Chapter 46

RHIANNON

“Ria… stay with me!”

I managed to open my eyes, catching a glimpse of dim light as I noticed the number of people crowding around me.

“She’s opening her eyes,” a soft masculine voice said.

Where am I? Am I dead? What’s happening?

The smell of antiseptics and menthol filled my nostrils. No mistake—I couldn’t be dead. I was in the hospital.

“W… who are you?” I muttered. Pain flushed through my body.

“I need to see her!” I couldn’t tell whose voice it was because it sounded distant, but it felt like Alessandro.

“Sir, you need to be treated. We need you to stay still in the ER,” a nurse said.

“But I’m fine… I need to see her,” he insisted.

I felt the stretcher moving until I was in a room. It was white. The tingling in my body went numb again, and then my eyelids grew heavy, shutting on their own.

***

“Ria… please, run and never look back.”

I heard his voice. The furnace felt hotter, sharper, melting