I pulled my hand back as if I’d touched a live wire, staring down at Ethan Thornton’s pale fingers. For nine months, the medical world had written him off as a breathing corpse—a tragic, vegetative placeholder meant to keep a corporate empire from crumbling into chaos. But right now, those long, elegant fingers twitched again. A faint, dry rasp tore through his throat as the heavy veil of his eyelids lifted, revealing eyes the color of a stormy winter sea.

Heavy footsteps clicked across the parquet floor, stopping dead just a few feet from where I crouched, holding my breath so hard my lungs burned.

"That's strange," Jason’s voice muttered, sounding confused. "I swore I locked the safe last week."

Through the carved wooden legs of the desk, I saw the hem of Jason’s tailored trousers shift as he stepped closer to the wall painting. The air in the room felt thick enough to chew. My fingers tightened around the titanium hard drive in my pocket, the sharp edge digging into my thigh. If he looked behind the painting right now, it was over. My father's debts wouldn't matter, and neither would mine. We would both disappear into the Thornton family graveyard before sunset.

"Jason!" Vivian’s sharp voice snapped from the doorway. "Leave it. The auditors are arriving in the morning, and I need you to review the dummy corporation logs in the east wing. Stop wasting time playing detective in an empty room."

Jason let out an annoyed sigh. "Coming, Grandmother."

The footsteps retreated, the heavy doors clicked shut, and the sound of the deadbolt sliding home echoed through the cavernous study.

I waited a full two minutes before collapsing backward against the bookcase, letting out a shaky, ragged breath that sounded entirely too loud in the empty room. I quickly closed the safe, swung the portrait back into place, and bolted from the room, running all the way back to the master suite without stopping.

When I burst through the bedroom door, Ethan was propped up against the pillows, his chest heaving as if he had run a marathon just trying to adjust his position. The moment he saw my face, his eyes narrowed.

"You're shaking," he said, his voice hard but carrying an undercurrent of urgency. "Did they see you?"

"No," I gasped, pulling the titanium drive from my pocket and tossing it onto the duvet. "But I heard enough. Jason and Vivian aren't just trying to freeze you out of the company, Ethan. They've been paying your private nurse to increase your sedatives. They were planning to let your heart 'give out' naturally right after the board meeting."

Silence descended on the room like a falling anvil.

Ethan didn't flinch. He didn't look shocked. Instead, a slow, terrifying smile spread across his face—the smile of a grandmaster who had just anticipated his opponent's checkmate ten moves in advance.

"So, the nurse is on their payroll," Ethan murmured, his voice as cold as arctic ice. "That explains why my muscles have felt like burning acid for the past three weeks. They were trying to fry my nervous system while keeping me conscious enough to feel the trap closing."

He looked up at me, his gaze softening by fraction. "You handled yourself well, Lily. Better than most board members twice your age."

"Compliments later," I snapped, the adrenaline finally overriding my fear. "What do we do about the nurse? She's scheduled to check your vitals in twenty minutes."

Ethan reached out, grabbing my wrist and pulling me down until my face was inches from his. "We don't fire her. We use her."

"Use her? Are you insane? She's trying to kill you!"

"She’s greedy," Ethan corrected smoothly, his eyes flashing with lethal brilliance. "And greed is a vulnerability we can exploit. When she walks in here, you are going to play the terrified, compliant bride who just found out her husband is a lost cause. Let her administer the drip. But instead of letting it enter my veins, you're going to help me disconnect the line while her back is turned."

Before I could argue, a soft knock tapped against the outer door.