?Chapter 147:


    The weight of Elliana’s words settled heavily over the room. One by one, their smiles vanished.


    Too drained to sit upright any longer, Barbara slowly eased back onto the bed.


    Taking a moment to study each face around her, Elliana finally spoke. “Yesterday, Barbara was hanging by a thread. If I hadn’t used the Venacure in time, we’d be mourning her now. But whatever pushed her that close to death—it wasn’t Jeff’s fault.”


    This statement sent ripples of confusion through the room.


    Eloisa looked from one family member to the next before speaking up.


    “What do you mean? Two years ago, Barbara was perfectly healthy. After Jeff pushed her off that balcony, everything started falling apart. Her nervous system was damaged. That’s when she started to decline.”


    Elliana patiently exined, “You’re right about the fall. The injury to her nervous system is what left her unable to walk. But that alone wouldn’t have killed her. What nearly took her life was something else entirely. She was poisoned.”


    “Poisoned?” The Henderson family found themselves in an even deeper state of puzzlement, unable to make sense of any of it. Before the fall, Barbara had been in perfect health, with not a single trace or symptom that pointed to poisoning. Without their deep trust in Elliana, they might have suspected she was trying to clear the Evans family’s name.


    “The toxin that nearly killed Miss Henderson is an ancient one,” Elliana said, her voice steady. “It’s called Scorpion King. This toxin was introduced into her body when she was a kid in small doses, spaced out over time. It’s designed to destroy her system slowly, so no one will notice until it’s toote.”


    Elliana paused, watching the Henderson family closely. Not a flicker of recognition passed through their expressions. Clearly, none of them had even heard of the Scorpion King before.


    After a beat of silence, Eloisa asked quietly, “Scorpion King? What kind of poison is that? We’ve never heard of it.”


    “It’s not something most people would know. The Scorpion King is one of those poisons that’s wrapped in mystery. Its origins go back more than two thousand years. People thought it had disappeared, but it didn’t. It just moved. A secretive organization took it with them to a ce called the Delta. Have any of you heard of…?”


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    “Is it?” Elliana replied. For most people, the Delta was just as unfamiliar as the Scorpion King. So it came as no shock that the Henderson family might’ve gone their whole lives without ever hearing of the ce.


    Neither Gatlin nor Eloisa offered an answer. They simply shook their heads, clearly lost.


    Charles, seated in his wheelchair, hesitated for a moment before saying, “I think I’ve seen that name in a novel once. The Delta. I thought the author made it up. Are you saying it’s real?”


    “It’s very real,” Elliana confirmed.


    A sickly pallor washed over Charles’s face. “Are you saying someone from the Delta poisoned my sister?”


    Without hesitation, Elliana gave a small nod. “I can’t confirm it beyond all doubt, but everything I’ve found suggests that Scorpion King is only ever handled by people from the Delta.”


    Both of Charles’s hands clenched the sides of his wheelchair. “But we’re just a family with a few coffee shops. We’ve never even brushed shoulders with the Delta. Why would anyone go after Barbara with something that lethal?”


    That question seemed to trigger something. His head jerked up as a new possibility came to him. “Wait—could my brother Cutler’s disappearance be connected to those from the Delta too?”


    Cutler had vanished at the age of two, leaving behind nothing but grief and spection. The wound had never closed.


    At the sound of his name, Gatlin’s mouth tightened. Eloisa’s eyes welled with tears.


    “Charles, what exactly is the Delta? What kind of ce is it?” Eloisa asked softly.


    Drawing a slow breath, Charles took a moment before speaking. “In the book I read, the Delta was described as a maze of shadows—dangerous, secretive, and soaked in blood.”


    Word for word, he repeated the passages he remembered, painting a vivid picture that had once seemed like fantasy.


    Elliana didn’t interrupt. Most of it matched what she already knew, so she let him continue.


    Once he fell silent, Eloisa looked shaken. “That’s horrifying. We’ve lived honest lives. We treat everyone with decency. Why would something so dark be tied to us?”


    Gatlin looked just as shaken, his voice quiet. “If Cutler really ended up in a ce like that, I don’t even dare imagine what kind of life he’s had. Or if he’s even still alive.”


    The tension snapped. Eloisa buried her face in her hands and sobbed. “Why is all this happening to us?”


    Though Elliana had hoped their memories might shed some light, it was bing clear that they didn’t know any more than she did. A long silence passed before she turned her attention back to Charles. “Mr. Henderson, do you remember the name of the book that mentioned the Delta?”


    Charles drawled, “I was about ten. I found an old book tucked away on my grandfather’s shelf. It talked about the Delta in strange detail. At the time, I thought it was just fiction, something a writer made up.”


    “Do you still have it? Would you mind if I took a look?” Elliana leaned forward slightly.


    Regret crept into Charles’s expression. “I wish I could help, but I can’t. That book was buried with my grandfather. He asked for it specifically before he passed.”


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