Back at Hearth & Kettle, Pandora paced the floor, anxiously awaiting the return of her grandchildren.
The confirmation that an attack had actually taken place left her nerves frayed, despite knowing they had been heavily prepared.
If anything had happened to Claire, she would never have been able to face Agassi and Melissa again.
Besides, Claire was her miracle-the granddaughter she had lost and finally found. Pandora cherished her too much to bear the thought of her in danger.
"Pandora, we're home!"
Claire's voice rang out as the heavy front doors swung open.
Pandora bolted upright, abandoning her usual refined composure in a heartbeat. "Claire! Are you alright?" The older woman rushed forward, inspecting the girl from head to toe. Seeing her completely unharmed, she let out a shaky breath of relief. Only then did she notice the bandages and bruises on Dane and Dewitt.
"I'm perfectly fine," Claire reassured, stepping forward to steady her grandmother. "Dane and Dewitt took a few hits, though. Are you guys okay?"
Pandora frowned slightly, but she wasn't overly concerned. Men were resilient; as long as no bones were shattered, a few scrapes built character.
"It's nothing serious," Dane added gently, moving to support Pandora on her other side.
Dewitt trailed behind them, hauling their overnight bags.
Once they were settled in the private parlor, Claire finally debriefed them on the chaotic events of the past two days.
When Pandora learned that her son's former teacher was the traitor pulling the strings, a heavy silence fell over the room.
"He rarely spoke to me about his time at the university," Pandora murmured softly. "I had no idea."
With a mentor harboring that much toxic envy, Agassi's academic career must have been fraught with hidden battles.
It made sense now why he had always brushed off her questions about his studies.
"The man goes by a completely different name now," Claire explained. "He's in custody, and he's never seeing the light of day again."
"He's likely tied to much deeper espionage, but the feds won't declassify that for us."
"However, during my conversation with Frederick, I picked up on something vital."
Pandora's head snapped up. "Is it about your parents?"
Her eyes were wide with desperate hope. After all these years, was she finally going to get some closure?
"I believe they're alive," Claire said firmly.
The logic was airtight: Sundara's
operatives were attempting to et
her as a bargaining chip to flush out Agassi and Melissa
That confirmed they hadn't been captured by Sundara all those years ago.
And if they had vanished into
ed
Cascadia, Frederick would have
deployed assets there instead of
risking a brazen kidnapping
Solenia.
FindNovel.net
Her working theory was that her parents had been absorbed into a highly classified government black site.
In those facilities, personnel were
locked down until a project reached completion, with zero
ЈӘ.
communication with the outside world.
If that was the case, they were completely protected.
They were serving their country, tucked safely away where no foreign intelligence could touch them.
The deduction was flawless.
A tremendous weight visibly lifted from Pandora's shoulders, easing decades of quiet agony.
"I always felt in my bones that they were alive, but the endless silence was suffocating," she whispered.
"Even if this confirmation comes from a traitor, it gives me peace."
"From this moment on, we stop digging. We act as if they are gone."
Her tone hardened into an unyielding command.
Claire nodded in absolute understanding.
Any further probing on their end could draw unwanted crosshairs onto her parents.
It was safer for everyone to maintain the illusion of their deaths.
Later that evening, Dane pulled Claire aside to share the latest update: Silas had finally cracked Meiko Fujii.