Chapter 9 - The Last Dose
The final attempt happened six weeks later.
By then, Damian believed the danger had passed.
That was his mistake.
Arthur Vane was in custody.
Victor Hart had accepted cooperation.
Three board members were indicted.
Reed survived surgery.
Elena moved temporarily into a protected residence.
Julian returned to work under enough supervision to annoy him daily.
Mara remained Damian’s nurse until his medication taper finished.
Kessler resigned as primary physician and referred Damian to an independent cardiology group.
Alina and Sophia moved out of the staff wing.
Not because Damian fired her.
Because he offered her a separate cottage on the estate.
Alina rejected it.
“I want rent.”
Damian stared.
“You want to pay me.”
“Yes.”
“For a house I own.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want Sophia growing up thinking we live here because you saved us.”
“You saved me.”
“That’s worse.”
Eventually they settled on a ridiculous symbolic rent Alina insisted was not ridiculous.
Life became almost normal.
Then Damian received a package.
No return address.
Inside was a bottle.
His old medication.
One pill remained.
And a note.
YOU MISSED ONE.
Marcus locked down the estate.
Again.
Damian stared at the bottle.
“What does it mean?”
Julian said, “Someone else.”
“No.”
Damian felt differently.
Not another conspirator.
A message from somebody already involved.
He turned the bottle over.
Lot number.
Old.
Three years old.
St. Vincent period.
Mara examined it.
“This was from your first prescription.”
Damian’s eyes narrowed.
“Celeste.”
“Maybe.”
“She disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“Not dead.”
“No proof.”
Marcus searched.
Celeste Warren had not used her Social Security number in three years.
No passport activity.
No driver’s license renewal.
But old nursing records listed an emergency contact.
Her sister.
Living in Arizona.
Federal agents contacted her.
No Celeste.
Then Sophia found another clue.
Again, accidentally.
She was coloring at Damian’s desk while he and Marcus reviewed old photographs.
One image showed St. Vincent staff.
Sophia pointed.
“That lady.”
Damian looked.
Celeste.
“You know her?”
Sophia nodded.
“She came here.”
The adults froze.
“When?”
“When I was five.”
A year ago.
“Where?”
“To see Mommy.”
Alina entered just as Damian asked.
“Who came to see you?”
Sophia pointed at Celeste’s photograph.
Alina’s face drained.
“No.”
Damian stood.
“You know her.”
“No.”
“You reacted.”
“Because she looks like someone.”
“Who?”
Alina covered her mouth.
Then whispered:
“My sister.”
Silence.
“What?”
Alina sat.
“My older half-sister.”
Damian stared at the photograph.
“Celeste Warren is your sister.”
“Her birth name was Celeste Navarro.”
Everything became sickeningly intimate.
“Mateo’s relative?”
“No.”
“My father’s daughter from his first marriage.”
“You never mentioned her.”
“I hadn’t seen her in fifteen years.”
“Did you know she worked at St. Vincent?”
“No.”
“I saw her that night but didn’t recognize her.”
“How?”
“She had changed.”
Damian’s anger rose.
“You told me you saw Celeste.”
“I knew her as Celeste Warren. I didn’t connect her to my sister until later.”
“When?”
“One year ago.”
“When she came here.”
“Yes.”
“What did she want?”
“To apologize.”
Damian laughed coldly.
“For almost killing me?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Alina’s eyes filled.
“She said if I did, Sophia would die.”
There it was.
Fear again.
Damian wanted to be furious.
Instead he felt tired.
“Did you believe her?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She knew where Sophia went to school.”
“What did she tell you?”
“That she didn’t intend to kill you.”
“Everyone says that.”
“She was paid to give you a small additional dose.”
“By Creel.”
“Yes.”
“But somebody changed the syringe.”
Damian stopped.
“What?”
“She said the vial she prepared was replaced before she entered your room.”
“So Celeste expected to weaken me.”
“Yes.”
“But almost killed me by mistake.”
“Yes.”
“Who replaced it?”
“She didn’t know.”
“Did she suspect?”
“Reed.”
Damian shook his head.
Reed had denied trying to kill him.
Was he lying?
Maybe.
Then Alina added:
“Celeste said Reed was trying to sabotage Lazarus.”
Damian frowned.
“How would giving me more medication sabotage it?”
“Because if you crashed publicly, Vincent’s controlled plan became dangerous.”
A louder medical emergency would create scrutiny.
Records.
Questions.
Reed may have increased the dose to expose manipulation without intending death.
Again, someone had risked Damian’s life to force truth.
He was becoming extremely tired of people helping him that way.
“Where is Celeste now?”
“I don’t know.”
The note suggested she was close.
That night, security footage caught a woman outside the east gate.
She left before guards reached her.
A package remained.
Inside:
A flash drive.
Video.
Celeste appeared on-screen.
