Godfrey rubbed his hands together. "It's just a bridge loan. Five million. Rocha Biotech took a hit, I need to cover the margin."

Athena set her glass down. Rocha Biotech. Her mother's company. The legacy Godfrey had run into the ground while funding Gilda's shopping sprees.

"No," Athena said.

Godfrey blinked. "What?"

"You don't get a cent," she said calmly.

Godfrey's face turned red. "You ungrateful little brat! I raised you! I put a roof over your head!" He looked at Caesar, seeking a male ally. "Caesar, tell her! It's business!"

Caesar leaned back in his chair. He looked like he was watching a mildly entertaining play.

"Five million is pocket change," Caesar said.

Godfrey's eyes lit up. "Exactly! See, Athena? Your husband understands finance."

"But," Caesar continued, his eyes drifting to Athena, "I only spend it on my wife. If she says no, the vault is closed."

He handed the power directly to her.

Athena stood up. "You heard him. Get out."

Godfrey snapped. The mask of the loving father fell away, revealing the desperate gambler beneath. He lunged at her, his hand raised to strike.

"You bitch-"

Athena didn't flinch. She didn't have to.

Derik moved like a blur. He caught Godfrey's wrist in mid-air.

Snap.

The sound of bone fracturing echoed off the high ceilings.

Godfrey screamed, dropping to his knees, clutching his wrist.

"Violence in my home?" Caesar said, shaking his head. "It seems this hand is no longer wanted."

Derik hauled the weeping man to his feet.

"Get him out of here," Caesar ordered. "And tell the gate guards if he comes back, aim for the legs."

Derik dragged Godfrey out. The screaming faded as the front doors closed.

Athena sat back down. Her heart was racing, but her hands were steady.

"Thanks," she said.

"You used to beg me for money to give to him," Caesar said, his eyes narrowing slightly. "You knelt on this very floor and cried for him. That woman is gone. Who are you?"

"I had water in my brain," Athena said, stabbing a piece of melon. "It dried up."

From the corner of the room, Emily and the other maids watched with wide eyes. The dynamic had shifted. The victim was gone.

Caesar wheeled himself back from the table. "I have a charity gala tonight. You're staying here."

"Why?"

"Because the media will eat you alive," he said, turning away.

Athena watched him leave. He was protecting her. In his twisted way.

She finished her breakfast. Then she went upstairs to the Blue Suite and opened her laptop. She logged into a secure cloud server-a backup she had made in her previous life.

She pulled up the Rocha Biotech financials.

Godfrey wasn't just losing money. He was siphoning it. Fake invoices. Shell companies registered to Gilda.

She had him.

The gala had ended hours ago. It was 2:00 AM.

Athena sat in the dark living room. The house felt wrong. The silence wasn't peaceful; it was heavy, pregnant with disaster.

Headlights swept across the front windows. Tires screeched on the gravel.

The front doors flew open.

"Get the stretcher! Now!" Derik's voice was panic-stricken.

Athena shrank into the shadows of the staircase. She watched as Derik and two other bodyguards carried Caesar in.

He looked dead. His head lolled back, his skin gray. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, staining his white shirt.

Dr. Vance, the family physician, ran alongside them, clutching a medical bag. "Get him to the medical bay! His heart rate is dropping!"

They rushed into the room on the first floor that had been converted into a mini-ICU. The door slammed shut.

Athena crept down the stairs. The smell of copper and sickness hung in the air.

She pressed her ear to the door.

"It's the Belladonna variant," Vance was shouting. "The inhibitors aren't working! His system is shutting down!"

"Do something!" Derik roared.

"I can't! His body is rejecting the standard protocol," Vance's voice was strained, the calm professionalism cracking under pressure. "We have to wait it out. Ice baths to fight the fever. That's all that's left in the protocol."

Prayer.

Athena knew what that meant. In her last life, Caesar's body had been weakened by years of this mysterious poison. That weakness was why he couldn't pull himself out of the car wreckage.

If he died tonight, she died.

She ran back upstairs. She took out a simple set of silver needles and several bottles of herbal extracts she'd secretly prepared earlier from the compartment of her suitcase.

She sprinted back down.

Derik stood guard at the medical bay door. "Ma'am, go back to bed."

"Move," Athena growled.

"He's dying, Athena. You don't want to see this."

