Chapter 407

The sterile scent of disinfectant hit Hannah as soon as she stepped into the hospital corridor. It wrapped around her like a suffocating fog, sharp and bitter, crawling into her lungs until every breath felt heavy. The faint hum of fluorescent lights above mingled with the steady chorus of machines—beeps, hisses, clicks—that marked the fragile line between life and death.

Her chest tightened. Every sound reminded her of the nightmare she wished she could wake up from.

Jessica lay motionless on the bed, pale and fragile, her body swallowed by crisp white sheets. Tubes snaked into her arms, wires stretched across her chest, and a mask of oxygen covered her lips. The soft rhythm of the heart monitor was the only evidence that she still clung to this world.

Arianna was the first to move. Her heels clicked softly against the tiles, each step careful, reverent, as thou