The House Call

"A surgeon is always dangerous, Mr. Thorne," Mia replied, her eyes scanning the room for the man who haunted her nightmares. "We know exactly where the heart is. And how to stop it."

"Call me Julian," he laughed, oblivious. "Come, my father wants to meet the woman who saved the heir to the Thorne throne."

In the dining hall, Victor Thorne sat at the head of the table. Ten years had made him greyer, but his eyes were still those of a shark. He looked at Mia, and for a split second, the air felt thin.

"Dr. Mia," Victor said, his voice a low rasp. "You look familiar. Have we met?"

Mia felt the adrenaline spike, but her pulse remained a steady 60 BPM. "I have one of those faces, Mr. Thorne. Or perhaps you’ve seen me in the medical journals. I tend to leave an impression."

The dinner was a game of chess. Victor was testing her intelligence; Julian was falling into her trap. But the real test came when Victor’s phone rang. His face darkened. "A problem at the docks," Victor muttered. "Julian, stay with our guest. I have to handle a... 'pest' control issue."

Mia knew what that meant. A whistleblower was about to 'disappear.'

Mia didn't leave the mansion that night. She "lost" her way to the bathroom and slipped into the West Wing—Victor’s private office.

The security was high-tech, but Uncle Marcus had provided her with a bypass chip. Her heart hammered against her ribs as she stepped into the room that smelled of expensive cigars and blood.

She found it. A hidden safe behind a portrait of a landscape. But before she could move, a floorboard creaked.

Mia didn't turn. She dropped low, a shadow in silk. A hand reached for her throat—a guard.

She didn't use a gun. She grabbed a heavy glass paperweight from the desk and struck the man’s temple with surgical precision—just enough to induce a three-minute blackout, no permanent damage. She caught him before he hit the floor to muffle the sound.

She didn't find the embezzlement files yet, but she found something worse: A photo of her father, Silas, with a red 'X' over his face. And next to it, a photo of two young girls.

One had a circle around her: Maira. The other had a question mark: Mia.

Victor knew. He knew one twin might have survived.

"So, the hunter is also being hunted," Mia whispered to the darkness.

She slipped out the window just as Julian’s voice called her name from the hallway. She climbed down the trellis with the grace of a panther, her evening dress torn at the hem.

Tonight, she was a doctor. Tomorrow, she would be Victor Thorne's worst nightmare. There no love in her mind right now. Poor Julian because he have to be the one who will suffer the most for his father past crimes.

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