Chapter Three — Someone Touched My Medicine

The word body changed everything.

For several seconds, I forgot the heat clawing through me.

Ronan moved first.

He slipped the altered cartridge into the inside pocket of his jacket, then crossed the room and opened the door only far enough to block the view inside.

Marcus stood in the corridor with one of Vale Dominion’s senior security officers beside him.

The officer looked pale.

“What happened?” I asked.

Marcus glanced at me, then at Ronan, clearly wondering why my greatest rival was locked inside a private lounge with me.

I gave him no explanation.

“The body was found near Elevator Three in the underground garage,” he said. “Security has sealed the lower levels.”

“Who is it?”

“We don’t know yet.”

The security officer cleared his throat.

“We believe he was an employee.”

Ronan’s expression sharpened.

“Believe?”

“There was no identification on him.”

I stepped closer.

“What department?”

“We’re checking.”

Another pulse of heat rolled through my body.

I kept my face still.

The last thing I needed was Marcus studying me too closely while a dead man lay beneath my building.

“Where is my father?”

“In the executive ballroom,” Marcus said. “Chairman Vale ordered all senior staff to remain upstairs until security clears the building.”

That sounded like my father.

Control the room before anyone understood the crisis.

I had learned the habit from him.

Ronan asked, “Was the death accidental?”

The officer hesitated.

“No.”

The single word landed heavily.

I looked at him.

“What happened?”

“We found signs of trauma.”

Marcus’s expression tightened.

The officer continued.

“And there was blood near the service entrance.”

Ronan turned toward me.

The look lasted only a second, but I understood it.

Someone had tampered with my suppressant.

Now someone was dead inside the same building.

Coincidence suddenly felt like a luxury.

“I’m going downstairs,” I said.

“No,” Marcus replied immediately.

I looked at him.

He corrected himself.

“Sir, security has specifically asked everyone to stay away.”

“This is my building.”

“And possibly an active crime scene.”

“I’m aware.”

Ronan closed the door behind us and stepped fully into the corridor.

“You’re not going anywhere yet.”

I looked at him.

“I don’t remember asking you.”

“You also didn’t notice someone replaced your medication.”

Marcus’s gaze moved between us.

My blood chilled.

Ronan had said too much.

I stepped closer to him.

“Choose your next words carefully.”

Understanding entered his eyes.

He lowered his voice.

“Your medication.”

Marcus still looked curious.

I cut him off before he could ask anything.

“Give us five minutes.”

“Your father wants you downstairs.”

“My father can wait five minutes.”

Marcus hesitated, then nodded.

“Five.”

He walked away with the security officer.

The moment they disappeared around the corner, I turned on Ronan.

“You nearly exposed me.”

“No, I nearly told your assistant that someone tampered with medication.”

“You know exactly what I mean.”

“And you know exactly why I said it.”

“Because you enjoy provoking me?”

His jaw tightened.

“Because a man is dead twenty floors beneath us, and your first instinct is still to pretend you can control every variable.”

“I have controlled every variable for twenty-seven years.”

“Apparently not tonight.”

That hit harder than I wanted it to.

I stepped closer.

“You think because you know one secret, you understand me?”

“I think someone else knew it first.”

The anger disappeared.

Ronan watched my face carefully.

“That cartridge was switched before you entered this room.”

“I know.”

“Which means whoever did it had access to you.”

“Or my office.”

“Or your physician.”

I said nothing.

He continued.

“And whoever did it knew enough about your biology to choose tonight.”

The ballroom.

The press.

The board.

Ronan.

My stomach tightened for a reason that had nothing to do with heat.

“You think this was planned around the event.”

“I think you should stop assuming the target was only your reputation.”

I stared at him.

“What else would they want?”

Ronan reached into his jacket and removed the cartridge.

“Until we test this, we don’t know.”

He held it beneath the corridor light.

Clear liquid filled most of the chamber.

Nothing about it looked dangerous.

That made it worse.

“I can have Vale laboratory services analyze it.”

“No.”

His answer came too quickly.

“Why?”

“If someone inside your company did this, you want to hand them the evidence?”

I hated that he had a point.

“I have private facilities.”

“So do I.”

I laughed once.

“You expect me to give my medication to Ashcroft Global?”

“I expect you to decide whether corporate pride is worth dying for.”

The heat surged suddenly.

My vision blurred.

I reached for the wall.

Ronan caught me before I hit it.

His arm wrapped around my waist.

The reaction was immediate.

His scent surrounded me.

Cedar.

Smoke.

Alpha.

My body responded before my mind could stop it.

I inhaled sharply.

Ronan froze.

For one unbearable second, neither of us moved.

His hand was firm against my side.

My face was far too close to his throat.

Every instinct I had spent years suppressing screamed at me to stay there.

I shoved him away.

“Don’t.”

His breathing had changed too.

That frightened me.

Ronan stepped back slowly.

“You need medical help.”

“I need my suppressant.”

“You need to know what they gave you this morning.”

I looked at him.

“What are you talking about?”

His expression changed.

“You said you injected yourself this morning.”

“Yes.”

“From the same batch?”

My mind went blank.

The emergency injector was not the only dose I possessed.

My morning suppressant had come from the same delivery.

The same physician.

The same locked case.

Ronan saw the answer on my face.

“How long after that injection did the symptoms begin?”

“Several hours.”

“Adrian.”

My pulse began to climb.

The damaged injector in his hand might never have been the weapon.

It could have been insurance.

A second dose waiting in case the first failed.

Someone had touched my medicine long before I entered this lounge.

A vibration came from my pocket.

My phone.

I pulled it out.

Unknown number.

One message.

Ronan watched as I opened it.

There were only seven words.

THE FIRST DOSE WORKED. DO NOT FIGHT IT.

My blood went cold.

Ronan read the message over my shoulder.

Then another arrived.

This one contained a photograph.

Me.

Standing in the ballroom less than thirty minutes ago.

Taken from close enough to see the champagne glass in my hand.

Ronan’s face hardened.

A final message appeared.

TONIGHT, THE OMEGA HEIR FINALLY COMES OUT.

I stopped breathing.

Ronan looked toward the corridor.

Whoever had sent it had been close.

Possibly still was.

Then the lights went out.