Chapter 867

Jane answered the video call, her sweet, childlike voice ringing out, "Brother Lucas." Lucas immediately noticed something was off with Jane. She looked as wilted as a frostbitten eggplant, her usual sparkle dimmed. "What's wrong, Jane?" Lucas's voice softened to a near whisper, as if speaking any louder might startle her. The matter with Thorne wasn’t something she could share with her other brothers. Jane quickly adjusted her expression, forcing a brighter look as she met Lucas’s gaze. "Brother Lucas, why have you lost so much weight? And your hair..." Earlier, she had been too wrapped up in her own little woes to really look at him. Now, seeing him properly, she was shocked. His face, once lean but healthy, now had hollowed cheeks. His striking phoenix eyes were shadowed by dark circles so pronounced they looked like bruises. The gold-rimmed glasses he usually wore were missing, and his once neat, professional buzz cut had grown out into a messy tangle, sticking up in all directions