Margaret called it family protection

The silence in the studio didn't just remain there.

It was suffocating.

Daniel didn't look at his mother.

He didn't look at the papers scattered on the desk.

He fell to his knees on the cold wooden floor, right in the pool of spilled medicine.

He didn't care about his expensive suit.

He didn't care about the surname.

He extended his hand towards Ava.

His hands trembled as he gently touched her shoulders, as if he feared she would shatter into a thousand pieces if he pressed too hard.

—Ava—he whispered, his voice breaking under a weight he had never felt before—.

—Ava, look at me.

She didn't look up immediately.

I couldn't.

The shame of having been found on the ground, defenseless and broken, was a physical weight that oppressed her.

But when she finally raised her head, the look in her eyes broke Daniel's heart. It wasn't just fear.

It was the look of someone who had spent weeks wondering if anyone would come to save her.

Margaret took a firm step forward, her heels clicking loudly against the floor.

The sound was like a hammer hitting a nail.

—Daniel, listen to me—Margaret ordered, her voice instantly shifting from malice to feigned panic.

"You don't understand what you see." She had another nervous breakdown. She threw the cup. She attacked Rosa. I was only trying to restrain her for her own safety.

The lie was flawless.

She uttered it with just the right amount of maternal concern.

A performance rehearsed a thousand times in front of the mirrors of her upper-class life.

But for the first time in his life, Daniel didn't believe it.

He looked down at his wife's face.

He observed the dark, prominent fingerprints that ran across his pale jaw.

Those were not the signs of gentle containment.

These were the signs of a violent attack.

"Did you do this?" Daniel asked in a dangerously low voice.

I wasn't screaming.

The silence was infinitely more terrifying than a scream.

Margaret stood upright, erect in all her imposing stature, crossing her arms.

"I'm your mother, Daniel. I built the empire you stand on. Don't speak to me like that, not even to a woman who can't keep her wits about her while you're away."

Rosa spoke from a corner, her voice trembling but clear.

"He's lying, Mr. Daniel. He's been changing the medication. He wanted your signature. He told Mrs. Ava that if she didn't sign the trust, he'd make sure you never came back to this house."

Margaret turned towards Rosa like a viper.

Shut your mouth, you ungrateful peasant! You're fired! Leave this farm immediately before I call the authorities and they arrest you for theft!

"He's staying," said Daniel.

Those two words cut through Margaret's rant like a blade through silk.

Daniel slowly stood up, carefully lifting Ava into his arms.

She weighed a lot.

Too much.

As if she hadn't been fed properly during the five days he had been away.

He gently sat her back in the wheelchair, smoothing her hair, his eyes filled with suppressed rage.

Then he turned to look at his mother.

The man who had entered the room like a submissive and trusting son had disappeared.

Instead, there was a husband who had just realized that he had left his wife in the jaws of a wolf.

"You're going to sit down, Mother," said Daniel, stepping between Margaret and the door.

"And you're going to tell me exactly what's in that cup."

Margaret did not sit down.

I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of showing weakness.

Instead, he stared at the spilled liquid on the floor, his mind racing, calculating his next move.

I knew what was at stake.

If Daniel took that liquid to a laboratory, the game would be over.

The high-dose sedatives he had been secretly mixing into Ava's daily tea would be discovered.

Prescriptions that did not belong to Ava would be traced back to Margaret's private doctor.

"It's his usual medication for nerves, Daniel," Margaret said, softening her tone into an exaggerated imitation of patience.

"The doctor prescribed it to keep her calm. You know how unstable she gets when your business trips drag on. She imagines things. She imagines people are against her."

Ava shook her head violently, tears streaming down her bruised cheeks.

"No... no, Daniel, please," Ava whispered, her voice barely audible.

“It makes me feel like everything is going dark. Every time I drink it, I can’t move my legs. I can’t speak. She brings the papers when the room starts spinning.”

Daniel approached the desk.

He took the power of attorney form.

He looked at the signature line.

It was blank.

Then he looked at the date on the document.

It had been written the very morning he left for Chicago.

Margaret had planned everything down to the last detail.

He waited until he was thirty thousand feet high, unreachable, before delivering the final blow.

“You wrote this without my knowledge,” Daniel said, showing the paper.

His hand was steady, but his eyes burned.

“This requires my signature as her legal guardian, Mother. Why isn’t my name on the document? Why is your name listed as the sole executor of Ava’s estate?”

Margaret didn't flinch.

She scoffed, adjusting the diamond bracelet on her wrist.

