Four
1224 Words
The nurse adjusted the file in her hands, her tone polite but firm.
“Ma’am, we need to clarify something. Your treatment expenses have reached a very high range. We need to know who will be responsible for the payments going forward.”
Aria sat stiffly in the wheelchair.
The brace around her neck forced her head straight. Her eyes were red, swollen, empty, drained of tears she no longer had the strength to cry.
Responsible.
Payment.
Her chest tightened.
Before she could speak, before the shame fully swallowed her, a calm voice cut through the room.
“I’ll handle all the expenses.”
Everyone turned.
Elena stood at the doorway.
Chin lifted. Posture flawless. A faint, composed smile curved her lips—as though this room already belonged to her.
“I’ll take full responsibility,” she repeated.
Relief crossed the nurses’ faces.
“Thank you, ma’am,” one of them said quickly. “We’ll give you a moment.”
They left, the door closing softly behind them.
Silence settled.
Aria finally looked at Elena.
And all the anger she had been holding back surged violently to the surface.
This woman.
The one who stole her fiancé.
Now standing here like a savior.
Elena met her gaze, and smiled.
I’ve fought too hard for Julius, she thought.
I can’t let her waking ruin everything.
She walked closer, slow and deliberate, stopping just in front of Aria.
“So,” Elena said lightly, tilting her head. “You’re really awake.”
Her eyes swept over Aria—her pale face, the brace, the IV, the wheelchair.
“Tsk,” she clicked softly. “You’re so thin.”
She shook her head with mock sympathy.
“I honestly thought you wouldn’t make it.”
Aria’s fingers curled weakly around the armrest.
Pain pulsed through her body, but the numbness frightened her more—the way she couldn’t move, couldn’t react, couldn’t even wipe the smug look off Elena’s face.
Elena lowered her voice.
“It seems no one is coming to take you out of this hospital,” she said calmly. “Which is unfortunate.”
Then she straightened.
“So we’re going home.”
Aria’s breath caught.
“Home?” she whispered bitterly.
“Yes,” Elena replied smoothly. “Everything has been misunderstood.”
She waved it off lightly. “Stress. Confusion. You just woke up from a coma.”
Her tone softened, dangerously gentle.
“You shouldn’t strain yourself,” she continued. “What would people say if they saw you like this? The media?”
She stepped closer, placing a hand on the wheelchair handle.
“There’s no place safer than home,” Elena said quietly. “After all… I’m the only family you have left.”
Aria swallowed hard.
She had nowhere else to go.
“I trusted you,” she whispered.
Elena only smiled.
“I’ll explain everything later,” she said sweetly.
Her grip tightened slightly.
“We’re going home.”
---
It had been almost twenty-four hours since Aria had been brought back into the Bernice mansion.
The hours crawled. Every step she took, every glance she made, reminded her that she was no longer home. Everyone treated her like a ghost, silent, invisible, unwelcome.
Julius moved past her silently, cold as ever, his eyes avoiding hers as if she were nothing more than a shadow cast in the hallway. She could hardly believe this was the man she had been promised to, the man she had loved for three years. Now… he was a stranger.
From the corridor outside, a sharp voice broke the quiet.
“Ma’am,” the nanny hissed, exasperated. “She’s refusing to eat. I just served her and she… she’s refusing, ma’am. I can’t believe how ungrateful she is!”
Elena’s lips curved into a small, cold smile.
“Don’t worry,” she said, her voice dripping with patience that is anything but. “I’ll handle it.”
The door opened with a sharp click. Elena stepped inside, her heels making a soft but authoritative rhythm on the floor. She stopped in front of Aria’s wheelchair and let her gaze sweep over the girl.
“We don’t waste food in this house,” Elena said casually. “Everything we cook here is made with money, and we don’t throw money away.”
Aria’s voice trembled as she lifted her head.
“The meal… It has peanut butter in it. I’m allergic. ”
Elena’s eyes narrowed slightly, a flicker of mockery passing through them.
“How is that my problem?” she asked, her voice smooth and cold. “You have to Eat it.”
Her tone snapped, the command cutting through the room like ice.
“I… I can’t,” Aria stammered, shaking her head. “I’m sorry… I don’t want to risk my health any further.”
Elena’s smile widened, cruel, venomous.
“You don’t want to risk your health?” Elena echoed coldly, stepping closer, looming over her. “Then I suppose you’d rather ruin your life instead.”
Aria shrank back, her body trembling. Pain stabbed through her neck and arms, sharp and relentless. Her breath came uneven, but Elena didn’t care.
With a small gesture, Elena signaled one of the servants. The tray was steadied.
She bent down, eyes bright and merciless, and forced the spoon toward Aria’s mouth.
“No!” Aria cried, tears spilling instantly. “Elena—please—stop!”
“Eat it,” Elena said flatly.
Aria shook her head, but the spoon pressed in again. The taste hit her tongue. She gagged, helpless, her vision blurring as humiliation burned through her.
“We don’t waste food here,” Elena murmured, her voice soft and deadly. “You will eat.”
Aria’s body curled inward, small and defeated.
Then—summoning the last shred of strength left in her broken body—she shoved the plate away.
It flew from Elena’s hand and shattered on the floor.
The crash echoed.
Silence followed.
Elena stared for a brief second—then laughed.
A cold, slicing laugh.
“Well,” she said calmly, “I didn’t know you still had strength.”
Aria coughed violently, trying to spit out the food, her chest burning.
“How dare you break that?” Elena hissed, stepping closer. “Do you know how much it costs? Do you even have money?”
“I—I didn’t mean to…” Aria stammered. “I’m… sorry…”
The slap came without warning.
Sharp. Brutal.
Aria’s head snapped to the side, pain exploding across her face as she gasped for air.
“Yes,” the nanny murmured approvingly. “That’s right.”
“You think you still have choices?” Elena said quietly.
Another slap—harder.
Blood surfaced at the corner of Aria’s mouth.
“Elena… please…” Aria whispered, shaking. “I’m not… okay…”
Elena’s smile disappeared.
The final slap landed with unforgiving force.
Aria was knocked from the wheelchair, her body crashing to the floor. Pain ripped through her as she lay there, stunned, broken, unable to breathe properly.
Aria gasped uncontrollably, clutching her face.
“Ahhh! ” she cried, her voice raw, broken, desperate.
Elena stepped back, arms folded, watching her like a predator surveying her prey. Her lips curved into a faint, victorious smile.
- Writer
