He looked at Lila for a long time.

"What was Daniil like?"

The question surprised me.

I looked down at my daughter.

"He was patient."

Damian smiled faintly.

"That doesn't sound genetic."

"He made terrible pancakes."

"That might."

"He loved old jazz records."

Damian's face changed.

"So did our mother."

I looked at him.

"Daniil always listened to jazz when he cooked."

Damian stared at the floor.

"I remember."

His voice became distant.

"He used to sneak into my room after Father went to sleep."

Victor looked up.

Damian continued.

"We had an old radio."

A soft smile appeared.

"Daniil would lower the volume so much we could barely hear it."

Victor joined quietly.

"He said music sounded better when it was a secret."

Damian looked at him.

For the first time that night, they shared a memory that did not contain suspicion.

Then Damian looked at Lila again.

"Does she like music?"

"She likes vibration."

I smiled.

"Daniel bought her a little speaker before she was born."

Damian's eyes met mine.

"He knew she would be deaf?"

"No."

I brushed a curl from Lila's forehead.

"Her hearing loss was discovered at six months."

Damian nodded.

"Does she speak?"

"Some words."

"Does she prefer signing?"

"Yes."

He looked at his own hands.

"Teach me."

I blinked.

"What?"

"Sign language."

"Now?"

"If I live until morning, I'd like to know how to speak to my niece."

Something inside me softened despite everything.

I showed him the sign for Lila's name.

We used an L-shaped hand with a small twisting motion near the cheek.

He copied it clumsily.

Lila stirred.

Her eyes opened.

She saw Damian practicing.

Sleepiness vanished from her face.

She sat up and corrected his hand.

Damian looked solemnly attentive.

Then she taught him rabbit.

He learned that too.

Victor watched them from the front passenger seat.

There was longing in his expression.

Lila noticed.

She pointed to him.

Victor.

I showed her a V sign.

She repeated it.

Then she leaned forward and taught him herself.

Victor's eyes shone.

"She doesn't hate me."

"She doesn't understand what you did."

He looked at me.

"Would you tell her?"

"Someday."

He nodded.

"Fair."

We reached St.

Catherine's just after midnight.

It was a small private clinic set behind a church and a line of old sycamore trees.

Dr.

Shaw called ahead.

A physician named Dr.

Samuel Reed met us at a side entrance.

He was in his sixties, with tired eyes and a cardigan beneath his white coat.

When he saw Damian, he looked at Evelyn.

"What happened?"

"Heavy-metal toxicity, possibly combined with digitalis compounds."

Dr.

Reed stared at her.

"Possibly?"

"I need blood panels."

He frowned.

"Why are you whispering?"

"Because someone may be following us."

Dr.

Reed looked at Damian.

Then at Victor.

Then at me holding a sleeping child.

He sighed.

"I retired from emergency medicine because I wanted quiet."

Marcus said, "Tonight is apparently not your night."

They moved Damian into a treatment room.

Dr.

Shaw followed.

So did Victor.

I stayed in the waiting room with Lila.

Marcus stood near the entrance.

Twenty minutes passed.

Then thirty.

My body began to understand how exhausted it was.

Lila slept across two chairs, her head in my lap.

I traced circles against her back.

Marcus sat opposite me.

"You should rest."

"So should you."

"I've been tired since 1998."

I almost smiled.

Then I looked at him.

"How much did you know about Damian?"

"Too much."

"About Daniel?"

"Nothing."

He leaned back.

"I joined Damian when he was twenty-one."

"You say that like he was a company."

"At the time, he was mostly an angry young man pretending he had no fear."

"And now?"

Marcus looked toward the treatment-room door.

"Now he's an older angry man who finally discovered fear can be useful."

"Useful?"

"It tells you what matters."

I looked at Lila.

"I suppose."

Marcus studied me.

"You don't trust any of us."

"No."

"Good."

I raised my eyes.

He shrugged.

"Trust shouldn't be automatic."

"Interesting philosophy for organized crime."

A tired smile appeared.

"Most useful philosophies are."

The treatment door opened.

Dr.

Reed came out.

"He's stable."

I released a breath I had not realized I was holding.

"For now."

The relief stopped halfway.

"What does that mean?"

"The toxins have stressed his heart and kidneys."

He removed his glasses.

"But I believe most of the damage can be reversed."

Marcus nodded.

"And security?"

Dr.

Reed looked toward me.

"There's a private recovery room downstairs."

"No windows?"

"One."

"Cover it."

The doctor stared at him.

"You people are exhausting."

Marcus said, "I've heard that."

Dr.

Reed walked away.

I stood carefully without waking Lila.

Victor appeared at the treatment-room door.

"Emily."

I almost ignored him.

Then I saw what he held.

Daniel's watch.

My heart stopped.

"Where did you get that?"

Victor looked down at it.

"I kept it."

"For five years?"

"I didn't know who else should have it."

He stepped closer and offered it to me.

I took it.

The blue face was scratched exactly as I remembered.

The metal band was cold.

My fingers trembled.

"Why didn't you find me?"

Victor looked ashamed.

"I was afraid."

"Of my husband?"

"Of Father."

I stared at him.

"And your fear mattered more than my right to know the truth."

"Yes."

The answer was quiet.

Painfully honest.

"I've told myself hundreds of reasons."

His eyes were red.

"But that's the real one."

I closed my hand around the watch.

"I won't forgive you tonight."

"I wouldn't believe you if you did."

He turned to leave.

"Victor."

He stopped.

"Was there anything else in the package?"

His shoulders stiffened.

I knew immediately.

"What else?"

He slowly turned.

"A key."

"What kind?"

"Small brass key."

"To what?"

"I never knew."

"Where is it?"

Victor's expression became strange.

"In the watch."

I looked down.

He took it gently from my hand.

On the back of the watch case was a tiny recessed notch.

He pressed it.

The back popped open.

Inside was a thin brass key.

I stared at him.

"You never found this?"

"No."

"Then how do you know it's there?"

Victor frowned.

"I don't."

Silence.

His face changed.

"I've never opened the watch."

My skin prickled.

"Then who did?"

We both looked toward the corridor.

Damian stood there.

He should not have been out of bed.

Dr.

Shaw was behind him, furious.

"I told you to lie down."

Damian ignored her.

His eyes were fixed on the key.

"I opened it."

Victor stared at him.

"When?"

"Twenty years ago."

The room went silent.

Damian leaned against the wall.

"Daniil had that watch before he disappeared."

I shook my head.

"No."

"I remember it."

"It was mine."

"I believe you bought it for him."

Damian nodded.

"But he had owned one exactly like it when we were children."

Victor looked confused.

"What are you saying?"

Damian took the watch.

"Our mother gave Daniil a watch the night before Father sent him away."

He opened the back.

"There was a key inside."

"To what?"

Damian closed his eyes.

"Her music box."

Victor stared.

"That old wooden thing?"

Damian nodded.

"Father kept it."

"Where?"

"Grayhaven."

My pulse quickened.

Marcus approached.