Chapter 5 - THE MEDICINE THAT STOLE HER VOICE
Ronan did not attack Gideon.
That frightened Gideon more than violence would have.
“Uncle.”
Ronan's voice was almost pleasant.
Gideon glanced toward the open panel in the clock.
“What happened here?”
“Maintenance.”
“At the family clock?”
“Yes.”
Gideon's eyes moved to me.
“And this is?”
“My mother's caregiver.”
“Temporary cleaners receive promotions quickly nowadays.”
I said nothing.
Dr. Hollis approached Evelyn.
“How are we feeling?”
Evelyn turned her face away.
He reached for her wrist.
She jerked back.
I stepped between them instinctively.
Hollis frowned.
“I need to examine my patient.”
“She doesn't want you touching her.”
His expression tightened.
Ronan spoke.
“Then you won't.”
Hollis looked stunned.
“Ronan—”
“Today.”
The doctor lowered his hand.
Gideon smiled faintly.
“I think everybody is tired.”
Ronan met his eyes.
“I agree.”
Gideon and Hollis left.
Only after their footsteps disappeared did Ronan call someone.
Not a Cain physician.
A neurologist from Boston.
Dr. Naomi Reeves.
She arrived that night by private flight.
No connection to Ashport.
No connection to Gideon.
For three hours, she examined Evelyn.
Cognition.
Language.
Motor function.
Imaging.
Medication history.
At one in the morning, Reeves walked into Ronan's study.
I was there because Evelyn refused to continue without me.
Dr. Reeves placed a medication list on the desk.
“Your mother has expressive aphasia.”
Ronan nodded.
“We know.”
“Do you?”
His eyes narrowed.
Reeves continued.
“Her stroke damaged language production. But her comprehension is far better than her records suggest.”
I felt Evelyn's hand tighten around mine.
“Could she speak again?” Ronan asked.
“Possibly some words. Possibly more with intensive therapy.”
“Then why hasn't she?”
Reeves tapped two medications.
“These concern me.”
Ronan's expression darkened.
“They were prescribed by Hollis.”
“Yes.”
“At unsafe levels?”
“Not necessarily toxic.”
Reeves chose her words carefully.
“But in a patient with her neurological profile, the combined sedating effect could significantly suppress attention, initiation, coordination, and rehabilitation progress.”
I looked at Evelyn.
Four years.
“They made her appear worse.”
Reeves nodded.
“That is possible.”
Ronan became very still.
“Could that happen accidentally?”
“Medication management is complicated.”
“Doctor.”
Reeves held his gaze.
“I would not have maintained this combination for four years without repeated attempts to reduce it.”
Ronan looked toward the window.
His hands curled into fists.
Dorian's warning had been right.
Someone wanted you to believe she was losing her mind.
Reeves proposed a monitored medication adjustment.
No sudden stopping.
No reckless changes.
Hospital supervision if necessary.
For the first time, Ronan listened instead of ordering.
Over the next week, Evelyn changed.
Not miraculously.
Real recovery doesn't work like that.
She slept less.
Tracked conversations more consistently.
Her hands steadied.
She began participating in speech therapy.
The first word came on day eight.
I was helping her button a cardigan when Ronan entered.
Evelyn looked at him.
Her mouth worked.
Nothing.
Again.
“R…”
Ronan froze.
Evelyn tried harder.
“Ro…”
He moved closer.
“Mother?”
Tears filled her eyes.
“Ron…”
That was all.
Ronan knelt in front of her.
He lowered his head against her hand.
I turned away.
Some moments don't belong to witnesses.
Later, Ronan found me in the kitchen.
“Thank you.”
I almost dropped my mug.
“What?”
He looked uncomfortable.
“I said thank you.”
“I heard you. I wasn't prepared.”
His mouth twitched.
Then he became serious.
“We need to move Poppy.”
My body tightened.
“No.”
“Mara.”
“No.”
“Someone photographed her.”
I stared.
“How do you know?”
He placed the photograph from my coat pocket on the counter.
My anger flared.
“You went through my things?”
“I had security search the staff room after you left.”
“You had no right.”
“You brought a threat into my house.”
“The threat was to me.”
“It references my brother.”
He leaned closer.
“Which makes it mine.”
“No.”
His eyes hardened.
I pointed at him.
“Dorian warned me about this.”
“What?”
“Gratitude becoming possession.”
Ronan actually looked offended.
“I am trying to keep your child alive.”
“And I am her mother.”
Silence.
Then he exhaled slowly.
“What do you propose?”
That question surprised me.
Not an order.
A question.
I thought.
“Her school has pickup security.”
“Not enough.”
“Then add security she doesn't see.”
Ronan nodded.
“Done.”
“She stays in our apartment.”
“No.”
“Ronan.”
“Whoever took that picture knows where you live.”
My stomach dropped.
He was right.
I hated that.
“Then where?”
“Raven Hill.”
“No.”
“Guest cottage. Separate from the main house.”
I laughed once.
“You want me to bring my six-year-old into a mafia estate where somebody may be drugging your mother?”
“When you say it like that, it sounds unreasonable.”
“It is unreasonable.”
A crash sounded in the hallway.
We ran.
June stood near the service entrance.
Her face was white.
Wesley lay on the floor beside her.
Not badly injured.
Terrified.
His phone had shattered.
“What happened?” I asked.
June looked at Ronan.
“He tried to leave.”
Ronan's security chief, Malcolm Rusk, stepped from the doorway.
Broad.
Fifty.
Loyal to the Cain family for decades.
“He was sending videos from inside the house.”
Ronan looked at Wesley.
“To whom?”
Wesley shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Rusk kicked the broken phone toward Ronan.
“Encrypted contact.”
June started crying.
“I didn't know.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
“The first day.”
Her face crumpled.
“Someone told me to send the new cleaner into Mrs. Cain's room.”
Everything inside me went cold.
Ronan stared.
“Who?”
“I got a message.”
“From?”
“Unknown number.”
June wiped her face.
“They offered me five hundred dollars if Wesley recorded it.”
I whispered:
“It wasn't a prank.”
June shook her head.
“No.”
Someone knew I was coming to Raven Hill before I arrived.
Someone had deliberately placed me in Evelyn's room.
Not to humiliate me.
To see what would happen.
Ronan looked at me.
Then toward his mother upstairs.
The realization passed between us.
My return had not surprised the enemy.
May you like
It had triggered them.
And if June's confession was true, the trap around Raven Hill had been waiting before I ever stepped through the gates.
