?Chapter 401:


    Shaking off the initial shock, he steadied his voice and answered the call.


    Freya leaned in, her voice a calm cascade, betraying no hint of urgency.


    “Your ex wants to kill you. Are you willing to cooperate?”


    Kristian stiffened, a flicker of shock shing across his face.


    Ashley, too, froze mid-motion, her eyes wide with disbelief.


    The stunned expressions they wore were nearly mirror images of each other.


    “Why would you want to kill me?” Kristian asked, his brows knitting together in confusion.


    Gerard, who had been calmly going over some reports nearby, suddenly froze—his face drained of color, panic creeping into his eyes. What the hell was happening? Freya wanted to kill Kristian?


    “It’s not me,” Freya corrected smoothly, the cool timbre of her voice cutting through the mounting chaos. “It’s your ex-girlfriend. She’s plotting to stab you, hoping it’llnd her in prison.”


    That revtion struck a chord in Kristian, a name shing through his mind like a neon sign. “Ashley?”


    “Mm-hmm,” Freya affirmed.


    “Not cooperating,” Kristian’s voice cut through the air, sharp and resolute.


    He ended the call abruptly.


    Freya turned to Ashley, her expression unreadable, almost detached. “You heard him,” she stated tly.


    Ashley’s eyes flickered with a mix of desperation and determination. “Then help me get close to him,” she implored.


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    Freya arched an eyebrow, her tone skeptical. “And why exactly would I do that?”


    “If I don’t seed, you’ll be his next target,” Ashley replied, her voice tinged with urgency. She understood the stakes all too well. “Living under his thumb is like being trapped in hell—every waking moment is a relentless torment. Believe me, even you wouldn’tst.”


    Ashley’s past was a shadow that lingered in her nightmares. She was haunted by visions of serpents and chilling scenes that yed over in her mind, a constant reminder of the man whose very memory could make her skin crawl and her body shudder with uncontroble dread. Previously, this man had shown an unsettling interest in Freya. Ashley knew that if she failed this time, he would certainly turn his malevolent attention toward Freya.


    With a scrutinizing gaze, Freya observed Ashley, searching for any hint of a lie but found none.


    Resigned, she retrieved her phone and pulled up her chat with Trent. She scrolled through their messages until she found a particr photo that Trent had sent—a snapshot of Ashley standing next to a man. Freya extended the phone toward Ashley. She questioned sharply, “Is this the man you’re talking about?”


    Ashley stiffened the moment her eyesnded on the photo, her mind instantly rewinding to the moment Kristian had confronted her with it. Her first instinct was to me Freya, suspicion ring in her chest—until she paused, thinking it through. Freya couldn’t have been the one.


    “Yes, but also no,” Ashley said slowly, her voice uncertain as her gaze flickered back to the photo. “That’s not his real face. It’s a disguise—he lookspletely different in person.”


    Freya narrowed her eyes, curiosity piqued. “Then what does he actually look like?”


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