Jas was escorted to another hospital room by Bella and a bodyguard. He sat in silence as the doctors examined his hand, bandaging it and giving him more painkillers.
Bella said nothing. She had watched the whole thing unfold and understood that years of pain had co pouring out of Jas all at once.
It only made her realize even more how unpredictable he had beco after Rafael’s death, or maybe he had just stopped giving a fuck about everything.
"What?" Jas asked as the doctors finished and left the room.
"Nothing." Bella said, looking at him.
"Can I ask you sothing?"
She nodded.
"Why didn’t you kill him on the spot when he slapped my mom?"
Bella was stunned by the question, by the very idea of it.
"I can’t hurt your family mber, Jas. And your mother wouldn’t have let , even if I had tried." She said.
"I don’t bla you. At least I got to beat the shit out of him."
Bella stepped closer to him, her eyes were full of worry.
"I think you’re losing yourself, piece by piece, and you don’t even realize it."
Jas didn’t respond right away. He just stared at her, as if trying to decide whether to dismiss her words or actually let them sink in.
After a long pause, he spoke. "Maybe there was never much of to lose in the first place."
She sighed. "I just don’t want you to wake up one day and realize there’s nothing left of you except anger and regret."
Jas closed his eyes for a mont. When he opened them again, he looked straight at her. "Then tell , Bella. What else do I have?"
Bella held his gaze, but for once, she didn’t have an answer.
She hated that....hated that for the first ti, she had no answer to give him.
"See? Even you don’t know."
Bella frowned. "That doesn’t an there’s nothing left, Jas. It just ans you refuse to see it."
"Then tell , what the hell am I supposed to see? At the mont all i feel is pain and emptiness."
She had seen this happen before, to people who let their rage consu them until there was nothing left but emptiness. And now, she was watching it happen to Jas.
"You know what that ans, don’t you?" She asked.
"What?"
"It ans this isn’t what you really wanted." She said. "You wanted justice. You wanted him to suffer, but not like this. If it was enough, you wouldn’t feel empty right now."
Jas shook his head. "Justice? There’s no such thing."
"So that’s it, then? You’ll just keep going down this path until there’s nothing left of you?"
Jas smirked again, but this ti, it was tired. "Maybe there’s nothing left already."
"I don’t believe that."
Jas studied her, sothing flickering in his eyes, doubt, maybe. Or sothing he didn’t want to admit.
"Why do you care so much?"
Bella didn’t hesitate. "Because soone has to.".
Jas looked away first, but Bella wasn’t done.
"And don’t forget…that I’m your girlfriend. Even if you didn’t ask out, that kiss was the confession."
Jas froze. His tired eyes snapped back to her, caught completely off guard. "What?"
Bella smirked slightly, tilting her head. "You heard ."
"So you’re just deciding that on your own now?"
Bella shrugged. "If you had a problem with it, you wouldn’t have kissed back."
Jas opened his mouth as if to argue, then closed it. He narrowed his eyes at her, but there was no real malice behind it, just frustration mixed with sothing else.
"You’re insane."
"Maybe. But you like it."
Jas shook his head, but he didn’t deny it. Instead, he leaned back against the hospital bed.
"So, what? You think being my girlfriend ans you get to lecture now?"
Bella crossed her arms. "That’s exactly what it ans."
As Jas sat there, still trying to process everything, his mother ca into the room and sat beside him.
She looked at his bandaged hands, her fingers hesitating before gently resting over his.
"Does it hurt?"
Jas glanced down at his hand, flexing his fingers slightly. "Not really."
"You scared , you know." She continued. "When I saw you like that… I didn’t recognize you for a mont."
Erika reached out, gently turning his face back toward her. "Listen to , Jas. What you did… I won’t say it was right. But I also won’t lie to you...I don’t feel sorry for him."
"You don’t?"
She let out a bitter chuckle. "After all these years? After everything he’s done? I thought I would feel guilt. I thought I’d feel sha for letting this happen. But I don’t."
"Then what do you feel?"
Erika’s lips parted slightly, as if she was hesitant to say it out loud. But then, with a slow exhale, she admitted,
"Relief."
Jas blinked, surprised. Even Bella straightened slightly at that.
"I should have done more. I should have protected you and Rafael better." As she said it she started crying and hugged Jas.
Jas hugged her back. "You did what you could, mom. You were the only one who ever tried."
Erika’s eyes softened, filled with both love and regret. "And look at what it turned you into."
Jas let out a humorless laugh. "A murde—"
"A boy who fought back when no one else would."
For a long mont, Jas said nothing. Then, he sighed and leaned back, staring at the ceiling. "So… what happens now?"
Erika gave a small, tired smile. "We move on. We heal. And Jas—" she hesitated, then added, "—you don’t have to fight anymore. At least, not alone."
He looked at his mother with confusion. After a long silence, he finally spoke.
"I thought you hated ."
"I ant what I said, Jas." she admitted. "But even if I hated you, you’d still be my baby. You always will be."
Jas swallowed, his fingers twitching slightly in her grasp.
"And I don’t want to lose you." She continued. "No matter what happens, no matter how much we fight, you’re still my son."
Jas didn’t say anything right away. He just stared at their hands, at the warmth of her touch.
"I’m not going anywhere, Mom."
A tear slipped down Erika’s cheek, but she smiled through it. "Good."
She stood up, letting Jas out of her grip, and looked at him with determination in her eyes.
"We are the Bellini family, you are the head of our family, and I will stay with you forever."
For years, he had survived, and controlled the chaos around him, but he had never truly acknowledged what that ant. Not until now.
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Jas let those words sink in, and this ti, he didn’t push them away. He didn’t question whether he deserved them. He simply accepted them.
"That ans you’re finally admitting it?" Bella asked.
Jas t her gaze, then, he gave a small, confident smirk of his own. "Yeah. I’m the head of the Bellini family."
"Took you long enough."
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