still boiling.

It wasn't even about the cash anymore-the guy had stomped all over his rep. He was supposed to be the god of hacking, the best of the best. And now? Overshadowed by/a cockroach hiding in the dark.

Then-today of all days-Samuel spotted that same cursed program on some random girl's device.

Megan Shaw.

He had a hunch there was a link between her and Blackwing.

If so, she might be the key to tracking him down.

That's why he asked for her number-looking for a trail to follow.

His slender fingers danced across the keyboard, window after window of code popping up as he dove into the bank system.

He typed in Megan's phone number, hoping to unlock account info-maybe find ties to a familiar bank account.

But nope. Everything was blocked. Her data was locked behind an ironclad firewall.

He tried pulling up random accounts to check. No problem at all.

Yeah, that confirmed it-Megan's profile alone was heavily protected. That firewall wasn't standard; that beast was tailor-made.

Samuel smirked. Now this was getting interesting.

He didn't get any direct info, sure. But that one clue said plenty-someone powerful was shielding her.

And the likely suspect? Blackwing. He was the only one Samuel had ever lost to. So yeah, Megan wasn't just some average girl. Also, yeah, the phone number wasn't just about the hack.

It was the eyes.Those bright, familiar eyes.

He pulled out his phone and dialed.

"Hey, Brandon, I found a girl whose eyes seriously look just like mine. What if she's our long-lost sister?" A lazy voice answered, "Here we go again. Quit daydreaming, man. I'm busy."

Samuel froze."...You're kidding me...