CHAPTER 100
ROMEO POV
White.
Everywhere.
Too bright. Too clean.
Too quiet.
The silence pressed against my skull until I couldn't tell if I was awake or still trapped in some new kind of hell.
My throat burned. My chest ached. My skin prickled under the sting of air-conditioning.
No smoke. No chains. No blood.
Just the rhythmic beep of machines. The faint shuffle of shoes. The whisper of fabric against skin.
I blinked once, twice but the world still swam, edges soft and shifting. Something heavy rested over my chest.
A hand. Warm. Familiar. Real.
I turned my head slowly. Every movement dragging pain through my neck and found her there.
Nonna.
Her eyes were red-rimmed, her face lined deeper than I remembered, like she'd aged years overnight.
Her hand clutched mine like I'd disappear if she blinked too long.
"Nonna?"
It came out cracked, foreign. Like someone else's voice wearing mine.
