A wealthy multimillionaire had been lying in a coma for three years… until an orphan girl did something no one expected. Rain pelted the windows of Saint-Raphaël Hospital, a gray, steady rhythm that had become the soundtrack of Patricia’s life. For three long years, her husband Fernand had lain in a suite, connected to machines that breathed for him.

The doctors spoke in hushed tones of a “persistent vegetative state,” suggesting she let him go.

But Patricia refused. Their daughter Camille, just five, had died in the same accident that had left Fernand comatose, and sitting vigil over him had become her sole reason to carry on.

One day, Xavier—Fernand’s cousin—and his wife Marcelle entered without knocking. They had taken “temporary” control of Fernand’s construction empire and pressured Patricia to disconnect the machines, claiming it was time to declare his incapacity and restructure the business.

“You can’t cling to a ghost,” Xavier said coldly.