Olivia didn't sleep.
At 5:12 the next morning, Leo Rossi knocked on her door.
She opened it with the lamp still in her hand.
He looked at the improvised weapon.
"Planning to redecorate someone's skull?"
Olivia handed him the note.
Leo read it once.
Every trace of humor disappeared.
"Who knows you found the medication problem?"
"Everyone in Vincent's room."
"That's twenty-three people."
"Then start counting."
Leo looked at the chair beneath her door handle.
"Pack."
Her stomach tightened.
"Why?"
"You're moving upstairs."
"No."
"That wasn't a request."
"I am not sleeping near a room full of armed mobsters."
"You're already sleeping in a house full of armed mobsters."
"Excellent point. I'll leave instead."
Leo stared at her.
"You think whoever wrote this will let you walk through the front gate?"
Olivia said nothing.
"Pack."
Ten minutes later, she was moved to a guest suite near Vincent's room with a guard outside.
At seven, Dr. Brent summoned her.
Vincent had survived the night.
His heart rhythm remained fragile, but his blood pressure was improving.
The mysterious bottle had also produced a preliminary result.
Brent closed the bedroom door.
Leo stood beside him.
Dr. Gable was there too.
"What did you find?" Olivia asked.
Brent held up the report.
"A concentrated diuretic compound."
Olivia's stomach dropped.
"That would explain the potassium."
"Potentially."
Leo looked between them.
"In English."
Olivia answered.
"Someone may have been forcing his body to lose electrolytes."
"And?"
"Low potassium and magnesium make dangerous arrhythmias more likely."
"So the medications weren't the whole problem."
"No."
Brent spoke carefully.
"The prescribed drugs created an unfortunate interaction. But if someone was secretly worsening his electrolyte imbalance, the combination could become catastrophic."
Leo's eyes darkened.
"Could that kill him?"
"Yes."
"Quietly?"
Dr. Brent paused.
"Under these circumstances, it might look like complications from his injuries."
Nobody spoke.
The car bomb had been obvious.
This was different.
The bomb said enemy.
Poison said someone close enough to touch his medicine.
Leo walked to the window.
"We changed medical staff twice after the explosion."
Dr. Gable frowned.
"Your security people selected the nurses."
"And your people controlled the medications."
"Are you accusing my team?"
"I'm accusing everyone."
Olivia looked toward Vincent.
His eyelids remained closed.
A thought occurred to her.
"Who has access to this room when the doctors aren't here?"
Leo turned.
"Family. Security. Nurses. A few household staff."
"Who brings food?"
"He hasn't eaten normally since the bombing."
"Water?"
"Filtered."
"Oral medications?"
"Nurses."
"IV bags?"
"Medical staff."
Leo understood.
"You're asking who can get physically close."
"Yes."
"Half the house."
"Then that's your problem."
Leo gave her an irritated look.
"You've become very comfortable giving orders."
"I spent two years taking them."
That shut him up.
They began reviewing security footage.
Olivia had no investigative training.
Leo did.
But she noticed details because noticing details was what invisible people did.
At 2:17 a.m. two nights earlier, a nurse entered Vincent's room.
Normal.
At 2:41, one of Vincent's cousins entered.
Also normal, according to Leo.
Marco Costa was thirty-seven, handsome, polished, and next in line if Vincent died without naming another successor.
Olivia looked at Leo.
"That's convenient."
Leo didn't react.
"Keep watching."
Marco remained twelve minutes.
He never approached the IV pumps.
At 3:06, a housekeeper entered.
At 3:11, she left.
Then at 3:19, Dr. Gable entered alone.
Olivia glanced at him.
The surgeon's face tightened.
"I checked his drains."
Footage confirmed it.
Nothing suspicious.
They continued.
Hundreds of movements.
Nurses.
Doctors.
Security.
Leo.
Marco.
Household staff.
Then Olivia saw something.
"Stop."
Leo paused the footage.
