“A muscle relaxant.”
“It is also used to suppress nerve activity.”
“In carefully managed doses.”
“This dose is not careful.”
Vale reached for the paper.
Claire stepped back.
His sudden movement struck the medication tray beside the cabinet.
A glass vial fell, bounced once on the carpet, and rolled toward the fireplace.
Vale moved his shoe over it.
Gabriel caught him by the arm.
The room became very still.
Claire picked up the vial with a folded towel.
It carried the same drug name.
Sebastian looked from the vial to his physician.
“You told me the injections prevented spasms.”
“They did.”
“Did they also prevent movement?”
Vale swallowed.
“Your spinal cord was catastrophically damaged.
No medication caused your paralysis.”
“That was not my question.”
Before Vale could answer, Gabriel’s phone rang.
He listened, said nothing, and ended the call.
“We located the original trauma scan,” he said.
Sebastian’s eyes stayed on Vale.
“Where?”
“With Dominic.”
The name landed harder than a gunshot.
Dominic Lombardi was Sebastian’s uncle, his father’s younger brother, and the man who had held the family organization together while Sebastian lay unconscious after the bombing.
Dominic had presented himself as a guardian.
He negotiated with frightened partners, paid hospital security, and stood beside Sebastian’s bed when doctors announced that the young heir would never walk.
He had also selected Dr.
Vale.
Sebastian turned his chair toward the windows.
Beyond the glass, Lake Michigan moved like black metal beneath the October rain.
“Bring Dominic here,” he said.
Gabriel left the room to make the call.
Claire began packing her case.
Sebastian looked over his shoulder.
“Where are you going?”
“Home.”
“No one is leaving.”
“My son is eight years old.
I was told this would be one session.”
“You found movement in a body that has been still for twenty years.”
“And your men used my son’s medical history to frighten me into coming here.”
Sebastian’s expression hardened.
“Gabriel offered you money.”
“After proving he knew where Oliver sleeps, what medicine he takes, and which card was declined at the pharmacy.”
The guards avoided Sebastian’s eyes.
Claire zipped her case.
“You may be powerful enough to lock every gate in this house.
You are not powerful enough to make me forget I am a mother.”
Sebastian studied her for a long moment.
Then he called Gabriel back into the room.
