Chapter 5

Adrian froze, his hand still in midair. For a moment, the ballroom was so quiet that it seemed everyone was waiting for someone else to speak for me.

I clamped my fingers around his wrist and turned the needle away from my father. I wasn't strong enough to overpower a grown man, but I didn't need to be. I just needed to buy Nico enough time to grab the syringe from the other side.

When Adrian tried to pull free, I said, "Seal it. Record who brought it and when it was opened."

Nico did as I said. Only then did he look up at me. "Evelyn?"

I hadn't said a single word around my family in two years. They knew my signs and the sound of my footsteps in the hallway. The only thing they didn't know was my voice. My mother steadied herself against the edge of the table. Gianna still stood in front of Luca. Her eyes reddened, and her lips moved, but she didn't ask me why.

"Save Dad first," I told Nico.

I'd always thought that once I spoke, my voice would leave a trail for someone to follow, just as it had at the clinic. But Nico simply adjusted my father's oxygen mask. Gianna wiped her eyes but stayed in front of my mother. They were stunned, but they hadn't forgotten that our father still needed saving.

Luca laughed. "A woman who pretended to be mute is pretending to be a doctor now?"

I ignored him. My father's breathing was even shallower now, and his fingers were still stiff. Nico called out his blood pressure. It was dropping. I pointed to the wine stain and the oily film on the rim of the glass, then had him lift my father's eyelids. No single clue was enough to prove anything. But together, they matched the pattern I'd seen in cases at the neutral-ground clinic.

"A second dose will push him past the point where we can save him," I said. "You don't have to believe me. Test the samples yourself. But whatever is in that syringe can't enter his bloodstream right now."

Nico had worked countless night shifts in the ER. He knew they had to deal with the immediate danger first. He moved Adrian aside and kept the oxygen flowing.

I pulled a small case from an inside pocket of my dress. When I left Malta, Rosa had insisted that I take two emergency shots. She had explained how to store them and warned that they could only buy time. I'd kept one with me ever since. Not because I hoped I'd need it someday, but because I'd never quite let myself believe I was safe.

"I need you to document this." I handed the case to Nico. "Record the time, dose, and reaction. Then we get him to the hospital."

Nico read the label, then looked at me. He didn't say whether he believed me. All he said was, "I'll monitor him for you."

At Luca's urging, Adrian demanded, "Where did you get that drug?"

In front of representatives from all eight families, Nico read the label and batch number aloud, word for word. "It's an emergency medication. It'll only keep him stable until we get him to the hospital," he explained.

"Keep the used packaging, too," Paolo said.

Nico nodded and told the nurse beside him to photograph it.

My father didn't have time for a fight over who was in charge. All I could do was make sure every step left a record others could verify.

Once the shot went into my father's arm, nothing changed right away. Luca gave two soft claps. "So where's the miracle?" he asked.

One minute passed. Then two. Nico watched the monitor, and his grip gradually eased. My father's pulse was still weak, but it had settled into a steadier rhythm. My mother knelt beside him, leaned close, and said his name. He didn't wake, but his clenched hand relaxed slightly.

"This isn't a cure," I said. "Let the ambulance in."

Paolo stood up. "Luca, what was Dr. Cole about to inject him with?"

"And what was in the shot she pulled out?" Luca shot back.

I finally turned to face him. "Two years ago, someone from the Vitale family showed the same symptoms in Malta. You remember who."

Luca's gaze dropped to the hand I had used to stop the needle and lingered there for a moment. He stopped asking whether I was a doctor. Instead, he said, "You've seen the eight families' medical records. Hand them over. Then everyone can decide whether you're making this up."

I shook my head. The records from the neutral-ground clinic weren't a bargaining chip I would trade for my father's life. Rosa and I had compiled only an anonymous comparison of cases linked to the same unusual poison. Each family would receive its own sample numbers and the documented testing trail for tonight's samples. Everyone else's medical history would stay locked away.

"Every family has its own doctors," I said. "Let them run the tests again."

The representative at the farthest table asked why I was only speaking up now. I couldn't give him an answer that would satisfy everyone. Rosa and I had only wanted our patients to leave the clinic safely. We couldn't let the eight families' medical histories be used to start another war. Once Luca brought that drug here, I could no longer dismiss the pattern as a coincidence. The representative didn't nod, but he pulled his phone a little closer.

"Prove it. Right now." Luca took a step forward.

"Fine." I opened my phone. The report was set to send automatically if Rosa and I both lost contact, but I could still send it myself. I checked the sample numbers Nico had just photographed and hit send.

Phones buzzed at all eight tables almost at once.