"If you don't move, he will die." Her eyes were wild, ferocious.

Derik hesitated. He saw something in her face-not madness, but absolute certainty.

Athena shoved past him and threw the door open.

"Get out!" Dr. Vance yelled.

Caesar lay on the hospital bed, stripped to the waist. His body was convulsing. Every muscle was locked in a spasm of agony.

Athena ignored the doctor. She moved to the bedside. She grabbed Caesar's wrist. His pulse was erratic, thready.

She unrolled the leather pouch. Silver needles glinted under the harsh fluorescent lights.

"What are you doing?" Vance lunged for her.

Derik caught the doctor's arm. "Wait."

Athena didn't hesitate. She drove a needle into the pressure point at the base of Caesar's neck. Then another into his chest. Another in his wrist.

The convulsions stopped instantly. Caesar gasped, a ragged intake of air.

Athena uncorked a vial. She pinched his nose and forced the dark liquid down his throat.

"Swallow," she commanded.

He swallowed.

Seconds passed. The heart monitor beeped. Beep... beep... beep. steadying.

Caesar's eyes flew open. They were black, dilated, void of recognition.

He sat up with a guttural roar, a purely reflexive action, and his hand shot out, wrapping around Athena's throat.

The grip was iron. It crushed her windpipe, cutting off air instantly.

Athena didn't struggle. She didn't claw at his hands.

She looked into his eyes. They were the eyes of a wounded animal fighting for survival.

"Caesar," she rasped. Her vision began to spot with black dots. She reached up and gently cupped his cheek. "It's me. Athena."

The name cut through the fog of poison.

Caesar's pupils contracted. He blinked, seeing the woman in front of him. Seeing his hand on her throat.

He let go as if he had been burned.

Athena collapsed to the floor, coughing violently, dragging air into her starving lungs.

Caesar stared at his hands. Then he looked at the bruising already forming on her white neck in the shape of his fingers. Horror washed over his face.

"Heart rate is stabilizing," Dr. Vance whispered, staring at the monitor in disbelief. "The toxin levels are crashing. It's... impossible."

He turned to Athena. "What did you give him?"

"An experimental counter-agent," Athena said, her voice wrecked. "My mother was a biologist. She developed it to neutralize a similar neurotoxin."

Vance looked at the needles still sticking out of his boss's chest. "That wasn't tea."

"Leave us," Caesar croaked.

"Sir, you need monitoring-"

"OUT!"

Vance and Derik retreated. Derik cast one last look at Athena-a look of newfound respect.

The door clicked shut.

Caesar slumped back against the pillows. He looked at Athena, who was still sitting on the floor.

"You know medicine," he said. It wasn't a question.

Athena stood up, her legs shaky. "My mother was a biologist. I read her notes."

"You saved me." Caesar reached out, his fingers hovering near her neck but not touching. He was afraid to touch her again. "Does it hurt?"

"No," she lied. "As long as you are alive."

She sat on the edge of the bed. Caesar watched her. The exhaustion was pulling him under, but he fought it.

"Don't go," he mumbled, his eyes drooping.

"I won't."

Athena stayed until his breathing evened out into deep sleep. She checked his pulse one last time. Strong.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. She stepped out into the hallway to answer.

Godfrey's voice, slurred with alcohol and thick with pain, crackled through the phone. "You bitch! You think breaking my wrist ends this? I'm selling your mother's research. The patents. Everything in the storage unit goes to the highest bidder tomorrow morning!"

Athena went cold. Her mother's research. The only thing that could permanently cure Caesar.

"You touch that box," she whispered, "and I will bury you."

"Bring cash, or bring a lawyer. I don't care."

The line went dead.

Athena lowered the phone. She couldn't stay here tonight. She had to secure the legacy.

Derik was standing at the end of the hall. He looked at the bruises on her neck.

"Ma'am?"

"He's not stable. The attack will come back," Athena said, her voice steel. "I need to get something from my parents' house-my mother's research. It's the only way to create a permanent cure."

Derik's gaze flickered from the ugly marks on her neck to the closed medical bay door. Protecting the Master was his only directive. And right now, she was the only one who could do that.

"Prepare the car," Athena commanded.

"I'll drive," he said, his voice firm.

He was no longer just the security guard. He was her ally.

Athena walked toward the elevator. The night wasn't over. The war had just begun.