Chapter 246
KATYA POV
Lila’s fingers tightened again. Not just clinging now. Gripping. I felt it a second later. A sharp, burning sting along my calf that cut straight through the fog in my head. I gasped, my body jerking despite myself.
I looked down. Blood. Thin lines of it welled up where her nails had broken the skin, red seeping through the fabric, warm against my leg. It wasn’t much but it was enough.
Enough to snap sothing.
"Child, stop," Nonna’s voice cracked through the room. She moved suddenly, the stiffness leaving her body all at once as if a spell had broken.
Her hands shaking as she strained, reaching for Lila’s wrists. "Stop gripping her like that," Nonna said sharply, panic bleeding into her words.
"You’re hurting her. Let go." Lila made a desperate sound, half-sob, half-gasp, her fingers refusing to obey. Her eyes were wild, unfocused, locked on like I was the only thing keeping her from falling into sothing endless.
"I—I can’t—" My breath hitched. The room tilted violently. My heart slamd against my ribs, too fast, too loud. I couldn’t get enough air. My chest felt tight, like it was collapsing inward.
Panic. Real panic. My hands started to shake uncontrollably. My vision narrowed, edges darkening. The blood on my leg felt suddenly overwhelming—too warm, too real, too much.
"I can’t breathe," I whispered, though I wasn’t sure anyone heard .
Roo did. I felt it before I saw it—the shift in him. His attention sharpened, gaze flicking from Lila’s bloodied mouth to my face, to the way my hands trembled, the way my breaths ca too fast and shallow.
He moved fast. "Enough," he said quietly.
Suddenly he was there, his hand wrapping around my arm, firm but controlled. I flinched hard at the contact, a broken sound tearing out of my throat.
"No—" I gasped.
He pulled back—not roughly, but decisively—separating from Lila’s grasp. Her fingers slipped from my clothes with a wet, desperate sound, leaving behind streaks of blood and fabric stretched from where she’d been holding on.
The mont the contact broke, Lila scread in pain and terror. She collapsed forward onto the bed, clawing weakly at the sheets, her body curling in on itself as if the world had just ended.
"No—no—" I stumbled, nearly falling as Roo steadied , my legs barely holding upright.
My chest burned. My head spun. I clawed at his wrist instinctively, trying to pull free.
"Don’t touch her," Nonna shouted. Her voice was sharp now—fierce in a way I hadn’t heard before.
"Get away from her," she snapped at Roo "You’ve done enough. Look at her. Look at what you’ve done."
Roo’s jaw tightened. "She was hurting Katya."
"You’re the one who hurt her!" Nonna shot back, her hands trembling as she gestured toward Lila, toward the blood, toward the shattered girl gasping on the mattress. "You did this. Don’t you dare pretend otherwise."
He said nothing. That silence felt louder than shouting. Nonna turned on him fully now, her eyes blazing. "Get out," she said, voice shaking with fury. "Get out of this room. Out of her life."
Roo’s gaze flicked to .
My vision swam. My breath ca in broken pulls, my hands pressed against my chest like I could hold my heart still.
"Can’t you see!" Nonna scread. "You are the one hurting her the most, Roo." The words seed to hit him harder than anything else had.
For the first ti since I’d known him—since I’d ever seen him—Roo faltered. He opened his mouth.
Closed it.
Then tried again. "Nonna, I—" His voice caught. Just for a second. Barely noticeable, but I noticed. I always noticed him despite being in panic mode. "This wasn’t—this wasn’t ant to—"
He stopped, jaw tightening as if the rest of the sentence refused to co out. I stared at him, my heart still racing wildly, my breath shallow and uneven.
He looked... wrong. Not controlled. Not certain. His shoulders were rigid, his hands clenched at his sides like he was holding himself together by force alone.
This was the first ti I had ever seen Roo unsure. "I didn’t intend for Katya to react this way" he said finally, slower now, as if choosing each word carefully.
" I only ant to silence this girl for everyone to know not to ss with you, katya."
Silence that girl? Not ss with ? The room seed to recoil from the words.
Nonna let out a sharp, broken laugh—one with no humor in it at all. "Listen to yourself," she said hoarsely. "Listen to the way you speak about a human being."
"She insulted Katya," Roo said quickly.
"Enough!" Nonna cut him off. Her hands were shaking now, openly. Her voice cracked as she gestured toward the bed, toward Lila’s trembling form. "I have lived long enough to recognize monsters when they stand in front of ."
Roo stiffened. "Nonna—"
"This is the first ti," she said, her voice dropping, heavy and raw, "that I have ever been afraid of my own grandson."
The sentence landed like a blow.
I sucked in a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. My chest hurt. My head spun.
Roo froze.
Sothing flickered across his face—shock, disbelief, sothing dangerously close to pain. "You don’t an that."
"I do," Nonna said. Tears glistened in her eyes, but her stare didn’t waver. "I raised you. I watched you grow. I excused your cruelty because I told myself it was strength." Her voice trembled. "But this—this is sothing else."
She shook her head slowly. "You stood there and turned a dying girl into a lesson."
Roo swallowed. "I was trying to protect Katya." I flinched at my na.
"By breaking her?" Nonna snapped. "By forcing her to watch this? Look at her!"
She pointed at now, and I felt exposed—small, shaking, pressed against the wall with blood on my leg and tears streaking my face.
"She can’t breathe," Nonna continued. "She’s terrified. And you still think you’re protecting her?"
Roo’s gaze shifted to again. I couldn’t read what was in his eyes anymore. Regret. Calculation. Conflict.
"I didn’t know she would react like this," he repeated that sa words.
"That’s the problem," Nonna replied. "You never know. You never care enough to know."
Nonna took a deep breath, her voice softened not with forgiveness, but with finality. "Leave us, Roo."
He hesitated. "Nonna—"
"Let us be," she said firmly. "You have done enough damage for one day"
For a mont, I thought he might argue. Might push back. Might refuse.
Instead, he exhaled slowly and he walked out without a word.
††
Bonus 2
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