Chapter 2

TWO

“ M om.” Natalie leaned forward, pressing the back of her hand to Eleanor’s forehead. “Are you running a fever? Should we call Nick for a consultation? Wait—“ She gasped dramatically. “Did someone clone you? Dad, blink twice if this is a pod person.”

“Very funny.” Eleanor swatted her hand away. “Can’t a mother support her daughter’s career choices without suspicion?”

“No,” Natalie and Lillian chorused.

“Absolutely not,” Richard added, earning himself a glare from his wife.

“You once hired a matchmaker to evaluate my genetic compatibility with the barista at my favorite coffee shop,” Natalie pointed out.

“He made your coffee exactly how you liked it! That’s practically a proposal in your language.”

“He was gay, Mom. And engaged. To another barista.”

“Minor details.”

“You tried to set me up at a funeral,” Lillian chimed in.

“He was a very handsome pallbearer!”

“Mom!”

Richard’s warm laugh filled their corner of the restaurant. “She’s got you there, Eleanor. Though I have to admit, the funeral one was a new low.”

“He was single,” Eleanor muttered into her wine glass.

The rest of dinner passed in a blur of excellent food and comfortable family banter, but Eleanor’s strange behavior kept nagging at Natalie. Her mother was plotting something—she had that same look she’d worn before “accidentally” booking Natalie and the department’s new neurosurgeon into the same conference hotel room last year. (The fact that he’d turned out to be married had only slightly dampened Eleanor’s enthusiasm.)

Later that night as Natalie made her way back to her lab, she couldn’t shake the feeling that her mother knew something she didn’t. The quiet halls of Biothera Labs welcomed her like an old friend, security lights casting familiar shadows across polished floors.

Her lab sat exactly as she’d left it that afternoon—organized chaos that made perfect sense to her. Sticky notes covered her computer monitor in a rainbow of reminders and chemical equations. Her lab notebook lay open to that morning’s observations, filled with her precise handwriting and color-coded annotations.

“Okay,” she muttered, pulling her blonde hair into a messy bun. “Mom’s acting weird, the company’s being acquired by a ridiculously attractive CEO—not that I noticed or googled him extensively—and I’m talking to myself in an empty lab. Again. Perfect.”

She donned her lab coat, checking her phone one more time. Another reminder about tomorrow’s meeting with Marcus Vale flashed on the screen. She’d missed the initial introduction meeting last week, too absorbed in a breakthrough to notice the time. Now she had to face the new CEO one-on-one.

“No big deal,” she told her reflection in the computer screen. “Just a meeting with one of the most powerful men in New York. Who happens to look like a Greek god in a suit. And probably doesn’t explain science using pasta metaphors.”

The gentle hum of equipment surrounded her as she began mixing compounds. This was her element—pure science, no distractions, no well-meaning family members trying to fix her perpetually single status. Just the clean lines of molecular structures and the elegant dance of chemical reactions.

But her mind kept drifting to Marcus Vale. She’d seen his pictures in business magazines—striking gray eyes, powerful presence, the kind of man who commanded attention without trying. The kind of man who probably wouldn’t give a science-obsessed workaholic a second glance.

Not that she cared.

She absolutely didn’t care that he had a reputation for brilliant business strategy and a keen interest in scientific innovation. Or that he’d turned Vale Corp into a powerhouse while maintaining ethical research practices. Or that his rare smile transformed his serious face into something that made even genius scientists forget basic chemical equations...

The test tube slipped.

“No, no, no!”

Natalie lunged for it, but too late. The extra compound splashed into her carefully prepared mixture. A flash of purple light filled the lab, followed by an acrid puff of smoke that smelled like ozone and strawberries.

“This is fine,” she coughed, waving away the smoke. “Everything’s fine. Just an unplanned chemical reaction. Nothing to worry about. Though why it smells like a thunderstorm in a fruit basket...”

The smoke cleared slowly, revealing her formerly clear serum had turned an impossible shade of electric blue. It pulsed gently, like a tiny, liquid heartbeat.

“That’s... not supposed to happen.” She peered at the glowing liquid. “Unless I’ve accidentally created either the world’s most powerful matchmaking serum or a very fancy mood light.”

She should have been disappointed. Months of careful work, altered by one moment of distraction. But as she studied the mutation, excitement sparked through her veins. The molecular structure had shifted into something entirely new—something that might do more than just help people find their perfect match.

“Oh.” She leaned closer, mind racing with possibilities. “Oh, this is interesting .”

The formula’s mutation had created something unprecedented. Something powerful. Something that made her scientific heart race with equal parts thrill and trepidation.

Something that would change everything.

She grabbed her phone, fingers flying over the keys as she documented every detail. The implications were staggering. If she could stabilize this mutation, control its effects...

A shadow fell across her workstation.

“Good evening, Dr. Grant.”

Natalie spun around, heart leaping into her throat. A tall figure stood in her doorway, backlit by the hallway lights.

The test tube slipped from her fingers again.

This time, there would be no catching it.

“Well,” she muttered as the tube fell in what felt like slow motion, “at least Mom won’t have to worry about setting me up after I blow up the lab.”