"Everyone expected Nico to defend himself after Camille struck him, but instead, his quiet nurse stopped the next slap—and exposed a secret that could destroy him.

From that night onward, a dangerous double life began inside the walls of the Alfieri estate.

Every morning, under the watchful eyes of the security cameras installed throughout the east wing corridors, Adeline maintained her role as the quiet, timid nurse. She brought Nico his breakfast trays, pushed his wheelchair down to the sunroom, and pretended to record his failing progress on his medical charts.

When Dr. Sterling arrived on Tuesday afternoons to deliver the altered vials of Neuro-Plex, Adeline received them with a professional nod, logging them into the medicine ledger while the corrupt doctor offered vague, patronizing condolences about Nico's "tragic lack of response to therapy."

"It's unfortunate," Dr. Sterling remarked one afternoon, wiping his rimless glasses with a silk handkerchief while standing in the medical bay. "Spinal injuries are notoriously unpredictable, Nurse Marsh. You shouldn't feel bad that he isn't improving under your care. Some men just don't have the physiological drive to recover."

"I understand, Doctor," Adeline replied, her face a mask of polite subordination while every instinct screamed at her to slap the glasses off his face. "I'll make sure he receives his afternoon injection as prescribed."

As soon as Sterling left the grounds, Adeline locked the medical room.

She pulled out genuine, unadulterated neuro-regenerative compound—which Nico had secretly procured through a trusted former lieutenant named Gabe, who worked outside the mansion's surveillance net—and swapped the liquid inside the vials using sterile micro-syringes.

Every afternoon at three o'clock, behind the locked doors of Nico's bedroom, Adeline administered the real medication.

Then, the real work began.

"Push," Adeline commanded in a fierce whisper, holding her hands against the soles of Nico's bare feet as he lay on his bed.

Nico gritted his teeth, his face turning red, sweat drenching his shirt as his nervous system, finally freed from the paralyzing poison, began to awaken with a vengeance. Nerve regeneration was agonizing; as the synthetic blockage cleared, his legs burned with a searing, needle-like pain that made him want to scream.

He bit down on a folded leather strap to muffle his groans, his leg muscles twitching violently.

"That's it," Adeline whispered, her hands steady against his skin, monitoring every twitch. "The nerve pathways are re-firing, Nico! Look at your left foot!"

Nico opened his eyes through a haze of sweat and pain.

His toes on his left foot flexed downward, pressing firmly against Adeline's palm.

A shuddering breath escaped his lips. For eight months, he had been told he would never feel his feet again. Now, the sharp, burning sensation of blood and life returning to his limbs felt like a miracle forged in pain.

"Again," Nico grunted, his dark eyes burning with fierce determination. "Again, Adeline."

For two weeks, they worked in secret during every window of privacy they could steal. When Camille entered the room unexpectedly, Nico would immediately slump into his chair, letting his legs hang limp and lifeless while Adeline pretended to massage his "atrophied" muscles.

"He looks so pale, Adeline," Camille sighed one afternoon, standing at the foot of the bed while applying red lipstick in a compact mirror. "Are you sure you're keeping his nutrition up? We can't have him looking like a corpse at the engagement party."

"I am following the prescribed diet, Miss Ashcroft," Adeline answered smoothly, wrapping a warm towel around Nico's legs.

"Good," Camille murmured, snapping her mirror shut. "Because once the legal papers are signed at the party, I'm sending him to a private care facility in upstate New York. The air will be better for him there."

Nico remained motionless on the bed, his eyes closed, his breathing heavy and simulated. But beneath the blanket, his hand clenched into a rock-hard fist.

When Camille left, Nico opened his eyes, looking up at Adeline who was standing beside him.

"She's planning to isolate me completely after the party," Nico said softly, his voice cold as winter ice.

"She won't get the chance," Adeline said, leaning down to check his pulse.

Nico reached up, touching her cheek with his thumb. The tenderness of the gesture made Adeline's heart skip a beat. Over the past fourteen days, shared danger and secret late-night sessions had forged an intense, undeniable bond between them. He was no longer just her employer, and she was no longer just his nurse.

"If this goes wrong, Adeline," Nico murmured, his fingers tracing the soft line of her jawline, "Marcus will come after everyone associated with me. I have arranged a transfer of funds to a private account in Switzerland under your name. Enough to cover your brother's heart surgery ten times over, and a secure house in Canada."

Adeline looked down at him, her eyes shining with fierce loyalty. "I'm not leaving you to fight them alone, Nico."

"Adeline—"

"I'm staying," she interrupted firmly, laying her hand over his on her cheek. "We finish this together."