LOGINChapter 218ElowenTime fractured.One moment I was running, the next I was at Giuliana's bedside, the next Matteo was shouting into his phone for an ambulance, the next Kian was trying to turn her on her side to keep her airway clear.Everything was happening too fast and too slow at the same time."How long has she been seizing?" Matteo was asking Kian, but his voice sounded like it was coming from underwater."I don't know. I heard a noise from her room. I came in and she was already..."Giuliana's body jerked violently.A sound came from her throat that didn't sound human."No, no, no," I heard myself saying. "Please, no, not now. Not when she's doing better. Please."I reached for her hand but Kian caught my wrist."Don't," he said gently. "You can't. Just let her body do what it needs to do.""What it needs to do?" I nearly screamed. "It needs to stop! She needs to stop!"But she didn't stop.The seizure went on and on.Thirty seconds.A minute.More."Where's the fucking ambula
Chapter 127Elowen "How do you know about that?" I asked carefully."I heard you leave," she said. "And then I heard Papa leave too, a few minutes later. And you were both gone for a long time."She was watching me with those too-knowing eyes."We just needed some air," I said. "And to talk about... about things.""What things?""Giuliana...""Did you kiss him?"The question hit me like a physical blow."What? No. I..." But I couldn't lie to her. Not when she was looking at me like that. "Why would you ask that?""Because you're both different now," Giuliana said. "Since that night. You look at each other differently. Papa smiles more when you're around. And you get all pink when he touches your hand."I stared at her, speechless."I'm eight, not blind," she said, sounding far too much like a teenager. "So did you kiss him or not?"I took a breath."Yes," I admitted quietly. "We did. But Giuliana, it was complicated. We were both upset and scared and...""Do you love him?" The questi
Chapter 216ElowenFive days later, Giuliana was discharged from the hospital.Temporarily.She'd have to come back in three days for her next round of treatment, but Dr. Ferraro had given her permission to go home for a brief respite."Fresh air," he'd said. "Family time. Normal life, as much as possible. It's good for healing too."Watching Matteo carry his daughter out of the hospital—she was still too weak to walk far—while Kian pushed the empty wheelchair behind us and Marco carried the bag with Fuoco and all her drawings, I felt something shift inside me.Hope.Real, tangible hope.Not the desperate, clinging hope of the past few weeks, but something steadier. Stronger.The ride home was quiet but comfortable.Giuliana dozed against my shoulder in the back seat, exhausted from the simple act of getting dressed and leaving her room.When we pulled up to the house, she stirred and looked out the window."Home," she breathed, and I heard such longing in that single word.Matteo car
Chapter 215Elowen Giuliana noticed too."Uncle Kian," she said. "Come here."Kian turned back, his eyes red, and moved to the bed.Giuliana held out her free hand to him.He took it, and she pulled him down so she could whisper something in his ear.I saw his face crumble completely.When he straightened, he nodded at whatever she'd said."I promise," he said hoarsely. "I promise.""What did she say?" I asked.Kian looked at me with such raw emotion that it stole my breath."She asked me to take care of you," he said. "If the news is bad. She asked me to make sure you're okay. You and him." He nodded towards Matteo who raised his head confused."Giuliana..." I started."Just in case, Mama," she said. "Just in case."I couldn't speak.Couldn't breathe.Could only hold her hand and try not to break apart completely. ......Two hours had never felt so long and so short at the same time.We tried to distract ourselves.Marco drew. Giuliana dozed. Matteo paced.Kian stood at the window,
Chapter 214ElowenThe waiting room outside the imaging department was painted a cheerful yellow.Someone had thought that would be comforting.They were wrong.I sat between Matteo and Kian on a hard plastic bench, my hands clasped so tightly in my lap that my knuckles had turned white.Marco sat across from us next to his father, his leg bouncing anxiously.None of us spoke.What was there to say?The scan would take forty-five minutes, they'd told us. Forty-five minutes to get images of Giuliana's brain and spine, to see if the tumors were shrinking, stable, or growing.Forty-five minutes to determine if we kept fighting or started saying goodbye.I'd never known time could move so slowly.Every minute felt like an hour. Every hour felt like a lifetime.Matteo's leg was pressed against mine, and I could feel the tension radiating from his body. His jaw was clenched so tight I worried he'd crack a tooth.Kian sat perfectly still on my other side, but I could see his hands gripping h
Chapter 213"No," Giuliana said, reaching for his hand. "It's perfect. It's the most perfect thing anyone's ever given me."Marco relaxed slightly. "Really?""Really," she confirmed. "Can I keep it?""Of course," Marco said. "I drew it for you."He carefully tore the page out of his sketchbook and handed it to her.Giuliana held it like it was made of gold."Will you help me hang it up?" she asked. "Where I can see it?""Sure," Marco said.He found some tape and hung the drawing on the wall across from her bed, right in her line of sight.When he was done, Giuliana studied it."That's how I want to feel," she said quietly. "Like I'm winning. Like I'm strong enough to fight.""You are strong enough," Marco said firmly. "You're the strongest person I know.""You keep saying that," Giuliana said."Because it's true," Marco said. "You want to know something?""What?""When kids at school found out I was visiting you, some of them said I shouldn't. That it would be too sad. That I should j
Chapter 96 ElowenAll of it—the thoughtfulness, the attention, the way he'd looked at me, the things he'd said under the stars—all of it had been performance.A role he'd played to give me what I wanted.My heart shattered so completely I could feel the pieces cutting me from the inside."You were
Chapter 104Elowen"Okay," Caroline said softly, her voice steady despite the shock that must have been coursing through her. "Okay, El, but why? What happened? You need to tell me why."I shook my head frantically, unable to put into words the humiliation and the pain and the way I'd been passed a
Chapter 100ElowenI should have stopped him, should have pushed him away and insisted we deal with his injuries and fever first before anything else happened.But his hands were sliding under my shirt and his mouth found mine and suddenly I was kissing him back with equal desperation, needing this
Chapter 105"Stop," Caroline interrupted, holding up her hand. "We're not just friends, Elowen, we're sisters, and it's both of us for life, I'm never leaving you."I felt my eyes start to sting again with fresh tears but Caroline wasn't done."Let me spell it out for you," she said, leaning forwar







