Chapter 173

Victoria stared at the scan results spread across her doctor’s desk. The images showed her body from the inside, revealing the battle waged within her tissues and bones. But unlike previous scans, these told a different story.

“The tumors have shrunk by sixty-three percent,” Dr. Winters said, her finger tracing the outlines on the images. “It’s the best response I’ve seen to this treatment protocol.”

Victoria kept her face blank, decades of boardroom battles making it second nature to hide her feelings. But inside, something unfamiliar bloomed, a fragile, tender hope she hardly dared acknowledge.

“What does this mean, exactly?” she asked, her voice steady despite the storm in her chest.

Dr. Winters removed her glasses, meeting Victoria’s gaze directly. “It means the cancer is responding to treatment far better than we anticipated. Six months ago, I told you we were looking at buying time. Now, I’m talking about the possibility of remission.”

The word hu