She Was the Treasure All Along novel Chapter 788

The only sounds in the room were Hank's heavy, ragged breathing and the faint murmur of Karina downstairs, quietly ordering the staff to prepare meals.

The few seconds of silence stretched out, feeling as long as a century.

Suddenly, the smallest, barely perceptible twitch pulled at the corner of Hank's mouth. His cracked lips parted, and his voice was so hoarse it was almost a whisper.

"She's still alive."

Loyce didn't confirm it, nor did she deny it. She merely looked back at him, a quiet, knowing serenity in her eyes. It was a look that seemed to say: You're finally using your brain instead of letting your raw emotions and possessiveness dictate how you treat her.

That single glance was enough. The crushing weight that had been suffocating Hank came crashing down. The absolute despair and dead silence that had nearly broken him over the past week cracked open, letting in a sliver of light and air, allowing him to finally breathe.

He squeezed his eyes shut. When he opened them again, the violent turbulence in his gaze had settled into a profound, terrifying stillness.

"I'm sorry, Loyce," he rasped, his voice rough. "I shouldn't have yelled at you."

"I was a complete idiot." He offered a bitter, self-deprecating smile.

Loyce rested a hand on his shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze. "Hank, as long as you're willing to wait, let her grow, and take things slowly, there's still a chance to fix this."

Sunlight streamed through the window, casting long shadows across his pale face. He closed his eyes. For the first time, he was calmly and rationally accepting this loss, and quietly calculating how to truly win her back.

The crushing depression vanished from Hank's demeanor. He seamlessly slipped back into the skin of the Costa family's Godfather. He appeared even more grounded, burying his few remaining vulnerabilities deep within his chest, rendering him utterly unreadable.

To the outside world, the rival factions only heard that Hank had fallen severely ill and was recovering. Rumors claimed he had suffered a mental breakdown after his smuggled weapon shipment was hijacked, costing his syndicate over a billion dollars and sparking internal mutiny.

During this agonizing wait, Karina finally brought good news to the Colombo family: she had the password for the weapon crates.

The entire Colombo compound was buzzing with excitement. Salvar grabbed Karina by the waist, eagerly demanding the numbers.

She pushed him away, looking directly at the elderly Godfather at the head of the room. "I want what's owed to me."

"You are our hero," the old Godfather said, signaling Salvar with his eyes. Salvar immediately gestured to a woman in the crowd.

The woman stepped forward reluctantly, handing Karina a set of keys and the master financial ledgers for the family's core procurement accounts.

Karina took them, verified the contents, and only then pulled a small card from her pocket, handing it to Salvar. "The code."

The crisp, mechanical click of the unlocking mechanism echoed loudly through the Colombo family's opulent, heavy-set drawing room.

It was a fingerprint clone she had painstakingly lifted from one of the Godfather's crystal whiskey glasses. Carefully pressing the film over her index finger, she pressed it against the biometric scanner.

The scanner flashed green. The safe popped open.

Inside lay a thick, worn leather ledger, alongside several high-capacity memory chips.

Decades of the Colombo family's black-market networks, bribery logs, political payoffs, and secrets explosive enough to collapse the entire criminal underworld were sitting right there.

Karina swept the ledger and chips into an unassuming canvas tote bag. The moment she pulled the door open to leave, she found herself face-to-face with Salvar's other mistress.

"I knew you were acting sketchy! What the hell did you just take?"

Before the woman could even finish her sentence, Karina drew her weapon and shot her point-blank.

The suppressor caught most of the noise. Karina stared blankly at the shock freezing on the dying woman's face.

"You deserved to die anyway," Karina whispered.