"What?"
"Go back."
He rewound.
A woman in navy scrubs entered carrying a tray.
"Who is she?"
"Nurse Carter."
"Watch her left hand."
Leo enlarged the image.
The resolution wasn't perfect.
Carter's right hand held the tray.
Her left remained inside her pocket.
She disappeared behind the bed for seventeen seconds.
When she emerged, both hands were visible.
Olivia leaned closer.
"Can you see the waste bin?"
Leo changed camera angles.
The bin wasn't visible.
"When was the amber bottle thrown away?"
"No way to know."
"Where is Carter?"
Leo picked up his phone.
"Bring Nurse Carter to the library."
A voice answered.
Then silence.
Leo's expression changed.
"What?"
He listened.
"Find her."
He hung up.
"She's gone."
Dr. Gable frowned.
"Impossible. You locked the estate."
"She left before lockdown."
"When?"
Leo looked at Olivia.
"Four minutes after Vincent coded."
Olivia's blood went cold.
Carter had heard her warning.
Then fled.
"That's not proof," Gable said.
"No," Leo replied. "But it's enough for a conversation."
Leo's men searched Carter's temporary quarters.
They found clothing.
Cash.
A second phone.
And an empty package matching the type of amber bottle discovered in Vincent's trash.
By noon, Leo knew something else.
Carter wasn't a nurse named Emily Carter.
The real Emily Carter lived in Connecticut and had never worked for the Costa family.
Someone had created an identity convincing enough to survive background checks.
Olivia stood beside Vincent's bed when Leo delivered the news.
"Professional?"
"Looks like it."
"Sent by whoever planted the bomb?"
"Maybe."
"Or someone inside hired her."
Leo studied her.
"You think like Vincent."
Olivia recoiled.
"That's the meanest thing anyone has ever said to me."
A rough laugh escaped him.
It was the first time she'd heard one.
Then Vincent moved.
Olivia froze.
His fingers twitched.
"Dr. Brent."
The cardiologist hurried over.
Vincent's eyelids fluttered.
"Vincent?" Leo leaned closer. "Can you hear me?"
His eyes opened slightly.
Confused.
Dark.
Alive.
Leo gripped the bedrail.
"You're safe."
Vincent tried to speak around the breathing tube.
"Don't."
Brent checked him.
"Mr. Costa, you've been critically ill. Don't fight the ventilator."
Vincent ignored him.
His gaze moved around the room.
Then stopped on Olivia.
Recognition appeared.
Weak but unmistakable.
His brow furrowed.
Olivia almost laughed.
Even half-dead, Vincent seemed offended to find his maid standing beside his doctors.
Later that afternoon, the breathing tube was removed.
Vincent slept for another six hours.
When he woke again, Leo was beside him.
So was Olivia.
Vincent's voice was barely audible.
"Why..."
Leo leaned closer.
"Why what?"
Vincent's gaze settled on Olivia.
"Why is she here?"
Olivia folded her arms.
"Nice to see you too."
Leo smiled.
"She saved your life."
Vincent stared at her.
Olivia expected disbelief.
Instead he whispered, "Of course she did."
That surprised her.
Then his eyes shifted toward Leo.
"Bomb?"
"We're investigating."
Vincent closed his eyes.
"No."
Leo frowned.
"No what?"
Vincent struggled to speak.
"The bomb..."
His pulse rose on the monitor.
Dr. Brent stepped closer.
"That's enough."
Vincent opened his eyes again.
"Wasn't supposed..."
He coughed.
Leo leaned in.
"Wasn't supposed to what?"
Vincent whispered four words.
"Wasn't supposed to kill me."
The room went still.
Olivia stared.
Vincent's eyes closed again.
Leo looked at her.
If the bomb wasn't supposed to kill Vincent, then everything they thought they understood had just changed.
Someone had staged the attack.
And the real murder attempt had happened afterward.
Inside the Costa estate.