The Morano estate was no stranger to shadows, but that night, they seemed alive, stretching, thickening, whispering like conspirators waiting for the right moment to strike.
The storm Bianca had promised had already begun to stir.
Alessia refused to sleep.
Not even when her body screamed with exhaustion, not even when her eyes threatened to close against her will. She sat at Luca's bedside, her hand locked around his, her gaze tracing the pale lines of his face.
Every heartbeat from the monitor was a fragile gift, every faint rise of his chest a prayer answered.
She had not forgotten Bianca's venomous smile, nor the audacity in her voice when she declared she would claim Luca once more.
Her words replayed like a curse in Alessia's mind... "When he wakes, we will see who he reaches for".... "He will forgets you and remembers me".
