Six nurses had quit in five weeks, and one of them had left the mansion sobbing so hard she forgot her coat.

By Tuesday, Liam was sitting up in a motorized wheelchair, his right leg elevated, wearing a dark silk shirt and trousers that concealed his bandages.

He looked formidable again—a lion resuming his throne, even if his body was held together by steel pins and surgical thread.

I walked beside his chair as Leo pushed him down the long oak gallery toward his private study. I carried my medical bag, refusing to leave his side for more than five minutes at a time to monitor his blood pressure and pain levels.

The study was massive, lined with thousands of leather-bound books, floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the misty valley, and a heavy mahogany desk covered in encrypted satellite phones.

“Leave us,” Liam told Leo and the guards.

Leo hesitated. “Liam, the perimeter is still on high alert—”

“Out.”

The guards bowed their heads and retreated, closing the heavy doors behind them.

I stepped toward the window, looking out at the sprawling grounds. “It’s beautiful here. Beautiful and terrifying.”

“It’s a fortress,” Liam said, maneuvering his chair behind the desk. “When you live the life I inherited, beauty is just camouflage for security systems.”

He opened his desk drawer, pulled out a heavy cream envelope, and slid it across the wood toward me.

I walked over and picked it up. Inside was a cashier’s check made out to the Boston Children’s Hospital Oncology Department for $100,000.

I stared at the numbers, my heart stopping. “This... this is more than ten thousand.”

“The extra ninety thousand is a bonus for saving my life during the raid,” Liam said smoothly, picking up a pen to sign a stack of legal documents. “Your brother’s spot in the experimental trial is secured. He was admitted this morning at eight AM.”

Tears sprang to my eyes before I could stop them. I covered my mouth with my hand, the crushing weight that had sat on my chest for six months suddenly evaporating into the warm air of the study.

“How... how did you manage that?” I choked out.

“I own the medical logistics firm that supplies that hospital,” Liam replied, looking up at me, his gaze softening. “I told them that if Tommy Henderson wasn't in that bed by breakfast, I would cancel their distribution contract.”

I walked around the desk, driven by a sudden, irresistible wave of gratitude, and wrapped my arms around his shoulders, burying my face in the crook of his neck.

Liam went still for a fraction of a second, surprised by the touch, before his good arm came up, wrapping around my waist and pulling me securely against his lap.