The manor was quiet. It was 2 AM.
Camille was in the basement lab. She had set up a makeshift workstation next to the centrifuge. She opened the encrypted files for the Lazarus Protocol on her tablet.
"Working late?"
Camille jumped. She instantly blanked the screen.
Horatio stood in the doorway. He was wearing a silk robe, holding two glasses of amber liquid. He walked in and set one glass down in front of her.
"Whiskey," he said. "To celebrate our engagement."
Camille looked at the glass, a flicker of something unreadable in her eyes. She pushed it gently away. "No, thank you. I'm not drinking."
Horatio leaned against the counter. "Tell me the truth, Camille. Why the scorched earth policy? Why do you hate them so much? It can't just be the prison time."
Camille took a steadying breath. The cloying scent of the whiskey made her stomach turn. She looked at the stainless steel cabinets.
"Five years ago," she said, her voice hollow, "Gavin and my family framed me for corporate espionage. They took my research, my company, my name. They left me to rot."
Horatio went still.
"They thought they took everything," Camille continued, her voice dropping to a near whisper. She looked at Horatio, her eyes burning with an intensity that was almost frightening. "But they didn't."
She took a breath. It felt like inhaling glass.
"It's not just about the time I lost, Horatio. It's about the future they're trying to steal. Before they locked me away, I had my embryos frozen—mine and Gavin's. Last month, I used my shadow network to bribe a prison physician into performing the embryo transfer in the medical ward. It was the only way to ensure the trust's covenant was triggered the moment I was released. I'm pregnant."
The silence in the lab was absolute. Horatio’s gaze dropped to her stomach, then back to her eyes. The calculation in his face vanished, replaced by a sudden, fierce gravity. The sheer, clinical ruthlessness of impregnating herself in a prison cell just to secure a hostile takeover was staggering.
"Gavin Lloyd," Horatio said, his voice low and dangerous. "I can deny his application tomorrow. I can crush his company in a week."
"No," Camille said.
"No?"
"Approve him," Camille said. A cruel smile touched her lips. "Let him think he's won. Let him invest everything he has into this partnership. Let him leverage his assets to the hilt."
"And then?"
"Then, when he's standing on top of the world... we pull the rug out. I want him destitute. I want him to feel what it's like to lose everything."
Horatio looked at her. He saw the monster inside her, and he didn't turn away. He smiled.
"You're ruthless," he said. "I like it."
He raised his glass in a mock toast. "Deal."
Camille turned her tablet screen back on. The complex molecular structure of the Lazarus Protocol glowed in the dim light.
"This is Lazarus," she said. "This is how we save your grandfather."
Horatio looked at the screen. "So Dr. X is in the room with us."
"Let's just say," Camille whispered, placing a protective hand over her abdomen, "she has a vested interest in your success."
Horatio downed his drink.
"I think this marriage is going to be very interesting," he said.
But as he turned to leave, he paused, his eyes lingering on her one last time, a new weight in his gaze. He wasn't just looking at a partner anymore; he was looking at a family.
