Nathan was vibrating with a cold, focused fury. Nikolai’s words stayed in his head: "She will take her medicine, and tomorrow she will forget you ever existed."

Now Nathan knew the truth. Nikolai wasn’t just a victim; he was a jailer. He might be using the drugs Natasha’s people had provided to keep Fiona in a state of confusion. He was sedating her mind to keep his "perfect family" together.

Nathan got into his car and looked at the notes Alex had sent to his phone. He needed to find the man who had physically altered Fiona and administered the first doses of the serum. He needed Dr. Gabe, the forensic pathologist. Though Dr. Gabe doesn’t stay in Russia; he had fled back to Russia weeks ago, hiding in a government-linked medical facility in Moscow where he felt safe under the protection of men like Nikolai.

"Drive," Nathan told his man. "I have the address for the morgue facility. We’re not waiting for morning."

The car sped through the dark, snowy streets of Moscow. Nathan pulled off the fake beard and the glasses, he didn’t need the Christopher Vane mask for this. He needed to be the man who had watched Natasha bleed in a warehouse. He needed to be the man who would do anything to get his lover back.

They arrived at a grey, stone building with small windows and heavy security. It was the same morgue facility where the body swap had happened three years ago. Nathan didn’t use the front door. His men moved quickly, taking out the two guards at the back entrance with silent efficiency. Nathan stepped inside the cold, sterile hallway. It smelled like chemicals and death.

He found the lab at the end of the hall. Through the glass, he saw a man in scrubs hunched over a microscope. It was him, the man from the photos Marcus had found. Dr. Gabe.

Nathan kicked the door open and the sound was like a gunshot in the quiet room. Dr. Gabe jumped, knocking over a tray of metal tools that clattered loudly on the floor.

"Who are you? You can’t be here!" the doctor shouted in Russian.

Nathan walked toward him, his footsteps heavy and rhythmic. He didn’t speak until he was right in front of the man, he grabbed the doctor by the throat and slammed him against the cold tile wall.

"My name is Nathan Keith," Nathan growled. "And you’re going to tell me exactly what you’ve been putting into my wife’s veins."

Dr. Gabe’s eyes went wide. He tried to struggle, his hands clawing at Nathan’s arm, but Nathan was like a wall of iron.

"I... I don’t know who you are talking about!" Gabe choked out. "I am a government doctor, release me!"

Nathan didn’t waste time talking. He punched the doctor hard in the stomach, dropping him to his knees. Before the man could catch his breath, Nathan grabbed a long, sharp medical probe from the tray on the floor. He held the point of the needle right against the doctor’s eye.

"Natasha told me everything before I left her bleeding in a warehouse," Nathan said, his voice terrifyingly calm. "She gave me your name, she told me how you switched the bodies. She told me about the serum. Now, I want the formula and I want the medical notes."

Dr. Gabe was shaking, his breath coming in short, terrified gasps. "I was only following orders! The woman was brought to me! I just did the work!"

"The serum, Gabe!" Nathan roared, pressing the needle closer. "Why hasn’t she remembered? It’s been almost three years!"

The doctor swallowed hard, the fear finally breaking his resolve. "The memory loss... it was supposed to be temporary! The first dose was only meant to last a few months while she recovered from the accident. It was a chemical fog to keep her from being violent or confused."

"Then why is she still in a fog?" Nathan demanded.

"Because of the boosters!" Gabe yelled, his voice echoing in the lab. "Natasha... she didn’t want her to ever wake up, she ordered a special booster shot. It’s a high-dose sedative mixed with a neuro-suppressant. Nikolai... he has been giving it to her every day in her ’vitamin’ shots. It doesn’t erase the memory, It just buries it! It creates a chemical wall. The memories are there, but she can’t reach them through the haze."

Nathan felt a wave of relief so strong he almost sat down, she wasn’t gone. Fiona was still in there, trapped behind a curtain of drugs. She hadn’t chosen Nikolai; she was being drugged into accepting him.

