جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 30

Della’s POVConsciousness didn't return to me all at once, it bled back in slow, agonizing waves of nausea and heavy darkness. My head throbbed with a rhythmic, blinding pain, the lingering after effects of the sedative. I tried to lift my arm to rub my temples, but a sharp, metallic clink cut through the silence. My wrists were bound tightly behind the back of a cold, unyielding metal chair.I forced my eyelids open. There were no black marble floors, no crimson emergency lights, and no scent of cedarwood.I was sitting in a subterranean concrete room, illuminated only by a single, buzzing fluorescent bulb overhead. The air was damp, smelling heavily of rust, stale grease, and gasoline. It was a fortified compound, perhaps miles away from the gilded cage I had grown accustomed to.Footsteps echoed against the concrete, loud and deliberate. Heavy boots stopped right in front of me, and a rough hand suddenly grabbed a fistful of my hair, violently jerking my head backward. I choked bac

Della’s POV The silence of the room settled over me like a suffocating blanket, heavy with the scent of rust and damp concrete. My eyes remained glued to the exposed electrical socket a few feet away, but as the seconds ticked by, a hollow, dark abyss opened up in my chest. If I manage to escape... what am I actually running toward? The thought hit me with the force of a physical blow, temporarily freezing the frantic adrenaline racing through my veins. What did I have left out there? My old life was completely shattered, reduced to ashes the moment my family thought I was selfish. I was a prisoner in a gilded fortress, falling in love with a ruthless mafia don who claimed he wanted to protect me but ultimately held the chains to my cage. And if I managed to step out of this subterranean hellhole, I would just be a moving target in a city tearing itself apart. I had no money, no protection, and nowhere to hide. No, I thought fiercely, shaking my head to clear the creeping despair

Della’s POVThe pain in my face was a dull, burning roar. Every time I breathed through my mouth, I could taste the metallic tang of blood on my tongue. I lay curled on the cold concrete floor, my hand pressed against my swollen cheek, staring into the dark.I didn't care about the pain. All I could think about was that fleeting flash of green on the screen before everything went dark.Did it work? Did he see it?I didn't have time to doubt myself. The answer arrived with a sound that shook the very foundation of the earth beneath me.BOOM.A muffled, violent explosion detonated somewhere above us, so powerful that dust and concrete powder rained down from the ceiling like ash. The single fluorescent light bulb overhead shattered into a million sharp shards, plunging the holding area into near-total blackness before the amber emergency lights flickered to life.Shouts rang out down the hallway. Gunfire—rapid, terrifying, and merciless—echoed through the concrete halls like thunder tra

Della’s POVThe air in the private medical wing of the Valtteri estate was heavy with the crisp, sterile scent of antiseptic, sharp contrast to the smoke and copper that had filled my lungs in the subterranean hellhole four days ago.The low, rhythmic beep... beep... beep of the heart monitor was the only sound breaking the silence of the room. It was the only tether holding me to sanity.For ninety-six hours, I hadn't stepped out of this room.Cain had tried to coax me into taking a break. A team of nurses had softly suggested I sleep in one of the guest suites. Nina promised she'd watch over him while I rested. Even Karlo’s personal physician had offered a mild sedative to help me rest. I refused them all. I bathed in the adjoining bathroom, changed into oversized soft clothes, and pulled an armchair right up to the edge of his bed, my hand permanently anchored around his cold, quiet fingers.I couldn't leave. I couldn't sleep, because every time I closed my eyes, I saw the blinding

Della’s POVThree weeks had passed since I walked out of the medical wing, and the world had moved on as if the storm that destroyed my life had been nothing more than a passing shadow. My home was peaceful. The heavy, suffocating weight of the debt was gone, replaced by quiet morning coffee, laughter at the dinner table, and the slow, steady rhythm of an ordinary life. My family was healing. My father smiled again, my mother no longer jumped when the doorbell rang.Everything was back to normal. And it was driving me insane."Della, are you even listening to me?" Christal’s voice pulled me out of my trance. We were sitting at an outdoor café in the heart of the city's shopping district, bathed in warm afternoon sunlight. A light breeze rustled the pastel umbrellas above us, and Christal was gesturing animatedly over her iced matcha latte, talking about a promotion at the firm she works in and a guy she had met over the weekend."Sorry," I murmured, forcing a small smile as I stirred