Fighting Back

Dante refused to leave the hospital.

He sat by Cassandra's bedside, her hand in his, watching the monitors beep and flicker. The machines were the only sound in the room—a steady rhythm that told him she was still alive. Still fighting.

Hours passed. Then days. He didn't eat. Didn't sleep. Didn't move. Jane brought him coffee, food, clean clothes. He ignored all of it. His eyes never left Cassandra's face.

She looked so small in the hospital bed. So fragile. Her skin was pale, her lips slightly parted, her chest rising and falling with each breath. The doctors said she was stable—but they didn't know when she'd wake up. Or if she'd wake up at all.

Dante couldn't accept that. He wouldn't.

"Come back to me," he whispered. "Please. Come back."

---

While Dante kept vigil, Marco investigated.

He questioned every staff member. He searched every room. He traced every possible source of the poison.

The tea was the culprit. Someone had laced it with a slow-acting toxin—something that would take hours to kick in, giving the poisoner time to cover their tracks.

The trail led to the kitchen. To the pantry. To a small vial hidden behind a sack of flour.

Marco brought the vial to Dante. It was empty, but traces of the poison remained. They ran tests. They compared it to the poison in Cassandra's system.

It was a match.

---

Dante reviewed the security footage.

He watched every person who entered the kitchen in the past week. He studied their movements, their habits, their routines.

Then he saw it.

A figure, moving through the kitchen in the dead of night. A figure who shouldn't have been there.

Dante recognized them immediately.

His blood ran cold.

It was Jane.

---

Dante confronted her in the kitchen.

Jane was preparing tea—as if nothing had happened. She looked up when he entered, her expression calm.

"Mr. Moretti. Is everything okay?"

Dante didn't answer. He just stared at her, his eyes blazing.

"I saw the footage," he said quietly. "I know what you did."

Jane's face went pale. Her hands trembled.

"I don't know what you're talking about—"

"Don't lie to me." His voice was ice. "You poisoned Cassandra. You tried to kill her."

Jane stared at him. For a long moment, she didn't speak.

Then she laughed.

It was a cold, bitter sound. Nothing like the warm, kind girl Cassandra had trusted.

"You should have seen this coming," Jane said. "You've been blind all along."

Dante's hands curled into fists.

"Why?"

"Because you destroyed everything I loved." Jane's eyes blazed with hatred. "My family. My home. My future. You took it all."

"I don't even know you."

"You don't know anyone." Jane stepped closer. "You think you're so powerful. So untouchable. But you're just a man. A man who destroys everything he touches."

She laughed again.

"Cassandra trusted me. She thought I was her friend. And I was—right up until the moment I poured poison into her tea."

Dante lunged.

He grabbed Jane by the throat, slamming her against the wall. His grip was tight, his body trembling with rage.

"You're going to pay for this," he said.

Jane didn't flinch. She just smiled.

"Kill me," she said. "See if I care. You'll never find the antidote."

Dante froze.

"The antidote?"

"The poison is rare. It doesn't have a standard cure." Jane's smile widened. "There's only one person who knows how to reverse it. And she's dead."

"Who?"

"My mother."

Dante didn't kill her.

He wanted to. Every fiber of his being screamed for vengeance. But Cassandra needed the antidote. And Jane was the only one who knew where to find it.

He turned her over to Marco. He told him to get the information—by any means necessary.

Then he returned to the hospital.

---

Cassandra was still unconscious.

Dante sat beside her, taking her hand.

"I found them," he whispered. "I found the person who did this to you. They're going to tell us how to fix it. I promise."

She didn't respond.

He held her hand tighter.

"I need you to fight," he said. "I need you to come back to me. I can't do this without you."

That night, Cassandra's eyes fluttered open.