Chapter 183
Chapter 183:
“Actually,” Grandpa Vance said from the head of the table, cutting Eleanor off. “I think it’s a fine idea. Human touch is powerful. And what harm can a massage do to a man in a coma p>
Eleanor glared at the old man, but she saw a trap. If she refused too hard, she looked suspicious. If she agreed, Aurora would just look like a fool when nothing happened.
“Fine,” Eleanor said, wiping her mouth. “Rub his feet if you want. But don’t expect miracles. And don’t interfere with the medical equipment p>
Later that afternoon, Eleanor was on the phone in the library.
“Yes, darling, it’s tragic,” she whispered to a society friend. “The poor girl is delusional. She’s in there rubbing oil on him, thinking she can cure brain death. It’s… embarrassing. Yes, very ‘country.’ We’re just letting her do it to keep her quiet p>
She was spreading the rumor. Painting Aurora as a quack. A desperate, uneducated girl practicing voodoo.
Meanwhile, Aurora entered Julian’s room. She carried a bowl of warm oil. It smelled of lavender, but underneath, hidden by the scent, was a potent mixture of dissolved herbs—Rhodiola and specialized chelating agents she had synthesized from her own supplies.
A nurse stood in the corner, arms crossed. She was clearly Eleanor’s spy.
“Just a massage,” Aurora told the nurse.
She pulled back the sheet exposing Julian’s arm. She dipped her hands in the oil.
She didn’t just rub. She pressed. Her thumbs found specific acupressure points—the meridian lines connected to the liver and kidneys, the organs responsible for filtering poison. She worked the oil into his skin. The medicine absorbed rapidly through the pores.
The nurse watched, bored, scrolling on her phone. She saw nothing but a cousin massaging a cousin.
Under her fingers, Aurora felt a change. The jagged pulse smoothed out for a second.
Full cont3nt h3re:
Suddenly, Julian’s index finger twitched.
It wasn’t a spasm. It was a movement. A reaction to the antitoxin.
Aurora’s heart hammered. She immediately shifted her body, blocking the nurse’s line of sight. She continued the massage, but her hand squeezed his gently.
I’ve got you, she thought. Fight it.
Outside the estate, in the high-tech command center of the Thorne residence.
Elias sat before a bank of monitors.
“Sir, we’ve bypassed the Kensington firewall,” Graves said.
On the screen, the feed from Julian’s room appeared. Elias watched Aurora working. He zoomed in.
He saw the technique. It wasn’t random rubbing. It was precision acupressure. He recognized the focus in her eyes.
“She’s treating him,” Elias realized. “She knows about the poison p>
He saw the finger twitch. He saw Aurora hide it.
“Graves,” Elias ordered instantly. “Replace the feed with a static loop from ten minutes ago. If anyone checks the tapes, that finger never moved p>
“Done, sir p>
Elias leaned back, a smile touching his lips. “Clever girl. Using massage as a delivery system p>