"Give me the notes," Nathan commanded. "I want the exact chemical breakdown of every shot you gave her. I want the history of the doses."

"I can’t... those are restricted files," Gabe whispered.

Nathan grabbed the doctor’s hand and slammed it onto the metal table, holding the needle over his fingernail. "I don’t care about your restrictions. Give me the notes, or you’ll never use this hand to hold a scalpel again."

The doctor broke immediately, he scrambled to a computer in the corner, his fingers flying across the keyboard with trembling speed. A printer in the corner began to hum, spitting out pages of technical data, chemical formulas, and medical logs with Fiona’s photo labeled Viktoria Volkov at the top.

Nathan grabbed the papers, he scanned them quickly. It was all there. The exact milligram of the sedative, the timing of the boosters, and the chemical structure of the suppressant.

"Is there an antidote?" Nathan asked.

"There is no ’magic’ pill," Gabe said, wiping sweat from his forehead. "But if you stop the boosters and use a counter-agent to flush her system, the wall will crumble. But be careful... if the memories come back all at once, the shock could cause a seizure. She needs to be monitored by someone who knows the science."

Nathan folded the papers and tucked them into his jacket. He looked at the doctor one last time. "If you tell Nikolai I was here, I will come back. And I won’t use a needle next time."

Nathan walked out of the morgue and back to his car, he didn’t feel tired anymore. He felt powerful, he had the key to Fiona’s mind in his pocket.

He pulled out his phone and called Dr. Aris back in America. Dr. Aris was the only medical professional Nathan truly trusted the man who had treated Fiona for years before the accident.

"Aris," Nathan said when the doctor picked up. "I have the notes and the exact formula of the drugs they’ve been using on her for three years."

"Nathan? Where are you? Is she okay?"

"She’s being drugged, Aris. Nikolai is giving her ’boosters’ to keep her mind buried. I’m sending you photos of the medical notes right now. I need you to find a way to flush her system. I need a way to bring her back safely without her brain short-circuiting."

There was a long silence as Nathan sent the photos, he could hear Dr. Aris scrolling through the data on the other end.

"My God, Nathan," Aris whispered. "This is heavy stuff. They’ve been keeping her in a state of waking sleep. It’s a miracle she can even speak, but look here... the suppressant they used is a variant of an old Russian anesthetic. If we use a specific detox protocol, we can clear the haze in forty-eight hours."

"Can you do it?" Nathan asked.

"I can prepare the counter-serum," Aris said. "But Nathan, you have to get her away from Nikolai first. She can’t be in that house when this starts, she needs to be somewhere safe, somewhere where she feels at peace, so when the memories hit, she doesn’t panic."

"I’m working on that," Nathan said. "Prepare the medicine, I’m going to find a way to get her out of that fortress."

Nathan hung up the phone and looked out at the snowy Moscow skyline, he had the proof, and now he had the cure. Nikolai thought he had won because he had the house and the guards, but Nathan had the truth.

He realized he couldn’t just break into the estate and take her, he needed to wait for a moment when Nikolai felt safe. He needed to wait for the one day Nikolai would take her out of the house.

He called Alex. "Find out if there are any events this week. A gala, a party, a public opening. Nikolai likes to show off his ’wife.’ He won’t keep her locked in that room forever."

"There is an opera gala on Friday night, sir," Alex replied. "Nikolai is a major sponsor, he always attends with his family. The security will be tight, but it’s a public space."

Nathan narrowed his eyes. "Friday night. That’s our window. Tell the team to get ready. We’re going to the opera."

Nathan sat back in the seat, he felt the toy car in his pocket. For almost three years, he had lived in a world where Fiona was dead. Tonight, he had proof that she was just sleeping. And on Friday, he was going to wake her up.

He watched the snow fall against the window, he thought about Fiona’s face at the dinner table the way she looked at him with that tiny spark of recognition.

"Hold on, Fiona," Nathan whispered. "The fog is almost gone."