Older.
Thin.
Terrified.
“Damian Cross, if you’re seeing this, I ran out of safer choices.”
He watched.
“I altered your IV three years ago.”
No excuse.
“I was paid.”
She named Jonathan Creel.
Then:
“I believed the dose was nonlethal.”
She explained the switched vial.
Then the current conspiracy.
Arthur Vane contacted her six months earlier.
He threatened to expose her role unless she helped recreate Damian’s false medical history.
She refused.
Then people began watching her sister.
Alina.
Sophia.
Celeste discovered Vane intended a real assassination.
She tried to warn them.
The note.
The medication.
But she could not approach directly because Reed was also following her.
“I thought Reed wanted Damian dead.”
Celeste said.
“I was wrong.”
She explained the final piece.
Reed had been trying to identify Vane.
Victor Hart had been manipulated.
Julian had been manipulated.
Evelyn had been manipulated.
Everyone believed a slightly different lie.
At the end, Celeste looked into the camera.
“There is one person who still has access.”
Damian leaned forward.
“Mara Voss.”
The room went still.
Mara stood behind him.
She did not move.
Marcus raised his weapon.
“Mara.”
She lifted both hands.
“Don’t.”
Damian turned.
“Explain.”
Mara looked at the screen.
Then at Damian.
“She is lying.”
“Why?”
“To save herself.”
“Possible.”
Mara’s eyes filled.
“Damian.”
He had known her three years.
Trusted her with his body.
His medication.
His recovery.
She had been there every morning after surgery.
Every fever.
Every scan.
Every night his heart raced and he believed he might die.
“Did you work for Vane?”
“No.”
“Did you know Celeste was Alina’s sister?”
“No.”
“Did you switch the pills?”
“No.”
“Who has access besides you?”
“Medical staff.”
“Names.”
“Damian—”
“Names.”
She gave them.
One stood out.
Nurse Adrian Moss.
Temporary contractor.
Hired six months ago.
Recommended by Mara.
“Where is Moss?”
Nobody knew.
Marcus found his locker empty.
Apartment abandoned.
Phone off.
The one missed conspirator.
Not Mara.
A man beneath her authority.
Mara sank into a chair.
“I hired him.”
“Yes.”
“I checked references.”
“Forged.”
“Yes.”
She covered her face.
Alina said quietly, “Everyone trusted the wrong person somewhere.”
Damian looked at her.
That was the story of all of it.
Marcus located Moss through toll cameras.
Heading north.
Toward Elena’s protected residence.
Damian’s blood chilled.
His mother.
They called.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Then Sophia said from the doorway:
“Grandma Elena is here.”
Everybody turned.
Elena walked in from the hall.
Damian stared.
“What?”
She held up a phone.
“I left the safe house an hour ago.”
“Why?”
“Because I received a message from you.”
“I didn’t send one.”
“I realized halfway here.”
Damian swore.
Moss had lured her out.
But why?
Then the lights went out.
The mansion went black.
A gunshot sounded downstairs.
Marcus shouted.
Security alarms died.
Backup power failed.
Someone had planned for the house systems.
Damian grabbed Elena.
“Stay behind me.”
From the dark hallway came a voice.
Adrian Moss.
“Mr. Cross.”
Damian stopped.
“Where are you?”
“Close.”
“Want to talk?”
“I want the ledger.”
Of course.
Everybody wanted the ledger.
“It’s with federal investigators.”
“I know.”
“Then?”
“I want the copy Elena kept.”
Damian looked at his mother.
She went pale.
There was another copy.
Naturally.
“Where?”
Moss laughed softly.
“Ask Mommy.”
Elena whispered, “I kept one page.”
“One page?”
“The names of the people who ordered the boat fire.”
Damian stared.
“Why?”
“Insurance.”
History repeating.
Moss wanted it.
Because his father’s name was on it.
A man Damian had never heard of.
Senator Graham Moss.
Retired.
Respected.
Architect of the political network Vincent protected.
The final living link.
“Give me the page,” Adrian said.
“No,” Damian answered.
A red laser appeared on Elena’s chest.
Damian’s blood froze.
“Careful.”
From somewhere in the dark, Sophia screamed.
“Boss!”
A lamp crashed.
The laser moved.
Marcus fired.
Another shot.
Then silence.
Emergency lights returned.
Adrian Moss lay on the floor.
Alive.
Shot through the shoulder.
Marcus stood behind a pillar.
Sophia was beneath the table with Alina.
The child had thrown the lamp.
Again, instinct.
Again, noticing.
Damian crossed the room.
He crouched in front of her.
“You okay?”
She nodded.
Then started crying.
He pulled her into his arms before thinking.
Alina knelt beside them.
Sophia whispered:
“I don’t like blue medicine anymore.”
May you like
Damian laughed through something that felt almost like tears.
“Neither do I.”
