"She can''t take your call right now," Colby said, his voice tense.


    Odie shot up from the couch in the hotel suite. "What do you mean by that?"


    "Sophie''s been taken by Griffin."


    "Griffin?" Odie''s face darkened like a storm cloud.


    Colby didn''t bother exining further. He ended the call, jumped into his car, and sped off to Griffin''s old ce. Inside the suite, Jonah walked in, holding a ss. "Boss, should we go with French or Chinese for dinner?"


    Odie, still frowning deeply, replied, "Sophie''s been captured by Griffin."


    Jonah was taken aback. "Why on earth would Griffin take Sophie?"


    Odie let out a long, frustrated breath. "I told her not to mess with Reeves International, but she wouldn''t listen. And now look where we are she''s in Griffin''s clutches."N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive ? material.


    He knew exactly what kind of man Griffin was an emotionless killing machine. Sophie taking on Elodie was a recipe for disaster, and now she was paying the price. "Get the car ready and have our people search the city. We need to find where Griffin''s hiding."


    "But boss, this is Devonport, not Summerfield. Our men have always operated in the shadows. It''s tricky here. If Colby''s men catch wind of our involvement, all our years of covert operations would go down the drain..." "Have I been feeding our people in Devonport for nothing? I said search, so search! Enough with the excuses!"


    Odie''s frustration was palpable. He had always known Sophie would bring trouble eventually, but he


    hadn''t expected it toe so


    quickly Of all people to


    provoke-why Griffin? Anyone gelse,


    and they might not be in this mess.


    Late at night, the outskirts of Devonport were eerily silent.


    Sophie was jolted awake by a sharp pain in her forehead. She opened her eyes to pitch darkness. Her memory was hazy, but she recalled Griffin knocking her out.


    Griffin had hit her so hard she had no chance to fight back. Now, the blood on her forehead had dried, and Elodie opened the basement door.


    Elodie walked in, carrying medicine and gauze. "Griffin''s in the wrong here, and I apologize on his behalf."


    "I thought you could control him," Sophie muttered, shaking her head slightly.


    Elodie approached, gently wiping the wound on Sophie''s forehead. "This wasn''t my intention, but that doesn''t mean I hadn''t thought about it."


    As she tended to the wound, Elodie


    sat beside Sophie and began to share her story. "When I was young, my family sent me to the countryside because my dad had an affair with my aunt. He listened to her and threw me away, not caring if I lived or died. Back then, I did heavy chores every day. Even though I was supposed to be a wealthydy, I lived worse than a maid. I thought the world was dark, so I didn''t talk to anyone, nor did I like to. Until..."


    Elodie paused, then continued, "Until one day, I was brought back to the Reeves family. That''s when I started my vendetta against them. Except for my mom, everyone in the Reeves family was my enemy, the cause of my miserable past. I saved Griffin because when I saw him, I saw another version of myself, tossed around by fate. No matter what Griffin does, I would forgive him, and I couldn''t possibly hate him. In this world, there''s only Griffin for me, and I''m all he has."