LOGINISABELLA’S POVI knew exactly when it shifted.Ethan was telling me about his childhood. About his mother who died when he was twelve. About how he learned to cook because his father couldn't.And he says something that makes me laugh. Actually laugh. Not polite acknowledgment. Real laughter.He looks surprised. Like he'd forgotten I could laugh.And that's when it changes. When the air in the room becomes different. Heavier.We both feel it. I can see it in his eyes. The way they linger on my face. The way his voice drops slightly.I should stand up. Go to my bed. End the conversation.I don't.Instead, I asked another question. Something innocuous about his work. About the gallery.But my voice is different too. Softer. More intimate.He answers. Moves from his bed to sit on the edge of mine. Not touching. But close enough.I don't move away.We keep talking. About nothing important. About everything.And then there's a moment. A specific moment. Where his hand is near mine on the b
ISABELLA’S POV "We should get a room," Ethan said.I looked up from the hospital chair. "What?""There's A hotel Across the street. You haven't slept in a real bed in days. Neither have I.""I can't leave the hospital. What if something happens?""The nurses have our numbers. The hotel is a three-minute walk. We can be back in five minutes if they need us."I wanted to argue. But I was exhausted. "Okay," I said. "Just somewhere to shower and sleep for a few hours."Ethan pulled out his phone. Made a call. "Done," he said. "They're holding a room for us."We told the nurses where we'd be. Left numbers. Confirmed they'd call if anything changed with Brahms.Then we walked across the street.The hotel was small. Clean. The kind of place business travelers used when they needed to be near the hospital.Ethan checked us in. The clerk handed him one key card."Just one room available," Ethan explained. "Everything else is booked. Medical conference in the city."I didn't argue. Didn't ha
ETHAN’S POV The coffee machine was down the hall. Past the nurses' station. Past two empty waiting rooms.I'd walked this route three times already tonight. Learned which buttons to press. Which ones stuck.The machine made a grinding noise. Spit out something that barely qualified as coffee.I got two cups. Black. No sugar.I didn't know how Isabella took her coffee. Realized I should know that. Realized there were a thousand things I should know about her and didn't.When I got back to the corridor, she was exactly where I'd left her. Standing outside Brahms's room. Staring through the window.She'd been standing there for hours. Hadn't moved except when the nurses made her."Here," I said. Held out one of the cups.She looked at it. Then at me.Took it without comment.I watched her take a sip. Her face didn't change. No grimace. No reaction.It had to taste terrible. But she drank it anyway. One slow sip after another.Through the window, I could see Brahms. Still unconscious. St
ETHAN'S POVI caught her before she hit the floor.My body reacted before I thought. It was fast, but not clean. The movement pulled sharply through my back and shoulders, a reminder that I was still recovering, still not fully steady on my feet.I adjusted my grip as I lowered her with me.Careful. Controlled.We ended up on the floor against the corridor wall.My back hit first. I felt it immediately. A dull, spreading pain that I ignored because there was no time for it.She didn’t resist.That told me everything.Her strength had already run out.She was shaking. Not subtle. Not contained. Her whole body trembled against mine like she couldn’t regulate it anymore.And then she broke.She cried like someone who had crossed a line she could not come back from.It wasn’t controlled. It wasn’t the kind of crying people try to hide.It was loud. Unfiltered. Raw.The kind that comes when there is nothing left to hold on to.I kept my arms around her.Not tight enough to restrain her.Ju
ISABELLA’S POVI had barely slept.Every time I closed my eyes, my mind replayed my conversation with Ethan. His voice. The way he had said it. The truth he had finally admitted.We were both victims.It didn’t settle. It wasn't comforting.It just stayed there. Turning over and over until sleep became something shallow and unreliable.I must have drifted off at some point.Because the alarm woke me.It started at 2:00 a.m.Sharp. Immediate.Not the softer alerts I had gotten used to. Not the ones that came and went without consequence.This one was wrong.I knew it before I was fully awake.I was already sitting up, already turning toward the bed.“Brahms?”The monitors were flashing.Numbers shifting too fast. The rhythm I had memorized over the past days was gone.“No. No, no.”I was on my feet before I realized I had moved.“Non… non, pas maintenant,” I whispered. No, not now.The door opened.Two nurses came in quickly. One went straight to the machines. The other to him.“Que se
ETHAN’s POVI believe that you think you did. I hadn't planned to say the next part.“There's something else I need to tell you," I said."Another apology?""No. A truth. One I haven't told anyone.""What truth?"I stared at my hands for a moment.Not to avoid her.To steady myself.“I don’t remember that night either,” I said. “Not clearly. Not the way I should.”She went still.Completely.“What do you mean?”“I remember the event. The gala. Conversations. Faces.” I paused briefly, keeping my breathing even. “Then I remember a drink. Something about it felt… off.”Fragments came easier than full sentences.“After that, it’s not linear. It doesn’t connect properly. Pieces without order.”I swallowed.“I woke up the same way you did. In that room. Disoriented. Missing time I couldn’t account for. Then I saw you sleeping next to me.”I watched her absorb that.The way her shoulders changed position.The small shift in her jaw.She was recalculating.Everything.Her voice was quieter
ISABELLA’S POVThe helicopter blades were already spinning when we arrived.I barely registered getting out of the car. Barely registered Ethan guiding me forward.Everything felt distant. Muffled. Like I was watching myself from outside my body.The sound of the blades. The wind whipping my hair.
ETHAN'S POVThe car moved through traffic faster than it should have.I kept my focus on the road, but my attention stayed on Isabella.She had not said a word since.Her reflection in the window showed everything she was trying to hide. Jaw clenched so tightly I could see the muscle jumping. Eyes
ETHAN’S POV I saw her reaction to the call. I noticed it was the same strange number that had called her before.The same number that was strangely saved. B with double hearts. Brahms.And whatever he'd said, it had shattered Isabella's composure completely.I continued my conversation with the c
ETHAN'S POV I noticed Sophia the moment she entered.It was impossible not to.She had always known how to command attention.The hall was already full of guests. Conversations filled the air. Photographers still moved between groups.Yet Sophia walked through the entrance as if the entire event e







