"Fight for us?" Eddard's laugh was bitter now, the kind of laugh that comes from a place too deep for humor. "I went to prison for you, Arya. I spent three years in hell for your family. And the moment I came out, you handed me divorce papers in a parking lot like I was a business transaction you needed to close before your IPO. What exactly was I supposed to fight for? A woman who couldn't even face me herself? Who sent her cousin to do her dirty work while she sat in the car like a coward?"The word coward hit Arya like a slap, and she felt her face flush with heat. "I was not being a coward. I was protecting myself. Protecting my company. Protecting everything I've built while you were gone.""While I was gone." Eddard's voice was quiet again, but the quiet was worse. "While I was in prison for your brother's crime, you mean. While I was serving time for something I didn't do so your family could keep their reputation intact. That's what you were doing while I was gone. Building a

He hung up before she could respond, and Arya stood at the window with the phone pressed against her chest and a hollow feeling spreading through her stomach like poison.She didn't love Fred. She didn't even want to marry him. But she needed him, and in her world, need was just another word for leverage.She turned back to the room, where Gwen was watching her with sharp, knowing eyes."That was Fred, wasn't it?"Arya nodded, not trusting herself to speak."What did he say?""He's going to help me find the Medical Saint. The healer who disappeared three years ago. If anyone can cure Jude Smith, it's him."Gwen's eyebrows rose, and for a moment the smugness on her face was replaced by something that looked almost like respect. "The Medical Saint. I've heard of him. Every wealthy family in the city has tried to find him at one point or another. If you can actually track him down, Arya, if you can actually bring him to the Smith family, you won't just be attending that investment confer

The elevator doors opened onto the top floor, and Arya stepped out into a hallway so silent it felt like walking into a church. The fluorescent lights had been dimmed to something softer, more forgiving, and the air smelled faintly of expensive flowers and the kind of antiseptic that only came in bottles without labels.Fred Gordon followed close behind her, his hand hovering near the small of her back in a gesture that was meant to be protective but felt more like ownership. Behind them walked an old man with a long white beard and flowing gray robes, his face partially hidden by a hood that cast his features in shadow. He carried a wooden staff carved with symbols that Arya didn't recognize, and every few steps he would mutter something under his breath that sounded like Latin but probably wasn't.This was the Medical Saint. Or at least, this was the man Fred had found after hours of calling every contact in his extensive network, a man who claimed to have studied under the original

"You heard me. Jude Smith is dying in that room, and you can do nothing to save him. Nothing. All your years of training, all your precious medical knowledge, and you're useless. Helpless. A child playing with toys while a real man bleeds out on the table." The old man's voice had risen, and there was something ugly in it now, something that had been hiding beneath the calm exterior and was finally showing itself. "So step aside and let someone who actually knows what they're doing handle this. Or don't. It makes no difference to me. Either way, I will save Jude Smith, and you will watch, and you will know that everything you've dedicated your life to is nothing but a lie."Dr. Palmer's hands were shaking, and his face had gone pale. He opened his mouth to respond, but before he could say anything, Eddard pushed himself off the wall and walked into the center of the room."That's enough."The old man turned to face him, and for a moment, something flickered across his face that looked

"Because I want to see something." Dr. Palmer looked at Eddard, and there was something challenging in his gaze. "If this young man is really the Medical Saint, then he has nothing to fear from a competitor. And if this new arrival is also a fraud, then we'll expose him the same way we exposed the last one. Either way, we learn something."Agatha looked at Eddard, seeking his opinion. Eddard shrugged again."It doesn't matter to me. Let him in. Let him try to cure Jude. If he can, then I'll shake his hand and congratulate him. If he can't, then we'll deal with him the same way we dealt with the last one."Agatha hesitated for a moment longer, then nodded at the bodyguard. "Fine. Bring him in. But keep the others outside. The ones who brought the first fraud."The bodyguard disappeared through the doors, and a moment later he returned with a man who looked nothing like the first imposter.This man was younger, perhaps in his late forties, with close-cropped gray hair and a neatly trimm