Nobody could calm Matteo Varric’s baby, but the moment a new maid took him in her arms, she noticed something that could reopen a buried case.

At 4:45 A.M., the basement corridor of Saint Jude’s Memorial Hospital was silent, save for the hum of massive fluorescent lights and the rhythmic thrum of the building's central heating units.

The air down here smelled of ozone, formaldehyde, and industrial bleach—a stark contrast to the sterile, cheerful pediatric wards on the floors above.

A heavy steel door marked AEGIS BIOPHARMA—RESTRICTED RESEARCH FACILITY stood at the end of the long hallway.

A heavy metallic crash echoed through the corridor as Frank smashed the electronic lock with a breaching sledgehammer. The heavy steel door swung open, revealing a state-of-the-art laboratory filled with centrifuge machines, refrigerated chemical storage units, and rows of digital server racks.

In the center of the room, a man in a dark blue suit was frantically shoving thick paper files into an industrial paper shredder while a digital progress bar on a nearby computer screen indicated that a hard drive wipe was at 78 percent.

Dr. Victor Vance—brother to the Varric family physician—turned around in utter panic as Matteo, Liana, and three heavily armed guards stormed into the laboratory.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Dr. Victor shrieked, backing up against the shredder. "This is a restricted medical facility! Security!"

Matteo didn't speak. He stepped forward and drove the butt of his shotgun violently into Dr. Victor’s stomach.

The doctor collapsed to the floor, gasping for air, clutching his midsection as he rolled in agony on the cold linoleum.

Liana bypassed the groaning man entirely. She marched straight up to the computer console, pulled the main power cable from the wall, and forcefully yanked the external hard drive bay out of its housing before the wipe could complete.

"Is the data intact?" Matteo asked, standing over Dr. Victor.

Liana re-plugged the drive into a portable diagnostic reader that Frank handed her. Her eyes scanned the file directory as it loaded onto the small screen.

PROJECT NIGHTSHADE: DERMAL ABSORPTION PEDIATRIC DOSAGE TRIALS.

She clicked on the primary folder. A list of sixty infant patient files appeared on the screen, categorized by date, dosage, and outcome.

Liana’s thumb froze as she reached entry #42:

PATIENT: MAYA GRAVES. AGE: 4 MONTHS. DOSAGE: 0.05 MG MATRIX. OUTCOME: FATAL PARALYSIS AT 96 HOURS. DOSAGE REFINED FOR TARGET 'NICO VARRIC'.

Tears of hot, searing rage flooded Liana's eyes, but she didn't cry out. She squeezed the handheld reader so hard her knuckles turned blue.

"It's all here," Liana whispered, her voice carrying a terrifying weight. "Every infant they tested. Every dosage. Every medical report they falsified."

She turned slowly toward Dr. Victor, who was cowering on the floor, coughing blood onto his pristine lab coat.

"You killed my daughter," Liana said, her tone devoid of all human warmth. "You killed dozens of innocent babies just to perfect a weapon for Don Moretti."

Dr. Victor looked up, his face twisted in desperate fear. "You don't understand! The Morettis funded our entire research institute! They gave us millions for pediatric oncology! We were building something revolutionary! A few collateral losses... a few sacrifices were necessary to secure the funding for—"

Before he could finish his sentence, Liana pulled the nine-millimeter pistol from her coat, stepped forward, and pointed it directly at Dr. Victor's chest.

"Liana," Matteo said softly from behind her.

Liana didn't break her gaze. "He killed Maya, Matteo. He signed her execution order."

"I know," Matteo said, stepping up beside her and gently placing his large hand over hers on the grip of the gun. "And he will pay for every single breath he took while she was in that grave. But if you kill him now, his death is quick. He gets off easy."

Liana looked at Matteo, her breathing heavy.

"I am going to expose this entire hospital," Matteo promised her, his gray eyes burning with unholy retribution. "I am going to release these files to every federal law enforcement agency, every news network, and every medical board in the Western hemisphere. Aegis Biopharma, Don Moretti, and every doctor who touched this project will spend the rest of their miserable lives rotting in maximum-security federal prisons—after I personally destroy everything they own."

Liana looked down at the cowering doctor, then at the hard drive in her hand containing the undeniable proof of her daughter's innocence and suffering.

Slowly, deliberately, Liana lowered the weapon.

"Keep him alive," Liana said to Frank. "I want him to watch his empire fall."

"With pleasure, ma'am," Frank replied, dragging Dr. Victor to his feet and snapping heavy zip-ties around his wrists.