Lidia''s voice shook as she clutched Jericho''s sleeve.


    "What are we going to do now? Tell me Be''s going to pull through, right?"


    Jericho leaned in, whispering through clenched teeth, "I don''t know," his mind racing for any miracle he still hadn''t tried.


    His reservoir of inner inner energy was thinning to a dangerous trickle.


    Once that final spark died, Be''s heartbeat would follow it into the darkness.


    Lidia''s gaze darted to the nightstand, where a crimson velvet box tested beside a handwritten note.


    The message, penned in Be''s looping script, read, “It I''m ever in danger, use this pill."


    She had even doodled a tiny red heart beside the words, her faith sealed in ink and emoji.


    "Jericho, we have to try this," Lidia urged, snapping the lid open and lifting the bottle inside.


    It was the same elixir Alex had slipped Be-her treasured keepsake, a vow of forever disguised as medicine.


    Jericho scowled. "A trinket from that punk? You really think this''ll pull her back. from the grave?"


    "We''re out of moves, Jericho," Lidia shot back, eyes zing. "Unless you''ve got a better miracle up your sleeve, we gamble on his."


    "I don''t buy it," he hissed.


    "It''s Be''s wish-don''t spit on it," she snapped.


    If another path existed, Jericho would never wager his daughter''s life on a stranger''s pill.


    But the room reeked of desperation, and every white-coated expert had already thrown up their hands.


    Dr. Joane was still tearing down the highway, and time bled away too fast.


    Jericho had no choice but to scrape the bottom of hope''s barrel.


    "What if it''s poison?" he muttered, the question half-strangling him.


    Lidia exhaled hard. "Do you really think Alex wouldce a toxin for Be right under our noses?"


    Jericho''s shoulders sagged into brooding silence.


    The Kingswell had plenty of sins, but poisoning an innocent was never on their rap sheet.


    He nced at Be''s frost-pale skin and felt his jaw lock in grim resolve.


    With a curt nod he growled, "Fine. We roll the dice."


    Lidia drew a breath as deep as prayer, then tipped the capsule past Be''s lips.


    The pill melted the instant it touched her tongue, sliding like liquid me down her throat.


    The moment it hit her stomach, an unseen engine roared to life.


    A wave of heat surged upward, jump-starting her stalled heart without Jericho''s fading chi.


    Color flushed across her cheeks, chasing the deathly blue away.


    Her breathing evened out, soft and steady as a child''s sleep.


    Jericho felt the drain on his inner energy vanish and pulled his hands back, stunned,