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THE MAFIA BOSS’S DAUGHTER HAD NOT WALKED IN SIX YEARS—UNTIL A SHY MAID NOTICED WHAT EVERY DOCTOR MISSED / Chapter 3 / 6

Chapter 3 - The Trial of the Spoon

"Well, Doctor?" Adrian’s voice was barely a whisper, yet it cut through the room like a razor blade. "It's just medicine. Drink it."

Dr. Kenneth swallowed hard. "Adrian, this is highly irregular. The dosage is calibrated specifically for a child's weight and neurological profile. If a healthy adult consumes it, it could cause... adverse cardiac events."

"I don't care," Adrian said. He stepped into the room, closing the door behind him. The click of the lock sounded like a gunshot. "Drink it. Or I will have Viktor force it down your throat."

Clara watched as the proud doctor crumbled. His hand shook so violently that the blue liquid spilled onto the pristine white sheets.

"I... I can't," Dr. Kenneth whispered, dropping the spoon.

"Why?" Adrian demanded, taking a step closer. The sheer aura of violence radiating from him made Clara want to shrink away, but she forced herself to stand tall for Lily's sake.

"It was Selene!" Dr. Kenneth cried out, dropping to his knees. "She forced me! She has ledger books... receipts of my debts to the offshore casinos. She threatened to ruin my family, to have me killed! She said we just needed to keep the girl quiet and bedridden. Just until she married you!"

Adrian stood perfectly still. His face was a mask of cold, unreadable fury.

"Viktor," Adrian called out.

The door opened instantly. Viktor stepped inside.

"Take the doctor to the basement," Adrian said quietly. "Make sure he writes down every single detail of his arrangement with my sister-in-law. And then... make sure he never practices medicine again. Anywhere."

Viktor grabbed the weeping doctor by his collar and dragged him out of the room.

The bedroom fell silent. Lily was crying softly, confused and frightened by the sudden burst of violence. Adrian walked over to his daughter, sitting on the edge of the bed and pulling her into his arms.

"It's over, sweetheart," Adrian murmured, kissing her hair. "I promise you. It's over."

Then, he looked up at Clara. The coldness in his eyes had melted, replaced by a profound, raw vulnerability.

"You saved her," he said. "How did you know?"

"My grandmother taught me," Clara said softly. "She always said that nature provides the poison, but human greed provides the motive. I saw how Selene looked at you, sir. And I saw how she looked at Lily."

Adrian stood up, walking over to Clara. He took her injured, bandaged hand gently in his own. "You are no longer a maid in this house, Clara. From this day on, you are Lily's personal guardian. You will oversee her recovery. And I will pay you ten times your current salary."

Clara gasped. "Mr. Vale, I... I don't know if I can—"

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The ink on the emergency audit report was barely dry when the secure terminal on my desk flashed a violent crimson. I hadn't slept in thirty-six hours, my eyes burning from staring at columns of ghost figures, duplicate invoices, and shell corporations linked to Dominic Rossi. But the red alert wasn’t from Rossi’s faction. It was an internal security flag originating from the estate’s main vault deep beneath the west wing.

The ink on the emergency audit report was barely dry when the secure ter...

The glass shattered into a thousand tiny diamonds on the marble, scattering the light from the chandeliers. The muffled laughter died instantly, replaced by a suffocating, heavy silence that crept outward from the grand staircase.

The glass shattered into a thousand tiny diamonds on the marble, scatter...

The heavy oak doors of my private study clicked shut behind us, locking out the clinical, terrifying silence of the kitchen. Evelyn Crane stood stiffly in front of my mahogany desk, her hands folded over her apron with the rigid precision of someone who had spent decades micromanaging every square inch of my estate. Behind her, Norah hovered near the doorway, clutching her clipboard like a shield.

The heavy oak doors of my private study clicked shut behind us, locking...

"I don't trust anyone else in this city," Adrian interrupted, his grip tightening slightly, though not enough to hurt her. "Only you."

The Hook: Clara accepted. But as she began the arduous process of weaning Lily off the poison, she realized that Selene March wouldn't just disappear quietly. A cornered predator is the most dangerous kind—and Selene was about to play her final, lethal card.

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