?Chapter 1271:


    The fire in his stare didn’t go unnoticed—Hurst caught it and smirked. “You realize, Mr. Wall, the Wolfpack didn’t earn their name for nothing. They’ve built an empire in the shadows. Bringing them down won’t be easy. If I’m not mistaken, you don’t even know where they’re holed up, do you?”


    Though his words sounded offhand, there was an unmistakable edge to Hurst’s question.


    Noah chose honesty over evasion. “You know where they are, don’t you? That’s what matters now.”


    No sooner had Noah finished than Hurst’s curiosity ignited.


    Dragging a chair over, Hurst settled in with a rxed, almost smug confidence.


    A faint grin yed at his lips as he cut to the chase. “So, how did you figure it out?”


    Noah nced up, his quiet authority easily overshadowing Hurst’sid-back arrogance.


    Right after Ralph had briefed him on both the NE Research Institute and the Wolfpack, Noah had dispatched a team to dig deeper. It turned out that the same year the Hudson family crumbled and Sadie’s parents vanished, something else major had happened.


    The Lawson family, a heavyweight in global pharmaceuticals and a key backer of the NE Research Institute, lost its leadership in a bizarre incident.


    Not long after, the once-mighty Lawson Group abruptly copsed into bankruptcy.


    Piece by piece, the clues came together. Hurst’s obsession with the NE Research Institute and his needle techniques both pointed in one direction.


    “You’re from that famous Lawson family in Zupren, aren’t you?” Noah said quietly.


    A soft chuckle escaped Hurst as he looked down.


    When his gaze lifted again, there was a shadow of old pain in his eyes.


    For once, Hurst truly hadn’t seen Noah’s insighting.


    He’d been just a boy when the Lawson family fell apart.


    His older brother, Stuart, once the golden child of the family, had be a shattered version of himself, paranoid and lost, after the tragedy.


    Hurst had spent years living under Stuart’s identity, forced to operate in his brother’s shadow, bearing burdens that never seemed to lighten.


    “You’re right, Mr. Wall.”


    Noah sat back, considering his next move in silence.


    One thing was clear—Hurst carried a vendetta against the Wolfpack that ran deep.


    That just might be the leverage they needed.


    Noah cut straight to the heart of it. “What proof do you have tying the Wolfpack to the Lawson family’s copse?”


    Hurst let out a small sigh, his expression tinged with frustration. “I don’t have solid proof right now, just scattered clues that all point back to Brenda, once a core scientist at the NE Research Institute. I’ve spent years chasing her trail, and instead, I ended up finding her daughter.”


    As those words left his mouth, his eyes drifted to the hospital bed,nding on Sadie’s unconscious form with a look that lingered.


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