Then Destroyed Me

Chapter 4 The Final Choice

Carmen pushed my gurney through the rooftop doors. Rain struck my face and cooled the fever on my skin. The wheels slid on the wet helipad as she and two medics fought to keep them straight beneath the rotor wash.

Alessio stood beside the helicopter with one arm around Bianca. She still wore the emerald dress instead of any hospital clothing. He held his coat over her hair while guiding her to the open cabin, careful to keep her shoes out of the deepest water.

"Alessio!" Carmen shouted over the rotors. She shoved the gurney far enough into the floodlights for him to see the monitor. "Eleanor's been poisoned. She needs the mainland facility now."

He looked over my shaking body and the alarms on my monitors, then glanced past me toward the open helicopter door.

Bianca rested her head on his shoulder. Her knees did not buckle until he looked down at her.

"Maybe Carmen is right, darling. Take Eleanor. I can wait."

Alessio pulled her closer. "Enough, Eleanor. You use your life every time you want me to choose. I'm done with these jealous games."

I tried to speak. The poison had left me with no air. All I could do was hold his gaze while the monitor announced what he refused to read.

"I'm taking Bianca," he said. "Stop the drama."

He turned his back, helped Bianca into the helicopter, and tucked a blanket around her shoulders. The door closed between us. Seconds later the aircraft rose from the roof, leaving my gurney in the shrinking reach of its floodlights.

I had spent years finding reasons for Alessio's choices. There was no reason left to find. He had seen me, heard Carmen, and taken the only available aircraft anyway.

Carmen bent over me. Rain ran down her face and dripped onto my blanket. One of the medics was still calling for another transport, but we both knew how long it would take.

"Phoenix," I managed. "Execute the protocol."

I found the small, heavy USB drive in my robe and pressed it into her hand. It held Bianca's recording, the financial records, the transfer logs, and the final command keys for every Moretti system I had built.

"For everything he took. Burn it down."

Carmen closed her fist around the drive and nodded once. The sound of the helicopter faded beyond the roof. The monitor beside her settled into one unbroken tone.

Miles away, Alessio reached the secure safe house with Bianca and finally checked his phone. An encrypted message from Moretti Family central command appeared beneath a black official seal.

*Subject: Status Update: Eleanor Moretti*

*Message: Confirmed Deceased. Time of Death: 23:47.*