Dr. Sharma knocked twice before entering Victoria''s hospital room, her face unreadable as she carried a folder of test results. Camille sat up straighter in her chair, her heart speeding up. Two weeks had passed since Rose''s threatening message. Two weeks of heightened security, constant fear, and waiting for Victoria''stest test results.


    "Good morning," Dr. Sharma said, her voice giving away nothing. "How are you feeling today, Ms. Kane?"


    Victoria, sitting up in bed for the first time in days, nodded slightly. "Better than yesterday. Less pain."


    Camille studied her mother''s face, hardly daring to believe the small


    improvements she''d noticed over the past few days. The color returning to Victoria''s cheeks. The rity in her eyes. The way she''d begun asking about Kane Industries again, as if nning for a future she might actually see.


    Dr. Sharma pulled up the bedside chair and sat down, opening the folder on herp. "I have yourtest scan results."


    Camille reached for Victoria''s hand, bracing for bad news. They''d been through this routine before, brief improvements followed by crushing setbacks. Hope was a luxury she could barely afford.


    "The treatment is working," Dr. Sharma said, her professional mask finally breaking into a genuine smile. "The tumors have shrunk by nearly thirty percent." The words hung in the air. Camille stared at the doctor, afraid she''d misheard. "Thirty percent?" Victoria repeated, her voice steadier than it had been in weeks. "Yes. Your body is responding remarkably well to thebined therapy approach." Dr. Sharma turned the folder, showing them the scan images. "Here''s the primary tumor from three weeks ago. And here it is now."


    Even to Camille''s untrained eye, the difference was clear. The dark mass that had been stealing Victoria''s life was noticeably smaller.


    "What does this mean?" Camille asked, afraid to voice the real question burning in her heart: *Is she going to live?*


    "It means the treatment is working better than we expected," Dr. Sharma exined. "Your mother''s body is fighting back with surprising strength."


    Victoria''s hand tightened around Camille''s. "Give us the full picture, Doctor. No sugar-coating."


    Dr. Sharma nodded, respecting Victoria''s directness. "The cancer is still serious. But this response changes your prognosis significantly. With continued treatment and your current response rate, we could be looking at years of good quality life rather than months."


    Years. The word echoed in Camille''s mind like a bell, clear and bright and almost too beautiful to believe.


    "And the smoke damage to her lungs?" Camille pressed, needing to understand theplete situation.


    "Also improving faster than expected. Your mother has remarkable resilience, Ms. Kane." Dr. Sharma closed the folder. "I believe we can start discussing discharge ns within the next week, with continued outpatient treatment, of course."


    After the doctor left, promising to return with more details that afternoon, silence filled the room. Camille stared at Victoria, tears building behind her eyes but not falling.


    "Don''t look so shocked," Victoria said finally, a hint of her old dryness returning. "I told you I wasn''t finished yet."


    The simple statement broke the dam. Camille''s tears flowed freely now, her body shaking with sobs that were halfughter, half pure relief.


    "Camille," Victoria said, her voice softening. "Come here."


    Camille moved from the chair to the edge of the bed. Victoria reached up, wiping tears from her daughter''s cheeks with a gentleness few people had ever seen from the formidable businesswoman.


    "I''m not going anywhere," Victoria promised. "Not for a long time."


    "I was so afraid," Camille admitted, the words barely audible. "Every day, watching you get weaker. I thought..."


    "I know what you thought." Victoria''s hand moved to cover Camille''s. "I thought it too, at first. But it seems we''re both too stubborn to give up so easily."


    Camilleughed through her tears. "Stubborn enough to beat cancer and survive a bombing in the same month."


    "Exactly." Victoria''s eyes, clearer now than they had been in weeks, held Camille''s. "Now, help me sit up properly. I need to make some calls."


    "Calls? You just got good news. You should rest."


    "I''ve been resting for weeks," Victoria countered. "It''s time to start living again."


    Something in those words reached deep inside Camille, touching a ce that had been frozen with fear since Rose''s threat. *Time to start living again.* Not just surviving. Not just waiting for the next attack. But living, despite the dangers still lurking.


    Camille adjusted Victoria''s pillows, helping her sit more upright. "Alexander will want to know about the test results. He''s been worried too."


    "Of course he has," Victoria said. "That young man loves you more than his own life. It makes him both valuable and extremely vulnerable."


    The blunt assessment brought Camille up short. Even recovering from cancer, even celebrating good news, Victoria''s mind remained sharp, tactical, always evaluating weaknesses and strengths.


    "Rose is still out there," Victoria continued, reading Camille''s thoughts with her usual uracy. "My recovery doesn''t change that. If anything, it makes me a more tempting target."


    "The FBI is closing in," Camille reminded her. "Every day they find new leads. It''s only a matter of time."


    "Perhaps. But Rose has always been patient when it suited her."


    Camille stood, moving to the window where armed guards were visible patrolling the hospital grounds. "I can''t live like this forever. None of us can. Looking over our shoulders. Jumping at shadows."


    "No," Victoria agreed. "Which is why we need to be proactive, not reactive."


