Se connecterDiamond City at dawn was lashed by torrential rain. The sky was a bruised, swollen grey, and the downpour hammered against every surface with relentless fury. Water rushed in thick streams down the mountainside, turning the roads into shallow rivers.
The Heinrich Private First Sanatorium was built into the mountainside, its grey stone walls rising from the rock like a fortress carved from the mountain itself. It looked less like a medical facility and more like a heavily fortified stee
**BOOM——!!**A deafening explosion erupted without warning overhead. The entire underground vault shook violently, the tremor rattling through the walls and floor. Dust and debris rained down from above, scattering across the concrete. Avery quickly covered her head with both arms and pressed herself flat against the wall, crouching low as fragments of ceiling tile clattered around her feet.From the direction of the sealed elevator shaft, a piercing screech of tearing metal burst through the air.The blast door had been blown open from the outside, leaving a jagged, gaping breach. Twisted shards of alloy lay scattered across the floor, their edges still sharp and smoking in the dim light. A rush of cooler air swept through the opening, cutting through the smoke and dust.Through the swirling clouds of dust, Avery raised her hand to shield her eyes. Figures emerged from the haze—a full squad of black-clad operatives filing in with practi
The elevator plunged downward at breakneck speed, the metal cabin groaning softly as it cut through the earth. The descent felt endless, each second stretching into an eternity of silence. The only sounds were the faint hum of the machinery and Margaret's ragged, labored breathing—each exhale heavy with barely suppressed fury.Avery kept her hands in her pockets, her gaze fixed on the descending floor numbers as they flickered past in rapid succession. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of Margaret's temples, veins bulging with barely contained rage. A silent, cold smirk flickered across her lips. The woman's composure was cracking, and Avery was enjoying every second of it.Ding.As the elevator doors slid open, a wave of stale, frigid air, tinged with the faint, metallic scent of machine oil, rushed out to meet her. The cold hit her exposed skin like a slap, raising goosebumps along her arms and the back of her neck. The temperature here
She didn't bother with the ordinary wards. She bypassed them entirely and went straight to the central medication preparation room at the core of the sanatorium—the nerve center where all critical drug protocols were managed and monitored.Margaret was arriving the day after tomorrow? No. Two days was too long to wait. Dominic was barely holding on. Every hour that passed was another hour of suffering for him. Julian couldn't afford to wait either. His condition was fragile, and the clock was ticking. She needed to cut through the knot with one swift stroke.She didn't want to wait. She would force the timeline forward herself.Avery locked the medication room door behind her and pulled up old Winster's real-time monitoring records. The screens glowed to life, displaying a cascade of vital signs, neurological readings, and medication schedules. Her fingers flew across the keyboard, moving with practiced precision. Using her chief consultant privileges, she
The half-hour ultimatum had been delivered. What remained now was the internal power struggle and negotiation among the factions within the conglomerate—the desperate scrambling of executives who had been caught off guard, the frantic phone calls to lawyers and fixers, the hushed arguments behind closed doors about how much they could afford to concede. Avery pulled the heavy alloy door of the consultation hall shut behind her and stepped out alone to clear her head. The air in the corridor was cooler, carrying the faint scent of antiseptic and something metallic.The corridors of the Heinrich Sanatorium stretched deep and long, winding through the mountain like veins through a body. The afternoon sun filtered through the clouds that had gathered after the storm, casting broad patches of shadow across the polished floor. The light shifted with the clouds, creating a dance of shadow and gold that moved across the walls like something alive.As she rounded a corner
During those two days, Avery remained secluded in the VIP suite the sanatorium had assigned her. She barely left the room, subsisting on the meals left outside her door and sleeping in short, restless intervals whenever her eyes grew too heavy to stay open. The curtains stayed drawn. The only light came from the desk lamp and the glow of her tablet screen.She studied the medication records provided by the Winster family down to the smallest detail, cross-referencing every dosage, every timestamp, every reaction note with the rejection reports she had reviewed. Her fingers moved across the tablet with mechanical precision, highlighting anomalies, flagging inconsistencies, connecting dots that others had missed. Drawing on years of advanced medical expertise, she crafted a corrective plan so thorough it left no room for error. The revisions came in layers, each one building on the last, until the final framework was solid, unassailable.But she hadn't come to be a savio
Diamond City at dawn was lashed by torrential rain. The sky was a bruised, swollen grey, and the downpour hammered against every surface with relentless fury. Water rushed in thick streams down the mountainside, turning the roads into shallow rivers.The Heinrich Private First Sanatorium was built into the mountainside, its grey stone walls rising from the rock like a fortress carved from the mountain itself. It looked less like a medical facility and more like a heavily fortified steel bastion. Checkpoints lined every approach, each one guarded by silent, watchful men in dark uniforms. The black alloy gates bore the family emblem everywhere—interlocking Mobius rings intertwined with a thorned shield—a mark of power that seemed to watch anyone who passed beneath it.Avery carried her medical bag, her reflection gliding across the polished marble floor as she walked into the waiting hall with deliberate, unhurried composure. She had dressed simply but sharpl
Dominic’s hand, which had been ruffling Dorothea’s hair, froze completely mid-air.The flawless, untouchable image of the sovereign of Obsidian City collapsed instantly under a six-year-old girl’s flawless, unprompted cross-examination. Avery watched the fleeting look of astonishment and sheer awkw
The piano music was soft, but the daylight flooding through the floor-to-ceiling windows was blinding.On the top floor of the Kessler Hotel, Sophia sat in a booth near the glass. Her eyes lit up the moment she saw Avery approaching, but just as she raised her hand to wave, her arm froze i
In the hallway, Dominic stood silently at the threshold of the pink bedroom, holding a cup of black coffee. The morning light slanted through the tall windows, catching the gold cufflinks at his wrists.His hair was perfectly styled, and he wore a dark three-piece suit with his tie meticulously kno
After dinner, Avery remained in Dorothea’s room.Dorothea sat on the carpet, her paintbrushes clutched in her hand, while Avery held a children’s picture book, reading softly:"...In the heart of the forest lived a great beast covered in jagged thorns. It captured the on







