Wrapping his arms around Helma, he pulled her close, his voice a low rumble, "It doesn't matter where she is or what she's planning. I won't let her get the chance to hurt any of you."Smiley, squished in the middle, wondered what they were talking about. He did not understand them at all!He did no
"Up and at 'em?" Cole's eyes twinkled with mischief as he asked, "How was your sleep last night?""Terrible, thanks!" Helma snapped, her voice laced with frustration. She could practically hear her teeth grinding.Cole, feigning deafness, continued with his plans: "I've found us a new nanny. She'll
"I'm still digging into who's running the show at Talon. They're like a ghost—super secretive. My sources only picked up on them because they work a lot like LEV used to.""Get this," Andrew continued, the mood turning grim, "since Neve pulled her vanishing act, Talon's practically taken over half o
Andrew was squirming with the need to pee, but Chandler was so gung-ho about his tea that Andrew could not bear to hurt his feelings. So, he held it in.Edward's fidgeting and mumbling then caught his eye.Andrew could not help but scoff, "I thought you just looked young, but I guess your smarts had
Father and son locked eyes in a wordless standoff.Cole was a picture of irritation, his tie-pulling almost sparking with fury, while Smiley played it cool, burying his face in the comfort of his mom's shoulder.Dad was in one of his moods, and Smiley decided it was best to just look away.Cole's fa
The hotel manager had shot over another security tape last night. Caught on camera by a night-shift worker sneaking a smoke and video chatting with his girlfriend, it was a lucky catch.A month ago, on the night of the big wedding, the hotel went into lockdown mode when they realized Neve had vanish
The security guard finally stopped giving her a hard time and let her through.Helma had done her homework on the student-turned-teacher, Shirag, who was filling in for a class right then.She slipped in through the back door, totally not expecting to run into Ximena, who was tardy.They locked eyes
Helma was dead sure the guy riding shotgun was hiding something.Perhaps Shirag was too.She flashed another photo. "Seen this woman around here that night?"It was a picture of Neve.Shirag did not even flinch. "Never seen her."He was getting antsy, a slight frown creasing his brow behind his glas
With everyone else keeping mum, Silver Obsidian cut to the chase, "We'll go with Helma's plan."For six months straight, Serena had practically lived in the lab. At first, Starlight Blossom did not seem to do much. Everyone was on edge, wondering if it would make any difference at all. Then, in the
During her month off, Helma took a break from the daily preschool runs and whisked her kids away on a travel spree.The trip was not without its scares—Serena had a severe bout of illness.Helma was prepared, yet the sudden severity of the attack caught her off guard.Without a second thought, she r
Under the questioning eyes of the crowd, Helma fired up her laptop and plugged in a USB stick.The video started playing on the massive screen.The timestamp in the corner showed it was from two nights ago.Usually, the lab was locked up tight after hours, and by eight or nine, the research center w
Hort watched her walk away, a storm of emotions on his face.Ever since she joined the research center, he had seen Wendy as this super-capable girl with a heart of gold.Whenever the team hit a wall with the experiments or the data just would not play nice, Wendy was the one who would spark up the
The poor thing's symptoms were straight out of a horror flick: muscles clenching like crazy, nerves on fire, bleeding inside, gasping for air, and foaming at the mouth. Some of them even had their hearts stop cold turkey.According to the timeline, the rat had been juiced up with three rounds of Sta
With the report out of the way, the experiment team kicked things into high gear to wrap up their project.The meticulously calculated data was in, and the verdict was clear: Starlight Blossom's effects were rock-solid stable. The only thing left for the lab mice was one final shot.The brain trust
"Come on, you think the boss is scatterbrained like you? Someone totally did this on purpose!" "Who would do something that evil?!" "Guess we're gonna have to push back the presentation." Everyone looked like they had lost their best friend, except Wendy. She had this worried frown, but her eyes w
After pulling two all-nighters, Helma had the report materials ready to go.The research center was deserted.She stretched, yawned, and glanced at the clock. One AM.She powered down her computer and left, still yawning.Once she was gone, a sneaky figure slipped into the office...Deputy Commander
Helma had tried to get the scoop from Leon, but the guy was like Fort Knox—nothing useful ever slipped out. Therefore, she backed off from the matchmaking game. Still, she was not blind to Wendy's little crush, especially with errands like these document deliveries. "You got it, boss," Wendy replied