THE RECKONING
Day 117 — Morning, Hospital ICU Room 412
I woke to pain.
Sharp. Present. Real.
Not the medicated haze of three months, but the kind of pain that meant something was healing.
That I was healing.
Luca was gone.
The room was quiet except for the soft beep of monitors.
Morning light cut through the blinds in gold stripes.
I tried to sit up.
My left side screamed. My lungs tightened. My arms trembled.
I did it anyway.
For the first time in three months, I sat up on my own.
The door opened.
Dante stood in the doorway, and I watched his entire expression shift. Something cracked in his carefully maintained control.
“Don’t move,” he said, already moving toward me. “You’re going to hurt yourself.”
“I’m already hurt,” I said. My voice was stronger. “I need to move.”
He
