[Jake’s POV]

Dr. Alistair Vale looked harmless in his public photograph.

That made me dislike him immediately.

He had the clean face of a man who had built his entire life around soft voices and locked doors. Late forties, dark hair brushed neatly back, rimless glasses, pale skin, and the kind of calm smile people trusted when they were frightened enough to hand over control of their bodies. His biography said private neurological consultant, trauma recovery specialist, discreet family care. All phrases rich people used when they wanted suffering hidden behind polished walls.

Nia threw his profile across the wall screen and leaned back in her chair. "No public clinic. No hospital appointments. No lectures. No academic papers in ten years. He exists only when very wealthy people need a doctor no one can subpoena easily."

Evelyn Cross’s eyes narrowed. "Everyone can be subpoenaed."

Nia glanced at her. "That was terrifyingly attractive as a sentence."

Evelyn did not blink. "Focus."

"Yes, ma’am."

Victoria stood near the glass wall, arms folded, face carved from corporate winter. "Vale is tied to Simon Vale?"

"Half brother," Claire said, reading from the file. "Different mother. Same father. Simon went into finance. Alistair went into medicine. Publicly distant. Privately, they share two trusts and one property management company."

"Property," I said.

Nia’s fingers moved over the keyboard. "Working on it. Don’t rush genius."

"You work better angry."

"I work better respected."

"You terrify me."

"That will do."

Darius brought Adrian Cross into the operations room with one hand on his shoulder. Adrian looked less amused than when we found him at the lodge. His coat was gone, his shirt was torn at the collar, and there was a fresh bruise along his jaw. Darius had not hit him. I knew that because if Darius had hit him, Adrian would not be standing upright. Someone from the lodge probably had.

Adrian looked at the wall screen and stopped.

So he knew the doctor.

I watched his face carefully. "Dr. Vale."

Adrian swallowed. "That is not good."

Ethan, from the couch, lifted one hand. "We gathered that from the sinister lighting and private neurologist energy."

Adrian looked at him. "You are very relaxed for a man who looks half dead."

"I’m committed to morale."

Nia pointed at Ethan without looking away from her screen. "You’re committed to ignoring medical advice."

"That too."

I stepped closer to Adrian. "Tell me about Vale."

Adrian rubbed a hand over his face. "Sofia had him flagged two years ago. Not as an enemy. As a problem. He worked for families with inconvenient heirs, addicts, unstable executives, widows who suddenly needed rest before inheritance disputes. Nothing ever stuck because everyone involved was rich, ashamed, or medicated."

Evelyn’s expression sharpened. "Forced confinement?"

"Not officially."

"That means yes."

Adrian nodded once. "Soft confinement. Private care. Medical language over social disposal."

The room went cold.

Claire looked at Sofia’s photograph on the wall. "If they frame Sofia as medically unfit..."

"The empty chair vote becomes concern," Evelyn said.

Victoria’s voice turned glacial. "And anyone opposing it looks reckless."

I stared at Vale’s calm smile.

There were many ways to kill a powerful woman. A bullet was the least creative. Make her unstable. Make her absent. Make her signature appear while her voice disappeared. Then let old men say they were protecting her legacy.

Sofia would hate the elegance of it.

Actually, no.

She would admire the structure first.

Then burn it.

The System appeared.

**[Ding!]**

**[Mission Updated!]**

**Mission: Find Sofia**

**Objective: Locate Dr. Alistair Vale’s private care site.]**

**Reward: Sofia Location Fragment.]**

**Penalty: Sofia declared medically unavailable before board review.]**

I looked at Nia. "Find the site."

She pulled up a property web. "Vale has five active locations through trusts. Two offices in Geneva, one apartment in London, one old family estate outside Zurich, and a private wellness residence in Connecticut."

"Connecticut?" Ethan said. "That feels too close."

"Too obvious?" Claire asked.

"Or obvious enough to be dismissed," Evelyn said.

Cassandra, quiet until now, leaned toward the screen. Her oversized grey sweater slipped over one hand as she pointed at the Connecticut property. "What is the window architecture?"

Nia enlarged it.

The screen filled with an old stone house surrounded by winter trees. Not a clinic. Not a mansion exactly. Something between retreat and prison, with ivy crawling up the side and narrow windows fitted with brass latches.

Cassandra’s voice softened. "The latch."

Everyone looked at Sofia’s photograph.

Then back at the property.

The shape matched.

Not perfectly. But close enough to make the room stop breathing.

Nia whispered, "Oh, hell."

Claire’s hand tightened around the edge of the table. "Where?"

"Litchfield County," Nia said. "Private road. Registered under Halcyon Restorative Trust."

Halcyon.

The Halcyon Room had appeared in Richard Bellamy’s files. A private dinner location. Margot’s meeting point. Same word. Same rot.

Victoria spoke first. "That is not coincidence."

