The Prison-Made Queen novel Chapter 950

Dante's eyes snapped back and forth between the flight log reading "Mitchina" and the glaring chyrons on the TV screen: "Mitchina," "Explosion," and "Casualties Unknown." His pupils dilated in sheer horror.

He violently swayed on his feet. All the strength abandoned his hands, and the thin sheet of paper slipped through his fingers, fluttering silently to the thick carpet.

"Sir!" Jarvis lunged forward, grabbing the old man firmly by the arms to keep him from collapsing.

Regaining his footing, Dante gripped Jarvis's arm with the strength of a vice. His knuckles turned stark white, and for the first time, his voice cracked with raw, unadulterated panic. "Quick! Jarvis! Activate every single contact we have in Southeast Asia! Bribe local warlords, hire international mercenaries, get the Red Cross involved! I don't care how much money it costs, who you have to call, or what price we have to pay! Find out exactly what happened at that explosion site!"

"I need to know if Callahan and Leilani were in that blast... If they're alive, I want them brought back. If they're dead... I want their bodies!"

Saying those last words felt like a serrated blade sawing through Dante's chest.

If he had the choice, he prayed to God that the casualty list from that explosion wouldn't have the names of the people he loved most.

*CRASH!*

A deafening shatter erupted from the doorway of the study. A priceless antique porcelain coffee cup smashed into a hundred pieces, sending dark, scalding liquid spreading across the expensive rug.

Dante and Jarvis whipped their heads around. Letty Palmer stood frozen in the doorway. All the blood had vanished from her face. Her right hand was still suspended in the air as if holding the tray, while her left hand was clamped over her mouth, her eyes blown wide with absolute terror.

She stared at him, desperately needing him to give her a definitive answer. "Dad, don't lie to me. I heard everything. Tell me the truth. Are they... are they...?"

The terrible word caught in her throat. She couldn't bring herself to say it out loud. The sheer, overwhelming magnitude of her terror and grief transformed into a sudden, violent flood of tears.

Letty had lost her husband when she was incredibly young. She had swallowed every hardship and sacrificed everything to raise her only son, Callahan, by herself. She watched him grow into a brilliant man, take over the family empire, and finally find the love of his life in Leilani. They were on the brink of marriage. It was supposed to be her happily ever after—a quiet, peaceful retirement spent spoiling her grandchildren.

Now, this sudden, catastrophic nightmare had struck. For a widowed mother whose entire world revolved around her son, the blow was unimaginably devastating. She simply couldn't bear it.