Nathan came home early and found his wife raising a hockey stick over the child who secretly carried his blood.

The team sent to the lake house called me three hours later. Their voice grim over the line.

"We found it, sir. Exactly where described. But... someone was here before us. The floorboards are pried up. The space is empty."

My heart sank. Arthur had beaten us there. He had the proof. He held the evidence that could destroy us all.

But then the voice continued.

"There was something else, sir. Written in pencil beneath the stone. Left deliberately. A message. Dated recently."

"What did it say?"

*HE NEVER CAME ALONE. YOUR FATHER KNEW. TRUST NO ONE.*

I gripped the phone tight. Elena hadn't left that message. The handwriting was different. Sharper. More hurried. Grace had returned to the lake house. After the accident. Knowing she might not survive. She had gone there and left me a warning.

Arthur had an accomplice. Someone close to me. Someone trusted. Someone my father had suspected but never named.

Grace had nearly died trying to tell me. And Arthur had the documents proving who it was.

"Return to the hospital immediately," I ordered. "Double the protection. If Arthur knows we are onto him... he will strike Grace again before she can speak further."

I raced back to the hospital. Burst through the doors. Grace's room stood silent. Guards outside. No sign of struggle. I stepped inside. Grace lay sleeping. Monitors steady. I sagged against the wall, breathing hard. Safe. For now.

But as I stepped closer to her bed, I noticed something. Her water glass sat tilted on the bedside table. Her medication log showed a change in dosage marked an hour earlier. By a doctor whose signature I didn't recognize.

My blood turned to ice.

I reached out and touched Grace's wrist. Her pulse was thready. Too slow. Too faint.

I hit the emergency button.

Doctors and nurses rushed in. I stepped back, watching everything, my eyes locked on that unfamiliar signature.

Poison. Slow acting. Hard to detect. Administered through her IV. Arthur hadn't sent a gunman this time. He had sent a doctor. Or bribed one.

They stabilized her. Just barely. But the message was unmistakable. Arthur had reached inside the hospital. Past my guards. Into her room. And poisoned her while she slept.

He was watching our every move. Knowing our plans. Anticipating us. Which meant... someone inside my own circle was feeding him information. Someone I trusted. Someone who knew when we left. Where we went. What we knew.

Grace's warning echoed in my mind.