Nancy didn't sleep for forty hours.
She called every specialist, researched every treatment, explored options from conventional medicine to experimental therapies no one had heard of. And in the thirty-eighth hour, she found something.
"Dr. Elena Voss," she told Adrian, bursting into his room with laptop and hope. "Not related to your Dr. Voss—different family, different specialty. She's been working on regenerative cardiac therapies in Berlin. No genetic modification, no dangerous side effects. Just... healing."
Adrian sat up, interested despite his weakness. "Success rates?"
"Forty percent. Lower than Sonia's offer." Nancy sat beside him, showing him the research. "But Adrian, look at the methodology. It's based on stem cells, on triggering the body's own repair mechanisms. No dependency, no strings, no Sonia."
"Forty percent," he repeated. "Not great odds."
"Better than zero." Nancy took his hand. "And here's the thing—Dr. Voss is willing to combine her therapy with the surgical repairs you already have. The Geneva treatment would replace your heart's natural function with artificial support. This would help your heart heal itself."
Adrian studied the files, the research, the possibilities. "Why haven't I heard of this before?"
"Because it's new. Because Sonia's facility has better PR, more funding, more influence." Nancy's voice hardened. "Because she's been suppressing alternatives, buying patents, ensuring she's the only game in town."
"Can you prove that?"
"I can prove enough." Nancy pulled up financial records. "Three companies working on similar therapies were acquired by Van der Berg shell corporations in the past two years. Two researchers who published competing studies suddenly retracted their findings. And Dr. Elena Voss?" She smiled grimly. "She's been denied funding by every major institution. All of which have ties to Sonia's network."
Adrian was quiet for a long moment. Then: "Call Dr. Voss. Set up the treatment. And Nancy?"
"Yes?"
"Call your lawyer. If Sonia's been suppressing medical research to maintain her monopoly, that's not just unethical. It's criminal." His eyes gleamed with familiar fire—the predator awakening, the CEO seeing opportunity. "We don't just defeat her, Nancy. We destroy her. Completely."
Nancy smiled, feeling the shift. From defense to offense. From victims to victors. "Partners?"
"Partners." Adrian pulled her close, kissing her with renewed strength. "Now let's go save my heart. And ruin Sonia's in the process."