Was she losing her mind?


    Had she really heard that?


    My stiffly in bed, her mind a tangled mess. For a long moment, she didn''t move, half convinced she''d imagined it. But in this dead-quiet night, with only her and Felicity lying head-to-head on the bed, she certainly hadn''t gone deaf.


    A bastard with fox-like eyes?


    Fiancé?


    Setting aside the "fiancé? for now-was Felicity talking about Lysander? Surely she didn''t mean Adrian... M''s memory had been so muddled these days, she barely remembered the grandson, and for fear of upsetting Felicity, Adrian hadn''t been allowed to visit the old house for a while.


    Besides, the ages didn''t match; she couldn''t possibly mistake a child for a grown man-especially not someone Felicity insisted was her fiancé.


    But that man was long gone.


    What on earth was happening? Was Felicity''s memory so jumbled now that she''d started having hallucinations?


    How else could she exin it?


    Suddenly, in the middle of the night, a chill crept down M''s spine. Her skin prickled with unease, and she hurriedly tugged the covers up, curling into the nket.


    She''d have to ask about it tomorrow.


    That was the n, at least. But whether it was anxiety or some subconscious dread, M didn''t sleep a wink. Shey wide-eyed until dawn, and as soon as the sun rose, with shadows under her eyes, she cornered Felicity, who had just woken up.


    "What?"


    "Fiancé?"


    "Bastard with fox-like eyes?"


    Felicity, still half-asleep, yawned and blinked at her, perplexed. "What are you talking about? M, when did you get engaged? And you didn''t even tell me?" By the end, she was wide awake, grabbing M''s arm and demanding answers.


    A cold sweat broke out over M''s skin.


    This was bad.


    She didn''t waste another second-after calming Felicity down, she made a beeline for the study to find Conrad. Sure enough, he was already at his desk, working. He greeted her and was about to head to the bedroom to check on Felicity when M stopped him.


    "Wait."


    M looked exhausted. "Is Mom''s condition just memory loss, or is it more than that?"


    Conrad paused, his hand on the doorknob.


    "Has she been having hallucinations? Like... seeing people who aren''t there?"


    M bit her lip, watching Conrad closely, reading every flicker of emotion across his face.


    Did he know?


    Or was this news to him?


    She needed to be sure.


    Conrad hesitated, then his face clouded with worry. He let out a heavy sigh. "So you''ve figured it out."


    Figured out what?


    M''s heart skipped. She didn''t answer.


    Conrad returned to his desk, opened a drawer, and handed her a stack of documents. When M started flipping through them, he finally spoke Felicity has had


    hallucinations before. Somel


    she''d grab a stranger, call them by old names. Once or twice, she even mistook me for one of her childhood pets..."


    Staring at the dense medical jargon on the psychiatric evaluation, M''s frown deepened. The seriousness of the situation hit her hard, and anger shed in her eyes. "Why didn''t you tell me?"


    "I thought it was over," Conrad said wearily, sinking into his chair and rubbing his temples. "After the diagnosis, we adjusted her


    medication. She hadn''t had anel


    more hallucinationstely-just the memory loss. I thought she was doing better..."


    It made sense, sort of.


    M thought back-except forst night, she hadn''t seen Felicity hallucinate or mistake anyone for someone else.


    So it had happened before, just notpletely resolved?


    But still...


    "Now that her symptoms have returned, we need to see Dr. Prescott again." Conrad''s tone grew urgent as he rose and hurried out of the study.


    Dr. Prescott-Felicity''s primary physician.


    M instinctively followed.


    After a round of consultations, discussions, and a new checkup for Felicity, the household was in a flurry. M''s doubts lingered, but with everyone so busy, she had no chance to voice them.


    With Felicity unwell, Conrad stayed home. M had no choice but to excuse herself and head to the office.


    Still, a shadow lingered over her heart.


    Maybe it was the trauma that person had left her with, or maybe the impact was just too great-either way, even the sheer absurdity of the idea left M rattled.


    But the medical reports didn''t lie.


    Felicity''s mind had clearly been unstable for a while. Everything lined up... and M herself had witnessed what happened that day in Rome; that couldn''t have been faked.


    She was certain. Absolutely.


    So why couldn''t she shake this feeling of unease?


    It was as if some anxious switch had been flipped, leaving her mind frayed and


    her nerves shot. She couldn''t focus, couldn''t settle, and by the end of the day, even M herself wasn''t sure what exactly she was so afraid of.


    Felicity''s illness?


    Or something far more impossible?


    She couldn''t pin down her thoughts, but her mood was obviously slipping. Restlessness gnawed at her all day, and her work started to suffer.


    "Chairman Suthend? Chairman Suthend?"


    Across the table in the private dining room, the representative from Ignite Petrochemicals had been talking for a while. But the woman in the sharp ck suit sitting opposite him wore a nk expression, silent for so long he couldn''t read her at all. He called out a few times, a note of impatience creeping into his voice.


    On M''s right, Cara discreetly tapped her boss''s leg under the table, finally


    snapping her back to reality.