SHE WAS HIRED TO COMFORT A DYING MAFIA BOSS—THEN A STRAY CAT CHANGED EVERYTHING

Chapter 10: The Performance

Over the following days, Elias performed weakness with the discipline of a trained actor — groaning at exactly the right moments, letting his voice fray on cue — while behind closed doors, the antidote worked with startling speed. By the third day he sat up alone. By the fifth, he stood. By the seventh, he walked the length of his room under his own power, stubble and dark new hair growing back fast enough that Celeste had to shave it away by candlelight each night, in a quiet, intimate ritual no one else in the house was allowed to know existed.

One evening, Celeste lingered outside his half-open door and heard Finn inside with an old photo album, reading through memories in a voice thick with love — teaching Elias to ride a bike, the giant stuffed dog for his tenth birthday, a promise to name his unborn son after his brother. Elias lay there pretending to be dying while the brother he loved most made the most sincere vow of his life, and still didn’t know whether that gentle brother was a traitor or another victim. Not knowing tortured him more than any poison had.

The next day, Bianca visited with flowers and perfect concern — and Celeste, watching closely now, caught the split-second glance she exchanged with Oscar across the room. A nod. Nearly invisible. Confirming something only the two of them understood.

That evening at dinner, Bianca announced she was two months pregnant. Finn wept with joy. Dorothy’s smile didn’t reach her eyes.

The next morning, Dorothy showed Celeste a set of surveillance photographs of the estate, taken from outside the walls with a telephoto lens sharp enough to read license plates — sent by Cain Volkov, with a note: We know which room he sleeps in. Someone inside the house was feeding him information. Bianca’s secretive phone calls. Volkov’s impossible knowledge. The line connecting them grew darker by the hour.