The return of Vincent Rossy to the main dining room signaled to the entire syndicate that the king was finally healing.

The atmosphere in the house shifted from quiet, mournful waiting to a tense, coiled readiness for action.

However, the rapid improvement in Vincent’s health also meant that whoever had tried to kill him was running out of time.

Norah was in the kitchen early on a Friday morning, sorting through a fresh delivery of organic vegetables from a trusted supplier.

She was humming quietly to herself, inspecting a wooden crate of vine-ripened tomatoes that had just been carried in.

She reached into the crate to pull out a beautifully red tomato when she noticed something strange on the wooden slats.

The heavy industrial staple holding the side of the crate together had been pried loose and hammered back into place unevenly.

Norah frowned, wiping her hands on her apron as she looked closer at the bottom of the wooden box.

There was a faint, almost invisible residue of white powder dusted along the cardboard lining beneath the tomatoes.

Her heart completely stopped, the blood turning to ice in her veins as the terrible realization hit her.

Someone had intercepted the delivery before it reached the estate gates and had dusted the produce with a slow-acting toxin.

"Enzo!" Norah screamed, her voice cracking with absolute, raw panic as she backed away from the preparation table.

The kitchen doors burst open in a fraction of a second, Enzo rushing in with his weapon already drawn and ready to fire.

"What is it?" Enzo demanded, his dark eyes sweeping the empty kitchen for any sign of a physical threat.

"The tomatoes," Norah gasped, pointing a shaking finger at the wooden crate resting on the counter.

"Someone tampered with the crate, there is powder on the bottom liner."

Enzo’s face turned into a mask of pure, terrifying rage as he holstered his weapon and pulled a radio from his belt.

"Lock down the entire estate, nobody leaves, nobody enters," Enzo barked into the radio.

Ten minutes later, Vincent marched into the kitchen, followed closely by a specialized security team carrying testing equipment.

Vincent’s face was dark, thunderous, and completely devoid of the warmth he had shown Norah just a few days prior.

He watched in absolute silence as a technician swabbed the bottom of the crate and applied a chemical testing liquid.

The liquid instantly turned a bright, toxic shade of purple, confirming the presence of heavy-metal poison.

Vincent closed his eyes, his jaw clenching so tightly that Norah could see the muscles jumping in his cheek.

"The rat is still inside my house," Vincent whispered dangerously, the sheer malice in his voice making the temperature drop.

He turned to look at Norah, who was standing huddled near the industrial ovens, trembling violently with shock.

If she had not noticed the tiny, misplaced staple on the wooden crate, she would have cooked those tomatoes for his lunch.

She would have been the one to finally deliver the lethal blow to the man she was trying to save.

Vincent walked past the security team, ignoring the chaos, and stopped directly in front of her.

He didn't say a single word, he just reached out and pulled her completely against his solid, powerful chest.

He wrapped his massive arms around her trembling shoulders, burying his face in her hair as he breathed deeply.

Norah froze for a second before wrapping her arms around his waist, clinging to him like a lifeline in a violent storm.

"You saved me again," Vincent murmured against her ear, his voice tight with an emotion he rarely allowed himself to feel.

"I will find whoever did this, and I will make them beg for the mercy of a quick death."

He pulled away, his dark eyes burning with lethal intent, and turned to look at Enzo.

"Bring me the security logs for the delivery gate, right now," Vincent ordered, the king preparing to go to war.