And for the first time since Sophie’s death, the mansion sounded alive.

That evening, Adrian surprised everyone again.

He ordered dinner in the family dining room.

Not his office.

Not the smaller private salon.

The family dining room.

The room had not been used since Elena and Sophie died.

Luca hesitated before entering.

Adrian noticed.

“Problem?”

“No.”

“There is.”

Luca adjusted his cuff.

“I just haven’t seen you in here in a long time.”

“Neither have I.”

The dining room looked exactly as it once had.

A long walnut table.

Cream walls.

Crystal lights.

A piano in the adjoining room.

And on one side, a small chair no one had ever removed.

Sophie’s chair.

Adrian saw it.

So did Claire.

Lily did not understand.

She ran toward it.

“This one is little!”

Claire reacted immediately.

“Lily, no.”

Adrian raised one hand.

“It’s all right.”

Claire stopped.

Lily climbed into Sophie’s old chair.

Something passed over Adrian’s face, but he did not ask her to move.

Dinner began quietly.

For Adrian, every sound was memory.

The scrape of cutlery.

A child’s foot swinging beneath a chair.

A glass being tapped with a spoon.

Once, Sophie had done exactly that until Elena threatened to replace her dessert with broccoli.

He looked at Lily.

She was building a mountain out of mashed potatoes.

Adrian looked away quickly.

Claire noticed.

“I can move her,” she whispered.

“No.”

“She’s sitting in—”

“I know.”

Claire studied him.

Adrian said nothing more.

Then the door opened.

Marco Vieri, Adrian’s private physician, entered carrying a small leather case.

Marco had treated Adrian since the bombing.

He was in his late fifties, immaculate, calm, and one of the few people allowed to speak to Adrian without permission.

“You missed your six o’clock medication,” Marco said.

Adrian glanced at the clock.

“I was occupied.”

“I can see that.”

Marco smiled politely at Lily.

She stared back.

Adrian noticed her expression change.

It was subtle.

But he had begun watching her carefully.

“Something wrong?” he asked.

Lily shook her head.

Marco opened his case.

He removed two tablets and gave them to Mrs. Vale, the senior housekeeper, along with a small amber bottle.

“Five drops,” Marco said.

Mrs. Vale nodded.

Lily’s eyes followed the bottle.

Marco checked Adrian’s pulse, asked several routine questions, then left.

Mrs. Vale moved to the sideboard to prepare Adrian’s medicine.

Lily stopped playing with her food.

Claire noticed.

“Eat, sweetheart.”

Lily did not.

She watched Mrs. Vale.

Five drops fell into Adrian’s water.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Mrs. Vale turned toward the table.

Lily’s face tightened.

“Mr. Adrian?”

He looked down.

“What is it?”

She pointed at the glass.

“Why did she put that in your drink?”

Mrs. Vale froze.

Claire frowned.

“It’s medicine, Lily.”

But Lily shook her head.

“No.”

Adrian’s eyes narrowed.

“What do you mean, no?”

Lily looked at Mrs. Vale, then at Adrian.

“That’s not the same bottle.”

Silence.

Claire’s fork stopped halfway to her mouth.

Luca turned his head slowly.

Adrian looked at the amber bottle.

Mrs. Vale went pale.

“What did you say?” Adrian asked.

Lily pointed.

“The doctor had a brown bottle.”

“This is brown.”

“No.”

Her little brow wrinkled in frustration.

“The other one had a blue moon.”

Everyone looked at the label.

There was no blue moon.

Luca stood.

Mrs. Vale stepped backward.

“I only used what Dr. Vieri left.”

Adrian’s voice became cold.

“Did you?”

“Yes.”

“Do not move.”

The temperature of the room seemed to drop.

Claire lifted Lily out of the chair.

“Adrian, she’s three. Maybe she—”

“No.”

He looked at Lily.

“What did you see?”

Lily pointed toward the hallway.

“The doctor put his bottle back in his bag.”

Adrian’s gaze shifted to Mrs. Vale’s hand.

“Then where did that bottle come from?”

Mrs. Vale stared at it as though seeing it for the first time.

“I… I don’t know.”

Luca crossed the room.

He took the glass.

Then the bottle.

“Don’t touch anything else.”

Mrs. Vale began crying.

“I swear to God, Mr. Moretti, I thought it was the same medicine.”

Adrian’s expression hardened.

“Get Marco back here.”

“He’s gone,” Luca said.

“Then bring him back.”

Luca moved.

Adrian reached out.

“Luca.”

His oldest friend turned.

“Lock the gates.”

That was when Claire understood something had changed.

Not emotionally.

Operationally.

In less than ten seconds, the mansion stopped being a home.

It became a sealed fortress.

Marco Vieri was intercepted at the south gate.

He returned angry.

“What is this?”

Luca placed the amber bottle on the table.

Marco stared at it.

His anger vanished.

“That isn’t mine.”

Adrian watched him closely.

“Lily said the same thing.”

Marco looked at the little girl.

Then back at Adrian.

“My bottle has my clinic emblem. Blue crescent. This is counterfeit.”

Adrian’s jaw tightened.

“What’s inside?”

“I don’t know.”

“You will.”

Marco requested his medical bag.

He tested a drop with a portable reagent kit.

His face changed.

“What?”

Marco looked up.

“This contains digoxin.”

Claire knew the word only vaguely.

Adrian did not.

“Explain.”

“It affects the heart.”

“How much?”

Marco tested again.

“Enough to matter if taken repeatedly.”

Adrian’s gaze became deadly still.

“How repeatedly?”

Marco did not answer immediately.

That hesitation was enough.

“How repeatedly, Marco?”

“Small doses over time can cause weakness, nausea, dizziness, confusion, irregular heartbeat.”

Luca looked at Adrian.

Adrian had experienced all of them.

For years.

Marco continued.

“Combined with some of your prescribed medication, it could also increase fatigue and muscle weakness.”

The room fell silent.

Adrian looked down at his legs.

For the first time in three years, an impossible thought entered his mind.

“My paralysis?”

Marco shook his head quickly.

“The spinal injury is real.”

“But?”

Marco hesitated.

“But I’ve always been concerned that your overall decline was disproportionate.”

Adrian looked up.

“What does that mean?”

“You should have regained more strength than you did.”

Luca swore under his breath.

Adrian’s eyes sharpened.

“You never told me this.”

“I did.”

“No.”

“I raised it six months after the bombing.”

“To whom?”

Marco looked at Luca.

The room went still.

Luca’s face changed.

“To me?” he said.

Marco nodded slowly.

“You told me Adrian was refusing further neurological evaluation.”

Luca stared at him.

“I never said that.”

Adrian looked between them.

Marco frowned.

“I spoke to someone on your private line.”

“I never had that conversation.”

Now it was Marco’s turn to go pale.

Adrian spoke quietly.

“Who had access to Luca’s line?”

Luca’s answer came after a long pause.

“Three people.”

Adrian already knew.

Luca.

Adrian himself.

And Renato Ferri.

Renato had been Adrian’s chief financial officer for twelve years.

He was also Elena’s older brother.

Adrian’s brother-in-law.

The uncle Sophie adored.

The man who had organized the funeral when Adrian was unconscious.

The man who had sat beside Adrian’s hospital bed and promised:

I’ll protect everything until you can come home.

Adrian turned to Luca.

“Where is Renato?”

“At the Monaco office.”