chapter1815

Jake realized his slip of the tongue and quickly corrected himself. "You're right, I misspoke. That body is most likely someone else."

Joshua closed his eyes, his handsome face suddenly looking exhausted and gaunt. His voice was laced with a sense of powerlessness, but his chaotic thoughts seemed to have cleared slightly. "Send it for testing."

Jake finally let out a breath of relief, though Joshua's current state still worried him deeply. Joshua was always rational and calm, capable of managing even the worst situations with composure. Seeing him like this was truly frightening.

As Jake was debating whether he should stay, Joshua spoke again. His voice was hoarse. "You go with it. Don't leave its side for a second. Tell the guards on duty not to let their guard down, either. Make sure no one tampers with anything."

The clarity of his instructions was somewhat reassuring to Jake. "Yes, sir. I'll see to it immediately."

Joshua opened his eyes, his dark gaze fixed on him. "The moment the results are out, tell me."

"Yes, sir," Jake agreed, though his heart was heavy.

Several hours later, the test results were ready. Jake had supervised the entire process.

"Jake..." the doctor said, looking at him with a somber expression. "The results are in."

Jake stared at him. "And the conclusion?"

The doctor lowered his head. "It's Ms. Cameron."

It took Jake a moment to process the words. Unwilling to accept it, he pressed, "Are you sure?"

"The body was severely burned, and the DNA from the bones was highly degraded, making extraction and analysis extremely difficult," the doctor explained. "But based on the samples we were able to retrieve, it is indeed Ms. Cameron. If you don't believe me, you can have other doctors run the tests again."

This doctor had been trained by the Gardner family and was completely loyal; there was no reason for him to lie.

In truth, from the moment they found the body, Jake had a sinking feeling. But just like Joshua, he had simply refused to believe it.

Now, the reality was laid bare before him, forcing him to accept it. Still, something about the whole situation felt strange, fundamentally wrong.

But it had all happened so suddenly, and with Joshua in such a terrible state, Jake had no time to think it through.

Jake called over one of his men. "What is Mr. Gardner doing now?"

"Mr. Gardner is still searching for Ms. Cameron," the man replied.

"Has he found her?"

"No."

Jake took a deep breath. "Get the car ready. I'm going to report this to Mr. Gardner myself."

At the devastated ruins of the funeral site, Jake delivered the news.

"Mr. Gardner, after the doctor's analysis... it's been confirmed... it's Ms. Cameron..." His voice lacked conviction, and he didn't even dare to look at Joshua: fo

The entire site had been turned upside down by Joshua, but there was still no sign of Stella.

Joshua stood as rigid as stone, his face devoid of expression as he stared at Jake. When a long

morgent passed with nores vel

Jake lifted his head to look at him.

Joshua's expression was wooden, like a soulless puppet, showing no emotion at all.

"Mr. Gardner..." Jake began to panic Sometimes, silence was the most terrifying thing. He would rather

fly into a rage and destroy

Joshua fly into

everything than see him like this.

It was the calm before the storm. And no one knew what the true storm would look

like when it finally broke.

Joshua remained eerily still, without any reaction.

"Mr. Gardner..." Jake bit his lip and voiced the nagging feeling he couldn't shake. "I

think there's something strange about this whole affair."