Damian Volkov had fired every nurse who dared enter his room, and the entire mansion had learned to fear the dying mafia boss behind the forbidden door.

The next few hours were a blur of terror. I was no longer a maid; I was a pawn in a game of thrones. I moved with a feverish intensity, pretending to clean the east wing while actually searching for the ledger.

I found it. It was a heavy, leather-bound book containing the names of every corrupt official, every laundered dollar, and every secret Julian had kept from his uncle.

But as I pulled it from the floorboard, the door to the room creaked open.

It was Julian. He was dressed in a crisp suit, his silver ring glinting under the dim chandelier light. He stopped, his eyes drifting from me to the book in my hands.

"Sarah," he said, his voice a smooth, oiled blade. "You should be in the laundry room."

"Mr. Volkov needs his medicine," I lied, my hands shaking.

Julian stepped closer, his smile not reaching his eyes. "My uncle doesn't need medicine. He needs to transition. And you... you have a very curious habit of being where you shouldn't be."

He reached for the ledger, but before he could touch me, a small, yellow boot slammed into his shin.

Lila.

She was standing there, her cloth rabbit clutched to her chest, her face a mask of four-year-old fury. Julian stumbled, looking down at my daughter as if she were a cockroach.

"Get out of the way, you little brat," he hissed, reaching for a knife in his jacket pocket.

I didn't think. I swung the heavy ledger with all my might, striking him in the head. It wasn't enough to kill him, but it sent him reeling back. I grabbed Lila, screaming, "Run!"

We tore through the halls, the echoes of Julian’s curses chasing us like a pack of wolves. We didn't head for the kitchen; we headed for the one place he wouldn't dare follow: the east wing.

We burst into Damian’s room, locking the heavy doors behind us.

"He knows," I gasped, collapsing against the wood.

Damian was struggling to sit up, his face gray. He looked at the ledger, then at Lila. "The doctor is in the next room, Sarah. If you want to live, you have to convince him to give you the antidote."

"I don't know where it is!"

"Lila does," Damian said, his voice a ghost of a whisper. "The bees... they are attracted to the antidote. It’s in the doctor's bag. She can feel the hum of the vibration."