Chapter 3 - THE TRAP IS SET
By sunrise, the laboratory report arrived via encrypted file directly to Nathan's tablet.
I sat beside Nathan at the mahogany dining table while Mrs. Bennett served tea in silence. Nathan flipped through the digital pages, his face turning grimmer with every second.
"Thallium and Organophosphate compound," I read off the screen over his shoulder. "It's an odorless, tasteless chemical agent historically used in industrial pesticides and low-dosage slow poisoning. Inhaled in low, continuous micro-doses through an HVAC humidifier, it causes nerve degradation, chronic fatigue, memory loss, and eventual organ failure within two years."
"Slow murder," Nathan growled, his hand crushing the crystal sugar bowl on the table into fine powder. "They were murdering my six-year-old boys right under my roof."
"They were making it look like a tragic, slow medical mystery," I said firmly. "If the boys died of a 'rare illness,' no murder investigation would ever be launched. Reeves would sign the death certificates, Julian would inherit the empire, and everyone would pity the grieving father."
"I will tear Julian and Reeves apart with my bare hands," Nathan snarled, standing up so fast his chair flipped backward onto the marble floor.
"No, Nathan!" I stood up, stepping directly into his path, placing my hands firmly against his chest.
He towered over me, radiating raw violence, but I didn't flinch.
"If you go after them now without absolute proof linking Julian to the vent installation, his lawyers will spin it," I warned him, holding his icy gaze. "They'll claim you've lost your mind from grief. They'll use your criminal background against you, take the boys into state custody, and finish the job where you can't protect them!"
Nathan stared down at me, his chest heaving with exertion as he struggled to regain his legendary composure.
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"What do you suggest, Emily?" he asked, his voice shaking with suppressed fury.
"Dr. Reeves is scheduled to perform his weekly 'examination' and administer their 'special serum' today at 10:00 AM," I said, a cold, calculating smile playing on my lips. "We let him come. We let him think everything is normal. But this time, we turn his own trap against him."