    Camille turned back, studying Victoria''s face. "What are you thinking?"


    "I''m thinking that Rose expects us to hide. To cower. To wait for her to strike." Victoria straightened, looking more like herself than she had in? weeks. "What she doesn''t expect is for us to move forward with our lives. To rebuild what she destroyed. To grow stronger while she weakens."


    The idea settled over Camille slowly, like a warm nket on a cold night. Victoria was right. Rose wanted them paralyzed with fear. Wanted them isted, separated, vulnerable. Every day they spent simply waiting for her next attack was


    a small victory for Rose.


    "The Phoenix Foundation," Camille said, the wordsing unbidden to her lips. "We should restart it. Rebuild it."


    Victoria smiled, pride evident in her eyes. "Exactly. Not just the foundation. Everything. Kane Industries initiatives. Your wedding ns with Alexander. Your life, Camille. The one Rose tried to destroy."


    For the first time in weeks, something other than fear fluttered in Camille''s chest. Something that felt dangerously like hope.


    A knock at the door interrupted them. Alexander entered, his face lighting up when


    he saw Victoria sitting up, looking stronger than she had since the bombing.


    "You look better," he said, moving to Camille''s side.


    "I am better," Victoria confirmed. "Dr. Sharma just gave us the test results. The treatment is working better than expected."


    Alexander''s arm slipped around Camille''s waist, offering silent support. "That''s the best news I''ve heard in weeks."


    "We were just discussing next steps," Victoria said, her business tone returning. "Specifically, how to move forward instead of simply waiting for Rose''s next attack."


    Alexander nced at Camille, curiosity in his eyes. "And what did you decide?" "That we rebuild," Camille said, the words feeling right as they left her mouth. "Everything. The foundation. Our lives. All of it."


    "While maintaining security precautions," Victoria added pragmatically. Alexander''s expression grew thoughtful. "It''s risky. Rose is still out there, still dangerous."


    "Life is risky," Victoria countered. "Especially for people like us. That never stopped me before, and it won''t stop me now."


    Camille felt Alexander studying her face, reading her emotions as clearly as if she''d spoken them aloud. "What do you think?" he asked softly.


    "I think," Camille said slowly, "that Rose wants us afraid. Wants us hiding. Wants us to put our lives on hold while she plots and ns." She straightened her shoulders, feeling strength returning with each word. "I think it''s time we stopped giving her what she wants."


    Alexander smiled, a slow spreading of warmth across his face. "Then we rebuild. Together."


    Victoria watched them, satisfaction evident in her expression. "Good. Now, Camille, find my phone. I need to call the board members and let them know I''m


    not dead yet."


    met


    Camille couldn''t helpughing at Victoria''s typical directness. She retrieved the phone from the bedside drawer, marveling at how different she feltpared to just an hour ago. The fear wasn''t gone, Rose was still out there, still threatening everyone she loved. But now that fear shared space with something else. Something brighter and stronger.


    Hope. Not just for Victoria''s recovery, but for all of them. Hope that they could rebuild what Rose had destroyed. Hope that they could live their lives on their own terms, not dictated by Rose''s hatred.


    As Victoria made her calls, asserting her authority despite her hospital bed location, Camille moved to the window again. The sun was breaking through clouds that had hung over the city for days, bathing the hospital grounds in golden


    light.


    "You''re smiling," Alexander said, joining her. "I''ve missed that."


    "I didn''t realize how much I needed good news until we got it," Camille admitted.


    "It feels like... I don''t know. Like breathing after being underwater too long."


    Alexander nodded, understanding without needing more exnation. "Victoria recovering changes everything, doesn''t it?"


    "Not everything. Rose is still out there." Camille leaned slightly against him,


    drawing strength from his presence. "But yes, it changes the most important thing. It gives us back our future."


    Behind them, Victoria was speaking forcefully into her phone, already nning board meetings and project reviews from her hospital bed. The sound made Camille smile wider. This was the Victoria she knew, unstoppable, indomitable, refusing to be sidelined even by cancer.


    "We still need to be careful," Alexander warned, ever practical. "Rose won''t give up just because Victoria is recovering."


    "I know," Camille agreed. "But now we''re fighting for something, not just against someone. That makes us stronger, not weaker."


    Alexander''s arm tightened around her waist. "You sound like Victoria."


    "Good," Camille said, meaning itpletely. "Because Victoria is a survivor. A


    fighter. And that''s exactly what I need to be right now."


    ve


    As they stood watching the sunlight spread across the hospital grounds, Camille felt something she hadn''t experienced in weeks: certainty Not about Rose''s capture or what dangers stilly ahead, but about her own ability to face them. To survive


    them. To triumph over them.


    Victoria''s surprising resilience had given Camille more than hope for her mother''s


    recovery. It had reminded her of who she was. Who she had be under Victoria''s guidance. Who she could still be, despite everything Rose had tried to take from her.


    "We''re going to be okay," she whispered, half to Alexander, half to herself. "All of


    us."


    And for the first time since Rose''s threatening message, Camille truly believed it.