The scream ripped through the Varric estate before sunrise, sharp enough to make three armed guards turn at once and a new maid drop an entire stack of folded linens onto the marble floor. By the time the sound stopped, Matteo Varric would be staring at a woman he had never met and wondering whether the worst mistake of his life had been believing his wife’s death was already solved.

“Find out why it was ordered.”

At eight fifteen, another file arrived.

This one contained staffing records.

Dr. Adrian Bell had officially been off duty the night Elena Varric gave birth.

Yet his electronic access badge had entered the maternity floor three times.

Once at 11:42 p.m.

Again at 1:06 a.m.

Then at 3:17 a.m.

Elena died at 3:41.

Matteo read the timestamps twice.

Dominic remained quiet.

Liana felt the atmosphere in the study change.

The tired father she had seen in the foyer was still there.

But something else had returned.

Control.

Calculation.

The quality that made men fear Matteo Varric.

He looked at Dominic.

“You told me Bell was called after the complications started.”

“That’s what the hospital reported.”

“He was there nearly four hours earlier.”

Dominic nodded slowly.

“Yes.”

Matteo’s voice became dangerously calm.

“Then someone falsified the timeline.”

The words settled heavily across the room.

Liana looked down at Nico.

The baby was awake now, watching her face with dark, solemn eyes. She rubbed her thumb gently across his hand.

Matteo saw it.

“How long has he been calm?”

Liana checked the clock.

“Almost four hours.”

Matteo looked stunned all over again.

Nico had not remained calm for four continuous hours in weeks.

One of the nurses had told Matteo that severe separation anxiety might explain his behavior. Another suggested digestive pain. A specialist blamed sleep dysregulation.

But Liana had done nothing except hold him.

Matteo walked closer.

“What did you do differently?”

“Nothing.”

“That’s not possible.”

“I held him.”

Matteo looked at his son.

Nico looked back.

Then Matteo noticed something else.

Every few minutes, Nico’s eyes drifted toward the red fabric of Liana’s uniform.

Not her face.

The fabric.

Liana noticed too.

She frowned.

“What color were the nurses’ uniforms at St. Catherine’s?”

Matteo looked at Dominic.

Dominic searched photographs from the maternity ward.

His expression changed.

“Red.”

Liana stared.

A memory surfaced abruptly.

Her baby’s hospital nurses had worn the same deep shade.

Matteo looked at Nico again.

“He recognizes it.”

Dominic leaned back.

“Or associates it with something.”