"Because you're a softie, Daniel. You love her, and it's blinding you. Look at her. She's a burden to this family. The board is already questioning your stability because your wife can't even attend a charity gala without having a panic attack. I did what a mother should do. I protected the legacy."

"Poisoning my wife?" Daniel roared.

Finally, the explosion occurred.

The mahogany walls of the studio seemed to vibrate with the power of his voice.

Rosa shuddered, but she did not run away.

Ava covered her face with her hands, crying silently.

Margaret took a step back, her perfect composure finally cracking.

"Don't use that word in this house," he hissed.

“I’m saving you from ruin! If the press finds out that the CEO of Vance Global is married to a certified lunatic, the stock will plummet tomorrow!”

“I don’t give a damn about the stocks,” Daniel said, approaching her until he was face to face with her cold, calculating eyes.

“And you’re leaving this house. Tonight.”

Margaret laughed, an ugly, high-pitched laugh that echoed off the high ceiling.

“Leave? This is my house, Daniel. My husband bought it. My name is on the deed. You can’t kick me out of my own house for trying to save yourself from a girl who has nothing.”

Daniel reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.

He didn't call the police. Not yet.

He dialed a number he knew by heart.

“Arthur,” Daniel said into the phone, without taking his eyes off his mother’s face.

—I need you at the ranch. Bring the head of security. And bring a forensic medical team. Personnel. Right now.

Margaret's face paled.

Suddenly, she felt that the diamond bracelet was incredibly heavy on her wrist.

The call ended, leaving behind a dense and suffocating silence.

Margaret froze, her gaze fixed on Daniel and then on the phone she was holding.

Arthur was the family's lead lawyer.

He had been loyal to Daniel's father for thirty years, but after the old man's death, his loyalty turned exclusively to Daniel.

Arthur knew where every treasure was hidden.

He knew every legal loophole Margaret had used over the past decade to maintain control over the family fortune.

If Arthur arrived with a forensic team, the wall of lies carefully constructed by Margaret would collapse within an hour.

"You wouldn't dare," Margaret whispered, losing the venom in her voice, replaced by a desperate, sharp tone.

"You wouldn't expose your own mother to that kind of scrutiny, Daniel. Think about the headlines. Think about what this will do to your father's memory."

"My father would have kicked you out if he had seen what you did to Ava," Daniel said in a voice as cold as ice.

He went back to Ava and knelt down again.

He took her small, cold hand in his own and pressed it against his cheek.

"I'm so sorry, Ava," she murmured, completely ignoring her mother.

—I'm so sorry I left you here. I thought you were just resting. I believed you when you said you wanted to be alone.

Ava looked at him, her vision blurred by tears, but for the first time in weeks, the fog in her mind was beginning to dissipate.

The terror was still there, but beneath it, a small spark of survival was beginning to ignite.

"She... she was intercepting my calls, Daniel," Ava whispered, her voice trembling.

"Every time you called, she answered. She told me you were too busy with the merger. She said you were tired of dealing with a sick wife." Daniel squeezed Ava's hand so hard his knuckles turned white.

He remembered the calls.

He recalled calling from his hotel room in Chicago at midnight, desperate to hear Ava's voice.

Margaret always answered.

"She's sleeping, darling. The new medication has her in a state of deep peace. Don't disturb her. Focus on the treatment. Do it for her."

It had all been a trap.

A perfectly executed psychological isolation.

Margaret watched them, clenching her teeth so hard that her jaw hurt.

He realized he was losing control of the situation.

And for Margaret Vance, losing control was worse than death.

He straightened his posture, trying to regain his dominant position in the room.

"She's manipulating you, Daniel. Don't you realize? She's using your weakness as a weapon. She always has. She knew she didn't belong in this world, so she plays the victim to keep you by her side."

Daniel didn't even look at her.

—Rosa —he called softly.

The housekeeper approached, wiping away her tears. "Yes, Mr. Daniel?"

—Come up to our room. Pack a suitcase for Ava. Pack enough for a month. We're leaving as soon as Arthur arrives.

Margaret gasped, taking a step forward.

—Leave? You can't take her out of this house! She needs medical supervision! I have nurses scheduled to arrive tomorrow morning!

"Your company-paid guards, disguised as nurses, will never set foot on this property again," Daniel said, interrupting her sharply.

Let's go to the city clinic. A real clinic. With doctors who don't take bribes from my mother.

Margaret's eyes opened wide.

Then she realized that Daniel didn't just suspect her.

I knew it.

I knew about the payments to Dr. Evans.