Chapter 84. Answers or More Questions?

Camila paced the length of her mother’s study, her footsteps muffled by the thick Persian rug that had once been chosen with such care. The room remained exactly as it had been on that final, irreversible day—untouched, preserved like a shrine to a life abruptly cut short. Dust clung faintly to the corners, yet everything else seemed frozen in time, as if her mother might walk in at any moment and resume whatever task she had last abandoned.

The mahogany shelves lining the walls were packed tight with medical texts, journals, and annotated research papers. Their spines ranged from worn leather to pristine hardcovers, each one a testament to her mother’s unwavering dedication to health, wellness, and the science of the human body. That devotion was precisely what made the official explanation of her death feel so grotesquely wrong.

“Healthy as an ox,” Camila muttered under her breath, her voi