Chapter 86

Alessandro

The moment I opened my eyes, the world was blurred at the edges. The ceiling above me shifted slowly into focus, pale and unfamiliar. For a second, I wasn’t sure where I was. There was a weight in my chest, my breath came slow, like my body was relearning how to stay alive. The haze of sleep still clung to me like a second skin, the room soft with shadow and quiet except for the gentle pull of breath that wasn’t mine. I turned my head slightly.

She was there—Isabella. Close but still a bit distant, her posture guarded, her hands resting in her lap as though she wasn’t sure if she was in the right place.

Her red hair was slightly tousled, her lips pale with worry, and her eyes, that molten shade of fire and ice, were already on me. It wasn’t fear, maybe not entirely. It held something else in there: worry, tenderness, desire. Like she’d been waiting for me to come back from something far too dark.

I didn’t say anything at first. I just watche