Chapter 1 - THE GIRL WHO LISTENED DIFFERENTLY
For several seconds, no one moved.
Mara stood frozen in the doorway, one hand still wrapped around the cleaning cloth she had been carrying. Her heart struck painfully against her ribs.
Lila sat beside Damian Volkov as calmly as though she had entered the room of an elderly neighbor.
Her small palm remained pressed against his chest.
Damian’s eyes shifted from the child to Mara.
“Take her away,” he said.
His voice was weak, but the command inside it remained sharp enough to frighten grown men.
Mara hurried forward.
“I am so sorry, Mr. Volkov. She was supposed to stay downstairs. I only brought her because her school closed after a water pipe broke, and I had no one else—”
“Take her away.”
Mara reached for her daughter.
Lila resisted.
She looked up at Damian and spoke in the careful, slightly uneven voice she used when she could not fully hear herself.
“Your heart is scared.”
Mara’s hand stopped.
Damian’s expression changed.
“My heart is not scared.”
Lila tilted her head.
Her hearing device made a faint electronic whistle. She adjusted it, then placed her hand against Damian’s chest again.
“It goes fast, then slow.”
Damian stared at her.
Mara immediately pulled Lila away.
“That is enough.”
But Lila pointed toward the bedside table.
“Red button.”
Damian’s gaze followed her finger.
A small medical monitor stood partly concealed behind a silver water pitcher. One warning light blinked red.
Mara had cleaned the room earlier that week and never noticed it.
Damian reached for the call bell.
His hand shook so badly that his fingers missed it.
Mara grabbed the bell and pressed it.
Within seconds, footsteps thundered through the corridor.
Dr. Adrian Kessler entered first, followed by two guards and Damian’s younger brother, Viktor.
Kessler glanced at the monitor.
His face tightened.
“His heart rhythm is unstable.”
He opened a medical case and prepared an injection.
Lila immediately began struggling in Mara’s arms.
“No.”
Everyone turned.
Kessler frowned.
“Remove the child.”
Lila pointed at the syringe.
“Bad medicine.”
Mara covered her mouth.
“Lila, stop.”
But Damian raised one hand.
The room obeyed.
“What did she say?”
Mara swallowed.
“She said the medicine is bad.”
Kessler gave a short, impatient laugh.
“She is four.”
“She also noticed the monitor before any of you,” Damian replied.
Viktor stepped closer to the bed.
“Damian, you are delirious. Let the doctor work.”
Kessler reached toward Damian’s arm.
Lila screamed.
“No! That one makes him sleep wrong!”
The words struck the room with unexpected force.
Damian’s eyes narrowed.
“What does that mean?”
Mara held Lila tightly.
Her daughter pointed toward Kessler’s medical case.
“The bottle sounds like Mama’s bad bottle.”
Mara’s face drained of color.
When Lila was two, she had accidentally ingested a small amount of Mara’s prescription sedative after a bottle had been left open in a clinic waiting room. The medicine had caused her breathing to slow dangerously.
Since then, Lila became frightened whenever she heard the click and rattle of similar glass vials.
It could have been coincidence.
But Damian did not believe in coincidence.
“Put the syringe down,” he ordered.
Kessler hesitated.
“Mr. Volkov, delaying treatment could kill you.”
“Then you should have no objection to showing Mara the label.”
Viktor’s voice sharpened.
“This is absurd.”
Damian looked at his brother.
“Then why are you nervous?”
Viktor became still.
One of the guards took the syringe from Kessler and examined it.
The label had been partially removed.
Only three letters remained visible.
Kessler reached for it.
“That vial was prepared in advance.”
The guard pulled it away.
Damian turned toward Mara.
“Take the child downstairs.”
Mara nodded quickly.
But before she reached the door, Damian spoke again.
“Not out of the house.”
She looked back.
May you like
His eyes rested on Lila.
“For now, she stays where I can find her.”
