Chapter 18 - The Last Dose
Vale escaped during a hospital transfer.
One guard was injured.
Another was missing.
The vehicle was found abandoned near the river.
The Project N vial was gone.
Naomi stared at the report.
“He can’t use it without Nico.”
Matteo looked at her.
“Then he’s coming for Nico.”
The hospital went into full lockdown.
Helen doubled security.
Matteo wanted Nico moved.
Naomi refused.
“He is medically vulnerable.”
“Then this building becomes the safest place in the state.”
For once, nobody argued.
Vale had one advantage.
He knew hospitals.
He knew protocols.
Uniforms.
Restricted entrances.
Medication routes.
At 2:06 a.m., an alarm went off on the fourth floor.
Smoke.
Staff evacuated one wing.
Matteo immediately understood.
“Distraction.”
Liana was already running toward Nico’s room.
She reached the corridor.
A respiratory therapist pushed a cart toward the nursery.
Mask.
Cap.
Glasses.
Normal.
Too normal.
Liana stopped.
“Badge.”
The therapist looked at her.
“What?”
“Show me your badge.”
He reached toward his chest.
Then ran.
“Vale!”
Liana shouted.
Matteo came from the opposite hallway.
Vale shoved the cart toward him.
Matteo knocked it aside.
Vale entered a stairwell.
Liana followed.
“Stop!”
Matteo shouted at her.
She ignored him.
Vale reached the roof.
Wind tore across the building.
He held the injector in one hand.
A small case in the other.
Matteo emerged.
Then Helen.
Vale backed toward the edge.
“This was supposed to change medicine.”
Naomi arrived behind them.
“No.”
She said.
“It was supposed to make you famous.”
Vale laughed.
“You were always sentimental.”
“You experimented on infants.”
“I advanced research.”
“Ava Graves.”
Liana said.
Vale looked at her.
“She would have died anyway.”
Liana’s breath stopped.
That was the lie.
The one people like Vale needed.
The child was sick.
The outcome was inevitable.
The scientist merely observed.
“No.”
Liana said.
“Marcus told us she stabilized.”
Vale’s expression changed.
“You changed her IV.”
“No.”
“Lorenzo did.”
“He was acting independently.”
“You covered it up.”
“I protected the study.”
There.
An admission.
Helen’s body camera recorded everything.
Vale realized too late.
His eyes shifted.
Matteo saw it.
“Finished?”
He asked.
Vale looked at the injector.
“No.”
He suddenly threw the case toward the edge.
Naomi lunged.
Matteo grabbed her before she fell.
Vale ran.
Liana moved without thinking.
She kicked the cart wheel lying near the door.
It rolled into Vale’s path.
He stumbled.
The injector flew from his hand.
It skittered across the roof.
Stopped inches from the edge.
Vale crawled for it.
Matteo reached him first.
He grabbed Vale by the coat.
For one terrible moment, the doctor hung half over the roof.
Vale stared up.
“Help me.”
Matteo looked down.
The city stretched below.
One movement.
One opened hand.
Vale would disappear.
No trial.
No testimony.
No answers.
Just gravity.
Vale saw the thought.
“So this is who you are.”
He whispered.
Matteo tightened his grip.
Liana’s heart pounded.
Then Matteo pulled him back onto the roof.
Helen cuffed him.
Vale laughed breathlessly.
“Your father would be ashamed.”
Matteo looked at him.
“Good.”
Naomi recovered the Project N vial.
She sealed it in an evidence container.
“No one ever uses this again.”
Liana stared.
“Can it help anyone?”
Naomi hesitated.
“Maybe someday.”
“With proper research?”
“Yes.”
“Consent?”
“Yes.”
“Adults?”
“Yes.”
Liana nodded.
“Then don’t destroy the science.”
Everyone looked at her.
She continued.
“Destroy what they did with it.”
Naomi gave a small nod.
“That’s exactly what we’ll do.”
Vale was taken away.
This time under a state tactical escort.
Morning came.
Nico slept peacefully.
No screaming.
No fever.
No needle marks.
Matteo sat beside the crib.
Liana stood in the doorway.
“We got him.”
She said.
“Vale.”
“Yes.”
“Calder.”
“Yes.”
“Lorenzo.”
“Yes.”
“Damian.”
“Yes.”
Matteo looked at her.
“You still don’t sound relieved.”
She leaned against the doorway.
“I’m learning relief isn’t a switch.”
“No.”
He looked at Nico.
“It’s probably more like rehab.”
Liana smiled faintly.
“You’re terrible at comfort.”
“I’m improving.”
“Slowly.”
Matteo looked offended.
Nico stirred.
Both immediately became quiet.
That made Liana laugh.
A real laugh.
She covered her mouth.
Matteo smiled.
For a moment, the nightmare loosened its grip.
Then Helen entered.
“There’s something you need to see.”
She placed an envelope on the table.
Evidence technicians found it inside Vale’s abandoned case.
It was addressed to Matteo.
Sofia’s handwriting.
Matteo went still.
“How?”
“Vale had it for eight months.”
Matteo opened the envelope.
Inside were three pages.
He read silently at first.
Then tears appeared.
Liana looked away.
Matteo spoke.
“She wrote it during captivity.”
His voice broke.
He began reading.
Matteo,
If they give you this, I am probably gone.
I don’t know whether Nico is safe.
That is the only thing I care about.
If you find him, hold him softly.
He likes pressure against his feet when he is tired.
He hates cold bottles.
He smiles when sunlight hits the curtains.
Please learn the small things.
They matter more than the empire.
Matteo stopped.
He pressed the letter to his mouth.
Liana cried silently.
After a moment he continued.
Do not teach him our fathers’ version of strength.
Teach him that strong men can apologize.
Strong men can leave.
Strong men can tell the truth even when truth costs them everything.
And if someday you have to choose between keeping the Varric name powerful and keeping our son good—
let the name die.
Matteo lowered the letter.
Nobody spoke.
He looked at Nico.
Then at Helen.
“When do you want my statement?”
Helen understood.
“Today.”
“Good.”
Liana looked at him.
He had already chosen.
The Varric name could survive.
May you like
But the empire Sofia feared would not.
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