Chapter 4

The tenth day arrived.

The Davenport mansion buzzed with an almost frenetic energy. Society' s vultures had gathered, eager for the spectacle.

I arrived, and with me, walking steadily by my side, was Liam McKenna.

A wave of stunned silence washed over the crowd as we entered the grand salon.

Jaws dropped. Whispers erupted.

Veronica, standing beside Ethan' s wheelchair, turned pale. Panic flickered in her eyes.

"Impossible!" she hissed.

Mrs. McKenna, beaming, walked proudly with her son.

"My son is awake! He's recovering! Thanks to Elara Vance!" she announced, her voice ringing with emotion.

Veronica, desperate, grabbed the syringe with Ethan' s final "orchid dose."

"It doesn't matter!" she cried, her voice a little too shrill. "Ethan will walk too! My cure is working!"

She quickly administered the injection into Ethan' s thigh.

A moment later, Ethan gritted his teeth. With a supreme effort, supported by Veronica, he pushed himself up from his wheelchair.

He stood.

He took one shaky step. Then another.

The crowd gasped. A murmur of awe.

Veronica shot me a triumphant, venomous smirk. "You see, charlatan? I won!"

Ethan grinned, a pained but victorious expression on his face. "I told you, Elara! Veronica is the one!"

I watched him, my expression calm, unreadable.

I began to count, softly, under my breath, "Five... four... three... two... one..."

As I reached "one," Ethan screamed.

An unearthly sound of pure agony.

He collapsed, his body hitting the polished floor with a sickening thud.

His legs twisted at unnatural angles. The fabric of his expensive trousers ripped.

Beneath, his flesh was a horrifying sight. Severely atrophied, discolored, a mottled purple and black. It looked... dead.

The crowd recoiled in horror. Screams and shouts filled the air.

"What is this?" Mrs. Davenport shrieked, rushing to her son' s side.

I stepped forward. "The Sunpetal Orchid," I announced, my voice cutting through the chaos, "is a common, harmless flower."

I held up a small, empty, dark vial – identical to the one I' d seen Veronica use in the video. I' d had my own sources check on Veronica' s recent activities.

"This, however," I continued, "is what Veronica was truly giving Ethan. It' s a substance called Nervefire. An unapproved, highly dangerous experimental drug. It causes temporary, intense nerve stimulation – enough to make a paralyzed man briefly move his limbs. But it' s followed by rapid, irreversible tissue decay and necrosis."

I looked directly at Veronica, whose face was now a mask of terror.

"She either bought it from some black-market dealer, not knowing its full effects, or she knew exactly what it was and used it in a desperate attempt to win this wager and secure her future with Ethan."

The truth, ugly and brutal, hung in the air.