Chapter 106
KATYA’S POV
For a mont after Roo and Antonio passed , I couldn’t move.
The hallway buzzed in the distance — nurses, guards, clipped voices — but around , everything felt muted. Like I was underwater, still staring at the space where he’d been.
Roo.
Alive. Awake. Breathing.
And looking at like I was sothing stuck under his boot.
A shiver ran down my spine. Even pale and weak and strapped into a wheelchair, he still looked like he could kill with one hand — or want to. And the worst part?
So ugly part of whispered he should’ve stayed asleep.
I didn’t want him awake. I didn’t want that hatred. I didn’t want the way his eyes made feel like dirt.
And I certainly didn’t want the way everything in my life — especially Nonna — suddenly felt... threatened.
I didn’t realize soone else was in the doorway until a soft voice broke through the haze.
"Mia cara!"
The sound cracked through the tension like sunlight. My head snapped toward it before my mind even processed the words.
Nonna.
She was in the room, waving from her chair, her smile warm and soft, like none of the awful things twisting my stomach existed.
"Nonna?" My voice cracked.
She laughed gently. "Co here, bambina. I was wondering when you’d stop lurking like a frightened cat."
My knees nearly buckled with relief. Her arms opened, steady and welcoming, and before I even thought about it, I stepped into them.
Her embrace wrapped around like a blanket, and only then did I realize how badly I was shaking. She held tighter, stroking my hair as the panic unraveled inside .
"Shh... breathe, bambina," she murmured. "Tell what you were searching for."
My throat squeezed tight, but once the words started, they wouldn’t stop.
"I—I was looking for you," I whispered, then the whisper cracked into sothing breathless. "I checked the sitting room, and the garden, and finally your room, your hallway—everywhere—and you weren’t there and no one would tell anything and I thought—"
My breath hitched.
"I thought sothing happened to you," I rushed out, my words tumbling over each other. "Or—or maybe I did sothing wrong, or I annoyed you, or you didn’t want around anymore and I—"
The words ca out in a rush.
"Bambina." Nonna’s hands ca up to cradle my face gently, stopping the flood of panicked words at once. "No. No, no, no. Breathe. Look at ."
I blinked hard, breath shaking as I t her warm, steady gaze. "You could never do anything," she said softly, firmly, "to make not want you near . Never, do you understand?"
My lips parted, but she shushed with a thumb brushing my cheek. I swallowed as the knot didn’t ease.
My thoughts spiraling everywhere. What happens now that that devil is awake?
Would he tell her to stop keeping around? Would he demand I get killed?
He already hated — I saw it in his eyes. Disgust. Loathing. Like I was a pest he couldn’t wait to crush.
"You are good, mia cara. Kind. And you have never been a burden to —not even once."
My throat tightened painfully because in the back of my mind, a darker thought curled around.
But your grandson won’t think so.
Nonna kept brushing my cheeks gently. "You are dear to . You hear? Dear."
And if he told her to choose...
I already knew who she’d choose.
As she should.
As anyone would.
The fear clawed up my spine again.
Nonna sighed softly, thumb brushing under my eyes. "And Mia cara, I wasn’t avoiding you, okay? il mio piccolo combinaguai -My little troublemaker- has finally woke up this morning."
A cold weight settled in my stomach as I nodded, but my voice wouldn’t co.
Roo awake ant everything changed.
Roo awake ant the fragile little place I carved for myself here...could disappear in an instant.
Nonna kept talking softly, unaware of the storm inside my head.
"We waited so long for this day," she murmured. "I didn’t have a mont to breathe, much less co find you."
I pressed my lips together. I could hear the pure joy in nonna’s voice at her child’s recovery and sadly I couldn’t share it with her.
Co on, how could I when it’s that bastard, the devil child. I still don’t know how a pure hearted person could be related to that demon.
Nonna’s hands cupped my cheeks again, pulling out of the spiral. "You matter to , Katya," she said firmly. "You hear? You matter."
My breath stuttered but I nodded anyway. I would try keeping my distance. See this is what I was fearing about. abandonnt.
Nonna’s thumb brushed the side of my cheek once more before she let out a small breath and straightened slightly in her chair.
"Now, mia cara... be a dear and wheel out of this hospital wing, sì?"
"Wh—what? Now?" I stepped out from her hug.
"Of course now." She gave a soft huff, already facing the door back. "I need to follow those n before Roo bites soone with that temper of his." A weak laugh escaped her — but I froze.
Go see Roo.
aning: I had to go toward Roo.
As in: the sa hallway they wheeled him up so minutes ago.
Panic struck so fast my breath caught.
"Nonna, I— I can help, but I actually— um— I have to clean thus room. Two guards told earlier and I— I should finish it before soone gets mad, so maybe I can—"
"Nonsense," she cut in, patting my hand like she was brushing away a fly. "Soone else will clean it."
"But—"
"No buts." She lifted her chin with that gentle-but-final Nonna authority. "You stay with . I need your help more."
My stomach dropped. "But Nonna, I really—"
"Mia cara," she interrupted again, eyes soft but unwavering, "you are helping today. The room can wait. Work can wait. this? this is more important."
Important. Your devilspawn grandson wants dead.
Nonna reached out her hand, patient and trusting. "Now, help , sì? Before I start rolling myself up the hall like a madwoman."
Despite everything inside screaming run, I nodded stiffly.
"Of course, Nonna."
††
Expect another Chapter in a few hours
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