"No," I said. "That is arrogance."

Adrian stepped closer to the screen. "Halcyon is old. Sofia marked the name in one of her contingency notes, but I never got context. She wrote, if Halcyon appears, assume the room is already staged."

"The room," Claire repeated.

Cassandra looked at Sofia’s photograph again. "Staged for proof."

My chest tightened.

Not a prison cell.

A room designed to create a story.

Sofia unwell. Sofia resting. Sofia protected from stress. Sofia unable to appear. Sofia’s signature still valid because the right doctor said she needed care. That was not just restraint. That was narrative control.

Evelyn stood. "I can attack the medical declaration if we get evidence Vale is involved."

"We do not have a declaration yet," Claire said.

"Then we stop him before one appears."

Nia’s screen pinged.

She froze.

"What now?" I asked.

"Vale’s name just appeared in a draft filing."

Evelyn crossed the room so fast her heels clicked like gunshots. "Show me."

Nia pulled it up.

Aldridge Enterprises emergency packet. Supplemental note. Confidential medical attestation pending. Physician: Dr. Alistair Vale.

Timestamped eight minutes ago.

The vote was delayed, so they were changing the weapon.

"They’re moving faster," Claire said.

"No," I said. "We are closer."

The difference mattered.

Enemies sped up when they felt safe.

They panicked when the walls started answering back.

The System chimed.

**[Urgent Mission Generated!]**

**Mission: Stop the Doctor’s Pen**

**Objective: Prevent Dr. Vale from submitting medical attestation on Sofia Aldridge.]**

**Time Limit: 6 hours.]**

**Reward: Board Vote Freeze.]**

**Penalty: Sofia declared medically unavailable.]**

Six hours.

Nia leaned back. "I hate this man."

"You just met him."

"I have range."

Darius looked at me. "We go now?"

"Yes."

Claire said, "Not like the lodge."

I turned to her.

She did not raise her voice. She did not need to. "No dark house. No walking into a staged room because someone put Sofia’s name on the floor. We go with law, security, medical counterweight, and enough documentation that Vale cannot smile his way through it."

Evelyn nodded. "I come."

Everyone looked at her.

She lifted an eyebrow. "Do not look surprised. If a doctor is attempting to certify a restrained woman as medically unavailable for corporate benefit, I would like to ruin him personally."

Ethan whispered, "Mildly terrifying."

"She is supposed to be," Victoria said.

Cassandra raised her hand slightly. "I should come too."

Nia turned. "Absolutely not."

Cassandra shrank a little but did not lower her hand. "The room. If it is staged, someone needs to recognize the stage. I can compare it to the photograph."

Nia opened her mouth, then closed it.

Claire studied Cassandra for a second. "Can you handle it?"

Cassandra pulled her sleeves tighter. "No."

That surprised everyone.

Then she added, "But I can still do it."

The honesty settled the room.

I nodded. "Cassandra comes."

Nia immediately pointed at me. "If anything happens to her, I will become impossible."

"You already are."

"You have no idea."

Victoria stepped forward. "I stay here and hold the companies. If this becomes public, Vanguard does not move until we decide how."

"Good."

"And Jake."

I looked at her.

Victoria’s face hardened. "Sofia is not the only queen on the board. Do not burn everything for one piece, even if she matters." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

I held her gaze.

That was Victoria. Cold enough to say the sentence. Loyal enough to be standing in the room while saying it.

"I know," I said.

"Do you?"

"No," Claire answered before I could.

The room went quiet.

I looked at her.

Claire did not look away. "You know the words. You do not know whether you can obey them."

She was right.

I hated that too.

The System appeared.

**[Warning: Emotional decision-making risk elevated.]**

**Suggestion: Bring people who will stop you.]**

For once, I did not argue.

"Then stop me," I said.

Claire’s expression changed slightly.

Not relief.

Responsibility.

Darius nodded once. Evelyn gathered her legal folder. Nia started building a mobile intrusion kit while muttering threats at the medical concierge network. Cassandra stood and almost tripped over the edge of her sweater, then straightened like she hoped no one noticed.

Ethan tried to stand.

"No," everyone said at once.

He froze halfway up.

"I hate democracy," he muttered.

"It was unanimous," Nia said.

"That makes it worse."

I looked at Sofia’s photograph one last time before we left.

Her eyes were calm. Furious. Alive.

The woman in that chair had built contingencies while everyone around her mistook elegance for surrender. She had left us a phrase, a messenger, a ledger, and a path to the man trying to turn her captivity into paperwork.

Vale had six hours.

So did we.

I turned toward the elevator with Claire, Darius, Evelyn, Cassandra, and Nia moving around me like the pieces of a court that had learned how to argue while marching in the same direction.

The doctor had a pen.

We had proof, anger, and very little patience.

For tonight, that would have to be enough.