72 The silence that followed was suffocating. Everyone in the room was processing the gravity of what had been said, the weight of the betrayal hanging over them like a dark cloud. Zara’s breath came in short, shallow bursts, her anger building to a fever pitch. Her hands, still clenched, trembled with the force of it. How could this man—this so-called doctor—have put her sister’s life in such danger? And for what? Ego? Ambition? “This is what you’ve done?” Olivia’s voice broke through the silence, raw and shaking with fury. “You let him treat my daughter when you knew he wasn’t ready? You knew he wasn’t qualified!” She was shaking now, her anger spilling over, raw and unfiltered. She stood up, her movements jerky, her breath catching as the weight of it all came crashing down. “How could you do this?” she demanded, her eyes filled with both anguish and fury. “You said you were friends! You said you’d trained him. This is what you’ve done to us?” Everett’s expression softened for

74Her voice was ice, her body rigid with fury. Caldwell recoiled, his lips twitching, but she wasn’t done.“We’re going to file a complaint against you,” she said, her voice sharp enough to cut. “You nearly killed my daughter. And we will make sure you never get to hurt anyone else again.”Caldwell let out a harsh, bitter laugh, his teeth bared in something almost animalistic. “You think you can ruin me?” he sneered. “I’ve worked too hard for this! I won’t let you destroy everything I’ve built!”Olivia let out a sharp breath, her hands trembling at her sides. “You destroyed yourself,” she said coldly. “No one else did that for you.”Caldwell opened his mouth to retort, but before he could, Lucas—who had been eerily quiet until now—spoke.“This is annoying.”Everyone turned to him.Lucas leaned against the wall, his arms crossed, his expression unreadable. But there was something unsettling in his gaze, something almost… disappointed.Caldwell noticed it, too. His eyes flickered with

76The room was thick with silence, the kind that pressed against the walls and settled into every crevice like an oppressive fog. Dr. Everett turned sharply on his heel, his coat billowing as he made his way toward the door. The polished floorboards creaked under his measured steps, the sound a reminder of the finality of his departure.“No!”Olivia’s voice rang out, raw and desperate, cutting through the suffocating stillness. She lunged forward, her fingers grasping the stiff fabric of Everett’s sleeve before he could take another step.“Please, don’t leave,” she begged, her grip tightening as if holding onto him alone could change everything.Everett stilled, his body tense, but he didn’t turn back immediately. The weight of her plea lingered in the air.Olivia spun to face Dylan, her breath hitching. Her entire body trembled as she sank to her knees before him, clutching his hands with a desperation that made the moment unbearable to watch.“I’ll beg if I have to,” she whispered,

78The silence stretched unbearably, thick with unspoken words and the weight of pride that had long divided them. Olivia could barely breathe under its pressure, but she refused to break. Not now. Not when everything was at stake.Dylan still hadn’t answered. His sharp eyes swept over them, taking in every detail—the tension in Lewis’s stiff posture, Zara’s trembling fingers as they clutched her dress, Lucas’s rigid stance, his barely restrained fury. And Olivia—standing in the center of it all, her chest rising and falling with heavy breaths, her eyes pleading yet unwavering.Seconds passed. Each one felt like an eternity.Then, finally, Dylan spoke.“Very well.”Relief crashed over Olivia like a tidal wave, so intense that her knees nearly buckled. Zara let out a sharp exhale, gripping Lewis’s arm for support. Lewis, who had fought against this more than anyone, closed his eyes, the last of his stubbornness unraveling.But Lucas—“You’ll regret this,” he muttered darkly, his voice

80Dylan stood up straight, his gaze never leaving Odile’s frail body. His thoughts raced as he took in the subtle details—her pallor, the faint tremors in her hands, the slight sheen of sweat on her forehead. Every part of him screamed that something was wrong, something far worse than just a sickness. Poison. His instincts had never failed him before, but this time, the stakes were higher than they had ever been.“Right,” Dylan said, his voice cool, controlled, but laced with urgency. “I need you all to listen closely. We need to gather a few things.” He turned toward Olivia, his voice becoming firmer. “I need a list of anything that could have come into contact with her in the last few days. Things that might have been… tainted.”Olivia looked at him, her brows furrowing in confusion. “Tainted? What do you mean?”Dylan’s gaze flicked from Odile back to Olivia. “Anything unusual, anything that could have been laced with poison. I need you to think, Olivia. Everything. And I mean eve