Drake's eyebrows scrunched up as he studied Katherine's blood test results. Lionel was getting impatient. Kate, on the other hand, sat with eerie calm, like she was already plotting someone’s death.

"Please tell me she's not going to die," Lionel asked, eyes filled with hope.

Drake rolled his eyes. “She’s not going to die,” he said flatly.

“Really?!” Lionel leaned forward, heart lifting—only for Drake to snort.

“No. But that’s what you told me to say.”

Lionel’s jaw clenched. “What the fuck is wrong with you, asshole?”

Drake ignored the outburst. “Your girl doesn’t have cancer.”

Katherine blinked. “So... I’m not dying?”

“Nah, you’re still dying,” Drake replied with a careless wave, “just not from cancer.”

Lionel silently reached for the paperweight on Drake’s desk, aiming it squarely at his friend’s head. Drake choked on his spit the moment he realized Lionel wasn’t bluffing.

“Unless!” Drake added quickly. “I may have a solution. Something that might keep her alive for a while.”

Lionel put the paperweight down, satisfied for now.

Drake exhaled. “Katherine’s immune system is slowly collapsing due to the toxin. I can treat her, but you need to make damn sure nothing like that gets injected into her again. And as for the panic attacks, they're actually helping.”

“How?” Lionel asked, genuinely curious now.

“T33 affects vagus nerve function. It lowers heart rate dangerously. Panic attacks are like an involuntary override. They spike her adrenaline, get her heart rate up. It’s not ideal, but it’s keeping her alive. I’ll work on a proper treatment. Just make sure she sticks to her meds, and we monitor her closely.”

Drake’s expression turned grim. “And your first job is to kill that motherfucker. I don’t care how. Just make sure he never poisons anyone else again.”

Katherine gave him a deadpan look. “I have zero medical knowledge, and even I know that sounds like the dumbest theory I’ve ever heard.”

Drake blinked. Rude—but not wrong.

“This is uncharted territory, okay?” he said defensively. “You have a better idea?”

“Yeah,” Katherine replied coolly. “But I don’t think your pea-sized brain can process it.”

Drake scowled, then winced when the expression made his nose bleed again. He quickly dabbed it with a tissue. Drake’s chest tightened with conflicting emotions. He was happy for Lionel, really. But he couldn’t help the sting of guilt. He loved Sophia, his wife—but Katherine… Katherine was a category of her own. No woman had ever made him feel like she did.

He dropped his pen loudly, snapping himself back to reality. “It’s settled then. Now get your mushy asses out of my office so I can get to work.”

Lionel snorted and tugged Katherine toward the door after muttering a colorful goodbye. Kate chuckled. “You guys are weird.”

“Oh babe,” Lionel said, wrapping an arm around her, “if you think this is weird, you should see us drunk.”

He smiled as he held her close. He trusted Drake. If anyone could find a cure, it was him. For the first time, Lionel had hope. Maybe, just maybe, they could have their happily ever after.

But first, he had business.

Painful, violent business.

He needed to punch Dr. Logan Parker. In the face. With a red-hot iron rod. Wrapped in barbed wire, preferably.

“We are not killing Logan,” Kate said calmly, cutting through his thoughts like a scalpel. “So whatever ideas you’re having? Toss them.”

“What do you mean we’re not killing him?” Lionel gawked at her.

With all the knowledge he had from Ryder and his time in Spain, Lionel knew Logan was screwed. A council member poisoning the Capo? That was a one-way ticket to hell. Spanish mafia law demanded nothing less than the most brutal retribution.

But Katherine’s face was expressionless—pure mafia.

“If Logan tried to poison me,” she said coolly, “then every member of my council is a suspect until proven innocent. I trusted them with everything. That changes now. I’m forming a temporary inner circle. You, Ryder, Ravi, Drake, and Jarvis. We act like nothing’s wrong. That’s how we find the mole.”

Lionel nodded, switching into business mode. “Smart. I’ll tell Ravi and Drake. You tell Jarvis and Ryder—”

“They’re already informed.” Katherine tapped her earpiece with a smirk. “I had them on call.”

Lionel stared, then laughed. “You’re scary.”

“No, babe,” she said with a sly grin. “I’m efficient.”

And now that they knew the truth—it was game time.