Chapter 4

When I came out of my room again, the main house was empty.

A maid told me Luca and the others had gone ahead to prepare for Viola’s birthday. She added, almost apologetically, that Mr. Cavalli said I needed time to calm down and would feel better by the evening.

I only nodded.

I packed the rest of my things and took them to the small house I had inherited from the people who raised me.

After that, I went in for my follow-up.

A younger resident handled the scan and handed me the report with a fresh bottle of medication. Before I left, she told me not to miss a dose.

By the time I drove back to the old house, the pain behind my eyes had started again.

It came so suddenly that I barely managed to get out of the car before my knees went weak.

A hand caught my arm.

For one second, I thought someone had come to help me.

Then the medicine bottle was taken from my hand.

Viola stood in front of me. Her eyes moved from the label to my face, bright with amusement.

“A friend of mine is work at the hospital. She said you have a very large tumor in your head.” Her smile deepened. “If you don’t get surgery soon, you’ll die, won’t you?”

I clenched my teeth and stared at the bottle in her hand.

“Viola,Give it back.”

She drew it away and made a soft clicking sound with her tongue, the way someone might call a dog.

“Come here and beg, Nerina. Maybe I’ll give them to you.”

No one could endure that kind of humiliation calmly.

Not when every pulse in my skull felt like something splitting open.

My anger broke through the pain all at once.

I lunged for the bottle.

The bottle flew from her hand, struck the stone edge of the courtyard fountain, and burst open.

White tablets scattered into the water.

Viola covered her mouth.“Oh no.”

I raised my hand, about to slap her.

A force struck me hard from the side, shoving me backward.

Then a slap cracked across my face.

For a moment, everything went blank.

When my vision cleared, Luca was standing in front of me, his face dark with anger.

“Nerina, have you lost your mind?” he said. “You actually bullied her while we weren’t here?”

Viola leaned against Matthias, her face pale, one hand pressed to her own wrist. A thin red line had opened across her skin, probably from the broken edge of the bottle cap or the stone fountain.

Matthias’s expression changed the moment he saw the blood.

“Luca,” he said sharply. “Forget her. Come look at Viola’s hand.”

Enzo caught Viola’s wrist and went tense at once.

“She’s bleeding.”

Luca’s anger cracked into panic. He turned away from me immediately and went to Viola.

Matthias looked back at me, his voice low and threatening.

“Viola is going to be a doctor. If anything happens to her hand because of you, you won’t need to stay in this house anymore.”

He pointed toward the building.

“Go back to your room and think about what you’ve done.”

My face burned from the slap. I pointed at the fountain, my voice breaking despite myself.

“She threw my medicine into the water on purpose.”

“I have brain cancer. Without that medicine, I could die.”

I handed the scan report to Matthias.

The moment he saw the words on it, his face changed. Luca’s grip on my wrist loosened for half a second.

Enzo let out a cold laugh.

“To ruin Viola’s birthday, you’re even willing to curse yourself by saying you’re dying?”

Luca’s eyes were full of disappointment.

“You’ve really gone too far this time.”

The three of them left with her.

I curled up beside the fountain, one hand pressed hard against my temple, and the tears finally broke free.

That medication could slow the growth of the tumor in my head.

It was not easy to get.

Even if I applied for another bottle immediately, by the time it was approved, I might already be dead.

The party music started somewhere near the coast.

A few seconds later, fireworks burst above the courtyard wall.

Gold light spilled over the fountain, over the broken bottle.

Then the sky lit up again.

The letters formed slowly, one by one, bright and enormous above the black sea.

VIOLA.

Cheers rose from far away.

Her name hung over the coast like a crown.

And something inside me went completely still.

I took out my phone with shaking fingers and called my mother.

She answered almost at once.

Then I forced the words out.

“Mom,” I whispered, tears running down my face. “Move the flight up. I want to leave tomorrow.”

Her voice changed immediately.

“What happened?”

“I need the surgery arranged as soon as I land.”

Then she said, very steadily, “All right. I’ll handle it. Pack what you need and leave that house.”

I hung up, dragged myself back inside, and swallowed a handful of painkillers from the spare bottle in my room.

They barely helped.

I packed the last of my things with trembling hands, pulled my suitcase from the closet, and left for the airport before dawn.

On the way there, my phone kept lighting up.

One message after another.

Luca: Apologize to Viola when you calm down.

Matthias: Her hand is injured. Do you understand what you almost did?

Enzo: Stop hiding. You owe her an apology.

I stared at the messages until the words blurred.

Then, one by one, I blocked them all.

The flight lasted fourteen hours.

I got through it on painkillers and whatever strength I had left.

When I landed, my mother was already waiting for me.

She took one look at my face, wrapped her coat around my shoulders, and brought me straight to the hospital.

By the time they wheeled me toward the operating room, my phone had started ringing again.

Unknown numbers this time.

One after another.

My mother took the phone from my hand.

With red eyes and a face full of hatred, she declined every call.

I reached weakly for her sleeve and forced a small smile.

“Mom,Don’t be angry.”

Her eyes filled at once.

I held her hand as tightly as I could.

“The moment I decided to leave the country for this surgery,” I said quietly, “I had already decided I didn’t want them anymore.”