The hospital lights were too white, too sterile. They buzzed with the kind of low hum that made Melissa feel like she was being dissected rather than treated.
She hated hospitals,not because of the pain but because of the memories.
She lay on the gurney, the scent of antiseptic cutting through her senses. Rama hadn't left her side once. He stood near her feet, arms folded, jaw tight, his eyes not leaving hers even once as the doctors ran their tests.
"It's a false alarm," the doctor said finally, wiping his brow. "Stress-induced contractions. The baby's fine."
Melissa closed her eyes, exhaling slowly.
Rama reached for her hand. His calloused fingers were warm, grounding. She held on longer than she meant to. "You scared me," he murmured.
Melissa opened her eyes, scanning his face. "That makes two of us."
Later on after being discharged sitjin an hour she was back at her penthouse digging into the internet. This worried Rama as the doctor had advised her to take it easy now that she was about to give birth. Melissa continue tapping away on the keypad until late,then like like it had been waiting for the calm focus her brain had something clicked into place.
She sat upright. "I need to make a call now Rama!
"I just remembered something about Avery's startup. Something he doesn't know I know."
Max's Apartment, Gaborone
Max sat in the dark, scotch untouched on the table, Tsholo's latest intel still burning in his mind. Melissa had used the shares he gave her to sellout to with his worst enemy. But what twisted the blade deeper was that she was winning.
Max couldn't tell what stung more: the betrayal or the fact that it excited him.She was everything he feared, sharp, untamed, and unstoppable.
But there was a wild card he hadn't seen coming yet.
Rama.
He stared at the photo his hacker retrieved: Rama in Melissa's penthouse, standing behind her at a press event. Max's jaw clenched. "What the hell is he doing with her?" The computer dinged with the background search results. Max leaned in.
Name: Rama Botho.
Relation: Distant paternal cousin.
Max swore under his breath. "This just got complicated."
Laterwatching her work with quiet admiration.
"You haven't slept in thirty hours," he said gently.
She didn't look up. "Sleep is for the safe. I'm not there yet."
He walked in, placed a protein smoothie next to her. "At least drink something."
Melissa paused, then sipped. "I traced a licensing delay in Avery's startup. They need FDA clearance for international patents, but they've missed a key filing. It's buried in a sub-regulation clause page 317 of an EU compliance doc."
Rama blinked. "How did you find that?"
She looked up at him. "I am that girl."
Rama chuckled. "Damn right you are."
Their eyes met, just for a second too long. There was electricity between them, humming under the surface.
Melissa looked away first. "We'll need to start buying up their distressed inventory. Quietly. I'm calling a fixer in Hong Kong. If I move fast, I can force a panic within three weeks."
"Melissa…" Rama stepped forward, his voice lowering, eyes locked on hers. "Why are you doing all this?"
She blinked slowly. "Because i will need much more than a pregnancy to take everyrhing away from Max.
"And Max?"
She hesitated, the name like a bruise pressed too hard. "Max… is a weapon. And like every good weapon, he will either be aimed with me… or at me."
There was silence.
Then Rama spoke, voice softer. "What if I told you I'm related to him?"
Melissa froze.
Her pulse skipped once, then twice.
"What did you say?"
Rama's voice was steady. "Max Botho is my cousindidn't
Avery scrolled through an emergency email. His eyes widened.
Novagenix stock had dropped 9% overnight. His lead scientist had resigned.
And someone just filed an anonymous patent for a similar memory restoration compound… under the name M-Phoenix.
His fingers curled into fists. Who would DARE?