Chapter 46

RHIANNON

“Ria… stay with me!”

I forced my eyes open, blinking against the blur of dim light and motion. Shapes surrounded me—people moving fast, voices overlapping, the smell of antiseptic burning my nose.

“She’s opening her eyes,” a soft male voice said somewhere nearby.

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

The sharp scent of menthol and cleaning agents filled my nostrils. I wasn’t dead. I knew that smell anywhere—a hospital.

“W… who are you?” I muttered, every word scraping my throat. Pain rippled through my body like fire under my skin.

“I need to see her!” The voice came from somewhere beyond the chaos—faint, but unmistakable. Alessandro.

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

“But I’m fine… I need to see her,” he insisted. His tone was frantic but still