Claire Dawson did not wait for permission. She walked to the ballroom screen, connected her laptop, and opened the evidence index. The first page was simple: a date, a Hart medical record, a restricted transfer, a research code. Then another date, another trans

Smoke swallowed the ballroom doors as the nearest exit filled with people. Hotel staff shouted directions while alarms hammered overhead. Ethan pulled Vivian toward the far side of the room.

"Move."

She stumbled. Blood had soaked through the cloth pressed to

Vivian woke two days after the fire. Ethan did not visit immediately; he spent those two days answering questions from police, foundation lawyers, university investigators, and a medical review board. His own attacks on Vivian were part of those questi