Chapter 352: The Source

Back at the lab, Sierra was immediately surrounded.

“So? You’re sure there’s nothing wrong with your body?” Autumn asked with concern.

“Yeah, I’m fine now.”

Seeing she really had recovered, Azure and Erwin didn’t hold back.

“Well, if you’re fine, then hurry up! You’ve missed a ton while you were gone.”

“Got it.”

Sierra loved this kind of energy.

That afternoon, just as he said he would, Johnathan showed up right on time outside the lab building. Sierra wasn’t finished yet, but instead of waiting in the car, Johnathan stood outside the building, waiting for her. He hadn’t been idle these past few days. Even while staying close to Sierra, his information network stayed active. Although Shane had already left Capital City, Johnathan had tracked his movements as soon as he got the alert—unfortunately, nothing useful had turned up.

What he didn’t know was that, at that very moment, Shane was in a heated argument with Jose.

“I never told you to touch her!” Shane said, clearly angry.

Jose scoffed. “Weren’t you the one who said we should go after his weakness? What now? Getting…”

“And besides, I didn’t know about it in advance.”

Or rather, when it came to Quinn, he never knew what she was planning. If he hadn’t stumbled across her true nature by accident, she might’ve fooled him for life. Quinn was clever—clever enough to manipulate even her own important older brother without him realizing. In that sense, she really was impressive.

Shane took a deep breath. “Either way, nothing can happen to her. That’s the basis of our agreement.”

Without waiting for a reply, he hung up the phone.

Chapter 352: The Source

On top of that, Quinn had deliberately shifted attention toward the relationship between the Treno family and Johnathan, making it look like someone was trying to drive a wedge between them. In doing so, she made everyone forget who the real victim was.

That woman… was dangerous.

Should he warn Sierra? A flicker of hesitation crossed Shane’s eyes, but in the end, he let it go. He knew Sierra wouldn’t believe him no matter what he said.

On Johnathan’s end, things moved fast. The day after Sierra returned to the lab, he received samples of several substances. He didn’t hand the work off to anyone—he personally broke them down and analyzed them.

When the results came back, his expression turned ice-cold. Two of the drugs were modified versions of compounds he had developed in earlier experiments. In fact, the one used on Sierra was a direct upgrade of one of his own formulas. Hallucinogenic. Addictive. Euphoric. Multiple effects layered together. Reportedly, this cocktail was one of the hottest black market substances overseas.

Johnathan immediately called in Mateo, Stone, and the others. Maddox was there too. He told them everything.

“So the drug used on Sierra is an upgraded version of something you made?” Mateo blurted out. The moment the words left his mouth, he caught Johnathan’s cold glare and immediately shut up.

“Does Sierra know?” Stone asked.

“She does.” Johnathan had told her the moment he figured it out. What he hadn’t told her was that he hadn’t created the original compound out of curiosity—it was for the thrill. Back then, he’d already crossed a line. The basic stuff bored him. He wanted to make something no one else had. He was reckless and unstable—especially after learning Susie was pregnant again. During that period, he had no idea how many versions of that compound he’d produced. But later, he’d destroyed them all. All the research was uploaded into a secure, private server—Mateo himself had set it up. There was no way anyone could’ve hacked it.

So how had it leaked?

Chapter 352: The Source

“I’ll look into the distribution of this drug,” Maddox offered. “See if we can trace it back to whoever’s behind this.”

Johnathan nodded. That was exactly why he had called them together. One man couldn’t do it all. He planned to follow multiple leads—some in the open, some in the dark.

“Be careful,” Draven warned. “Don’t tip them off.”

They all understood what was at stake. Then Johnathan said, “While you’re investigating the drug, I also want you to look into someone else.”

“Who?” Stone asked.

“Quinn’s ex-husband—Timothy.” Johnathan had been searching for Timothy for a long time, but it was like the man had vanished into thin air. Whatever the outcome, he needed closure—dead or alive. Because a living, breathing man couldn’t just disappear.