?Chapter 1370:


    Niks recoiled at the sharp wave of hostility radiating from Dani. His voice quivered with caution as he asked, “What more do you want from me?” The words slipped out low and tense.


    Dani’s gaze remained icily detached. “Don’t you enjoy toying with what others hold dear? Well, I’ll make you feel the sting of losing something you cherish.”


    Niks’s eyes flew open in disbelief. “What do you mean?” His mind whirled, scrambling to identify what she could possibly be referring to.


    In an instant, a vivid image of an ind shed before his eyes. Years ago, he had begun turning that ind into his escape route. If he wasn’t chosen as the McCoy family’s heir, the fortune hidden there would be his foundation for building his own business empire.


    That fortune was his anchor—a reservoir of selfassurance forged over years—and it was his secret alone. Not even Hamilton knew of his hidden refuge. How could Dani possibly know?


    Clinging to that thought, Niks steadied himself. He swallowed hard and locked eyes with her. “The McCoy Group is all that matters to me. Are you targeting it now?”


    Dani’s lips curved into a faint, knowing smile. “Is that so? Are you absolutely sure the McCoy Group is all that matters to you?”


    Though he was certain she couldn’t know his secret, her question sent a ripple of unease through him. He sat up stiffly in the hospital bed, voice spiking with urgency. “What do you mean?”


    Hamilton, taken aback, turned his head to look at Niks.


    Niks recognized hispse in control but couldn’t rein in his emotions. That ind—and the fortune buried within it—was everything to him. Without it, all the sweat and sacrifices of the years would crumble into nothing.


    “Dani, what are you really trying to say?” Niks asked through clenched teeth.


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    Dani scoffed. “So you’re scared? Even you have moments of fear. I always thought you were the picture of calm. How does it feel to have someone threaten the one thing you hold dear? Frightened?”


    A flush of humiliation burned through Niks as he caught the flicker of disappointment in Hamilton’s gaze. He clenched his jaw. “Enough, Dani. I’ve told you already—the McCoy Group is all that matters to me.”


    Dani regarded him with cold indifference. “The McCoy Group is all that matters? Fine. Then I’ll help you rid yourself of what you truly don’t care about.”


    Her words struck Niks like a vice, squeezing his chest. “You—”


    Before he could finish, Hamilton interjected, “Dani, what are you implying? Stop speaking in riddles. What else does Niks care about? Just say it.”


    Hamilton wasn’t easily deceived. He’d seen the confidence in Dani’s stance and the growing tension in Niks. There had to be something more driving Niks than the McCoy Group.


    Hamilton understood Niks: women didn’t interest him—only power and wealth did. If there was something else, perhaps a hidden fortune. A deep frown creased Hamilton’s brow.


    Fury boiled inside Niks, but with Hamilton in the room, he forced it down.


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